Question Period in the Saskatchewan legislature exploded last week on news that former Kindersley MLA and cabinet minister Bill Boyd was fined $35,000 for environmental offences related to an irrigation project.
Opposition leader Ryan Meili grilled Premier Scott Moe on Boyd’s activities. The exchange from Wednesday’s Question Period was recorded in Hansard.
Mr. Meili: —Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday we learned that Bill Boyd, the Sask Party’s former Economy minister who resigned in the midst of a conflict of interest scandal, was fined $35,000 after pleading guilty to environmental charges. This was a minister that the former premier described as the DNA of the Sask Party.
… Mr. Speaker, Mr. Boyd pressured the Water Security Agency and was able to get a difficult-to-get licence more quickly than usual, and the minister was the minister responsible for the water security at the time.
With a past minister of the Crown now convicted, now convicted for abuses committed while in government, Mr. Speaker, what will the Premier do to make sure this never happens again? Will this Premier make changes to the conflict of interest legislation to prevent this kind of abuse?
Premier Moe responded.
Hon. Mr. Moe: —… Now the fact of the matter is, Mr. Speaker, is that the people of the province can rest assured that this particular incident was investigated, Mr. Speaker. And the process that we have through the investigation, through the channels of justice, Mr. Speaker, this individual was treated in exactly the same fashion as any other individual would across the province of Saskatchewan. I think the people of this great province can feel so assured, Mr. Speaker, that this is a case . . . Everyone in this province is treated in an identical fashion in this type of an incident, Mr. Speaker, no matter who you are.
The Speaker: —I recognize the Leader of the Opposition.
Mr. Meili: —Mr. Speaker, no, people in this province should not all be treated in an identical fashion — the members of this House need to be held to a higher standard.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday’s convictions are not the only possible charges hanging over Mr. Boyd’s time as a minister in this Saskatchewan Party government. The RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] investigation into land transactions at the Global Transportation Hub was concluded last November, Mr. Speaker. The results were forwarded to the Manitoba Crown prosecutors five months ago to review and determine next steps.
Has there been an update on the status of this review? When will the people of Saskatchewan have the full story on this investigation, and what is the government doing to clear the air of scandal that continues to hang over the Global Transportation Hub?
The Speaker: —I recognize the Minister of Justice.
Hon. Mr. Morgan: —Mr. Speaker, the members opposite might want to weigh in to a prosecution or a police investigation. We’re not going to do that. The matter is with the Manitoba department of justice, and that’s where it’ll stay till it’s finished. We will make no inquiries. We’re not dealing with it. It’s up to them to finish it, and we’ll wait…
Meili resumed the attack the following day, Thursday.
Mr. Meili: —… A question for the Premier today: is it standard practice for the Water Security Agency to grant project approval to projects that have been found to already be in violation of environmental protection orders?
The Speaker: —I recognize the Premier.
Hon. Mr. Moe: —Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition went out to the rotunda yesterday and he made some false allegations with respect to an irrigation application that was approved through some type of a backdoor process or something of that nature, Mr. Speaker, and this simply is just not true.
And it’s an insult, quite frankly, to the process and to the officials that are working, the professional public service who manage the irrigation approval process here in the province through Water Security Agency, through the Ministry of Agriculture. Mr. Speaker, these officials told me at the time and they assured me again yesterday that Mr. Boyd’s application was handled in exactly the same way as anyone else’s would be, Mr. Speaker. They felt no pressure whatsoever from my office or any political office, Mr. Speaker…
Later Meili brought up an email obtained from a director at the Water Security Agency on the Boyd irrigation project.
Mr. Meili: —Mr. Speaker, we’ve obtained an email from June 5th from a director at the Water Security Agency to the agency’s president and CEO [chief executive officer] and cc’d to their general counsel. The email reads in part, and I’ll quote:
Just an FYI on the Bill Boyd irrigation project we’ve been working on. We’re in a position to issue our approvals based on modifications to the plans previously submitted. On Friday the Ministry of Agriculture asked us to hold off on issuing until they discussed the project with the Ministry of the Environment, as it was learned that WHPA-designated lands adjacent to Mr. Boyd’s property had been broken in contravention of The Wildlife Habitat Protection Act.
Mr. Speaker, the permit that the Ministry of Agriculture asked to be held off on was issued two months later, with full knowledge of the violations with which Bill Boyd was later charged and for which he was convicted.
Mr. Speaker, what role did the then minister of the Environment play in addressing the Ministry of Agriculture’s concerns in ensuring Mr. Boyd’s permits were issued?
Minister of Agriculture Lyle Stewart stood to respond.
Hon. Mr. Stewart: —The pump site was intended to be constructed on private land, but the boundary of the land was incorrectly surveyed due to the surveyor using a deflection from the survey pin of 90 degrees rather than 93 degrees. Construction of the pump site and supply line began before the error was discovered. A special lease was issued to cover the pump site and the supply line. This lease was subject to the Crown lessee agreeing to surrendering the land, including the special lease.
