It's time for criminal charges in the Rob Norris financial scandal

Brad Wall gives $1.300 in capital spending per student to SIAST and the U of S. But for St. Peters College $60,000 per student was handed out! And from the tax money intended for construction, almost $900,000 was spent on day to day operations!

NDP Education Critic Cam Broten called on the Sask Party government today to provide an update on whether criminal charges will be laid in relation to Advanced Education Minister Rob Norris’s failed attempt to merge St. Peter's College and Carlton Trail Regional College. Broten also called for the government to be clear about whether the decision about criminal charges was made by provincial government officials or sent out-of-province to avoid any political interference.

“We’ve had several months of silence from the Sask Party government on this important file and the people of Saskatchewan have a right to know what is going on,” Broten said. “This merger scandal involves an appointed joint-CEO who was closely tied to the inner circle of the government through his $1,000 per year membership in the elite Sask Party Enterprise Club. It involves government-appointed board members, including a former Sask Party nomination candidate, who ignored concerns and belittled the whistle blowers. And both Rob Norris and Humboldt MLA Donna Harpauer were involved in this project. So I would hope that the determination about whether or not to lay criminal charges was made by out-of-province prosecutors.”

Broten noted that Rob Norris delivered over $60,000 per student in capital funding to St. Peter's College – compared to just $1,300 per student to SIAST and the University of Saskatchewan – despite the fact that the joint-CEO had a criminal history of defrauding the Saskatchewan Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund.

Three independent reports released at the end of June outlined many damning findings related to the failed merger, including that taxpayers' dollars were used inappropriately; over $874,000 of public capital funding was actually used for operational expenditures at St. Peter’s College; and a special transfer of $60,000 of taxpayers' money to St. Peter’s was well timed with the purchase of a luxury SUV for the joint-CEO and member of the elite Sask Party Enterprise Club.

While responding to those three reports, Rob Norris spoke of the existence of a fourth independent report which outlines the specific details of potential criminal behaviour in the scandal, however he refused to provide further information about what is contained in that fourth report.

“The Sask Party government has demonstrated very poor judgment throughout this entire process and they have had to be pushed to do the right thing at every step of the way,” Broten said. “We’ve been waiting for months to hear what is in that fourth independent report, who it points the finger at in terms of criminal behavior, and whether any criminal charges will actually be laid. It’s time for the government to answer these questions and to make it clear who made the decision about criminal charges.”

press release from Cam Broten MLA

Brad Wall trys to pull a fast one but fortunately got caught

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
by James Woods

The legislative press gallery was thrown into a, well, let's just call it a tizzy, on Monday morning when reporters checked the orders in council from the previous week's cabinet meeting.

Included was a bombshell - a letter of agreement saying Ed Carleton had been named chief of staff to Premier Brad Wall and that he was getting a pay raise to $9,017 a month.

Carleton, Wall's childhood friend, has been executive of the Saskatoon cabinet office since the Saskatchewan Party took office in 2007. As well, he is a former University of Saskatchewan Huskies linebacker who has served as defensive co-ordinator for the football team since 1993.

Reporters were perplexed by the news because there had been no hint that current chief of staff Joe Donlevy - one of the premier's most relied-on advisers - was planning on stepping down. And Carleton, based in Saskatoon, would not have been viewed as a likely person to fill the post in any case.

But things got even more confusing when questions started flying at the government and no one in communications seemed to know anything about the major personnel shift.



Finally, Reg Downs, the premier's senior adviser, was able to set the record straight - both Carleton and Donlevy are staying in the same place.

The problem was the letter's "somewhat strange wording" Carleton was to be chief of staff, but of the Saskatoon cabinet office, and the change in title was to better reflect his duties.

And the pay raise? That, according to Downs, was a mistake. The change in title was to be accompanied by the same salary as before - $8,202 a month - and the letter has to be amended.

Reporters naturally wondered whether Carleton's raise would have gone through if they hadn't asked about the order.

But the government maintains somebody would have caught it.
SP