Sask. PCs gain control of $3M fund, leader says

Saskatchewan's Progressive Conservative Party is now in control of a $3-million fundafter prevailing in a long-running court dispute involving the Saskatchewan Party.

The money has been kept in a trust fund since 1997 when the Saskatchewan PCs decided to go into hiatus.

That happened around the time theSaskatchewan Party formed made up of former PCs and Liberals.

Years later, when the PCs became active again, with plans to run in the 2007 provincial election, party officials said they couldn't get their hands on the money.

The PCsalleged that trustees of the PC fund were operatives of the Saskatchewan Party who were conspiring to keep the PCs poor. It sued them and the Saskatchewan Party, setting the stage for years of further litigation.

Now, Progressive Conservative leader Rick Swenson says the fight is over and the PCs are in control of more than$3 million.

The cash infusionmeans that the PCs will be able to hire more staff and become more active in any future elections.

The PCs under former Premier Grant Devine were the government in Saskatchewan from 1982-1991.

The party was embroiled in a $700,000 expense fraud scandal in the years that followed, resulting in a variety of PC MLAs and party officials being convicted of criminal offences and, in some cases, going to jail.