SASKATOON – It may not yet rival the Hundred Years War, but a lawsuit challenging changes to Saskatch-ewan’s GRIP program is taking longer than Wayne Bacon and Ed Sulewski ever thought it would.
Back in 1992, the provincial government changed the rules governing the now defunct Gross Revenue Insurance Plan after the original March 15 deadline had passed.
That prompted two groups of farmers to take the government to court, charging that the province had violated their contracts and demanding retroactive payments for 1992 based on 1991 GRIP rules.
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federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
Bacon and Sulewski, spokespersons for the groups, accuse the government of deliberately dragging things out in the hope the farmers will lose interest or run out of money and drop their legal challenge.
“The government has been jacking us around for almost two years,” said Sulewski, one of a group of farmers based in the Melville area who have launched a class action suit on behalf of all GRIP contract holders. “It’s a stalling game.”
Determined to fight
Bacon, one of 386 farmers from the Prince Albert area seeking damages in the other suit, said the government is mistaken if it thinks it can win a war of attrition.
“We’re not going to run out of money and we’re not going to go away,” he said.
The lawyer representing the provincial government rejected any suggestion the province is deliberately slowing down the legal process.
John-Paul Ellson said the problem is that the two groups of farmers have not been ready to move along at the same pace, even though the courts have said they want the two very similar actions to go to trial together.
The Prince Albert group completed examination for discovery last August and is nearly ready to go to pre-trial conference. The Melville group has not even started examination for discovery.
In examination for discovery, lawyers from both sides question witnesses to find out what evidence will eventually be presented at trial. At a pre-trial conference, both sides appear before a judge with documents supporting their position and attempt to settle without going to trial.
Ellson said he would be “pleasantly surprised” if these cases were settled out of court. The earliest trial date is probably in November.
While Bacon mainly blames the government for delays, he also expressed frustration with the Mel-ville group, saying it hasn’t been as aggressive as it should.
“The other group has been really slowing us up,” he said. “We’re ready to go.”
Sulewski said the Melville group’s lawyer has been constantly pushing the province to move ahead, but to no avail.
Regardless of who’s to blame, said Sulewski it’s important that farmers in the province know the battle is continuing.
“I think a lot of people have forgotten about it and decided it’s a dead issue,” he said. “But I don’t want farmers to forget, because they’ve got money coming.”
