Moe's trade trip may hurt his image more than it helps economy
Prior to jetting off on his latest trade mission to the United Arab Emirates, Premier Scott Moe was asked why he was taking a second such foreign trip during this spring sitting.
The Saskatchewan premier said the past two years of COVID-19 had curtailed the world travel that's important to the province's trade and now is the time to catch up.
What Moe and company may have forgotten is that most see politicians' travel as elitist and not really addressing their issues.
Those who will soon have to pay the PST on gym memberships and Rider tickets or have COVID -19 and can't take time off because they don't have paid sick leave or are simply frustrated their local rural hospital doesn't have a doctor would likely prefer politicians stay at home and tend to problems. And what may be even more interesting is such views now seem be coming from all sides of the political spectrum.
Besides his current trip to the cosmopolitan Dubai — which happens to have the second most five-star hotels of any city in the world — Moe was in London and Germany in March where the usual questions about the necessity of the trip were somewhat tempered by a visit to a Ukrainian refugee camp in Germany. That spurred Moe to send Canora-pelly MLA Terry Dennis back to Germany and the refugee camp to explore Saskatchewan's role in helping refugees.
Other trips this spring that we know of (for unexplained reasons, a cabinet travel itinerary is no longer shared) have included one by Advanced Education Minister Gene Makowsky and one by Trade and Export Minister Jeremy Harrison.
(That Harrison — who double dips as government House Leader — thought it appropriate to schedule his travel while the House was sitting speaks volumes about Sask. Party governmental priorities.)
Perhaps some ministerial travel is necessary ... or such is the case Moe is now making on his social media feeds with his daily Dubai travelogue.
As small modular reactors were drawing protests from the Green party in front of the legislature, Moe was signing a memorandum of understanding with the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy to “support innovation, economic advancement and research and development.”
Moe also informed us he will be delivering the keynote speech to the Global Pulses Confederation to tell the story of Saskatchewan as a “trusted supplier of agri-food products to more than 140 countries” and how Saskatchewan “can help UAE and other countries achieve innovation-driven food security.”
But as was the case with the last NDP and PC governments when they started to get a little long in the tooth, this Sask. Party government seems to convince itself all such foreign trips are somehow crucial. And they are beginning to find new, creative ways to justify them.
The last great spate of foreign trade office openings in the early 1990s came as the PCS were looking for cushy positions as they made their political exits. (An extensive search for the most possibly qualified trade emissaries produced Graham Taylor, Paul Rousseau and Bob Andrews — all, coincidentally, former PC cabinet ministers.)
Moe and Harrison vow this won't happen again. However, framing these travel/ trade office openings around “asserting more provincial autonomy” hasn't exactly allowed the government to distance itself from the politics.
Nor is having former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper — who was under a $240,000 one-year contract with the province — in tow.
Normally, this is just NDP fodder, but one can't help but notice the similarity of criticisms from other sides of the political spectrum.
Elitist. Arrogant. Unable to relate to real people's problems. Not watching taxpayers' pennies as they hike taxes and continue to produce deficit budgets.
This is not only what we are hearing from the NDP, but also from the new Saskatchewan United Party, accusing the Sask. Party of no longer putting Saskatchewan people first.
Beyond the usual problems, there are political problems at home. It doesn't seem a great time to take fancy foreign trips.