RM of Weyburn quietly endorsed Seven Stars Energy Project almost a year before public announcement

CALGARY — A proposed 200-megawatt wind farm was quietly endorsed by the Rural Municipality (RM) of Weyburn in southeast Saskatchewan almost a year before the project was announced publicly.The Seven Stars Energy Project, was first endorsed by the RM in November 2023 without the public’s knowledge.In June 2024, energy infrastructure giant Enbridge announced the project publicly, which caused local residents to pack town halls, expressing shock and opposition to the proposal, which would see 46 turbines erected across the RMs of Weyburn and neighbouring Griffin.Council records obtained by the Western Standard show that on November 7, 2023, the RM of Weyburn Council held a meeting where Division 6 Councillor Dustin Bell moved that the RM provide a letter supporting EDF Renewables — the original owner of the project before they sold it to Enbridge in 2024 — in pursuing a wind project within the municipality. The motion passed..'AN UGLY MESS': Weyburn residents dig for answers as Seven Stars Energy Project moves forward.The same day as the meeting, then-Reeve Norm McFadden authored a letter of endorsement saying the RM of Weyburn was in “support of the development of the Weyburn Wind Project by EDF Renewables.”“The RM of Weyburn strives to create a community that is attractive to new businesses and commercial development,” McFadden wrote.“We believe [this] opens up many doors of opportunity for the community and creating a sustainable future for the Weyburn area.”However, when McFadden was asked about it a year later, he told the public something different..Seven Stars wind project received Sask government backing before environmental approval.In an October 4, 2024, article published by Discover Weyburn, McFadden discussed the Enbridge project, saying, “I've been telling people, when the announcement came out in late June, that's when we found out that this was moving forward. So that was a little bit of a challenge seeing this is happening in our backyard, and we find out through the media.”Documents also show Councillor Bell, who moved the motion to endorse the project, has ties to the wind energy industry.Bell is the president of Souris Valley Industries, a privately held construction company specializing in precast concrete products.Souris previously worked with Borea Construction in 2020 on the Golden South Wind Project, located approximately 175 km southwest of Regina, next to the town of Assiniboia, involving 50 turbines of 4.2 megawatts (MW).The project was awarded to Borea, while Souris provided precast concrete transformer vaults for construction.In Enbridge’s 2025 development permit application for Seven Stars, Borea is listed as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project..Also of note is former Division 1 Councillor Dan Cugnet, who is shown in the minutes of the November 7, 2023, meeting to have “declared a conflict” before the motion to support the wind turbine project passed because the item included “property that he has ownership of.”Cugnet also revealed in an August 2024 message to a local resident that his family had been working on the wind project for 20 years.“I, and my entire family, have been working towards making this a successful reality for 20 years,” Cugnet wrote.“There’s a misconception out there that it is in the stages for people to influence whether it proceeds or not. This isn’t the case. All required items, environmental studies, governing bodies and landowners have all signed off and are on side. The outcome is that it is in fact moving forward and will be built.”The councillor also revealed in the message that “more than half of the project is going to be on Cugnet lands.”On December 17, 2025, the RM of Weyburn voted 5-1 to approve the development permit for the Seven Stars project, with the only member of council voting against it being current Reeve Bud Grohn.Division 1 Councillor Chris Cugnet — Dan Cugnet’s cousin and replacement after he declined to seek re-election in the November 2024 municipal election — recused himself from the vote due to “a conflict” with the item.This is the third instalment in a Western Standard series examining the Seven Stars Energy Project.

RM of Weyburn quietly endorsed Seven Stars Energy Project almost a year before public announcement

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