We're hunters. We're anglers. We're voters.
British Columbia is home to 370,000 Possession and Acquisition License (PAL) holders, 300,000 freshwater anglers, 275,000 saltwater anglers, and 105,000 licensed hunters. The BC Wildlife Federation represents 37,000 of them directly through 100 fish and game clubs in communities across every region of the province, advocating for conservation, public access to our rivers, lakes and mountains and common-sense firearms regulations. Combined, this is one of the largest single-issue constituencies in British Columbia – larger than the population of dozens of ridings – and it votes.
We are asking every party, to commit, in writing, to the three items below by October 13, 2026.
1. Enshrine Public Access to Lands and Resources into Law
Ask: Legislate public access to sustainable hunting, fishing, camping, and outdoor recreation on Crown land, grounded in science-based decisions.
Hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation are woven into British Columbia’s cultural heritage, our way of life and our food security. They are also one of BC’s largest economic engines: in 2024, outdoor recreation contributed $11.1 billion in economic value added to the provincial economy (3.5% of GDP) and supported more than 127,500 jobs. However, this activity, and the licence dollars that fund conservation, depends entirely on people having somewhere to go.
Whether it’s access to BC Parks, Forest Service Roads such as Rady Creek, moose hunting opportunities in the Northeast or fishing opportunities on the Fraser River, British Columbians are increasingly being removed from the landscape because of short-term political decisions. Resident hunter moose harvest alone fell from 10,894 in 1976 to fewer than 4,000 in 2024 – a major loss of wild food for 50,000 BC residents annually. Hunting season cuts made in isolation of science continue. British Columbians need legislation that guarantees sustainable access to Crown land, so families can continue connecting with the outdoors, conservation stays funded, and rural jobs continue to be created.
2. Guarantee Dedicated Fish, Wildlife, and Habitat Management Funding
Ask: Legislate dedicated funding of $200 million per year for fish, wildlife, and habitat management including:
- Legislated objectives for fish and wildlife populations
- An independent fish and wildlife management commission, insulated from political pressure
- A commitment to 50,000 hectares of controlled burns per year
- A $1 billion watershed security fund
British Columbia’s budget share for renewable resource management has declined over the last fifty years to just 1% of the provincial budget, leaving fish and wildlife chronically underfunded. The defunding of our renewable resources is costing British Columbians their homes through floods and wildfire, impacting their livelihoods, and impacting their fish and wildlife through decades of underinvestment and politically charged decisions. Dedicated, legislated funding and management decisions insulated from short-term political pressure are the baseline requirements for reversing these trends.
3. Oppose the Federal Firearms Confiscation and Buyback
Ask: Oppose the federal firearms confiscation and buyback program, and commit that provincial and municipal police resources will not be diverted from public safety priorities to administer it.
The federal buyback and compensation firearms program targets law-abiding firearms owners, who are vetted through background checks, instead of the criminals who use illegally obtained or manufactured firearms. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have refused to have police administer it, and other provinces have pushed back too; British Columbia’s position differs from most of the country. Law-abiding owners are not the source of firearms-related public safety risks; and police resources are better spent on those who are.
We are requesting a written response to these three commitments by Tuesday, October 13, 2026, and invite your party to attend a virtual town hall with BC Wildlife Federation members and the public on Monday, October 19, 2026.
