Samborski Environmental sues Manitoba government for $24K

A landscaping company issuing the Manitoba government for $24,000, saying the province stole soil from its yard.

In a statement of claim filed last week,Samborski Environmental Ltd. accused the province of "high handed" actions that have deprived the company's owners of their ability to earn an income.

Samborski,which islocated in Oak Bluff, just southwest Winnipeg, hadbeen in along-running dispute with the provinceover the company's composting facilityonMcGillivrayBoulevard.

• Manitoba composter given until Dec. 1 to clean up its act
• Manitoba composter in spat with province over smelly site

In February 2015, general manager PaulSamborskiaccused the province of theft after Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship took over the cleanup operation at the company'sfacility in Oak Bluff,just outside Winnipeg.

In 2013, the province slappedSamborskiwith anenvironmental protection order to relocate its compost operation from the site. The orderwas prompted by hundreds ofcomplaints from area residents about excessive odours coming from the business.

• Composting smell sickens Whyte Ridge family
• Composting operation near Winnipeg ordered to stop

Samborskiappealed the order but in October 2014, a court sided with the province anda new protection order date was set forDec. 1, 2014.

When the province decided thecompany was not making satisfactory progress in moving the operation, the government hired a contractor and took over the job.

During the cleanup process, the province's contractorremoved 600 cubic metres of soil that was not compost butwas being stored for sale in the coming spring, Samborski's statement of claim says.

The soil had a value of $40 per cubic yard and as a result of it being taken away, Samborski has been deprived of its property and ability to earn an income, the claim states.

"This is theft, cut-and-dry theft," Samborskitold CBC News in February 2015, as the cleanup was taking place.

The province has not yet filed a statement of defence.