Nova Scotia announces $300K pilot program to help consumers identify local products

With a possible trade war looming, the Nova Scotia government on Thursday announced a $300,000 pilot program to make it easier for people to identify local products.

Development Minister Colton LeBlanc said that with what's happening "geopolitically" it's important to make it easier for Nova Scotians to identify and buy products from the province.

U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening economy-wide tariffs on Canada and Mexico that could go ahead as early as next week, which would likely lead to retaliatory tariffs.

"I think what we are seeing right now has brought a heightened sense of awareness to the importance of supporting local," LeBlanc told reporters. "We want to make it even easier for Nova Scotians to identify products and support the producers and harvesters that are contributing in an immense way to our local economy."

The program will allow businesses whose products qualify to apply for a 70 per cent rebate on eligible expenses they incur for adding the "Nova Scotia Loyal" logo to their products. The blue and white logo with the provincial flag at the bottom says "Made in Nova Scotia" and "Nova Scotia Loyal."

The rebates, up to a maximum of $3,000 per business, will help cover expenses such as graphic design work and the printing and production of new packaging and labels.

LeBlanc said the labelling program is a response to what companies have said is an important part of getting people to buy their products.

The minister pointed to an online poll released last week by Halifax-based Narrative Research that indicated general public enthusiasm for buying Canadian products.

The poll found that 94 per cent of respondents in Atlantic Canada agreed that retailers should make it easier to identify products that are made in Canada. The survey, conducted Feb. 10-19, included 1,136 Atlantic Canadian residents.

Joanna Gould-Thorpe, of Avon Valley Floral in Falmouth, N.S., says her company grows plants and flowers for multiple big box stores and labelling is a key part of helping people discover their products.

"Any time a person knows that they are purchasing a plant, a flower that has been grown in Nova Scotia, and specifically in the (Annapolis) Valley, they are all over buying that over anything else that's been imported from another area," said Gould-Thorpe, who attended the news conference.

While the rebate program will not cover all labelling costs, Gould-Thorpe said that 70 per cent is a "reasonable number."

Rebecca Tran, of the Station Food Company, in Newport Station, N.S., said the government support will help companies change boxes, labels and packaging in order to make their products more identifiable as local.