Media releases

• CCOVI celebrates 30 years of industry impact

  Wednesday, September 02, 2026 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE – Sept. 2, 2026 — R0076

  Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) has aged like fine wine.

  The premier grape and wine science institute has only improved with time, growing its reputation as an invaluable industry partner over the past 30 years.

  The Institute marked its milestone anniversary on Wednesday, Sept. 2 with a celebration on campus that reflected on its humble beginnings and promising future.

  “For 30 years, CCOVI has been an important part of Brock University’s identity and a flagship example of the impact a university can have when it brings together education, research and industry,” said Lesley Rigg, President and Vice-Chancellor. “CCOVI has helped establish Brock as a leader in oenology and viticulture education and research while creating meaningful connections between the University and the grape and wine sector.”

  CCOVI was established in 1996 through an agreement between Brock, the Grape Growers of Ontario and what was then the Wine Council of Ontario (now Ontario Craft Wineries and Wine Growers Ontario).

  Its research, expertise and skilled learners have since contributed to the growth and resilience of Canada’s grape and wine industry, supporting producers and industry partners across the country as they respond to changing growing conditions, emerging threats and new opportunities.

  “When I look back through the years, there are so many milestones that we have accomplished together in partnership with industry and government, both provincially and federally. It’s quite remarkable,” said CCOVI Director Debbie Inglis.

  The latest in the long lineup of achievements is the planting of the first grapevines at the Brock University Norris W. Walker Research Farm, which took place earlier this summer.

  “The creation of the research vineyard marks a pivotal moment in CCOVI’s history,” Inglis said. “In addition to supporting other research, the site will be a key part of expanding Brock’s Clean Plant Program, which is critical to supporting Canada’s $11.6-billion grape and wine industry.”

  Working alongside the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Canadian Grapevine Certification Network (CGCN), among other partners, Brock is one of only two facilities in the country to house a germplasm collection of certified virus-tested grapevines and the only testing provider to CGCN for their clean plant program.

  CCOVI’s growth through the years would not have been possible without the initial Canada Foundation for Innovation grant in 1997 and successful capital campaign led by Canadian wine icons Donald Ziraldo and John Howard that supported the Institute’s inception.

  “I am thankful every day I walk around and see the donor plaques throughout the Institute that helped us get to where we are today,” Inglis said.

  Reflecting on CCOVI’s early days, Ziraldo, the co-founder of Inniskillin Wines, expressed pride in the decision to help implement its creation so many years ago.

  “Every great wine region all over the world has institutes of higher learning, and 30 years ago we had the fortitude to start CCOVI,” he said.

  In addition to its research and service contributions, CCOVI’s presence in the industry remains strong through the many students who’ve found their passion in Brock’s Applied Grape and Wine Science program — the only one of its kind in Canada — as well as professionals who’ve continued their education and enhanced their skills at all stages of their careers.

  “It is hard to believe it has been 30 years since I first learned about CCOVI and found myself enrolled one year later,” said Brock graduate Shiraz Mottiar (BSc ’00), who is now Malivoire Wine Company’s Team Principal, General Manager and Winegrowing Director, as well as the Chair of CCOVI’s Advisory Council. “CCOVI was my launch pad to the most dynamic career I could have imagined; it’s always evolving. Staying connected to the research and outreach that CCOVI provides us in the Ontario wine industry has been instrumental to our success.”

  The anniversary celebration also included a focus on Brock’s graduates, who are now celebrated winemakers. More than 150 award-winning VQA wines made by Brock alumni from across Canada were donated to be poured for guests at the event.

  Learn more about CCOVI at brocku.ca/ccovi

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  *Maryanne St. Denis, Associate Director, Strategic Communications, Brock University, [email protected] or 905-246-0256

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  Categories: Media releases

• Renaming of Lake Ontario signals widening fracture in U.S.-Canada relations: Brock experts

  Wednesday, September 02, 2026 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY – Sept. 2, 2026 — R0075

  U.S. President Donald Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario is the latest manoeuvre in his ongoing campaign to undermine Canada’s sovereignty, say experts from Brock University’s Department of Political Science.

  In the days following the breakdown of U.S.-Canada trade negotiations, Trump signed an executive order to change the lake’s more-than-400-year-old name to Lake America, despite its longstanding Indigenous roots.

  Professor Blayne Haggart says Trump’s latest escalation emphasizes why Prime Minister Mark Carney was right to walk away from the negotiating table.

  “On the face of it, the whole renaming is ridiculous, but it’s what it reflects that’s important: that Donald Trump is not interested in a good trade deal for the United States or Canada. He’s interested in dominating Canada,” Haggart says. “Canadians and Canadian leaders have to come to terms with the fact that this means an agreement we can trust, a binding agreement with the United States, is a literal impossibility for the foreseeable future.”

  The ability for countries to sign agreements with each other is based on trust and their faith that each country involved in the negotiation will keep their word. Trump’s actions, Haggart says, have shown Canada, and other countries around the world, that U.S. leadership can’t currently be trusted.

  “We can’t sign any agreement with them, because it won’t be worth the paper it’s written on,” he says. “And any terms we agree to will, in essence, be terms of surrender or terms of subjugation, because that’s what the United States is interested in.”

  Companies like Google and Apple deciding to implement the name change, even though they’re not legally required to, reflects the ongoing symbiotic relationship between U.S. tech companies and the U.S. government, Haggart says.

  “It should raise questions in Canada about the wisdom of continuing to depend on U.S. digital technologies, in government, business and the post-secondary education sector,” he adds. “There is no reason to think that this dependence couldn’t be weaponized again against Canada, by U.S. companies afraid of making Trump angry.”

  Rather than sway public opinion in the U.S.’s favour, Associate Professor Paul Hamilton says the executive order will have the opposite effect.

  “It will galvanize already strong support for the Canadian government’s position among the public,” he says. “It might also cause serious division between border state Republicans and the rest of the party.”

  Hamilton says while some private and public corporations in Canada have seen their digital maps default to the name change since the executive order, many have pointed out it was not intentional and will be corrected. In the U.S., references to Lake Ontario will be changed at the federal level, but Hamilton says individual states are not obliged to follow the executive order, adding the order has no authority outside of the U.S. and can be reversed by any future President.

  “This bizarre action serves only to diminish the President’s stature and is strange considering the huge issues facing the U.S. today, such as the economy, Iran and the upcoming elections,” he says.

  Associate Professor Stefan Dolgert sees the renaming as another attempt by Trump to assert dominance over Canada through actions meant to belittle and demean the country.

  “He wants to smash his imprint on the world,” says Dolgert, likening this behaviour to the kind of fascist politics Trump has been accused of admiring from leaders like Hitler and Mussolini. “It’s all in service of the cult of personality.”

  Canada has allowed itself to become dependent on the U.S., Dolgert says, recognizing that Carney’s work to pursue trade arrangements with other countries is aimed at reducing that dependence.

  “America was a gigantic market that we could sell our goods to, and we made a lot of money from that, but this dependency has become a sword that’s hanging over our head,” he says.

  While this is a “fundamental thing that has to change,” it’s equally important for Canada to push back against Trump and stand up to his bullying tactics, he adds.

  “Both Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford have been similarly aligned in that strategy. You don’t want to show weakness.”

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  *Melinda Cheevers, Communications Specialist, Brock University, [email protected] or 289-241-5855

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  Categories: Media releases