Fernie Chamber of Commerce is adding Fernie’s voice to a growing regional effort to address the workforce, housing and transportation pressures facing resort communities across British Columbia and Alberta.
The Fernie Chamber is a member of the Resort Chambers of Commerce Coalition, a collaborative network of chambers representing resort, mountain and tourism-based communities. The coalition was formed in 2025 to give resort-based businesses a stronger, more coordinated voice on policy issues that directly affect local economies.
For Fernie, the issues are familiar. A strong visitor economy brings opportunity, but it also places pressure on the businesses, workers and infrastructure that keep the community functioning year-round. Employers continue to face challenges attracting and retaining staff, workers continue to face housing barriers, and transportation remains a key issue for residents, visitors and the movement of goods.
The Fernie Chamber’s participation in the coalition fits with its broader advocacy role as the voice of local business. The Chamber describes advocacy as core to its work, representing Fernie businesses at the local, regional, provincial and federal levels, and it represents nearly 300 businesses in Fernie and area.
The Resort Chambers of Commerce Coalition’s first joint action was a policy resolution submitted to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in 2025, focused on immigration and workforce challenges in resort communities. That resolution called for stronger support for long-term immigration pathways, including improvements to the Rural Community Immigration Pilot and other tools that help resort towns build stable local workforces.
The coalition has now released its 2026 advocacy priorities, focusing on three areas: workforce, housing and transportation.
On workforce, the coalition is calling for stronger long-term immigration pathways tailored to rural and resort communities, increased Provincial Nominee Program allocations for provinces with tourism-based economies, expanded childcare access in rural and resort regions, and more provincial investment in settlement and migrant worker support.
For Fernie businesses, labour shortages are not a theoretical issue. Seasonal peaks, service-industry demands, tourism growth and a limited local housing supply all affect the ability of employers to find and keep staff. The Fernie Chamber has already been active on workforce attraction through initiatives such as WorkInFernie, an online job and housing board developed with Tourism Fernie and seed funding from the Province of British Columbia.
Housing is the second major priority. The coalition is advocating for investment and policy support for long-term and seasonal employee housing, increased market housing supply for year-round residents, flexible funding and planning tools that reflect resort-community realities, and federal investment in core infrastructure such as water, sewer and roads to support new housing development.
In resort communities, housing is economic infrastructure. Without places for workers to live, businesses struggle to operate, services become harder to deliver, and the visitor economy becomes less stable. Fernie has seen these pressures play out across the community, from staff recruitment to affordability concerns for residents.
Transportation is the third priority. The coalition is calling for improved highway connectivity and safety on tourism and goods-movement corridors, recognition of transportation infrastructure as a pillar of the tourism economy, and expanded public transit options for residents, workers and visitors. These priorities are especially relevant for communities like Fernie, where regional travel, highway access, commuting and visitor movement all shape the local economy.
“Resort communities are economic engines, yet too often policy is designed with urban realities in mind,” said Caroline Lachapelle, Chair of the Resort Chambers of Commerce Coalition. “Our advocacy priorities reflect real, on-the-ground challenges shared by resort communities across the country.”
The coalition plans to engage with federal, provincial and regional governments throughout 2026 to advance these priorities.
For Fernie, the message is straightforward: resort communities need policy tools that match their realities. Tourism-based economies are not simply smaller versions of urban economies. They operate with seasonal labour demands, high housing pressure, transportation constraints and infrastructure needs that require coordinated government support.
The Fernie Chamber’s involvement in the Resort Chambers of Commerce Coalition gives local businesses another channel to bring those concerns forward. As Fernie continues to grow as a tourism, recreation and lifestyle destination, advocacy on workforce, housing and transportation will remain central to building a resilient local economy.
