Third ex-cabinet minister pays fine for breaking Manitoba’s conflict law

Former premier Heather Stefanson has been fined $18,000 for violating Manitoba’s conflict of interest law.

WINNIPEG — All three former Manitoba Progressive Conservative cabinet ministers fined for breaking the province’s conflict of interest law have now paid up.

Legislature Speaker Tom Lindsey says Cliff Cullen, who served as deputy premier, has paid his $12,000 fine.

Former premier Heather Stefanson paid her $18,000 fine last month, and former economic development minister Jeff Wharton paid his $10,000 fine last month as well.

The three were found by the province’s ethics commissioner to have tried to get a mining project approved after the Progressive Conservatives lost the October 2023 election and before the incoming NDP government was sworn in.

The commissioner said the three violated the caretaker convention — a long-standing parliamentary principle that forbids outgoing governments from making major decisions after losing an election.

The commissioner ruled that, in doing so, the three improperly furthered the private interests of other people, contrary to the conflict law.

Members of the legislature voted unanimously in favour of the fines last month, and all fines were paid within a 30-day deadline.

Stefanson and Cullen have left politics. Wharton still holds a legislature seat.

The controversy stemmed from a proposal by Calgary-based Sio Silica to drill thousands of wells over 24 years across a large swath of southeastern Manitoba, although only an initial phase was being considered for an environmental licence.

The company planned to extract more than 30 million tonnes of high-purity quartz silica, used in semiconductors, solar panels, fibre optics and other products.

The NDP government rejected the proposal a few months after being elected, partly due to concerns over the potential effect on water.

Sio Silica recently submitted a new plan to drill fewer wells in a smaller area.

Extraction would be phased in, reaching up to 500,000 tonnes annually by the fourth year, and water brought to the surface would undergo filtration and UV treatment before being returned down the wells, the company said in a recent submission to Manitoba’s Clean Environment Commission.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2025.

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press