TORONTO - More than $65 million has been paid so far to the victims of Canada's worst-ever E. coli tragedy, but businesses hit hard by the crisis say they have seen little of the promised compensation -- and some blame crass politics for their plight.
Eight years after poisoned water devastated the Ontario town of Walkerton, disgruntled proprietors are complaining bitterly of insulting lowball offers and stonewalling that has forced them either to settle in disgust or seethe quietly as they wait to settle their claims.
Latest figures obtained by The Canadian Press show a total of $65.5 million has been paid to more than 9,200 individual claimants. A further $13 million has been paid to Crawford and Co. (Canada), the adjusters overseeing the compensation plan under the auspices of the courts.
However, only 48 out of 100 business claims have been settled for a total of $600,000 -- less than one per cent of the overall payout to date.
"What they did to the businesses is screw them over big time,'' said Ken Strucke, co-owner of T.K's Deli and Pizzeria on Walkerton's main street, who feels he was bullied into settling for $5,000.
"I have ulcers now. It wasn't our fault. We didn't ask for this stuff.''
In the aftermath of the May 2000 tragedy that killed seven people and sickened 2,500 others in the rural mid-western town of 5,000, the provincial government settled a class-action lawsuit by setting up a compensation plan, with taxpayers footing most of the bill.
The promise was a fair and quick way to compensate victims without costly legal battles. For most personal claims, such as for illness and death, that has been the case.
Businesses, however, beg to differ.
"We're still waiting for our money,'' said Mary Ann Kroetsch, co-owner of K's Kountry Kitchen, which now employs just six people, down from 12 when the E. coli-tainted water seeped into the town's well.
"It's a sad situation. I should be retired. My husband is 75 years old this year and he's still working.''
The diner was forced to spend $8,000 just to buy clean water during the crisis and the couple used their savings to stay open, said Kroetsch, her voice catching.
In January 2007, she turned down a settlement offer of $3,000, saying $15,000 plus interest would be more fair. She hasn't heard a word since, she said.
John Taylor, Crawford's project manager for the Walkerton plan, blamed the delays on deficient documentation from claimants.
"We're not trying to hold people to an unreasonably high standard in regards to proving a claim,'' Taylor said. "We're very anxious to resolve all of these outstanding claims. There's absolutely no benefit for anyone to sit around pondering.''
Taylor said 25 business claims have been withdrawn or dealt with some other way, leaving 27 -- more than a quarter of the claims -- under "active'' case management.
Strucke said adjusters initially offered him nothing.
"They said I didn't lose no business,'' he said. "So I fought with them. I ended up getting five grand.''
Taylor said claims are formally assessed with the help of accountants.
"We don't make offers to take a bargaining position,'' he said. "We're not trying to turn this into a negotiation.''
Still, some owners feel forced onto the losing end of a war of attrition.
Wayne Holman, owner of flooring store Grey-Bruce Interiors, said his accountant pegged his business losses at about $200,000, but adjusters blamed increased competition, not the water crisis. Either way, there's been deafening silence from Crawford for 2 1/2 years, he said.
Holman suspects the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty has washed its hands of the issue because the town voted a Conservative to the provincial legislature.
"The Liberals don't give a rat's rectum about us.''
The government is simply respecting a court-supervised process, said an aide in the premier's office.
Randy Bennett, who monitors administration of the plan for Ontario Superior Court, also cited incomplete claimant documentation as the major reason business claims are taking so long.
"It's not my impression that there have been inordinate delays,'' Bennett said, adding two claims are slated for arbitration, with the first to take place in May.
Mark Barranger, an accountant in Priceville, Ont., who helped a former farm-equipment dealer file a claim years ago, said adjusters responded with dozens of questions, which were duly answered.
"It's been a year since we sent in the last pile of information they wanted and I haven't heard a damn thing,'' Barranger said.
"It's horrendous. You talk to the wall.''
Businesspeople say they feel suckered by the Conservative government of former premier Mike Harris, which a public inquiry found partly to blame for the E. coli tragedy.
"You heard the radio say the government was doing this and doing that for the businesses,'' Strucke said. "They never did nothing.''
