Premier suggests payment to Metis group could delay flood control projects

WINNIPEG — Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has written a newspaper editorial where he suggests a payout to the province’s Metis federation could lead to delays in future flood control measures.

Pallister suggests in Saturday’s Winnipeg Free Press that if Manitoba Hydro agreed to pay the Manitoba Metis Federation close to $70 million for its cooperation on future projects, it would set a precedent.

He suggests the government might also have to pony up when it attempts to move forward with an outlet from Lake Manitoba, which he says is meant to prevent devastating floods like ones that occurred in 2011.

On Friday, Manitoba appointed five new people to the Manitoba Hydro board after all but one member quit en masse earlier in the week, citing their inability to secure a meeting with Pallister.

In the editorial, Pallister says Crowns Minister Cliff Cullen and his senior officials met or spoke with the Hydro board chair many times in the past year.

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He suggests buying cooperation for Hydro projects now could cause delays on the Lake Manitoba project, and even another flood.

“What if all this causes such delay that we experience another flood similar to 2011 in the interim?” Pallister asks in the editorial. 

“Will we be spending another $400 million on housing and returning displaced residents to their homes? Will we be spending millions more on compensation payments for lives disrupted and homes, farms and cottages destroyed?

“Before too long, we would be looking at a billion-dollar boondoggle. A billion dollars of taxpayers’ money spent on an entirely preventable scenario.”

The province has been consulting with 14 First Nations in the Interlake region for flood outlet channels for Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin.

Pallister has previously called the channels one of the most significant infrastructure projects in a generation.

Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand was not available to respond to Pallister’s editorial on Saturday afternoon, but has already accused the premier of using “race card” tactics.

Federation spokeswoman Lindsay Ridgley said the group was preparing its own editorial to be run sometime this week.

The premier has said the dispute with the previous Hydro board stemmed from a proposal it submitted last fall to pay the Metis federation $67 million over 20 years in relation to new hydro developments.

A copy of the proposed deal says the federation would agree not to oppose projects for up to 50 years.

Former chair Sanford Riley said the settlement made sense in light of recent court rulings that have supported Metis rights, and Chartrand has said the money was partly to compensate for land cleared for hydro poles.

Pallister, however, has called the settlement “persuasion money.”

“This situation was not caused by a lack of communication. It was caused by our government’s refusal to agree to a deal that would have been bad for Manitoba. A deal that tries to sell away the future rights of Metis people to express their views on Hydro projects,” Pallister wrote.

The Canadian Press