REGINA — Opposition leader Carla Beck has become the latest target of scrutiny over the latest hot topic in the legislature: attendance of MLAs during the fall sitting.
Beck has been absent from the legislature for the past four days, due to what the NDP says is a bout of the flu. But her absence was particularly noticed during Question Period on Wednesday.
What touched off the controversy was criticism coming from the NDP of Minister of Crown Investments Corporation Jeremy Harrison for not appearing at a meeting of the Crown and Central Agencies Committee on Tuesday evening.
That committee approved $1 billion in supplementary expenses including over $800 million to Sask Power, but the approval of supplementary expenses was automatically by statutory vote, meaning a formal vote of committee members was not held or required. Harrison later told reporters that the reason he did not appear was because it was a statutory vote.
The issue exploded the following day when Premier Scott Moe received a grilling from NDP critic for Sask Power Aleana Young over what transpired at committee.
"Mr. Speaker, not only has the Premier run SaskPower’s finances into the ground, but his ministers can’t even show up for work," Young said.
"Last night, last night, Mr. Speaker, we were supposed to have the opportunity to ask that minister questions on behalf of the people of this province whose money they are spending… Does the Premier think, does he really believe that he and his government no longer have to show up and answer questions on the public money that they are spending?"
"But the irony isn’t lost on me, Mr. Speaker, with opposition members standing to talk about the attendance, whether it be in this house or whether it be in committee, in particular the attendance of a minister that has been in his chair in question period each and every day since this fall session started," Moe replied.
"And so if this is the priority … of the leader of the opposition and the members opposite, Mr. Speaker, I would ask the leader of the opposition to rise and ask this minister a question, Mr. Speaker."
Young continued to push the issue.
"A cost of living crisis with no end in sight, Mr. Speaker. How much higher are people’s power bills going to go under that premier because of this premier and that minister?" Young said, according to the account in Hansard.
"Yet not enough of a priority, Mr. Speaker, for the leader of the opposition to rise and answer a question of a minister, of a minister that has been in his chair for 22 days, 22 question periods, 25 minutes each of those question periods," Moe responded.
"Over eight hours in his chair ready to answer questions from the leader of the opposition, Mr. Speaker. Again I would say, Mr. Speaker, it was a decision of this government, it was a decision of this government to remove the carbon tax from our SaskPower bills making Saskatchewan the only carbon tax-free province in the nation of Canada. It is again I would say, quote after quote, the position of the NDP opposition to reinstate that carbon tax on Saskatchewan families, Mr. speaker. We’re having none of it. The minister is having none of it. And he’s here each and every day in question period thus far, and I expect him to be here till the end, Mr. speaker. And the leader of the Opposition, if it’s a priority for her and her party, can rise and ask him a question."
Moe's constant references to the "leader of the opposition" who wasn't in the assembly that day struck a nerve with the NDP. Their House Leader Nicole Sarauer rose on a point of order at the end of question period, during which time she publicly confirmed why Beck was absent.
"Mr. Speaker, in question period today the premier, in response to a question from the opposition whip, pointed to and commented on the absence of the leader of the opposition. It is clear in the rules, as the member well knows, that you cannot do indirectly what you cannot do directly. Mr. speaker, rule 51(b) prohibits reflecting on the absence of a member. And it’s especially poor form, Mr. Speaker, when that member has already publicly stated that she is too sick to be here and she is home with the flu — somebody who is trying to prevent the rest of us from getting sick. I’d ask that you ask that member, the premier, to apologize and withdraw."
Government House Leader Tim McLeod responded that "if you review the record, you’ll see that the Premier did not refer to the presence or absence of the leader of the opposition. What he did do was invite the leader of the opposition to ask a question when the members opposite had accused one of our cabinet ministers of not showing up for work. He simply invited those members to ask our cabinet minister questions because he has attended work every day, Mr. Speaker. It was an accusation that was levelled by one of their members that the Premier responded to, specifically commenting on the fact that our minister is here to answer their questions."
"So who signed me up for this job?" was the reaction of an exasperated Speaker Todd Goudy, who has had to contend with an increasing number of accusations and insults hurled from MLAs on both sides of the aisle for the past several days.
"I don’t know what to even say, but I just wish we’d all get along a little bit more. It’s Christmastime here right away. But I know you’ve got a good valid point. At times . . . I’m just going to at this point say that it’s not well taken. It clearly wasn’t breaking the rules. And yet I’m going to ask that we don’t make these innuendoes that it’s hard for the speaker to judge on back and forth."
In the media scrum afterwards, the government could not let go of the Beck attendance issue. Media were provided statistics in which the Sask Party claimed Beck had been in the assembly only eight times out of 23 days the house had been sitting this fall.
A quick analysis of Hansard reports by SaskToday, however, puts the number of appearances as at least ten, not eight. Regardless of the actual number, it was the "eight of 23 days" line that Harrison used Wednesday when he spoke to reporters about the government's energy security strategy.
"I haven't got one question about it from the Opposition, from the leader of the Opposition, who has showed up eight days of the last 23. I could only imagine the questions the premier would be getting standing here from you if he had missed, if he was only here for eight of 23 days."
The Sask Party says Moe missed only two days this fall sitting, both due to meetings with officials in Washington, D.C.
"I can only imagine the questions you guys would be asking him. So the leader of the opposition has been here eight of 23 days. She could have stood up on any of those days and asked questions about the Energy Security Strategy, asked questions about the future of Sask Power. I would be thrilled to answer them. I would be more than thrilled to answer them, but she hasn't. I haven't gotten one question from her about any of this."
The NDP's Young made it clear to reporters she was not impressed with Harrison's comments about Beck's absence, and also questioned the accuracy of the numbers the Sask Party provided.
"Our leader has been out on the road meeting with stakeholders, meeting with people. Right now, she's home with a violent flu. I think it's unparliamentary to point out another member's absence. I prefer she be home right now, I think that's appropriate. We have members who have been absent, as have government members, for illness, for loss, for a variety of obligations on their critic files. I guess they want to whine about having to show up and do their job. That's on them. They can explain that to the voters the next opportunity they have."
