The spokeswoman for wineries and grape growers says the Nova Scotia wine industry could be 'devastated' by upcoming changes to pricing.The outlook for Nova Scotia’s wine industry this year: good.A letter to Premier Tim Houston and three cabinet ministers from Haley Brown, executive director ofA ruling by the World Trade Organization in response to a complaint from Australia means Canadian wines are no longer exempt from excise duty.
“Without a solution that ensures access to provincial retail shelves, N.S. farm wineries face losing 25-50 per cent of their revenue in 2023, depending on the volume of their business with these retailers.” Brown said Ontario and B.C. have found ways to support their provincial wineries that can withstand trade challenges. She suggests Nova Scotia come up with a program to support farm wineries, administered by Perennia or another provincial agency not linked to the NSLC.This would “therefore meet a guardrail that the province has identified as necessary for trade compliance,” the letter says.
Brown acknowledges the Nova Scotia government has committed to finding a replacement program that will provide support to local farm wineries. “Despite our budding industry’s progress, we remain fragile as we contend with many headwinds outside of our control — interprovincial trade barriers, inflation, global supply chain disruption, and new excise duty imposition to name a few. And despite these challenges, we all agree that the biggest threat to our collective survival is the loss of , which is absolutely critical to the financial survival of Nova Scotia wineries using local grapes.