Saskatoon, SK– The Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan is demanding an investigation into recent media reports surrounding the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC).
Media reports say the former SRC chair was fired after coming forward with concerns raised by a whistleblower. The whistleblower was also fired for raising 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 recently lied about bringing a gun to the legislature and bullying colleagues.”
The media reports state that the former SRC board chair brought his concerns to Harrison, who had the premier’s office launch an investigation. The board chair was not interviewed as part of the process. Nor was the whistleblower. Both were 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 has 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. “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 am calling for a full investigation to find out how we arrived at this point,” she said.
The media report also points 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 a completely defective 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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