REGINA – A pre-trial conference for one of two groups suing the Saskatchewan government over changes made to the Gross Revenue Insurance Plan has been set for this fall.
Lawyers for 377 farmers in the Prince Albert area, the government and Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation will appear before a Queen’s Bench court judge in Saskatoon Sept. 5.
“They will lay all their cards on the table,” said Wayne Bacon of Kinistino, one of the farmers suing over changes made to GRIP in 1992. “They may come to an agreement if one side decides there is no way to win, but that won’t happen in this case.”
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If no agreement is reached after the conference, a trial date will be set. Bacon said the group is hoping that will be in November or December.
The group favors a trial involving the testimony of witnesses, rather than one where a judge questions each side about information presented in court, he said.
Another group of farmers at Melville is also suing, but their case has not progressed as far as the Prince Albert group.
The farmers say their 1992 GRIP contracts were violated when the government changed the rules of the program after the March 15 deadline. They want damages equal to the difference between their 1991 and 1992 payouts.
Saskatchewan’s GRIP was ended earlier this year. Another group, Farmers Lobbying Against GRIP, has formed to challenge the bills they received when the program was finalized.
