Premier vows probe of how Seven Oaks division got into development
Winnipeg Free Press
Thursday May 5 2005
By Mia Rabson
PREMIER Gary Doer admitted yesterday there was a "breakdown" of policy which allowed Seven Oaks School Division to become residential property developers.
The premier, who looked unhappy about the situation in question period yesterday, said the government is going to find out exactly how the division got permission to develop almost five hectares of land in north Winnipeg.
The school division spent almost $2 million between 2002 and 2005 developing 70 residential properties in Swinford Park, a new community in Winnipeg's Riverbend neighbourhood. It bought the land for a little more than $350,000, and sold it for $2.7 million.
But under the Public Schools Act, divisions are not allowed to be land developers. The division however, asked for, and received, permission from the Public Schools Finance Board to do so. The board is an arm of the department of education.
"We want to find out what exactly happened," Doer said. "The bottom line is it is not permissible under the Public Schools Act. We have to find out what happened, why it happened and make sure it doesn't happen again. There is a bit of a breakdown here."
Tory Leader Stuart Murray said the problem is pretty simple -- Education Minister Peter Bjornson is bad at his job. "It's very, very clear that this minister is very, very incompetent," Murray said.
Bjornson initially claimed to have never heard about the issue before, but when confronted this week with a letter from a private citizen written in May 2004, he admitted he had dealt with the issue a year ago. At that time, he said, he was told by his officials the division wasn't doing anything wrong. It was only in November, said Bjornson, that someone in the department of education realized the division was contravening the Public Schools Act.
He still said he didn't know exactly what was going on in Seven Oaks until Monday. He said the letter he got was vague although the letter clearly states the school board's minutes show it was spending large sums of money to develop the land.
Murray said Bjornson's actions appear to be a sign of an incompetent minister hiding his mistakes.
"He tries to say he knew nothing about it when clearly his own department wrote a letter to a concerned Manitoban a year ago," Murray said. "So for him to stand up in the House and say the first he heard of this was Monday, two days ago, is absolutely unconscionable." The Tories now want to know if Seven Oaks has really gotten out of the land developer business. The division superintendent said the only land it now owns is for an elementary school, but education critic Myrna Driedger said the division is developing 20 lots around a cul-de-sac in Swinford Park.
Bjornson said a review is underway which will uncover exactly what is going on, including what land the department owns now.
The government has already sent a letter to all school divisions reiterating the Public Schools Act does not allow divisions to develop land.
Doer said several people at his daughter's lacrosse game this week asked him why this is a big deal, considering the division made money on the development. But Doer said that's not the point.
"We don't want them in land speculation," he said. "The purpose of funding for education is for students and teachers and parents. So the law makes sense, we've just got to make sure people understand it."
He said the advice Bjornson was given last May was "ambiguous."
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca