Outfitters warn any N.B. ban on American hunters and anglers would devastate industry

FREDERICTON — The New Brunswick premier is facing pressure from some small businesses in her province to back away from a proposal to cut off Americans who cross the border to hunt and fish.

Susan Holt floated the idea among a number of proposals being considered across the country to bite back amid the United States-Canada trade war.

Holt’s Liberal government has already taken some steps in response to escalating tariffs placed on Canadian goods by U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republican administration.

These include banning the province’s liquor agency from purchasing U.S. alcohol as well as introducing new rules to restrict U.S. suppliers from bidding on provincial government contracts.

She has also proposed to cut off electricity exports to a part of Maine that relies on New Brunswick power.

But Holt recently suggested a new tact: banning the sale of licences that big-spending foreigners require to hunt New Brunswick’s wildlife.

“Among a suite of other actions taken in response to Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods, government is exploring potential restrictions on non-resident hunters and anglers,” a spokesperson for Holt’s office said in a statement Wednesday.

“Any decision would follow the typical legislative process, which includes considerable stakeholder engagement. We have no further updates.”

However, the small businesses that offer packages for hunting and fishing say such a policy would ban their biggest customers and wipe out their industry.

Clay Harrison, head of the United Guides and Outfitters of New Brunswick, says any move to block foreigners from hunting and fishing would cause serious damage.

“It would be devastating to the industry,” Clay Harrison, head of the United Guides and Outfitters of New Brunswick, said in an interview.

“There are generations of outfitters in the province who have created relationships based solely on their U.S. clientele.”

About 85 per cent of the industry’s clients are from the United States, according to Harrison, who has been an outfitter owner-operator for 27 years.

The annual five-day moose hunt taking place this week in New Brunswick is expected to bring in $1.9 million from American hunters through tag fees, outfitter services, taxidermists, meat processors and other businesses, he said.

A study from the Canadian Federation of Outfitter Associations reported that of the $8.9 million spent in New Brunswick by clients of outfitters who came to hunt and fish in 2017, $7.3 million came from foreign clients.

The same report found that more than $2 billion was spent by foreigners on hunting and fishing across Canada, about two-thirds the total national amount.

Scott Ellis, the federation’s vice chair, said the industry has continued to thrive despite the trade war and that a licence ban was a “crazy idea” that would only harm Canadians.

“It’s a little bit short-sighted … it sounds like they want elbows up and to impact the Americans (but) they haven’t thought it through,” Ellis said by phone.

“I would say they need a sober second look to understand that that kind of … ban of tourists is going to hurt a multimillion, multibillion-dollar industry.

He said no other province is considering a similar move to ban foreign hunters and anglers.

Nova Scotia’s Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton recently said his department has had no discussions about implementing comparable licence restrictions for hunting in the province.

“There’s no conversation on the table as of yet. I know as things evolve and things change that could change,” he said.

Don Desserud, chair of the University of Prince Edward Island’s political science department, said the New Brunswick government may just be testing the appetite as it looks for ways to put pressure on the U.S.

“It’s not unusual for governments to send up trial balloons,” Desserud, who is originally from Bathurst, N.B. and has spent some of his career in the province, said Wednesday by phone.

While Holt’s proposal may be unpopular and politically risky, he said, “it at least shows some imagination and it’s kind of an interesting idea.”

And, instead of taking a straightforward tit-for-tat trade approach, Desserud noted a ban on American recreational hunters could potentially place pressure on Republican voters that typically make up Trump’s voting bloc.

“Symbolic gestures that actually get the attention of particular demographics in the United States … are important because they have influence and they can carry that influence forward in their political world,” he said.

Glen Savoie, interim leader of the official Opposition, said a ban on American hunters and anglers would only hurt the “home team.”

“It’s an idiotic idea by Susan Holt for her to be pondering an attack on the livelihoods of our outfitters, our guides, our cooks — all the people who work in hunting and sport fishing,” Savoie said by phone.

The Progressive Conservative representative said Holt floating the idea of banning the foreign licences showed how incapable the Liberal government was in handling the tariffs.

“She’s always attacking the home team, and that home team happens to live in rural New Brunswick,” Savoie added.

Meanwhile, should New Brunswick decide to deny the Americans access to it wildlife, Ellis said businesses in the province where he operates would be happy to get more customers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2026.

Eli Ridder, The Canadian Press