Secrecy overshadows Sask. Party campaign

Report on leadership debate questions is not being released and is closely held

In this weekly series, Leader-Post reporter D.C. Fraser and StarPhoenix reporter Alex MacPherson round up everything happening on the campaign trail as candidates compete to be the next leader of the Saskatchewan Party and the Saskatchewan NDP.

With less than three weeks to go until its members elect a new leader — and premier — the Saskatchewan Party has found itself in a difficult position, with questions about process overshadowing discussions about policy.

The party’s leadership election oversight committee announced last month that while concerns raised by three candidates were justified, its internal investigation did not uncover direct evidence that questions were leaked to another candidate ahead of a late-November debate.

Now, the party is refusing to release the full findings of that investigation, which are contained in a closely-held report — some senior party members had no idea it even existed — that is “more substantive” than what was contained in its public statement about the probe.

It is unclear what the report contains. It is equally unclear why the party won’t make it public. Sask. Party executive director Patrick Bundrock would say only that the party “released publicly what (it) needed to,” and that the committee will not change its position on the issue.

Everyone involved is proceeding cautiously. Three leadership candidates — Scott Moe and Gord Wyant, who made the initial complaint, as well as Ken Cheveldayoff — said they wouldn’t object to the report being released, but none of the five contenders have gone so far as to call for its publication.

Tina Beaudry-Mellor, who also signed the letter of complaint, also stopped short of demanding the document be released, but described the party’s investigation as a “classic Supreme Court decision” that attempted to please everybody involved. Alanna Koch’s campaign declined to comment at all.

All of this raises two important questions: What does the report say? And why is the party determined to keep it under wraps?

This will almost certainly become a thorn in the side of whoever wins the Jan. 27 election. No politician wants a victory to be clouded with unanswered questions about behind-the-scenes machinations and the integrity of internal processes. But barring full disclosure, that is a distinct possibility.

The secret party report is not the only procedural issue being discussed by insiders, either. No one has publicly raised the issue, but there has been plenty of backroom chatter about the official ballots, which in a break from convention does not list the candidates alphabetically.

On the campaign trail, the candidates have been mostly silent. Their platforms are out and the only thing left to do is spend as much time on the road as possible — some candidates have reported logging more than 30,000 highway kilometres since August — convincing people to vote for them.

As far as the eventual winner, party insiders generally agree that Cheveldayoff, Koch and Moe are the front-runners but a clear picture of the all-important down ballot votes has yet to emerge. The best that can be said at this point is the Saskatoon convention is going to be exciting.

The Saskatchewan NDP race, meanwhile, has been quiet the last few weeks apart from a debate in Moose Jaw this weekend. That is perhaps understandable, as the party’s convention is three months away and any major developments are likely to be overshadowed by the Sask. Party race coming to a close.

According to the party’s latest financial disclosures, Ryan Meili continues to lead Trent Wotherspoon in terms of fundraising — the newly-minted Saskatoon MLA had raised $97,070 by Nov. 30, compared to the his competitor’s $62,998.

(Those totals pale in comparison to those amassed by the Sask. Party candidates; Cheveldayoff announced this week that his campaign reached its fundraising total, the spending cap of $250,000.)

The NDP’s race is going to gain momentum in the coming weeks, however. The party’s first debate, held in October, was far more engaging than similar Sask. Party events, and there are four more scheduled for January and February — one in Regina, one in Prince Albert and two in Saskatoon.