An Atlantic salmon is seen during a Department of Fisheries and Oceans fish health audit at the Okisollo fish farm near Campbell River, B.C. For industries like fisheries, aquaculture, tourism or shipping, achieving blue economies will mean deep transformations to address unsustainable practices, such as pollution or overfishing.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press
The words “blue economy” will soon shape the future of Canada’s oceans, from the fjords and straits of British Columbia to the rugged coastlines of the Atlantic to the vast seascapes of the Arctic. The transformation of Canada’s ocean economies will be felt throughout the country and will set an example for nations around the world.
But what is a blue economy? And what makes it different from business as usual?
The term blue economy was first championed by small-island developing countries, including Fiji, Bahamas and Palau, to bring more local benefits from ocean industries. Developing a blue economy means establishing ocean spaces and industries that are socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically profitable.
Canada has been a key player in these efforts, including by supporting the first global conference on a blue economy, held in Nairobi in 2018 with over 18,000 participants. Now Canada is bringing the blue economy to its own waters.
As researchers at the intersection of ocean resources, justice and policy, we believe that a Canadian blue economy can have huge benefits for all – if done well. At stake are flashpoint issues like oil and gas expansion, aquaculture and the protection of species at risk. More deeply, Canada will have to decide which people and places will benefit from new ocean investment, and who will be impacted.
Blue economies old and new
For industries like fisheries, aquaculture, tourism or shipping, achieving blue economies will mean deep transformations to address unsustainable practices, such as pollution or overfishing. New technologies, such as automated and deep-sea vessels, as well as ecological and social research will also be needed, especially for emerging sectors like wave and tidal energy or blue carbon – the management of seagrasses, mangroves, marshes and kelp ecosystems for carbon offsetting.
But what sets a blue economy apart from business as usual is its focus on social equity and environmental justice. These guiding principles aim to recognize and include all individuals, prioritize the fair sharing of benefits and burdens and protect vulnerable peoples from environmental and economic impacts, natural or human-caused.
Although governments and industry are investing in new technology and research to track habitat and climate, and are aiming for environmental sustainability, these are now hardly groundbreaking commitments. Past ocean development has illustrated that ensuring benefits to front line communities and marginalized populations, and avoiding harm to these people, will not happen on its own.
There are some good examples in Canada of how this can work well, including the federal government’s Integrated Commercial Fisheries Initiatives. In the North, Atlantic and Pacific regions, these programs subsidize and support business capacity and technology for Indigenous-owned companies to invest in fisheries and aquaculture. While working within environmental guidelines, these companies can decide how to run their businesses in ways that fit their cultural as well as business goals.
But our research shows nations around the world lack the capacity to enable equitable ocean industries and are still struggling to address corruption, human rights and basic infrastructure to build their ocean development plans. Adopting a blue economy approach would change that by first focusing on these basic enabling governance conditions.
For Canada to achieve a blue economy, it would need to develop policy strategies that address complex issues, including Indigenous fishing, ocean conservation, sustainable use, climate change and offshore oil and gas production. Because of their connectivity and role in human relationships, oceans are an important arena where these commitments play out.
`Sustainable’ offshore oil?
The example of offshore oil and gas is a peculiar yet important aspect of Canada’s future blue economy. Under the simplest logic, the production of offshore oil and gas – non-renewable resources – cannot be part of a blue economy approach defined by equity and sustainability. This is clear given the historically uneven concentration of economic benefits from the oil industry and its chronic – and sometimes catastrophic – pollution of local ecosystems.
The inclusion of oil is especially problematic considering its contribution to climate change. Governments can propose arguments and new bookkeeping to deflect accountability for downstream emissions linked to their oil and gas production, but global climate, the oceans and people will be impacted nonetheless.
The recent approval of the Bay du Nord offshore oil project in Newfoundland and Labrador illustrates the conflict between blue economy narratives and actions. The project is supported and justified partially because of lower emissions per barrel produced relative to oil production elsewhere. Yet it ignores the emissions that consumption of the oil itself will generate.
As we argue in a recent peer-reviewed article, offshore oil and gas production could only be included within a blue economy under the strictest of guidelines: no further expansion of the oil industry could take place; subsidies to the oil sector would have to be redirected to local sustainable industries; and the blue economy plan would have to detail clear strategies, timelines and funding commitments for just transitions away from oil and gas.
A Canadian blue economy
According to the most recent federal government report Engaging on Canada’s Blue Economy Strategy: What we heard, Canadians want a new approach to ocean management and development, one that acknowledges and supports traditional relationships and industries and benefits coastal communities even while engaging with new technologies and sectors. Regulations and cocreated policies and guidelines will be essential to achieve these goals in ways that are new and not just business as usual.
As Canada and nations across the world work to establish equitable, sustainable and viable blue economies, finding ocean resources will be the easy part. The challenge will be in making sure that these resources benefit front line coastal communities now and in the future.
Listening to the diverse perspectives of Canadians is a good start that must now be followed with meaningful and ongoing support for truly transformative and equitable ocean policies.
Andres M. Cisneros-Montemayor receives funding from Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center. He is on an advisory committee for Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Pacific Integrated Commercial Fisheries Initiative.
Leah M. Fusco receives funding from the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center.
Marleen Schutter receives funding from the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center.
This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and non-profit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site.
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
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