EX-COMMISH WANTS INQUIRY
Gerry Gerrand is urging the Sask. Party government to use the Public Inquiries Act to learn what happened with the GTH deals.
The Saskatchewan government now needs to hold a public inquiry into Global Transportation Hub (GTH) land dealings, says the province’s former conflict of interest commissioner (COIC).
“I believe a much wider inquiry is now required,” said retired lawyer Gerry Gerrand, who served as COIC from 2002 to 2010 before being replaced by current commissioner Ron Barclay.
Gerrand urged Premier Brad Wall — or whomever replaces him in the Saskatchewan Party’s Jan. 27 leadership vote — to use the province’s Public Inquiries Act to get to the bottom of the deal overseen by former economy minister and Kindersley MLA Bill Boyd that saw the GTH spend $21 million for 204 acres of land.
His comments Friday came in the wake of Barclay’s response to the NDP Opposition that the current conflict of interest legislation does not offer the scope or the ability for the commissioner to conduct a proper investigation.
Gerrand said that while Barclay is enduring public criticism for not launching an inquiry, the real problem is the restrictions of the Conflict of Interest Act — a problem that the Saskatchewan Party government could remedy by launching an inquiry through the Public Inquiries Act, he said.
“They (the Sask. Party government) are the only party that can call for this public inquiry and they should do it,” said Gerrand, noting that past governments have held both legislative and public inquiries into everything from David Milgaard’s wrongful murder conviction to the Channel Lake Inquiry into purchases of natural gas leases.
Asked about calling such an inquiry, a senior official in Wall’s office responded: “At this point, we are not ruling out anything with regard to further review of this matter. However, it would not be appropriate to initiate any further review while this matter is still under police investigation. When the police investigation is concluded, the government will consider what further action may be required.”
While former leadership candidate Jeremy Harrison called for tougher conflict of interest guidelines before withdrawing from the race Friday, other hopefuls have skirted the issue of any possible GTH wrongdoing.
“The people of Saskatchewan have an expectation, an expectation of their public figures in the province,” Scott Moe said Friday as he launched his leadership bid. “We’ve had processes in place to protect that in this province, and those continue to be in place. The fact of the matter is that, as we move forward, this team here that we have today will be having discussions on all sorts of public policy.”
In a letter responding to a request from interim NDP leader Nicole Sarauer, Barclay said the act limits him to rule on “whether a member contravened the act” and that “I have no jurisdiction to consider any other statutory or common law standards of conduct.”
“Therefore, I offer no opinions, either positive or negative, regarding
issues other than compliance with the Act, such as the purchases of land by the GTH in an alleged fiscally irresponsible manner,” Barclay wrote.
Sarauer noted her party has also called for a judicial inquiry and supported Gerrand’s call for Wall or the next Sask. Party premier to hold any such inquiry.
Earlier this week Barclay clarified that — contrary to the Wall government assertion that he ruled in January 2016 that Boyd was not in conflict of interest on the GTH — he had never been asked for or ever rendered an opinion on the matter.
Barclay said he was only asked for his opinion in January 2016 on whether Boyd had a conflict in his private farmland rental agreement with Edmonton businessman Robert Tappauf.
Tappauf made a $6-million profit on 204 acres (83 hectares) he purchased from the original landowners a few months before it was purchased by the GTH.
The GTH bought the land for $21 million from Regina businessman Anthony Marquart, who had bought the land from Tappauf for $15 million.
An official in Boyd’s economy ministry office negotiated that final purchase from Marquart — a purchase provincial auditor Judy Ferguson’s report said was made at “significantly higher price” with the “active involvement” of Boyd and conducted “not in a fiscally responsible manner.”