Manitoba PC campaign manager named in briefing note about rail port that got $18M grant before election

The campaign manager for the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party’s 2023 election campaign was named in an early briefing note about a rail port project that received an $18-million provincial grant the week before the campaign started.A provincial briefing note obtained by CBC News states Marni Larkin was slated to meet in 2022 with a minister in Heather Stefanson’s PC cabinet about the development of a regional rail port in the rural municipality of Ritchot, south of Winnipeg.The briefing note, obtained through a freedom of information request, indicates Larkin was scheduled to meet on May 26, 2022, with then economic development minister Cliff Cullen about the development.Cullen’s deputy minister of economic development and Colleen Sklar, the CEO of JohnQ Public — a company owned by 12 rural Manitoba municipalities — were also slated to attend the meeting “to discuss industrial development and JohnQ Public’s economic development opportunity,” according to the briefing note.The following year, on Aug. 3, 2023, the Stefanson government signed an $18-million contribution agreement for the Ritchot rail project with JohnQ, according to the agreement, obtained by CBC News through a freedom of information request. The 2022 briefing note suggested Larkin, the co-owner of Winnipeg consulting firm Boom Done Next, was working with JohnQ Public when she was slated to meet with Cullen.A briefing note obtained through freedom-of-information legislation shows Marni Larkin was slated to meet with PC cabinet minister Cliff Cullen in 2022 about a rail port project in Ritchot. The Stefanson government provided an $18-million grant to that project the week before the start of the 2023 election campaign. Larkin managed that election campaign for the PCs. Her name in this file has been bolded in green for emphasis. (Province of Manitoba)”Marni Larkin is a project specialist that has been engaged by JohnQ Public Inc. They are the CEO of Boom Done Next Inc., a Winnipeg management consulting company,” the note stated.In a statement sent to CBC this summer, Larkin said she was not involved in the Ritchot rail port project or “any discussions with government regarding a prospective grant.” “The suggestion that I played a role in this matter is incorrect” Larkin said in her initial statement, issued on Aug. 29.Four days later, Larkin said she was not compensated by JohnQ Public for any work on the rail port project.”I was not under contract for the rail project, nor have I ever received payment from them related to that work,” Larkin in a statement on Sept. 2.NDP continuing review of grantThe Stefanson government provided the $18-million rail port grant to JohnQ Public on Sept. 1, four days before the start of the 2023 election campaign, according to briefing notes obtained by CBC News through a freedom of information request.The grant was intended to help the company purchase land west of Highway 75 for the rail port and conduct engineering and environmental assessments, according to a funding letter dated June 28, 2023, obtained through a freedom of information request.The funding agreement between the province and JohnQ Public was signed on Aug. 3, 2023. The pre-election blackout period —  which bars the sitting government from advertising or publishing information about its programs or activities — started the next day, on Aug. 4, 2023, thanks to the fixed-date nature of the 2023 provincial election. The grant flowed four days before the start of an election campaign the Tories lost to Wab Kinew’s NDP in October 2023.Finance Minister Adrien Sala says his government is still reviewing the rail port project. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)In July of this year, NDP Finance Minister Adrien Sala announced an internal review of the rail port grant, stating it was “mysterious” to see the former government issue an $18-million grant without any public disclosure.The briefing note naming Larkin raises even more questions, Sala said.”We’ve now learned that that same individual from Boom Done Next was meeting with government a year prior to that $18 million going out the door, and that seems to build more concern,” he said in an interview in his office on Sept. 3.In a Sept. 3 statement sent to CBC, JohnQ Public board chair Brad Erb said Larkin was consulted “in the early days of JohnQ” but did not state which files she worked on.He said neither Larkin nor Boom Done Next have been hired for any role on the rail project team, held a contract or received payment related to the contract. Larkin and Boom Done Next also hold no interest in the project, he said.Marni Larkin, seen here on election night in 2023, initially said she was not involved in the rail port project. She later said she was not paid for any work on the project. (Travis Golby/CBC)Consulting firm HDR is the primary strategic adviser on the project, Erb said.A rail port progress report dated July 2024 indicates JohnQ signed a $150,000 contract with HDR. The report states JohnQ signed a total of eight rail port-related contracts worth a total of $1.1 million. In an email to CBC News on Sept. 9 of this year, JohnQ Public’s board of directors said these contract amounts are no longer accurate. The board did not respond to a request for current contract information.The funding agreement for the rail port grant, obtained by CBC News, required JohnQ Public to award contracts in a competitive, fair and transparent manner. JohnQ Public’s board of directors did not answer a CBC News question about whether the rail port contracts were tendered.A spokesperson for Finance Minister Sala said the provincial government has not asked to review those contracts or find out how they were selected. In its Sept. 9 email, JohnQ’s board said the company meets regularly with provincial officials and is in full compliance with provincially mandated reporting and oversight commitments. Do you have a story you want to share? Send your tips to iteam@cbc.ca or call us at 204-788-3744. ‘Potential to transform’ rural economy: reeveProgressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan, who was a cabinet minister in the Stefanson government when it approved the rail port grant, would not say what he thought of the PC campaign manager being named in the briefing note about the rail port.”This is a project that is going to create jobs in Manitoba, is going to grow our economy, and it’s going to open up Manitoba to the rest of the world,” Khan said in an interview on Sept. 5.Manitoba PC Leader Obby Khan says the rail port would create more jobs in Manitoba. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey/CBC)Erb, who is the reeve of the Rural Municipality of Macdonald as well as JohnQ Public’s board chair, said in an email on Sept. 3 the proposed rail port is important to Manitoba’s economy.”We want to underscore that this regional rail port is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. It represents genuine regional collaboration and has the potential to transform economic development across rural Manitoba,” he said.JohnQ used a numbered company to purchase seven parcels of Ritchot land — 405 hectares (1,002 acres) in total — in January 2024 as part of the land assembly for the rail port, according to provincial land titles.Only five of the seven land titles — representing 222 hectares  — listed the sale price. The sale price of those five titles added up to $11.3 million.A progress report prepared by JohnQ Public for the NDP government in July 2024 stated the company was negotiating an agreement with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, also known as BNSF, to serve as an anchor tenant and rail operator at the new rail port.Erb said he cannot confirm many of the details of the project due to non-disclosure agreements. BNSF did not respond to a request for comment.LISTEN | Documents show Manitoba PC campaign manager involved in multi-million-dollar daycare project:Information Radio – MB5:51Documents show Manitoba PC campaign manager involved in multi-million-dollar daycare projectCBC reporter Bartley Kives speaks with host Marcy Markusa about new documents showing former Manitoba PC campaign manager Marni Larkin’s involvement in a multi-million-dollar daycare project.Sala suggested the province is being cautious about the rail port. The 2024 progress report suggests the rail port may require a ring dike around the project to protect it from a one-in-200-year Red River flood.”The land is prone to flooding and was submerged in 1997, 2009 and 2011,” according to a November 2022 briefing note obtained by CBC News.”There’s a lot of questions to be asked about the viability of this project,” given “the fact that this is being proposed in a known flood area,” Sala said. “There are massive infrastructure investments required to support this, and I think open questions about whether or not there is a rail proponent wanting to move into the site.”