Nova Scotia’s premier says he will sit down with wineries to discuss possible funding

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said Thursday he’s willing to meet with the province’s wine industry to try to resolve an impasse over the financial help his government has offered grape growers.

Tim Houston made the comments following a cabinet meeting, after grape growers last week rejected the government’s offer of an extra $1.6 million in support.

The additional money would have brought the total government funding for farm wineries to $6.6 million per year. The proposal, however, also offered payments capped at $1 million per year to each of the province’s two commercial wine bottlers.

The wineries walked away from the offer calling it unfair because it included a subsidy to commercial bottlers, who import cheap grape juice to make wine that is less expensive than locally produced wines. They also demanded a face-to-face meeting with the premier.

Houston said Nova Scotia’s wine industry is important and has “lots of potential” so he’s open to more discussions because the government wants to help.

“We have great respect for those who are working in the industry,” he said. “We haven’t landed in a place where everyone feels comfortable, but we’ll certainly try to. I think the next step is to sit down and have a frank discussion about what’s possible.”

Karl Coutinho, co-owner of Avondale Sky Winery and board chair of Wine Growers Nova Scotia, said the premier’s offer of a meeting was “positive news.”

“That’s what we’ve been asking for,” Coutinho said in an interview Thursday, adding that farm wineries would like to set something up as soon as possible, despite being busy with their harvest season.

“We don’t want to put it off until the end of harvest, it’s far too important to our industry,” he said.

The Liberal and NDP leaders said Thursday that the government has to reach a deal that addresses concerns by wineries that they will be subject to unfair competition if support goes to commercial bottlers.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said there is no economic reason for the province to be supporting commercial wine bottlers.

“They (government) should do the right thing and support the part of the wine sector that contributes more to our economy, more to tax revenue and more to job creation,” Churchill said.

According to an economic impact report prepared by Acadia University business professors Donna Sears and Terrance Weatherbee, released last week by the grape growers, a conservative estimate of the direct GDP generated by farm winery operations in 2022 was $26.95 million with an additional $6.29 million generated by hospitality and retail services at farm wineries.

The total direct and spinoff GDP of commercial wine bottling operations was $17.63 million, the report said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press