A new system for killing salmon will cost $4.8 billion over 10 years, but Ottawa says it will provide a $400,000 rebate to each of the $1.3 billion in federal subsidies that will be spent on the project.
That rebate is part of a package of $5.3-billion in federal money earmarked for the project, but only if the salmon are killed with a new, advanced technology that is being developed by the University of Victoria in British Columbia.
Ottawa said the new technology will be used on the southernmost part of the Fraser River in Vancouver and will be capable of killing between two and three million tonnes of fish a year.
The $4-billion project will cost taxpayers $1,000 per salmon.
But the federal Liberals say it will pay for itself by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and cutting the cost and time of processing the fish.
Fisheries Minister Scott Brison says the federal government will provide $400 million to the provincial government for the fish farm that will operate along the southern Fraser.
He said the rebate will cover the cost to the province of up to $200 million over the next five years.
The project will require an injection of $3.8-billion for the first five years and $4 billion for the remaining 10 years.