Feds eyeing new ways to publicly flag possible foreign interference during elections

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 juice to make wine that is less expensive than locally produced wines.

The department said the funding amounts to a 65-35 per cent split — a ratio based on the GDP of wineries and commercial bottlers and the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation’s acquisition costs for their products.

Kumaranayake said the province has also offered an additional $850,000 to operate a wine authority that would help regulate the industry and to formulate a wine sector growth plan.

She said the new funding plan will not take effect by the proposed Oct. 1 date because the wineries don’t want the money, although the government is set to continue talks.

“The premier received a letter saying the farm wine group was not interested in the proposed change, so at this point in time we will remain with the status quo.”

That means funding levels will remain at $5.05 million a year for wineries and $844,000 a year for commercial bottlers, Kumaranayake said.

Thursday’s presentation came after working group co-chair Karl Coutinho informed Premier Tim Houston in a letter earlier this week that he was resigning over the government’s offer, which he characterized as an “enormous disappointment” to the province’s wineries and grape growers.

Winery owners and grape growers say commercial bottlers shouldn’t receive public money, arguing that the province’s offer would effectively subsidize foreign grape juice at the expense of Nova Scotia-grown grapes.

“We’re not looking for more money, we are looking for the proper investment structure,” Coutinho told reporters on Thursday. “It (funding) needs to be more focused on the agricultural side of our industry. What they have presented — albeit it’s more money — but it’s not a salve to the overall issue.”

Although the consultant’s report did recommend that government funding should offset grape imports that have been subsidized by their country of origin, Kumaranayake said that wasn’t possible because the province doesn’t have the ability to determine how much of a subsidy has been applied.

Tim Ramey, of Blomidon Estate Winery, called the government explanation a “red herring.”

“Who else subsidizes imported grapes … where?” an exasperated Ramey asked. “Nowhere.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Halifax police have arrested a third person in a homicide case involving a 16-year-old who went missing two years ago.

Sixteen-year-old Devon Sinclair Marsman was last seen alive on Feb. 24, 2022 and was reported missing from the Spryfield area of Halifax the following month.

Last week, Halifax police arrested two people after human remains were discovered.

Halifax Regional Police say 23-year-old Emma Maria Meta Casey was arrested Wednesday in suburban Dartmouth.

She is facing three charges: obstructing justice; being an accessory after the fact to murder; and causing indignity to human remains.

Last week, police charged 26-year-old Treyton Alexander Marsman with second-degree murder, and charged a second man — a 20-year-old who was a youth at the time of the homicide — with being an accessory after the fact to the murder and obstructing justice.

Halifax police Chief Don MacLean has confirmed the Marsmans “share a familial relationship,” but he declined to be more specific.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

British Columbians could find out who wins the provincial election on Oct. 19 in about the same time it took to start counting ballots in previous votes.

Andrew Watson, a spokesman for Elections BC, says new electronic vote tabulators mean officials hope to have half of the preliminary results for election night reported within about 30 minutes, and to be substantially complete within an hour of polls closing.

Watson says in previous general elections — where votes have been counted manually — they didn’t start the tallies until about 45 minutes after polls closed.

This will B.C.’s first general election using electronic tabulators after the system was tested in byelections in 2022 and 2023, and Watson says the changes will make the process both faster and more accessible.

Voters still mark their candidate on a paper ballot that will then be fed into the electronic counter, while networked laptops will be used to look up peoples’ names and cross them off the voters list.

One voting location in each riding will also offer various accessible voting methods for the first time, where residents will be able to listen to an audio recording of the candidates and make their selection using either large paddles or by blowing into or sucking on a straw.

The province’s three main party leaders are campaigning across B.C. today with NDP Leader David Eby in Chilliwack promising to double apprenticeships for skilled trades, Conservative Leader John Rustad in Prince George talking power generation, and Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau holding an announcement Thursday about mental health.

It comes as a health-care advocacy group wants to know where British Columbia politicians stand on six key issues ahead of an election it says will decide the future of public health in the province.

The BC Health Coalition wants improved care for seniors, universal access to essential medicine, better access to primary care, reduced surgery wait times, and sustainable working conditions for health-care workers.

It also wants pledges to protect funding for public health care, asking candidates to phase out contracts to profit-driven corporate providers that it says are draining funds from public services.

Ayendri Riddell, the coalition’s director of policy and campaigns, said in a statement that British Columbians need to know if parties will commit to solutions “beyond the political slogans” in campaigning for the Oct. 19 election.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.