Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - When Campbell River was reeling from the onset on COVID last Spring, a task force was formed to study the economic impacts. They interviewed about 300 businesses over a two and a half month month period. The Campbell River Business Recovery Task Force concluded that the city’s economy primarily rests on three pillars: tourism, forestry and fish farms. This is where the first dollars enter, that support numerous other businesses. Now the Task Force warns about the economic consequences of phasing out fish farms.
“If you look at the interrelationships, you can see that so many things that we enjoy in this community, and on your own island to some extent, are a product of a successful forest industry, aquaculture industry, and, when it’s able to, the contribution made by tourism and hospitality,” said Task Force Co-Chair Brian Stamp.
“ ...We had a very clear message from the aquaculture business because they are all tied together with the BC Salmon Farmers Association.
Stamp cited statistics from the BC Salmon Farmer’s Association report, Raising Opportunity: How BC Salmon could lead BC’s Post COVID Recovery where it says there 572 people from Campbell River, Sayward and the Discovery islands employed in salmon farm operations. They receive $31 million in wages and another $132.6 million goes out to local venders.
“If you take the supply chain numbers from the aquaculture industry and forestry industry and add them up, that’s a significant amount of money. Then, if we are lucky enough to get the tourism component back on its feet, then you have the three pillars firing on all cylinders,” said Stamp.
“The retail opportunities that we have in Campbell River, the big box stores - the Walmarts, Home Depots, Home Hardware, Save on Foods, those large retail operations - are a product of Campbell River having a resilient economy. If all of a sudden the traffic in Home Depot was to suffer because the numbers of people shopping there are reduced, because their incomes are reduced, or the numbers of people available to shop are reduced because they haven’t got a job and they’ve moved on - guess what. If that store isn’t producing the results that they expect, it will close,” said Stamp.
“That goes for all the other things that we enjoy here and the residents of Quadra and Cortes Islands enjoy some of the same benefits. We have a very wonderful array of physicians, and surgeons in Campbell River. we have a new hospital in Campbell River. Those are all products of have a group of citizens that have the where withal because they have jobs and are well paid to live here.”
“You can see small communities that are not successful. They struggle to keep doctors in their communities. So we are fortunate that these industries [tourism, forestry and fish farms] have provided us with a very nice way of life.
