Vendor-sponsored travel not OK or widespread in public service, says Sask. premier

The same day Saskatchewan's premier apologized for misinforming MLAs on the government's position on vendor-sponsored travel, Scott Moe now says that practice is not OK. 

The NDP has been questioning Moe on the issue after CBC's investigative team reported a private printing firm doing work for the government flew eHealth employees to North Carolina to attend the PGA Championship and business meetings.

Some of those employees were fired for violating eHealth's conflict of interest policy.

Last week, Moe told MLAs there are examples of where vendor-sponsored travel happens. That same day the premier's office alerted reporters to the fact the example used by the premier was wrong. 

Before question period Monday, Moe formally apologized in the assembly.

He also gave a new answer when further questioned on the matter. 

"I wanted to know if vendor-sponsored travel was a common practice across government," Moe told the assembly. 

"It turns out that it's not."

Moe said based on the information he's received, he has asked his deputy minister to check with government ministries and agencies, and that "to date we have not found any additional instances."

Afterward Moe said the review has looked back over the past couple of years and so far found nothing. 

"The public policy across ministries and agencies is that it's not OK," Moe said, explaining he directed his deputy minister, head of the public service, to reinforce that with the heads of ministries and agencies. 

"We have not found another instance to date of when there has been any violation."

NDP leader Ryan Meili said it's early in the process and they still want to see a list of which employees have travelled where and how it was paid for across every agency, ministry and Crown. 

He said the government is resisting accountability. 

"What I would do in Mr. Moe's shoes is say, 'Oh, that's not OK. We can't have employees going off on junkets paid by the vendors that they're giving contracts to let's get to the bottom of this, find out if it's being done anywhere else," Meili said. 

"Instead we saw him first say, 'Oh it's fine, we do this all the time and sometimes for good reason.' Now he's saying, 'Oh, it doesn't happen at all anywhere, but we're not going to share with you any such reports when they're done,'" he said. 

With files from Geoff Leo.