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File No. CI07-01-50896

The Queen’s Bench
Winnipeg Centre

BETWEEN:

BRYAN DAVID OLIVER

Plaintiff,

- AND -

THE GOVERNMENT OF MANITOBA

Defendant.

AFFIDAVIT of DOUGLAS OLIVER

I, DOUGLAS OLIVER, of Woodlands, in the Rural Municipality of Woodlands, in

the Province of Manitoba,

MAKE OATH AND SAY THAT:

1. I am a resident and farmer in the Rural Municipality (RM) of Woodlands. I have

resided in this municipality in various locations for all the 65 years of my life.

2. From 2002 through 2014, I was a Councillor for the RM of Woodlands. Upon my
election to RM council in 2002, I was appointed shortly afterwards to the West
Interlake Water Management Association (WIWMA), which was set up by the
province to deal with all drainage issues in this area of the province. At this time,
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West Shoal Lake was included in the Lake Manitoba watershed area. In early
2003, I was appointed chairman of this board. From 2008 through 2014, I was a
member of the West Interlake Water Conservation District (WIWCD). From 2008
through 2014, I was the chairman of this Board. The WIWCD dealt with all the
conservation aspects for this area which encompassed the entire area at issue in
this claim (Exhibit “A”). I personally know this area; both the history as well as the
flooding problems that have now grown to encompass some 20 years. As a
Councillor and the Chairman of both the WIWMA and the WIWCD, I worked hard
to try to alleviate the suffering and hardship that I witnessed this flooding causing
to my neighbours and constituents in this area.

3. Our Council at the RM of Woodlands entered into an agreement with the RM of St.
Laurent and the Province of Manitoba (represented by John Arthur of Manitoba
Water Stewardship) to construct a drain to alleviate the flooding conditions on
Bryan’s land and in his area in general as part of a court negotiated settlement to
settle his claim against the RM of Woodlands and passed Resolution 32/04 to
construct this drain (Exhibit “B”). A drainage license from Water Stewardship was
received and construction of this drainage project began on or about April, 2004.
After one day of work, Manitoba Water Stewardship notified the municipality that
they were imposing a province wide moratorium on all drainage projects and
ordered a temporary halt to the construction of this drain due to the flooding in the
Red River flood plain. We, as a council, informed Bryan of this development. To my
knowledge, this drainage project is still on hold, although the province wide
moratorium was lifted on or about 2006.

4. In 2006, due to the modern unprecedented water levels in the entire Shoal Lake
Basin, Manitoba Water Stewardship put out a proposal for engineering services to
deal with the ongoing Shoal Lake flooding problem (Exhibit “C”). I received a
copy of the KGS Group engineering proposal through my position with the RM of
Woodlands from Manitoba Water Stewardship and we reviewed the material
submitted. This proposal mapped out what we as a municipality and Water
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Stewardship ultimately wanted accomplished. This included an assessment of the

flooding conditions, a 10 year plan of construction and maintenance works and an
assessment of flood mitigation alternatives. At no time was one of the alternatives
discussed; that being a plan for leaving this area in a flooded state and
abandoning the land owners so effected. We were told that the proposal was to be
completed and submitted in a draft form by October 2007. I shared this information
with Bryan on or about early 2007 as he had been continually asking when the
drainage project we had agreed upon would be resumed. We did not receive the
draft report until the fall of 2010 and I received the finalized report a few months
later (Exhibit “D”).

5. I, and the council, were informed in early January, 2011 by Manitoba Water
Stewardship that they had approved Option B. I noted that this route for the water
is in nearly the exact location as the recommendation from Manitoba Water
Stewardship’s 2002 study, except the price to construct this drain would be about 6
times more expensive. I was told that this would allow for cost overages as well as
larger and wider excavations. I informed Bryan shortly after receiving this report of
the provincial approval to construct Option B.

