The Manitoba government is planning to turn Lemay Forest into a provincial park.
While taking questions at a Manitoba Hydro news conference, Premier Wab Kinew said the province is planning to expropriate the forest and convert it into a park.
“I want the chainsaws to stop,” Kinew said.
The forest is owned by Tochal Developments and conversations around it have been heated for several months since tree cutting started last year.
In January, protesters blocked the road to the forest to prevent more trees from being cut down.
Nothing official has been filed yet, but Kinew noted there will be a lot of paperwork needed to deal with this.
“I am communicating publicly now, just so people hear the message and hopefully there’s no trees getting cut down and people are just reassured that we’re going to turn this area into a provincial park,” he said.
Kinew said there is public interest in the forest, so it would be best served by becoming a park.
“While reasonable steps have been attempted and have not borne the result that I think serves the public interest, we’re now going to move ahead with expropriation,” he said.
Kinew said he hopes this announcement will calm the waters and start a negotiation process.
Ann Loewen, a member of the Save Lemay Forest coalition, said her reaction to the news is mixed, as the issue has been a contentious one for years.
She is hoping the forest will be turned into a provincial park.
“We would be very grateful if the parties that have the power and the prerogative and the capacity to make a difference in this regard would follow through and make this change to the path for this forest, and the cemetery and the sacred space that are all so valuable to all our citizens,” she said.
Planner said he wasn’t consulted on premier’s decision
John Wintrup, the professional planner who represents the developer, said he only learned about the change during Kinew’s announcement.
He said there was no contact with the government about turning Lemay Forest into a provincial park.
“We wrote letters to the provincial government asking if they wanted to express any interest in purchasing the land to preserve the trees,” he said. “They never expressed any interest in purchasing the trees.”
Wintrup said they plan to continue operations in the forest until the expropriation process starts.
Winnipeg police confirmed a 39-year-old woman protesting on the property was arrested Monday morning for being on private property and allegedly interfering with authorized employees at the site.
She is facing charges of contempt of court and mischief, and was released on a promise to appear with an undertaking.
None of the charges have been proven in court.
