The Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan is doubling down on a call for an inquiry into the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC). The party issued a news release demanding action on July 10 of this year, following media reports of trouble at the SRC. Earlier this week, CBC released more details.
The CBC report says the former SRC chair was fired after coming forward with serious conflict of interest charges involving board members, and senior executives.
“These reports are extremely serious, and demand a thorough investigation,” said Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan leader Rose Buscholl. “This involves Jeremy Harrison, the same minister who lied earlier this year about bringing a gun to the legislature and bullying colleagues. Now that summer is over, and we are in the midst of a provincial election, perhaps the powers that be will take this more seriously.” Buscholl was joined at a news conference in Regina this morning by former SRC chair Dr. Dennis Fitzpatrick.
“I have been involved with more than 50 boards throughout my career,” said Fitzpatrick. “My primary function as the board chair of SRC was to act in the best fiduciary interest of the Saskatchewan Research Council, and in the best interest of Saskatchewan taxpayers.” That was not the case here,” said Fitzpatrick.
The media reports state that Fitzpatrick brought his concerns to Harrison, who had the premier’s office launch an investigation. Fitzpatrick was not interviewed as part of the process. He was eventually fired. In fact, the board chair and vice-chair were fired, re-hired, and subsequently fired within months, by Order in Council. Despite this Harrison recently insisted he was not involved in board matters, adding that nothing “un-normal” took place.
The allegations surrounding the conflict of interest involve the CEO of the SRC bringing two business colleagues onto the board without proper disclosure. Since being fired, the board chair was replaced by George Prudat, who donated $1,600 to the Sask Party in 2022. The SRC CEO and the people he brought onto the board all made millions of dollars in a business transaction.
“The Sask Party is running this province and the SRC like its own private fiefdom,” said Buscholl. “The SRC is currently involved in rare earth mineral and nuclear files, which are worth tens of millions of dollars. When you look at the current organization chart for the SRC, you will find that the vice-president for the nuclear file has a background in human resources. Why is an HR professional heading up that division, when we are talking about moving forward with small modular nuclear reactors, and micro-reactors?” I join with Dr. Fitzpatrick in calling for a full investigation to find out how we arrived at this point,” she said.
The media reports also point out that the Opposition NDP has been aware of this issue for two years and done nothing.
“We need a government in Saskatchewan that is ethical and transparent. We need an opposition that is not afraid to speak up when it sees nonsense like this, said Buscholl. “What we don’t need is an opposition that will sit quietly by while Saskatchewan institutions are driven into the ground, and taxpayers hard earned money is put at risk.”
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