Province launches probe of proposed Wascana Village development

The Saskatchewan government has launched aninvestigation into the proposedWascanaVillage development.

That's the project the rural municipality of Sherwood wants to see built one kilometre south of Regina, a development that could be home to14,000 people.

Ronald Barclay, the province's Conflict of Interest Commissioner, will conduct what is called a municipal inspection, a rarely-used mechanism that allows the government to probe the goings-on in a local municipality.

Saskatchewan's Minister of Government Relations, Jim Reiter, said Monday that a number of people have issues with the Wascana Village project.

"Just as an example, but not limited to: there's highway access issues, there's water security agency issues, there's a number of technical issues as you can imagine around a project of that size," Reiter said. "I don't know if those concerns are valid or not. I think the best way for me to find out is to appoint somebody independent to do an inspection and report back to me."

According to the province, Barclay's investigation will cover:

• The full history, background, process, facts and circumstances which led to the approval of the development by the RM ofSherwood council.
• The "appropriateness" of the directions, actions or inactions of any employee or agent of the RM.
• Whether the rules for disclosing"pecuniary interests" are working.

Reiter promised that Barclay's report would be made public.

The announcement of the Wascana Village caused some tension in the past year between the RM and the City of Regina.