Canada: Nova Scotia government defends funding offer rejected by wine industry

HALIFAX — An offer of additional financial aid to Nova Scotia’s wine industry is still on the table despite being rejected by grape growers earlier this week, say provincial officials. During a briefing Thursday, Finance Department officials said the offer presented to an industry working group last week is fair and complies with international trade rules. “We think it’s reasonable, (and) it’s rooted in the evidence that our consultant provided for us,” said associate deputy minister Lilani Kumaranayake, referring to an independent report authored by Acadia University business professors Donna Sears and Terrance Weatherbee. The offer would increase payments to wineries and grape growers by an additional $1.6 million — for a total of $6.6 million per year — and it would give payments capped at $1 million per year to each the province's two commercial wine bottlers. The province’s winemakers say subsidies for bottlers are unfair because they help the bottlers import cheap grape ...