NDP still pressing for answers on GTH deal

One year after the provincial auditor concluded that taxpayers were charged too much when the provincial government was buying land for the Global Transportation Hub (GTH), the Saskatchewan NDP renewed its call for clarity on the controversial land deals.

Speaking to reporters outside the provincial cabinet office in Saskatoon, Opposition GTH critic Cathy Sproule said the Saskatchewan Party government has systematically refused to answer questions about the land deals in 2013 and 2014, through which a pair of businessmen with Sask. Party ties made millions of dollars.

“There is a police investigation — the RCMP is investigating — so I think that will help bring this to an end, one way or another,” Sproule said.

“But we know that despite any criminal activity, the way the land deal was done was highly questionable … They paid over $100,000 per acre, and there’s not a single appraisal that would justify that amount.”

RCMP have not confirmed an investigation is underway. However, last summer, three people involved in the controversial deals told the Regina Leader-Post that police had contacted them about the transactions.

Two months earlier, auditor Judy Ferguson said in a report that the province did not do enough to buy the land in a financially responsible way.

Sproule said the government’s apparent unwillingness to explain its actions won’t stop the NDP from urging the government to “come clean.”.

“I think it does raise larger questions about how this government is doing the business of government.

“The public accounts committee needs to be able to do its work. I think it’s obvious — they’re blocking, and not being transparent … and that’s the problem.”