A proposed $32 million, multi-site hog development has ignited a bitter feud between two neighbouring Saskatchewan rural municipalities.
The RM of St. Philips is threatening to sue the RM of Livingston unless it reverses its stance opposing the Lac La Course Hogs Inc. venture.
Lac La Course is a Big Sky Farms Inc. project, which proposed building five hog barns in eastern Saskatchewan. Three feeder-finisher barns will be constructed in the RM of Livingston, while a sow barn and a weanling barn are proposed for the RM of St. Philips.
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Livingston originally approved of the development but the newly elected council is now opposed to the idea. St. Philips remains in favour of the plan.
Big Sky has provincial approval to build the barns but a request to bury two water lines to supply the three feeder barns was denied by Livingston’s council at a Dec. 8 meeting.
Two weeks later, the municipality received a letter from a lawyer retained by the village of Pelly and the RM of St. Philips threatening legal action unless Livingston reverses its anti-barn stance.
“It is the intention of the RM of St. Philips and the Pelly village council to commence legal proceedings against the RM of Livingston to recover damages,” stated the letter.
Damages include a small sum of money that the village and the municipality invested in the project.
Kenneth Sigurdson, a taxpayer in the RM of Livingston who is opposed to the barns, expressed outrage at the legal threat.
He fired off a letter of his own to Saskatchewan’s minister of justice and the attorney general, asking them to investigate the actions of Big Sky Farms and its supporters.
Sigurdson said the threats violate sections of the Municipal Act and the Criminal Code.
“You cannot threaten legal action on frivolous grounds,” said Sigurdson, who is also a Manitoba co-ordinator for the National Farmers Union.
He said threats are an increasingly common bullying tactic used by hog barn promoters.
“This is quite common in the industry in Manitoba where RMs are threatened with legal action.”
Big Sky chief executive officer Florian Possberg balks at that suggestion. He said Sigurdson and his supporters are the ones who initiated legal action in this case by getting a court order that forced a pro-hog barn councillor to resign over conflict of interest.
“I very much feel like it’s his group that’s bullying and getting minority wishes to push over the will of the community in general, so it’s rather ironic that he should even make such a statement.”
Possberg said the barns, which have been three years in the works, will employ up to 45 full-time and 15 part-time workers. The project will include a feed mill to be built in Livingston, which would buy up to 1.4 million bushels of local feed grains annually.
Big Sky will consider taking legal action against the RM of Livingston if that’s how the project proponents in the RM of St. Philips and the village of Pelly want to proceed.
“We may very well work with them if that’s the direction they decide to go, but we certainly wouldn’t initiate it,” said Possberg.
A spokesperson for Saskatchewan’s department of justice said the minister will respond to Sigurdson’s concerns about the threats, but said it has no mandate or ability to investigate alleged crimes. Debi McEwen said Sigurdson should contact local police.
Even if Big Sky gets the water line permits, the barns won’t be built soon.
“Our project has been put on hold because the economics in the business right now are not the greatest,” said Possberg.
He said his company would put all the barns in the RM of St. Philips if there were five good sites there.
“Sites aren’t a dime a dozen. Good sites are actually hard to find,” he said.
