Nova ScotiaThe presence of its head office in Nova Scotia was helpful for Sobeys in obtaining an untendered contract in 2024 as part of a new government buy-local program, MLAs on a legislature committee heard Wednesday.Grocery giant received untendered $950K contract in 2024Michael Gorman · CBC News · Posted: Oct 22, 2025 5:13 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoSobeys received an untendered contract worth about $950,000 as part of the Nova Scotia Loyal program in 2024. (CBC)The presence of its head office in Nova Scotia was helpful for Sobeys in obtaining an untendered contract in 2024 as part of a new government buy-local program, MLAs on a legislature committee heard Wednesday.“It helps when head offices are located in this province,” Chris Morrissey, deputy minister of growth and development, told MLAs on the public accounts committee.“You can talk to executives a lot faster because they’re around and available to us.”Morrissey said the public’s familiarity with the Stellarton-headquartered grocery giant’s Scene+ points program was another selling point in the awarding of the $950,000 contract last year as part of the Nova Scotia Loyal program.Chris Morrissey is deputy minister for the Growth and Development Department. (Paul Poirier/CBC)But government officials also said that in 2022, representatives for all major retailers were approached at the same time with the same offer to join the program.Melissa Quinn, the Nova Scotia Loyal project executive, told the committee that Sobeys officials seemed most interested and best positioned to act first, in part because of existing buy-local promotions in their stores.“They have 162 producers who are currently supplying Sobeys. Loblaws only has 75,” she said of the Superstore parent company. Walmart officials were unable to provide details of how many local products they had on their shelves, said Quinn.“So that level of readiness, it was very different.”The Sobeys contract allowed the government to offer additional Scene+ points to Sobeys shoppers when they bought Nova Scotia products. There were also bonus Air Miles points for shoppers at the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation.Mixed reaction to N.S. choice of national grocery giant for $6M buy local program Houston defends changes to loyalty program that Opposition calls ‘laughably stupid’ The rewards portion of Nova Scotia Loyal ended after about a year and the government has since redirected spending toward an increase in $10 farmers’ market vouchers provided to students and newcomers to the province.Is it making things better?Morrissey told reporters the decision to shift from a rewards-style program followed data showing an initial 20 per cent increase in sales for Nova Scotia products had plateaued. An analysis showed that growth would be maintained even if reward points were no longer offered, but it was unlikely that extra reward points would result in further growth, he said.The program provided 135,000 vouchers to grade school students in 2024. This year, 215,000 vouchers went out and were extended to post-secondary students and newcomers.The government also introduced a component of Nova Scotia Loyal that helps local companies with the cost of branding to make their products stand out on store shelves.“More participation means more people are aware and then they’re going to buy more products,” said Morrissey.Opposition members said they have concerns about the level of tracking the government is doing to be able to assess whether Nova Scotia Loyal is having as much of an impact as it can.“We need to know if it’s making life better for Nova Scotians, is it making life better for Nova Scotia producers and farmers,” NDP MLA Lisa Lachance told reporters.MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORMichael Gorman covers the Nova Scotia legislature for CBC, with additional focuses on health care and rural communities. Contact him with story ideas at michael.gorman@cbc.ca
Sobeys’ local presence, readiness helped it earn Nova Scotia Loyal contract, MLAs hear
