Sask. reports over $200,000 worth of ministerial travel in past 6 months, defends need for trade missions
Premier Scott Moe and his team of officials had the largest travel bill for the most recent six month reporting period – earning scorn from the Official Opposition.
Included in the expenses were highly publicized trade missions to Dubai and India. Those two were the most expensive at just over $37,000 for India and $32,000 for Dubai.
The NDP question the necessity and the cost.
“This is a government that is playing pretty fast and loose when it comes to taxpayer dollars,” Aleana Young NDP MLA.
Dubai trip expenses do not include the cost of the trade show, display space and advertising.
“We have a premier who is aggressively unapologetic in having spent a million dollars for the single most expensive trip in the history of the province,” Young added.
Other ministers with travel expenses exceeding $10,000 include Jeremy Harrison, Jim Reiter, Dustin Duncan and Lori Carr.
The totals include travel costs for officials who accompanied them.
“We see people who can’t afford the basics, whether it’s groceries, whether it’s putting gas in their tank and you know meanwhile we see a government that is unapologetically and lacking in transparency spending taxpayer dollars kind of willy-nilly.”
In total, the Premier and eight cabinet ministers made 17 out of province trips at a combined cost of just over $219,000.
The government did not have a cabinet minister available to address the expenses.
However, Executive Council did offer a response Tuesday evening – outlining the vital importance of maintaining trading relationships in a province that exports "70 per cent of everything it produces."
“In Saskatchewan one in three jobs is tied to exports. In 2023, Saskatchewan exported over $49 billion worth of goods to 163 countries,” the statement read. “This is the second-highest year for total exports in provincial history.”
In the explanation, the province pointed to its network of trade offices located in Mexico, the UK, Germany, the UAE, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, and China. It also referred to its appearance at COP28.
“The United Arab Emirates is also an incredibly important emerging market for Saskatchewan, we are the only Canadian province with a trade office in Dubai,” the statement read.
“Saskatchewan is Canada's largest agri-food exporter to the UAE. In 2023, exports to the Middle East and North Africa, supported by Saskatchewan’s Dubai office, were worth more than $1 billion dollars.”
Ending off, the province highlighted its trade relationship to India, saying that 25 per cent of Canadian trade to the subcontinent originates from Saskatchewan.
“It’s a relationship worth more than a billion dollars annually and is growing rapidly,” the statement read. “In India, Saskatchewan exports help ensure food security for more than 1.4 billion people.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump delivers rambling response to his hush money conviction
A day after a New York jury delivered a historic guilty verdict in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee held a press conference Friday where he spoke publicly about the conviction and his White House bid.
Mediterranean diet helps women live much longer, a large new study finds
Women who closely followed a Mediterranean diet lived much longer than those who did not, according to a new study that followed more than 25,000 women for 25 years.
How did Ontario's bankrupt 'Crypto King' travel the world on Scene+ points?
Newly released documents suggest Ontario’s so-called ‘Crypto King’ paid for months of world travels with $13,000 worth of Scene+ points while bankrupt – but how?
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Solutions coming for piled-up bodies outside Newfoundland hospital
Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador say they are only weeks away from a solution to move unclaimed human remains out of roadside freezers and into a nearby hospital.
Actor Nick Pasqual charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing estranged girlfriend
An actor who has appeared in film and TV projects like 'Rebel Moon' and 'How I Met Your Mother' has been arrested and charged with stabbing his estranged girlfriend multiple times.
'Unprecedented': Human smuggling from B.C. to U.S. soars, using train, Uber and foot
American prosecutors and law enforcement officers say they're dealing with a huge increase in human smuggling from British Columbia.
The northern lights are returning to night skies across Canada this Friday
If you missed the brilliant displays of the aurora borealis over North America on May 10, you may have another chance to see them on Friday night.
Incendiary device thrown at Vancouver synagogue, Jewish Federation says
An incendiary device was thrown at a Vancouver synagogue Thursday night, leading to increased police presence at local institutions, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver says.