Province announces forestry innovation rebate program

The Nova Scotia government has launched an innovation rebate program for the forestry sector in its latest attempt to create new avenues for an industry trying to find its way forward after the closure of Northern Pulp.

The program, which will be administered by Nova Scotia Business Inc., will have $5 million a year for fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22 to provide a 25 per cent rebate up to a maximum of $3.75 million. Projects must be worth between $1 million and $15 million.

The fund is aimed at projects that improve production processes, diversify product ranges, increase production capacity or allow entry to new markets and identify new uses and markets for wood fibre.

According to the program criteria on the NSBI website, to receive a rebate a project must also align with the Lahey Report on sustainable forestry practices and not negatively affect the province's preferred status with the United States Department of Commerce.

The money is in addition to a $50-million transition fund the province created in the wake of Northern Pulp's closure. The Pictou County-based mill shut down at the end of January after it was unable to secure approval to build a new effluent treatment facility and the government refused to grant an extension for the use of its existing treatment site.

The government announced recently that the transition fund, which has already allocated $13.5 million, would be topped back up to its original total. The idea for the rebate program comes from the transition team overseeing the fund.

Jeff Bishop, executive director of Forest Nova Scotia and a member of the transition team, said the idea was prompted by the knowledge that any business that might be considering a capital expenditure was probably going to have difficulty getting help from a bank, considering the uncertainty surrounding the industry.

"We know it's not going to answer everybody's questions, but we would never want to be in a spot here where someone is looking to invest here but they just can't find access to the right capital for a small-, medium- or large-sized business that might make sense," he said in an interview.

"I think it was taking stock of, as I say, what tools were in the toolbox that we could leverage at this time to allow folks to do what they want within the business and find access to capital to help them do that."

The transition fund has already made money available for silviculture and road-building work, short-term loans to help with equipment payments and money for retraining and emergency assistance for people affected by the mill's closure.

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