Sask. Party MLAS use tax cash on issue polling

Members spent $119,000 total in 2018; caucus chief calls it ‘tool’ to hear concerns

Saskatchewan Party MLAS continue to pool tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars from their constituency budgets each year to pay for research and polling conducted by a customer intelligence company.

Public records show that 47 Sask. Party MLAS paid $2,531.92 each to Maru Group Canada Inc. last year for a total of $119,000.24. Only Speaker Mark Docherty did not make payments, the records show.

Government Caucus Chief of Staff John Saltasuk said in an email that MLAS split the cost of “regular issues-based polling” through Maru Group, and that Docherty has chosen to be excluded from the program.

“It’s just another tool to ensure we’re hearing constituents’ views,” Saltasuk said before pointing to a Board of Internal Economy Directive prohibiting the use of constituency funds to conduct polls on voting intentions.

“That could be trying to understand people’s views on a specific issue, or broader questions to see what topics people are satisfied with and where they have the most concerns currently, such as ‘What is the top issue facing Saskatchewan today?’”

Saltasuk declined to provide an actual example of a poll conducted using the funds.

Maru Group Canada’s parent company, Maru Group, which claims its companies “test the boundaries and capabilities of the traditional research and insights industry,” did not respond to a request for comment.

The bipartisan Board of Internal Economy permits MLAS to claim up to $61,272 each year in constituency service expenses, funds used to cover everything from office supplies to advertising in their home ridings.

The board’s directive on constituency service expenses permits MLAS to hire contractors to perform various communication services, including “research duties,” “surveys,” “public opinion polls” and “data base maintenance.”

Political parties use their own funds for partisan polling, including on how people plan to vote in upcoming elections.

University of Saskatchewan political scientist Joe Garcea said while there is nothing wrong with MLAS consulting their constituents in a survey or poll, there is an overlap between polling on policy issues and explicitly partisan polling.

“It’s very hard to draw the line,” Garcea said, adding that perhaps the rules governing MLAS’ use of constituency funds should be clarified to include consultation for the benefit of both the public and the politicians.

Sask. Party MLAS have been using constituency funds for research and polling since at least 2012.

Saskatchewan NDP MLAS have in the past used their constituency office budgets to pay for similar research and polling, but a review of recent disclosure forms suggests that practice stopped after the 201516 fiscal year.

NDP spokesman Dave Mitchell said the party caucus spent $6,850 on polling during the last fiscal year, all of it in compliance with the rules. To the best of the party’s knowledge, he added, no MLA constituency budgets went to polling or opinion research.

Examples of polls conducted by NDP MLAS in the past include a 2012 survey about what issues Saskatoon–centre constituents think are most important and one asking about their thoughts on rent control.