Gov’t urged to dump law firm

Oct 22, 2004

News Page A3

By James Wood of The StarPhoenix

REGINA – The Saskatchewan Party called on the NDP government Thursday to dump the law firm that handled the Spudco case from doing any more work for the Crown Investments Corp. (CIC) because of controversial comments and a too-cosy relationship with the government. Wayne Elhard, the Opposition’s Crown corporations critic, said the firm of Olive, Waller, Zinkhan and Waller is too close to the NDP government and its work has been politicized. "I think the connection between the government and CIC and that law firm are far too close and has been historically too close. . . . The people of this province would be well-served, if independent and arm’s-length legal advice would be available to the government," Elhard told reporters Thursday. The lawsuit against the government was just settled for $7.9 million, driving up the government’s total loss on its failed venture into the potato industry to $34.4 million. Olive, Waller, Zinkhan and Waller was paid more than $800,000 for its work on the case in the last four years. Members of the firm have served in prominent positions with the government, such as Wil Olive serving as Premier Lorne Calvert’s special adviser on investment attraction from 2002 to 2003 and Tom Waller becoming president of CIC this year. In his position, Waller is kept at arm’s-length from any decisions relating to his former firm. In a meeting of the legislature’s Standing Committee on Crowns and Central Agencies, Opposition members also took issue with comments attributed to "government lawyers" by one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit earlier this week. Bob Tullis said "government lawyers called us just a bunch of dumb farmers and we beat you on GRIP and we’ll beat you at this." Saskatchewan Party MLA Dan D’Autremont said the government’s lead lawyer on the Spudco file was Fred Zinkhan, of Olive, Waller, Zinkhan and Waller. "He was the chief spokesperson for the government on this particular law case. If it’s not Mr. Zinkhan that was speaking on behalf of the government, perhaps the minister could clarify who were the lawyers?" he said. Crown Management Board Minister Pat Atkinson told the committee she did not know whether Zinkhan had made the comments or even if it had been made at all. Zinkhan angrily denies he ever made the comment. "Did I make those statements? Of course not," he said. "Why are they going out and making these comments now? Did you ever ask yourself that, what’s the agenda? . . . Maybe the agenda is a political one, maybe it’s to embarrass the government." Bryon Burnett, who was then with CIC and is now an assistant deputy minister with the Saskatchewan centennial office, was at the meeting and said Thursday he had no recollection of the statement being made. Atkinson said she had spoken with Zinkhan and the two other government officials who were at the meeting and all said the comments were not made. She said she had no reason to disbelieve them but planned to speak with Tullis as well. "If this is what he heard, it’s certainly not the attitude or the view of the provincial government," she said. Atkinson said the Opposition’s call to drop Olive, Waller, Zinkhan and Waller was politically motivated, and the firm has done good work for CIC. Spudco was created as a subsidiary of SaskWater in 1996 to expand the potato industry in partnership with investors and farmers, many of whom ended up with significant financial losses by the time the company was folded back into Crown Investments Corp. in 2000. A 2003 internal government review found the government had misled the public about the government’s financial risk and the nature of private sector involvement.