“It’s come to our attention that Hodgins Auctions was actually ordered to cease the trading of its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange,” Yates said. “As if the Sask Party awarding the contract to its political friend wasn’t bad enough, it chose to trust taxpayer dollars with a company that has been censured by the largest stock exchange in the country.”
Yates said he was also concerned to learn that current Sask Party MLA Delbert Kirsch worked for Hodgins Auctions for a number of years. He said at the very least, this conflict of interest alone should have raised some warning flags for the government.
“The more we learn about this deal, the more concerned the people of Saskatchewan should be,” Yates said. “This deal was nothing more than a lucrative contract to a political friend who has donated money to the Sask Party.”
Yates said he would continue to pressure the government on this issue because the Sask Party’s lack of transparency simply cannot be allowed to continue. He said for a government that issues a press release announcing popular baby names, the least the people of Saskatchewan can expect is an open contracting process that eliminates political cronyism.
“It’s still not clear why the Sask Party chose to institute this ‘pilot project’ without notifying the people of Saskatchewan,” Yates said. “For a government apparently looking to advertise its auctions more effectively, they were sure silent on this particular announcement. Now I guess we know why.”
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Under the Wall government, Masters and PhD students do not qualify for benefits in the Graduate Retention Program?
"It's not the most fun in the world and I can't say it's been the stellar week of my career but life goes on. (Gantefoer, after comments on the harmonized sales tax (HST) and on health user fees raised both as issues for the NDP and the media)"
- Minister of Finance, Rod Gantefoer
Sask. Party digs its way into trouble...
December 9, 2009
Mercifully, the fall sitting of the legislature has come to an end for the Saskatchewan Party government. Actually, it was a rather mercifully end for a lot of us in this province - especially those living in the rural areas. The longer the session went on, the deeper the Sask. Party dug itself into trouble...although it mostly seemed as if it was the rest of us getting covered in dirt. -Murray Mandryk, R Town News
