Province denies interfering in Omnitrax rail deal

The provincial government is fighting back against a lawsuit that U.S.-based rail company OmniTrax filed just days before the provincial election in April.

The lawsuit alleged that former premier Greg Selinger and former NDP cabinet minister Steve Ashton as well as the Government of Manitoba interfered in a deal to sell northern rail lines and the port to a group of northern First Nations.

In December 2015, OmniTrax was planning to sell the Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay rail line to a group of First Nations led by Mathias Colomb Cree Nation.

In April, court documents filed by OmniTrax accused Selinger, Ashton and the province of providing confidential information to a consulting firm and Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

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At the time, the company said they still expected the sale to go through, and officials would not comment on how the alleged disclosure might have affected the deal.

A statement of defence filed by the Manitoba government says the province admits to entering into a written confidentiality agreement with OmniTrax but "denies having given any confidential information to anyone beyond the scope of the confidentiality agreement."

It also says the terms of that confidentiality agreement aren't "necessarily as paraphrased by the Plaintiffs."

The Province of Manitoba also says Selinger and Ashton are "improperly named as defendants" as they were not party to the confidentiality agreement.

It asks the suit be dismissed, with costs to be covered by OmniTrax.

Selinger, Ashton want names off suit

Meanwhile, Selinger and Ashton are also trying to get their names off the suit.

Lawyers have notified court they plan to file a motion to strike the statement of claim against Selinger and Ashton  and seek court costs from OmniTrax.

The motion says the lawsuit relates to an agreement entered into by the Government of Manitoba, which neither Selinger nor Ashton were a part of.

Selinger has previously denied the allegations, as have provincial officials.

The motion calls the lawsuit "an abuse of the court process," and it's "scandalous, frivolous and/or vexatious for the two defendant individuals to be named personally." 

That motion was supposed to be heard Sept. 1, but the matter was adjourned and an alternate date has not yet been determined.

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Since the legal battle started, OmniTrax has shuttered the Port of Churchill, cut back rail service and laid off dozens of workers.