The B.C. government has opened public submissions for Budget 2027, and now is your chance to tell decision-makers exactly what investments our rivers, watersheds, and wild salmon need.

The portal is open until 2pm on Friday June 19, 2026.

Here’s how to do it in about 10 minutes:

1. Go to the BC Budget 2027 submission page: https://consultation-portal.leg.bc.ca/consultations/195 
2. Sign In or Create an Account
3. Click on Budget 2027 Consultation 
4. Add a sentence about who you are and why you care. For example: “I am a resident of B.C. and I want to see investments to protect and enhance our wild salmon and their habitats.”
5. Copy and paste our two suggested asks into the form. (see below for text)
6. Copy, paste and if you’d like, edit Recommendations 1 and in the consultation portal. 
7. We’ve included a suggestion for Recommendation 3 but that is optional and can be replaced with another topic that matters to you. 
8. Click Next, then Submit. 

That’s it!

Below are our three recommendations you can copy and paste. Feel free to use all three, or choose what matters most to you.

Recommendation 1

Create a sustainable funding mechanism for watershed security by modernizing industrial water rental rates and dedicating at least $75 million annually in resulting new revenue to the BC Watershed Security Fund.

Explanation

Healthy watersheds are critical infrastructure. They supply drinking water, support agriculture and industry, reduce flood and wildfire risk, sustain wild salmon, and underpin the health, safety, and economic prosperity of communities across B.C.

Highly profitable industrial water users consume and pollute vast quantities of our freshwater, while B.C.’s industrial water rental rates remain among the lowest in Canada and have not been substantially updated in more than a decade. 

At the same time, B.C. is facing growing pressures from drought, flooding, wildfires, and increasing competition for water. These challenges threaten communities, local economies, and salmon populations already stressed by habitat loss and climate change. 

The Province is currently reviewing industrial water rental rates, creating a timely opportunity to modernize the system. Updated rates should better reflect the value of water and the growing costs of maintaining healthy watersheds.

A portion of the resulting new revenue should be dedicated to the BC Watershed Security Fund (BC WSF), with a minimum investment of $75 million annually. This would create a sustainable “water pays for water” model, similar to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, whose dedicated funding from hunting and fishing licence revenues is established in provincial legislation. 

The BC WSF has already demonstrated strong demand, receiving more than $100 million in applications during its first two years. Dedicated funding would support watershed restoration, monitoring, drought preparedness, local planning, watershed governance, and salmon habitat projects across B.C.

Healthy watersheds are the foundation of healthy salmon populations. Investing in watershed security before problems occur is significantly less expensive than paying for the impacts afterward. Modernized water rates paired with dedicated watershed investments would strengthen watershed security, support salmon recovery, and reduce future costs.

Recommendation 2

Fund the BC Flood Strategy to keep B.C.’s communities safe: $20 million per year for 10 years

Explanation

The B.C. Flood Strategy exists. It was developed with care, with Indigenous leadership, and with the input of communities across the province. It charts a course toward long-term, integrated, nature-based flood resilience. And it is sitting on a shelf, unfunded.

The Province must commit $20 million per year over 10 years to implement the BC Flood Strategy. This is not a large ask relative to the risk. A single major flood event in the Lower Fraser could wipe out over $350 billion in economic value. While twenty million dollars a year will not achieve flood resilience, it is the minimum demonstration of political will required to move this region forward. These funds would be invested in building up provincial and local capacity, supporting collaborative processes and advancing the actions in the B.C. Flood Strategy.

It is also the key that unlocks the door to federal investment. The federal government has signaled its desire to proactively build resilience in Canadian communities. Changes to Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) are designed to reward provinces that invest in mitigation. B.C. will not be at that table, as in, it will not be able to access those dollars, without demonstrable provincial action. Fund the Strategy, and B.C. leads. Fail to fund it, and B.C. falls behind other provinces, like Alberta, which are willing to step up.

Recommendation 3

Increase the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship’s operating budget by $40 million annually for 5 years to build capacity for watershed security, fish and wildlife stewardship, monitoring and compliance, to protect the watersheds and salmon that B.C.’s economy and communities depend on.

Explanation

Clean water, functioning ecosystems, and abundant fish and wildlife underpin B.C.’s drinking water, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, and outdoor economy, and are central to First Nations cultures and food security. Yet the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship (WLRS) remains under-resourced relative to its responsibilities.

WLRS implements the Water Sustainability Act and the Wildlife Act, manages water licensing and freshwater fisheries, monitors freshwater, leads compliance and enforcement, and needs more capacity to support local governments and First Nations in water and land-use planning. Meanwhile, flooding, water scarcity, declining salmon, and habitat loss are intensifying, and accelerating development—including mines, hydropower and energy projects—is adding pressure on already-declining fish and wildlife populations. Drought planning in particular needs more support. The province has sole jurisdiction over freshwater fisheries, including steelhead, and many are near collapse. And invasive aquatic species pose a significant threat requiring stronger monitoring and response.

This comes as federal monitoring erodes: nearly half of Canada’s Pacific salmon populations lack the data to assess their health, and B.C. cannot assume Ottawa will fill the gap. Meanwhile, provincial funding for renewable resource management has fallen roughly 75% as a share of spending since 1993, even as the workload grows.

The tools exist: legislation provides authority but monitoring and planning capacity is thin, and enforcement is understaffed. Faster approvals must be matched by capacity to monitor impacts, assess cumulative effects, and enforce the rules that keep our fish and wildlife healthy and abundant.

The Province should increase WLRS’s operating budget by $40 million annually for 5 years to build capacity for monitoring, water management, freshwater fisheries and water sustainability planning, drought preparedness, invasive-species defence, and enforcement.