Sask. Party leader Scott Moe answered questions about conflicts of interest by MLAs in Prince Albert. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Election 2024

Moe tells media in Prince Albert he accepts Grewal conflict finding

Oct 22, 2024 | 12:04 PM

In the last days of the 2024 provincial election campaign, Sask. Party leader Scott Moe told the media that he accepts the findings of a conflict-of-interest investigation into one of his former MLA’s business dealings.

Moe made a campaign stop in Prince Albert on October 22 to rally his supporters and was asked for a reaction to the findings, published yesterday.

“I’d say we accept the findings. There’s no recommendations that are made,” Moe said. “This is an individual that’s a private citizen now and is not running for our party.”

The conflict commissioner ruled Gary Grewal violated Section 15 of the Conflicts of Interest Act with respect to two hotels he is an owner/shareholder/investor in, the Sunrise Motel and the Thriftlodge Motel in Regina.

This Thriftlodge in Regina is at the centre of conflict of interest rulings that found that former MLA Gary Grewal was in conflict when rooms were rented to Social Services at inflated rates. (980 CJME)

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The Conflict of Interest Act bans all members from participating in government contracts except in certain situations.

It was an NDP investigation into how those two motels doubled the rates they normally charged or that the market would allow when housing Social Services clients, that led to conflict findings.

Grewal is a shareholder, director and officer in the Sunrise Motel and the Thriftlodge Motel has Grewal listed as a creditor, since he loaned money to the owners.

Meara Conway, the NDP MLA for Regina – Elphinstone first brought the issue of the conflict to light in May of this year.

She said since Grewal was elected, the Ministry of Social Services spent over $700,000 on rooms in the two hotels, sometimes at double the market rate.

The investigation into Sask. Party conflict of interest allegations is not limited to southern Saskatchewan however.

In the Battlefords, Jeremy Cockrill (who was Minister of Education and is running again) is also facing allegations of conflict when it comes to a family-owned business, Fortress Windows and Doors.

The NDP said Fortress has had multiple dealings with the province and alleged a second conflict when they learned that Cockrill is invested in a helium company that does business with the government.

That allegation is much more serious as the claim is that Cockrill used his privileged knowledge from being in cabinet to invest which, if true, would amount to insider trading.

Neither Cockrill investigation has had a result published yet.

Moe said he expects more from his caucus in the future.

“I would say this more broadly moving forward, when it comes to being in compliance with the conflict-of-interest laws, you need to be,” Moe said.

“If you find that you’re not in compliance with those laws, that you take his recommendations and get yourself so that you are in compliance and if you want to serve in the Saskatchewan Party caucus, that will be the requirement.”

Local NDP candidate (Carlton) Carolyn Brost-Strom said that she is proud of the work her party did bringing the issues to light.

“We’re glad that investigation was done and we’re really disappointed that there is that going on,” she said. The NDP will follow the requirements that are already in place to prevent MLAs from coming into conflict in the first place, Brost-Strom stated.

Moe said his party is asking the voters of Saskatchewan to continue to support his party and form government again, something the party has done continuously since 2007.

This time, however, the party is running without a significant number of its original elected MLAs. In Prince Albert, Joe Hargrave opted not run again in Carlton although Alana Ross hopes to keep her seat in Northcote.

-with files from Nigel Maxwell

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com