6. In February 2011, I was provided with a report from Manitoba Water Stewardship
of predictions on further flooding in the Shoal Lake area for later in 2011 (Exhibit
“E”). The flooding that actually occurred was much worse than the predictions.
Water in the Shoal Lakes area had spilled out further than predicted, destroying
more land and devastating the area. As a councillor of the RM of Woodlands, I had
to deal with this flooding, as well as flooding throughout the entire municipality,
including the extensive flooding along Lake Manitoba. I found the Lake Manitoba
flooding especially frustrating with my knowledge that this was caused by the
construction, subsequent enlargement and use of the Portage Diversion by the
provincial government, which sent water from the Assiniboine River into Lake
Manitoba with no adequate outlet for this water to leave. The water diverted
through the Portage Diversion is not from the Lake Manitoba drainage basin. As a
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result, I witnessed the stakeholders around Lake Manitoba now opposing the
water from the Shoal Lakes basin coming into Lake Manitoba even though this is
the historical outlet for this water.

7. In June 2011, I received a copy of a flooding report on the Shoal Lakes (Exhibit
“F”). In this report was included a proposal called the DO NOTHING APPROACH.
This was explained to me that whatever happened in the Shoal Lakes would be
allowed to happen with no alleviation of any flooding and that the province would
look to buyout affected landowners. As a councillor and the chairman of the
WIWCD, I and my fellow members had no input in this decision and we were not
consulted in any way as to how this would take place. Until this, all of my thoughts
and work had been to try and help my constituents and neighbours; to leave them
in a permanent flooded state left me very frustrated and angry. I, in my two
positions, were the focal point of the anger and frustrations of the affected
residents and landowners but I could only tell those same people, including Bryan,
what the province told us which now was very little. From this point until my leaving
council at the end of 2014, Shoal Lakes Option B was still hoped to provide a long
term fix for this problem and I was never told that this project was cancelled. In
many conversations with local MLA Ralph Eichler, then in opposition in the
provincial legislature, he expressed his desire to construct this drainage project.

8. Although I am not an engineer, I understand by my first hand knowledge of the

area, through the information provided to me and the basic principles of water
movement and gravity; the cause of the flooding in this area. Simply put, this is a
political decision made at the provincial level with the flooding being a man-made
problem. The entire Shoal Lake Basin is an elevated area with the water being
trapped by a ridge of land surrounding it on all sides. The water could be easily
drained as the distance to Lake Manitoba is relatively short, some 60 feet lower
and this was the historical outlet for the Shoal Lakes water. Manitoba Water
Stewardship’s map shows the release of the water south into the Grassmere
Creek Provincial Waterway taking only 24 hours to get into the Red River north of
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Winnipeg, as the elevation drop here is almost 200 feet. This would take almost no
excavation.

9. Although this could certainly have been done and we at council did discuss
releasing the water in 2011 in this manner, this would have certainly added
flooding problems to those people downstream. We explained this to those flooded
in the Shoal Lake Basin including Bryan, and nearly all, including Bryan, agreed
that this would only hurt their downstream neighbours. Bryan did ask why this
could not be done at a time when there were no flood conditions downstream. I
agreed. There have been many times since 2011 that the Grassmere Drain has
been dry and that the Red River levels also have been down so there would have
been no affect to those downstream landowners. This includes most winters. I
have discussed this with various provincial officials but nothing has ever came
from it. I have heard engineers tell us at the WIWMA and the WIWCD that if the
entire Shoal Lake Basin was drained of every drop of water, it would only raise the
level of Lake Manitoba by 1 inch. Further, we had also been told that the if the
Shoal Lake Basin was dropped to the target level in the 2011 KGS report, this
would only raise the level in Lake Manitoba by 1 tenth of an inch. In preparation for
this affidavit, I asked John Arthur, the former provincial employee who is an
engineer and currently has a consulting business in this field, if these figures are
accurate and he confirmed this information.

10. Bryan has asked me if the RM of Woodlands, the WIWMA or the WIWCD supplied
the Province of Manitoba or the KGS Group with the information contained in
KGS’ 2011 report concerning his and the surrounding property. I stated no, and I
offer an excerpt from this report stating that this information comes from the
province. I looked at the various maps from the 2010 draft report and the final 2011
report and confirmed to him that most of these maps are inaccurate concerning his
property and the surrounding area. I informed him that the rest of these maps,
however, to my knowledge of the area, appear accurate. I have no knowledge as
to how or why they have been changed or manipulated so, only that they are, and I
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believe that a simple visual examination of the area would have shown these
inaccuracies.

11. I make this Affidavit in good faith.

SWORN before me in the City)

of Woodlands, in the Province)
of Manitoba, this 13th day of )
February, 2017. ) X _______________________

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