Trade dispute over Port Hawkesbury paper mill not worrying premier

The province’s handling of a Port Hawkesbury paper mill has led to a trade dispute that’s going to be taken to the World Trade Organization.

Officials in the United States say they’ll be investigating “troubling” questions about subsidies, but Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter doesn’t seem worried.

As to whether the $124.5-million aid package that saved the sale could be an illegal subsidy, Dexter says the advice from lawyers here has been that everything’s been on the level all the way through.

“We took all the appropriate legal advice and we also note that the United States has been engaged in mass subsidies to their mills for a considerable period of time,” said Dexter after his weekly cabinet meeting.

A paper mill in Maine makes the same grade of product that the Port Hawkesbury mill started rolling out Wednesday.

“We are about a month away from a US election,” said Dexter. “Naturally enough, people who are running for election want to be seen as taking positions to protect their business and their people and we understand that. We’re in that business too.”

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk says the United States will raise the matter of the deal this month at meetings of the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Subsidies.

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