Opinions are mixed this morning after the Nova Scotia government announced a $124.5 million deal to keep a Cape Breton paper mill open.

Premier Darrell Dexter announced the agreement with Pacific West Commercial, yesterday, the company that intends to purchase the NewPage paper mill in Port Hawkesbury.

The deal is being scrutinized by the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation, pointing to other deals designed to benefit the province that have failed.

“Here we go again,” said Atlantic director Kevin Lacey. “I mean, we should be shocked that the government is giving this crowd money too. But this is a troublesome deal especially since it was only two months ago when we had the Bowater fiasco.”

The Bowater Mersey Paper Mill in Queens County shut down las December putting over 300 people out of work. The province stepped in, offering Resolute Forest Products a $50-million bailout which included $25-million in land purchases. The mill shut down for good in June.

“We don’t have a very good record here,” Lacey told the Rick Howe Show Monday. “We don’t seem to be learning from our past mistakes.”

Another example is 7.9 million dollars in payroll rebates paid to  Research In Motion along with and $5 million in training funding to establish its Bedford location in 2006. On Aug. 17, RIM laid-off 95 workers.

However, in Port Hawkesbury the deal is being trumpeted as celebratory news.

The province estimated the deal will secure 1,400 jobs and $11 millions in tax revenue.

Mayor Billy Joe McLean estimates Pacific West Commercial will pouring $160 million into the provincial economy in 2013 alone, in operation of the mill.

“The Government of Nova Scotia feels this company is worth keeping,” McLean told the talk show. “It had experts looking at the business proposal. The UARB had looked at it. I think I would take the word of the UARB and the experts that the Premier had, long before Kevin Lacey.”

Under the deal, the provincial government is offering Pacific West Commercial financial incentives including $66.5 million in loans, $26.5 million of which could be forgiven if the Vancouver company meets certain criteria.

The government has also agreed to buy about 20,840 hectares of land from NewPage Port Hawkesbury for $20 million. That money would go to the mill’s creditors.

It would also give Pacific West Commercial $3.8 million annually for 10 years to support forest land management and sustainable harvesting.