Disregard for rules not a new thing for former minister Boyd

So what else was handled recklessly during Bill Boyd’s time?

“In all of the circumstances, one would have to place Mr. Boyd’s efforts to comply and avoid the harm caused at the very low end of the diligence scale,” read Judge R.D. Jackson’s ruling on the former economy minister’s violations of the Wildlife Habitat Protection Act and Environmental Management and Protection Act.

“His actions throughout, at a minimum, were highly reckless. His culpability for the offence is therefore high.”

If it hasn’t yet crossed your mind, perhaps it should: Were there other occasions when

Boyd, in his capacity in government, similarly demonstrated the “very low end of the diligence scale” and brazen disregard for rules and advice? And could others have been reckless as well?

Remember: The environmental violations happened after Boyd’s personal China trip (that led to his expulsion from government caucus for misrepresenting himself ). It also occurred during the RCMP investigation into the Global Transportation Hub (GTH) land deal. This was the same GTH land deal in which provincial auditor Judy Ferguson chastised the Saskatchewan Party government for “active involvement of the GTH chair/ minister” (at the time, Boyd).

Yet the same Sask. Party government was — and still largely is — eager to suggest there was “no wrongdoing ” in the GTH by Boyd or anyone else? The Sask. Party now argues Boyd’s actions on his farm that produced the convictions and $35,000 in fines were: (a) that of a farmer wrongly acting in his own business interests, and; ( b) a farmer and politician who was warned repeatedly by Water Security Agency officials that he was acting inappropriately.

Neither are in dispute, but one has to ask: Would a normal farmer be quite so brazen in what he thought he could get away with? Frankly, would most politicians be as brazen as Boyd?

“Further, Mr. Boyd was certainly not someone unsophisticated in the ways of government,” Jackson wrote. “He had been the MLA for the area for many years, during several of which he held cabinet posts. As a former minister of the Crown, it is highly unlikely he could claim any difficulty understanding the concept generally nor specifically the clear requirements for licence permit approval contained in the material received from WSA.”

In fact, the sequence of events outlined in Jackson’s ruling demonstrated a consistent pattern of ignoring authority.

“The works identified as existing appear inconsistent with those shown on the plan submitted in support of your application to WSA,” stated one WSA email to Boyd cited in Jackson’s ruling. “Development of the irrigation project as shown on the inspection plan would result in works affecting lands owned by Her Majesty the Queen (Saskatchewan) and designated pursuant to The Wildlife Habitat Protection Act (WHPA). WSA understands that these WHPA designated lands are not to be developed for irrigation.”

“It is also important to note that this application was in relation to the licence required to draw water from the South Saskatchewan River,” Jackson wrote. “No corresponding licence or permit had been applied for, nor was ever applied for, in relation to habitat protection which was required where alteration of the riverbank and shoreline was contemplated.”

One shudders to think what was going on under then-premier Brad Wall’s watch, given the government’s curious response was a June 5, 2017, meeting involving now premier and thenenvironment minister Scott Moe, then-deputy minister to Wall (and future Sask. Party leadership runner-up) Alanna Koch and a series of deputy ministers under them.

The next day, “Department of Agriculture met with Mr. Boyd at the project site,” according to Jackson’s ruling, to discover Crown protected land had been cultivated and “a large irrigation pipeline crossing the riverbank connected to a large mobile pump” had been installed.

Yet a subsequent permit was issued and the announcement of charges against Boyd were suspiciously delayed until Boyd, who Wall called the “DNA of the Sask. Party,” announced his retirement from politics.

Was Boyd the only one doing things in a reckless way?