Premier Tim Houston met with representatives from the province’s wine industry yesterday to announce they will be pausing the subsidy for wine bottlers. 

This is following backfire from many in the province’s farm-wine sector that this would help commercial producers who would be sourcing grape juice from outside the province, helping them to reduce costs and putting local wineries at a disadvantage. 

The government did confirm some money was already given to the commercial wine bottlers before this pause was announced, but said he cannot disclose how much they received. 

Houston told the dozens of wine producers in the legislature today that he will be creating a working group to come up with a new plan that will satisfy all players in the sector. 

 

 

The president of the Nova Scotia Nurses Union said that “Unsustainable pressure” is pushing people out of nursing, and making potential future nurses second guess joining nurses in the first place. 

Union president Janet Hazelton said she has never seen this level burnout in her 40 year career as a nurse, with 1000 openings in Nova Scotia Health alone, leading to hundreds of thousands of hours in overtime and missed vacations.

They said they recognize work is happening to try to improve the working conditions and recruitment, but more needs to happen and it needs to happen faster.

 

 

The Canada Border Services Agency says its officers recently seized 1.5 tonnes of cocaine at a port in Halifax. 

RCMP Supt. Jason Popik said in an interview yesterday that they are waiting for final testing, but they are almost certain it is pure cocaine. 

Popik says the drugs weren’t destined for Halifax, but was on its way to Europe on a ship that was loaded in Los angeles and travelled through the panama canal

 

 

A sports note, The Pictou County Weeks Junior A Crushers are looking to get ahead in their 3rd playoff game of the season in Amherst tonight.