Premier claims former PC government tried to ram through silica mining approval days after Manitoba election

Premier Wab Kinew claims the former Progressive Conservative government tried to approve an Alberta mining company’s proposal to drill for sand in southeastern Manitoba days after the Tories lost the provincial election in October.

Former PC cabinet minister Kevin Klein corroborates Kinew’s allegation of an attempted breach of the caretaker convention, where outgoing governments are supposed to only engage in urgent, routine, reversible or uncontroversial operations during the brief period before the next government is sworn in.

But a fellow former PC cabinet minister, Jeff Wharton, denies Kinew and Klein’s claims. He insists his government respected the caretaker convention and merely briefed the NDP transition team about the status of the file regarding Alberta-based Sio Silica.

The NDP won Manitoba’s provincial election on Oct. 3. The PCs continued to govern until Oct. 17, when Kinew was sworn in as premier.

Kinew’s office said the PCs attempted on Oct. 6 — three days into the post-election transition period — to approve Sio Silica’s proposal to drill as many as 7,200 wells in southeastern Manitoba over the next 24 years in an effort to extract up to 33 million tonnes of ultra-pure silica sand.

The areas in yellow demarcate Sio Silica’s subsurface mineral claims in southern Manitoba, according to documents filed with Manitoba’s Clean Environment Commission. (CBC News Graphics)

The Clean Environment Commission, Manitoba’s environmental regulator, recommended in June against any immediate decision about the project until more is known about the effects of removing that much sand from the Winnipeg sandstone aquifer, a source of drinking water for thousands. A second technical review of the project was underway.

Kinew said the PCs nonetheless tried to “ram this through” and paint the approval of Sio Silica as an administrative, not political matter.

“I was surprised on a Friday afternoon to understand that one of the first actions of our new government could potentially be the approval of this mine. They made the argument that it wasn’t up to us as an incoming government. We said we’re going to put a stop to that,” Kinew said in an interview last week.

“We said we’re an incoming government. We think that our future minister, who is not sworn in yet or even been announced publicly, should be the one to have a say, at least in this decision.”

Former Kirkfield Park MLA Klein, who served as environment and climate minister in the former PC government, said there was indeed an effort by the PCs to breach the caretaker convention.

But Klein said it was him, not the incoming NDP government, who put the brakes on approving the mining proposal.

Klein said Wharton, who served as the PC minister responsible for economic development and mining, asked Klein to sign off on the approval.

“I received a request to approve the project following the election. I strongly declined for three reasons,” Klein said last week in an interview.

Premier Wab Kinew, seen here days after he was sworn in, claims the former PC government tried to ram through approval for Sio Silica during the transition period. (Travis Golby/CBC)

“First, because we lost the election and it would have been inappropriate to approve something like this in the transitional period between governments. Second, because I had serious concerns with this project [and] third, I gave my word to residents that the decision would be made by experts.

“Now in saying that, I was extremely disappointed this was even proposed in the transition period.”

Klein said he backed up concerns voiced by provincial staff the proposal should not be approved at that time.

“My foremost duty is to the residents and not to succumb to pressure to make a decision that isn’t what I believe to be morally correct,” he said.

Wharton said in an interview he did not ask Klein to approve the proposal and denied any member of his government tried to approve the project during the transition period.

Former PC economic development minister Jeff Wharton denied Kinew and Klein’s claims. He said his government briefed the NDP about Sio Silica during the transition period. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)

“This claim is false. Truly false. I ensure due process was followed,” Wharton said in an interview last week.

The Red River North MLA said a second technical review of the project and Indigenous consultations were underway as the election took place.

He said his government merely informed the NDP transition team that Sio Silica officials were curious to know about the timelines for approving their proposal.

“It’s incumbent on us to ensure that we share that relevant information with the incoming government, which was done during the transition,” Wharton said.

“The caretaker convention was 100 per cent respected, needs to be, and certainly that’s the way our government conducted themselves. The incoming NDP government again was fully informed that the proponent — in this particular case Sio — sought clarity on timelines so that the government could make a licensing decision.

“So we got to the point where we handed the files over. We said ‘Here you go.’ “

Wharton said only politics can explain why Kinew and Klein, who campaigned strongly against each other during the provincial election, would both make similar allegations.

“My focus is always ensuring that we’re creating economic development and jobs and a sustainable economy for Manitobans,” he said. “That was my focus when I was outgoing and I continued to ensure that those files and that process, hopefully, would move on to the new government.”

Kinew said the PC effort to push through approval for the Sio Silica proposal has led his government to apply more scrutiny to Sio Silica’s proposal.

Former PC environment Minister Kevin Klein says he was asked to sign off the Sio Silica proposal during the transition period between the PC and NDP governments. He said he refused to do so. (Ian Froese/CBC)

“What that means in brass tacks, what that means in practice, is it has caused us to question the legwork that was done on the Sio project: the economic rationale, the environmental approval, the work that was done around consultation with Indigenous nations. We are revisiting all that,” the premier said.

Officials with Sio Silica did not respond to requests for comment last week.

Kinew nonetheless insisted the NDP government wants to support the critical minerals sector in Manitoba. High-quality silica is one those minerals because it is sought by producers of solar panels, new batteries and semiconductors.

“I think there’s a real case to be made that Manitoba has critical minerals like silica that can be brought to market with higher environmental standards, higher labour standards and respect for human rights, than almost any other jurisdiction in the world,” Kinew said.

“So we’re very interested in a project like Sio that could potentially drive economic development and help with greenhouse-gas emissions. But the way that the previous government tried to ram this through has caused us to take a step back and ask a lot of questions about the legwork leading up to a potential approval.”

During the election, former NDP environment critic Lisa Naylor skirted questions about whether or not an NDP government would approve the Sio Silica proposal.

The file is now handled by Tracy Schmidt, the NDP minister of environment and climate change.