NDP attempt to hold minister in contempt stymied by Speaker

The Saskatchewan NDP struck a combative tone in the first question period of the fall sitting on Thursday, accusing a government minister of contempt amid accusations he tried to mislead the assembly more than two years ago.

But Speaker Mark Docherty refused to allow debate. He ruled there wasn’t “persuasive evidence” that then-economy minister Jeremy Harrison had been untruthful during a debate over the potential sale of Sasktel.

Harrison said he was merely reporting “in good faith” what Sasktel had told him about the state of discussions with potential buyers.

NDP finance critic Trent Wotherspoon raised a question of privilege in the legislature on Thursday. He argued that Harrison, now minister of trade and export development, was in contempt of the Legislative Assembly for presenting what Wotherspoon called “false information.”

He pointed to remarks on May 2, 2017, when Harrison told the assembly that “there have been no formal discussions” relating to what a sale of Sasktel might look like. At the time, Bill 40 had redefined privatization to allow the government to more easily sell a partial equity stake in Crown corporations.

But the NDP later obtained information that Sasktel and a third party had entered into two agreements, including a non-disclosure agreement, on May 2, 2017, the same day Harrison spoke. They referred to a “potential strategic transaction.”

The agreements first became known when the Information and Privacy Commissioner released a report that, according to the NDP, proves efforts to sell Sasktel were much farther advanced than previously believed.

NDP leader Ryan Meili argued there’s simply no way Harrison wouldn’t have known discussions were already ongoing.

“We know that those agreements wouldn’t have been signed the first day those conversations happened,” said Meili. “That would have been going on for months and months.

“This minister has got his hands in everything. There’s no question that he would be aware of what was going on and that he misrepresented the truth in this legislative assembly.”

Docherty saw the matter differently. He ruled there wasn’t a strong enough case to move forward with debate on Wotherspoon’s motion.

In the Speaker’s view, the NDP’S evidence didn’t establish that talks between Sasktel and a third-party buyer were anything more than “exploratory.”

“An allegation as serious as contempt requires proof of a very high order,” said Docherty.

He argued Wotherspoon had failed to provide that proof.

“The interpretation of those discussions is a matter of perception,” he said. “The report does not conclusively prove the minister’s comment was false and certainly does not provide evidence that the minister purposely provided false information with the intent to mislead the assembly.”

Harrison called the NDP’S attempt to hold him in contempt “disappointing.”

“They chose to introduce it to make a political point,” he told reporters.

Harrison pointed out that Sasktel wasn’t his file at the time, and that he was filling in for ministers who were away from the assembly.

“I had a response that had been put in front of me by the officials at Sasktel, and I provided that response to the house and did so in good faith,” he said.