REGINA - Former Regina Northeast MLA Gary Grewal is speaking out against the Conflict of Interest Commissioner’s ruling that he broke the Members Conflict of Interest Act.
Commissioner Maurice Herauf ruled Grewal broke s.15(5) on two counts — the first that Grewal had been in a government contract for stays of social service clients at the Sunrise Motel, and that Grewal did not come into compliance within the 90 days of his Dec. 15 preliminary to come into compliance with the Act. He stated Grewal acknowledged three Social Services clients continued to stay at the Sunrise to March 25, past the March 15 deadline, and that the Sunrise did not receive the final payment from Social Services until July 17, 2024.
Herauf also ruled that Grewal took no steps to come into compliance over a loan of $100,000 to the Thriftlodge, for which he received interest-only payments.
In a lengthy response issued Wednesday, Grewal maintains his stance that social workers arranging rooms for vulnerable citizens did not constitute a government contract. As for the Thriftlodge, Grewal said there was no communication from the Commissioner advising me of the conflict, no direction from the Commissioner that that I needed to act, and that he had no reason to call the loan or take any other action.
The full, lengthy response from Grewal is reprinted below:
“I continue to firmly maintain my position that a social worker arranging a room for a vulnerable citizen at a motel does not constitute a “government contract” and believe the Commissioner’s ruling completely misinterprets the nature of these transactions, which are essentially vouchers issued to individuals in need of temporary shelter. Notwithstanding my sincere belief, once the Commissioner shared his opinion on December 15, 2023, as a result of my own request for his opinion, I directed the Sunrise Motel to no longer accept new guests effective March 15, 2024 which is within the permitted 90 day timeline. If I am to be criticized for not wanting to evict then existing social service guests with no other place to go, which I advised the Commissioner of without objection (the last guest stayed until March 25, 2024), I have no qualms about that decision.
“However, I consulted the Conflict of Interest Commissioner regarding my role as a bare creditor of the Thriftlodge Motel and clarified that I simply lent funds to the owner of Thriftlodge 13 years ago and have been receiving interest only payments since that time. I hold no shares, nor do I own any part of the Thriftlodge. Even if I wanted to, I have no authority or influence over its management, pricing, or policies. The Commissioner was specifically aware of this and at no point did he ever suggest to myself or my legal counsel that I needed to call the loan, forgive the loan, or take any other action.
“In his opinion he states, “while I accept that taking such steps would be difficult (if not impossible) given Mr. Grewal is not involved in the operations of Thriftlodge Motel, it was thus incumbent on Mr. Grewal to divest himself in that motel.”
“Had he provided the opinion he now has, I would have explored the options within that same 90-day time frame. He, himself stated it was near impossible for me to do anything differently. Given that there was no communication from the Commissioner advising me of the conflict, no direction from the Commissioner that that I needed to act, and I was not seeking re-election, I had no reason to call the loan or take any other action. I think it is very unfair for the Commissioner to state, as he did in his ruling, that I should have somehow surmised that he considered the same reasoning applied when he could have simply provided such an opinion to myself or my legal counsel, as he did with the Sunrise Motel. He did not offer any opinion, verbal or otherwise, suggesting my 13-year-old loan to a community member with terms and interest payments that were wholly unchanged throughout would constitute a breach of my duties as an MLA until Monday of this week, and I think that is very unfair to me.
“It is my sincere hope that you will release this statement in its totality so that the people of Saskatchewan are accurately informed of the facts.”
Earlier on Wednesday the NDP held a media event outside the Sunrise Motel including several NDP candidates in Regina in which they denounced the Sask Party.
In a news release, Regina Elphinstone-Centre’s Meara Conway said: “This isn’t just a one off. This is the culture of government under Scott Moe… People are done with it. You deserve a government that works for you. We’ve got a plan to make Saskatchewan the most accountable and transparent government in Canada.”
