Khan settles prolonged civil suit

WINNIPEG — A long-running lawsuit involving Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan and a Winnipeg businesswoman who said he owed her company $562,000 has been settled.

A “notice of discontinuance” was filed in Court of King’s Bench on May 5 in the case brought in 2022 by Jones & Company Wine Merchants against Khan and Green Carrot Juice Company Inc., “without costs to any party.”

The statement of claim alleged Khan approached the wine merchants’ principal Tina Jones “at the onset” of Green Carrot’s inception “for assistance in the running of … Green Carrot and for injections of capital.”

The statement of claim said Jones “supplied likely hundreds of hours in the investment of time as well as funds, assisting the defendants,” and that Khan and Green Carrot owed $562,000 as of April 30, 2019. It said Khan, the main shareholder of the now-closed Green Carrot Juice Company outlets, “orally committed” to repaying the money in a series of emails to Jones, but had yet to do so.

At that time, Khan was a newly minted MLA who narrowly won a byelection in Fort Whyte after former premier Brian Pallister resigned. He was elected leader of the PC party in 2025 following the resignation of former premier Heather Stefanson.

Khan’s 2022 statement of defence said the claim against him was “rife with false and reckless allegations.” Khan “expressly denies that he ever personally guaranteed the repayment of any sum of money to Ms. Jones or the plaintiff,” the court filing states.

Aside from a $50,000 loan advanced to Green Carrot in 2014 with a promissory note, any other funds Jones gave to the company were a capital investment and not a loan, according to the statement of defence.

The quiet conclusion to the high-profile civil suit was amplified by Premier Wab Kinew in an exchange with Khan during question period Wednesday.

Khan asked why provincial construction projects that cost at least $50 million impose wage, benefit and apprenticeship conditions on builders that give preferential treatment to unionized workers.

“It’s shameful that the premier is forcing Manitobans to work where they don’t want to work,” he said.

The premier’s reply referenced the lawsuit. The notice was filed in Court of King’s Bench, and noted online in its public registry.

“When we talk about shameful, I am reminded of a lawsuit against the member, which apparently was just discontinued in secret on May 5 of this year,” Kinew said.

“I think it’s very important from a perspective of conflict of interest for the member to rise in his place right now and explain the details of why this troubling lawsuit was discontinued abruptly.”

Khan criticized Kinew for using question period to draw attention to the civil suit.

“The facts of the action are not related to my political career, and are irrelevant to my position as an MLA and Leader of the Official Opposition,” Khan said in an email late Wednesday.

“It’s a reflection of the premier’s poor character and bad judgment that he chose to table this discontinuance in an attempt to embarrass or defame me. This matter had no bearing on or relation to my political career.”

When asked for comment on why Jones and Company discontinued the lawsuit, legal counsel Robert Tapper said in an email that “a settlement occurred.”

» Winnipeg Free Press