Houston government puts a cork in controversial wine program

The Houston government is bowing to pressure from Nova Scotia's farm-wine sector and hitting pause on a program it quietly launched in January to help two commercial winemakers.

Premier Tim Houston announced the reversal at an impromptu gathering of wine-industry workers, who packed the foyer of Province House on Tuesday.

"The commercial wine program, as it has been announced, will be paused," Houston told the dozens of people gathered around him.

Some of those who have helped build the province's grape-growing and winemaking industry from scratch criticized the program, saying it would help commercial producers who used grape juice from outside the province to make their wine.

They said the subsidy would help Ontario-based Peller Estates and Devonian Coast cut their costs and reduce their prices, putting homegrown wines at a disadvantage.

Michael Lightfoot, the owner of Lightfoot and Wolfville Vineyards, called the about-face a place to start.

"We should have been consulted from the beginning and I think that this is a positive way forward if we can freeze what's already been done and go back to the starting line and rebuild this together in a collaborative, positive way," he said.

Houston said it was never the province's intention to pit one part of the sector against another.

"The farm wine [sector], obviously incredibly important, the commercial wine, also room for that," said Houston. "Nobody wants to advantage one component of the industry to the disadvantage of another component.

"We don't always get these things perfect, doesn't mean we weren't trying. We want to grow the industry. We want to grow the economy. Obviously, concerns have been raised and heard, and I would say respected."

After a Question Period dominated by questions about the program, Houston confirmed commercial producers had started receiving subsidies from the province but refused to say how much, claiming that information needed to be protected.

"It's commercially sensitive, it's trade sensitive," Houston told reporters. "I would love to end this scrum by just throwing it out there but I have an obligation that's much bigger than that as the premier of the province."

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill drew a parallel between that position and Houston's stance as opposition leader when he went to court to force the province to release the fee it was paying Bay Ferries to run the service between Yarmouth and Maine.

"He said it was for the sake of democracy and transparency that he was doing that," said Churchill. "He's certainly speaking out of both sides of his mouth now."