PE: MLA demands answers regarding FoodTrust sale

[CHARLOTTETOWN, PE] — Mid-Isle Farms paid the Prince Edward Island government $890,000 for the money-losing FoodTrust but not before the province scratched nearly $1.2 million in losses from its books.

The sale was announced in December of last year but it’s only now that the purchase price is being made public.


Opposition agriculture critic Jim Bagnall spent much of question period in the P.E.I. legislature Tuesday demanding to know more about Agriculture Minister George Webster’s role in the sale of the Charlottetown-based FoodTrust to Mid-Isle.

Webster and his brother, Bertram, are founders of Mid-Isle, which is based in Albany. George Webster’s interests in the company are now being held in a blind trust because he is a cabinet minister.

“Minister, you wrote off all the liabilities and turned around and sold the company to you and your brother. Do you not feel that was a conflict of interest?” Bagnall asked.
 “They said it was a fair bidding process. How can it be a fair bidding process when the minister, who’s the president of the company, had all the inside information about what was taking place, wrote off $1.2 million for FoodTrust, and turns around and has the best offer. How can that be a fair process?”

Premier Robert Ghiz defended Webster, saying the sale was tendered and the best tender won. He said Webster left the cabinet table whenever the issue of FoodTrust came up for discussion.

“Obviously, the member from Montague-Kilmuir is making stuff up again,” said Ghiz.
 “It’s very unfortunate that we have the member from Montague-Kilmuir, who was in cabinet, who knows how decisions are made, that would want to slander someone.”

Bagnall fired back: “I’m sure the best tender won when they wrote off $1.2 million and allowed the minister and his brother to buy the company when he was a minister.”

But Ghiz said Webster was not the minister of Agriculture when the sale took place. 
The Prince Edward Island government established the not-for-profit FoodTrust in 2001 to help provide better returns to producers.
 In 2007, FoodTrust sales exceeded $3.8 million.
 But the province contended it was a money-losing venture, losing anywhere from $500,000 to $700,000 annually. 
The decision to privatize the company was made jointly by the government and the company’s board of directors.

Bagnall also questions what role the Provincial Nominee Program may have played in the sale of FoodTrust.
 FoodTrust did receive units from the PNP but the timing is being disputed. The provincial Liberals say they received the money under the Conservative administration, but the Conservatives contend they received four units in August — a month after many others were turned down for funding under the Immigrant Investment Fund.

“I wonder whether (Webster) excused himself when they got PNP units,” said Bagnall.
 “There were 600 people turned down in July. Yet, when you go to buy this company in August, you get four units. How can you justify that to all the other businesses across P.E.I.?”

Ghiz said Webster wouldn’t have any role in the Provincial Nominee Program.

“That’s not a cabinet decision,” added Ghiz.