Sask. MLA travel ramps up after pandemic pause, premier says more to come

The pandemic put a halt on international travel for Saskatchewan government MLAs, but after an 18-month layover the government is back in the air, with eight trips in the last five months and more on the way, according to Premier Scott Moe.

The government publicly discloses MLA travel expenses every six months and recently posted the costs up to April 1, 2022.

From Oct. 31, 2021, to April 1, 2022, the government spent $145,960 on four international trips.

Premier Scott Moe's first international trip in two years took him to the United Kingdom and Germany from March 26 to April 1. The total cost was $60,836.

Other international trips in the last five months:

• Minister Bronwyn Eyre: Houston, Texas - $12,691.
• Minister Jeremy Harrison: London, U.K. - $32,491.
• Minister Jeremy Harrison: Dubai and Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. - $28,571.

Since April 1 the government has sent four MLAs on international trips and those costs have not yet been posted:

• MLA Terry Dennis: Berlin, Germany (April 10 to 13).
• Minister Jeremy Harrison: India (April 25 to 28).
• Minister Gene Makowsky: Mexico.
• Premier Scott Moe: Dubai and Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. (May 7 to 11).

In the last full period of international travel, Oct. 2019 to March 2020, the government spent $210,685 on six trips. Moe's trip to Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong accounted for more than half at $116,869.

There were no international trips from April 2020 to November 2021.

Last week after his return from the United Arab Emirates, Moe said the provincial government would be travelling even more than in the past.

"We are going to take care of ourselves as a province. That's why we have the eight international trade offices and that's why we are going to have an increasing level of engagement from the political side of government in the months ahead."

The government opened a trade office in India last year and recently opened its U.A.E. office. It plans to open an office in Mexico City later this year.

Moe said the international trade missions and trade offices are about, "engaging on behalf of Saskatchewan industry, jobs and opportunity, given that the federal government has backed out of this space in the last while."

Moe said the individual missions do not net an immediate return on investment, but overall the growth in export values and investment in the provinces show their worth.

He pointed to a record merchandise valued exports of $37 billion in 2021, $17.3 billion of which were farm and food products.

Moe also said the $14 billion in private investment in Saskatchewan "speaks to the success of this engagement."

Moe on 'intense' U.A.E. trip

Moe called the trade mission to the United Arab Emirates "expedited and very intense."

"It was an agricultural-focused trip. About 30 per cent of Canada's exports into [U.A.E.] comes from Saskatchewan."

Moe said nearly all of those exports are agricultural products.

Moe said a major nuclear power plant in U.A.E. is half done and that there is a "great opportunity for them to buy uranium from the province of Saskatchewan."

He also said the province signed a memorandum of understanding with the nation's energy minister "specific to working on small modular reactor [nuclear] technology, hydrogen technology, and other opportunities to reduce our emissions profile and provide energy and electricity."

Moe said the province will attend the next two United Nations Climate Change conferences, COP27 and COP28 held in Egypt and the U.A.E., in the next two years.

He said the government sent officials to COP26 in Glasgow but expects a "much more fulsome engagement" from the global and energy industry over the next two conferences.

He said the Saskatchewan government will be promoting "thermal extraction, carbon capture and storage, and enhanced oil recovery" at the upcoming COP conferences.