GTH land deals benefit taxpayers, Wall says
Province hit with lawsuit filed by McNally Enterprises over parcel prices
REGINA Rare has been the campaign stop in Regina where Saskatchewan Party Leader Brad Wall hasn’t been asked about the controversial Global Transportation Hub (GTH) land deals.
The issue showed up again at the Regina Pasqua campaign office of Muhammad Fiaz on Thursday morning, where Wall was drumming up support and remonstrating about the costing of the NDP’s campaign platform.
There have been two recent developments in the GTH controversy. At the heart of both lies land appraisals.
First up, a company called McNally Enterprises is suing the provincial government over a deal for two parcels of land bought for the Regina Bypass.
On Tuesday, McNally’s lawyers filed a statement of claim alleging that in 2010, the Ministry of Highways bought the land for $9,000 and $11,000 per acre, respectively, from McNally. A statement of claim includes allegations not yet proven in court. No statement of defence has been filed.
The claim goes on to allege that the ministry “rejected” an independent land appraisal by Colliers International, which assigned the parcels a value of $38,000 per acre. The ministry allegedly called the price “unrealistic.”
McNally claims the ministry stated “the appraiser would be reported to its professional organization ... for incompetence,” and argues the ministry “knew or ought to have known” that they money it was offering “was not due compensation.”
In the case of the GTH deals that are haunting the Sask. Party, the then-owners of another piece of land, Anthony Marquart and Harold Rotstien, also presented the Crown corporation with an independent land appraisal. It apparently priced land by the GTH at $129,000 per acre, while the Crown’s own evaluation put the price between $51,000 and $65,000 per acre.
Wall said Thursday that “everyone would get the same arrangement when government is acquiring land,” but unlike the McNally case, the GTH upped its offering price to Marquart and Rotstien, meeting the owners at $103,000 per acre.
The second issue concerns that appraisal; the provincial NDP requested it using freedom of information laws, but was denied.
On Thursday, Wall wouldn’t get into the legal action against the Ministry of Highways, but said the reason the appraisal wasn’t released is that the land sellers and the GTH would both have to give their permission — and, until that point, Marquart and Rotstien hadn’t done so.
Marquart could not be reached for comment.
Wall is “encouraging” the GTH to get permission to make the document public, saying, “I would like this appraisal out there,” because it shows “taxpayers are making money on this.”
“The land’s worth $129,000 an acre. We, GTH, paid $103,000, and since then we’ve sold 30 acres for $256,000,” he said.
At a post-debate breakfast Thursday morning, NDP Leader Cam Broten said the statement of claim creates more frustration about how the Wall government handled the land deal.
“I’m hearing this everywhere in the province,” he said. “(People) know something fishy went on and something doesn’t smell right, and I’m picking that up everywhere I travel in the province.”
Broten said Wall’s justifications for acquiring land in the area, which saw significant differences in appraisal values, do not hold water.
“When you see lawsuits coming forward from folks in the business community I think that’s a pretty good indication, on top of the RM of Sherwood and regular taxpayers, who are outraged by this and rightfully so,” said Broten.
One transaction being tied to a Saskatchewan Party donor is also curious, according to Broten.
“That deserves a proper explanation, as do the many other business people in the area, the nuns who were ripped off in the first place and regular taxpayers who have had millions of dollars wasted.”