That cultivation was discovered on June 6th, ’17. And special leases are issued in circumstances where land use or land acquisition does not fit within normal day-to-day operations of the Ministry of Agriculture lands branch, and to date 148 such special leases have been issued.
A seemingly unimpressed Meili resumed questioning the Premier.
Mr. Meili: —… Is it standard practice to grant approval for projects that have already been found to be in violation of environmental protection orders? And is it standard practice for the deputy ministers of multiple agencies to get involved in a single permit?
The Speaker: —I recognize the Premier.
Hon. Mr. Moe: —Mr. Speaker, what has happened here is not unusual, Mr. Speaker, and I would add that all members of this House are always . . . disclose their, all of their conflicts of interest, Mr. Speaker, to the Conflict of Interest Commissioner. But when I was Environment minister, Mr. Speaker, I looked at plans, as I said, for all sorts of projects across this province — municipal projects, drainage projects, water conveyance projects, and yes, irrigation projects from time to time...
… I was never involved in any of these projects, Mr. Speaker, directly in the approval process. And I was not involved in the approval process in this case, Mr. Speaker. It’s done by officials through different ministries, with no influence and no interference from elected officials, from elected members.
The Speaker: —Recognize the Leader of the Opposition.
Mr. Meili: —No involvement or influence from elected officials. The email from the director of licensing and water use continues, Mr. Speaker. And I’ll just quote the email, if you’ll allow me:
I’ve just heard that this afternoon there was an unscheduled meeting between the deputy ministers for the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment with Alanna Koch [who you’ll remember as a recent runner-up in the Sask Party leadership and former deputy minister to the Premier] and the Associate Deputy Minister of Agriculture also in attendance.
Operational staff from the ministries of Agriculture and Environment are to attend the site tomorrow and inspect, to get the most up-to-date info on what has to be done and will be reporting back to their deputies before taking further action.
Mr. Boyd was contacted and may be attending the meeting as well. We’ve been asked to continue to hold off on issuing any approvals for the time being and will do so.
This email raises a number of questions, Mr. Speaker, but we’ll start with one. Is this the sort of high-level treatment a deputy minister of the premier, deputy ministers from multiple ministries, any other person can expect when they apply for an irrigation permit with this Sask Party government?
The Speaker: —Recognize the Premier.
Hon. Mr. Moe: —Mr. Speaker, I’ve also been made aware of an email that was sent to the Leader of the Opposition and cc’d to the Minister of Environment here this morning from Susan Ross, the president and CEO of the Water Security Agency, a letter, and it went to address some comments that were made in the rotunda yesterday, Mr. Speaker. And I quote these comments by the Leader of the Opposition:
If a colleague comes to you and says off the side of a desk, in a hallway conversation, can we just roll ahead with this?
I think that that is the moment, that’s a red flag for any minister to say that, you know what? I appreciate your question and this really needs to go through the proper channels.
And I can assure the people of the province of Saskatchewan, this did go through the proper channels, Mr. Speaker, as he was referred to the appropriate agencies like anyone else, Mr. Speaker, as is quoted by the emails from the members opposite.
And in the email that was sent by Ms. Ross this morning, Mr. Speaker, to the Leader of the Opposition, it says this:
I note that in the legislature and in the media you state that Mr. Boyd was treated differently and used back channels to advance his application for a water rights licence. This is not the case.
The Speaker: —Recognize the Leader of the Opposition.
Mr. Meili: —Mr. Speaker, in that same conversation in the rotunda, Mr. Speaker, in that same rotunda, the Premier said yesterday that he had had conversations with Mr. Boyd, or indicated that he may have had conversations with Mr. Boyd about this project. So I would like to know: did that hallway conversation happen? Did you discuss this project with Mr. Boyd? When did that happen, and what did you tell him?
The Speaker: —Recognize the Premier.
Hon. Mr. Moe: —Mr. Speaker, I said it and it’s true. I did have a conversation with Mr. Boyd. I had multiple conversations with individuals in the watershed and the Quill lakes area, Mr. Speaker, with those downstream...
Premier Moe listed off numerous people and organizations he had conversations with.
Hon. Mr. Moe: — And the fact of the matter is, Mr. Speaker, is as the president of the Water Security Agency says, as I am saying, Mr. Speaker, this application was referred to the Water Security Agency and the other ministries in the same way that each of those other conversations that I had.
And, Mr. Speaker, the people of this province can be reassured that that’s the case. And when the rules weren’t followed, Mr. Speaker, this case, this individual was investigated like anyone else in the province. He was charged, Mr. Speaker, because he was out of compliance. He pled guilty, Mr. Speaker, had one of the largest fines under our environmental laws here in the province. And, Mr. Speaker, I think this proves to the people of the province of Saskatchewan that no matter who you are, Mr. Speaker, you will be treated in an identical fashion in Saskatchewan.
