The provincial government is trying to pass legislation to protect itself from being sued over a failed potato venture, the opposition Saskatchewan Party charged last week.
But the minister responsible said that is not true.
Maynard Sonntag told the legislature, and later reporters, that amendments to the Irrigation Act are designed to limit liability only in cases involving irrigation projects.
“It has to relate to irrigation,” Sonntag said. “It in no way prevents Lake Diefenbaker (Potato Corporation) from suing Sask Water or the government for anything.”
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LDPC collapsed last year after the bottom fell out of the market and the corporation was left with storage buildings full of potatoes. The provincial government had provided financial assistance to the corporation.
Opposition leader Elwin Hermanson said that some of the funds were advanced under the Irrigation Act and the government is now trying to cover its tracks.
“If this was some private business that had wheeled into Saskatchewan and ruined the potato industry and left millions of dollars owing, you’d be leading a charge, minister, to take him to court,” Hermanson said during question period. “But when it’s you – then you just pass a law, wash your hands of all responsibility.”
A former LDPC official was quoted in a newspaper as saying a claim against Sask Water would be filed this month.
Sonntag said he hadn’t heard anything about a court case.
“Any lawsuit, if I were to speculate, which I think it’s probably inappropriate for me to do, I believe would probably be around contracts related to leasing,” he said. “This act specifically is about irrigation.”
He said the amendment parallels other legislation that protects the government in certain situations.
“If the province acts irresponsibly it can still be sued,” Sonntag said. “If the province acts responsibly in granting (irrigation) certificates, then it limits the liability of the province from being sued.”
He said the amendments were designed with the input of 2,400 individual irrigators and 28 irrigation districts in the province.
