Moe rejects NDP calls for Hargrave’s removal from cabinet

Despite calls from the opposition for his ouster, it appears Joe Hargrave will remain Saskatchewan’s minister of highways.

In an emailed statement Thursday afternoon, Premier Scott Moe’s office said Hargrave would stay in cabinet. The Prince Albert Carlton MLA has been criticized for travelling to Palm Springs, Calif., on Dec. 22 while the provincial government is trying to contain the spread of COVID-19.

“In discussions with the Premier, I realize that my decision to travel was an error in judgment at a time when so many people have had to make sacrifices during the pandemic,” Hargrave said in the statement. “I apologize for this error in judgment, and am returning to Canada as soon as my self-isolation period is over in California on Jan. 5.”

Moe’s office said the premier had talked with Hargrave and agreed with his assessment that the trip was an error in judgment.

The statement added no other members of the Saskatchewan Party caucus or Moe’s cabinet had travelled internationally during the holidays.

The federal and provincial governments have urged people to avoid unnecessary travel to limit the potential spread of COVID-19. On Wednesday, Hargrave issued a statement saying he was in Palm Springs through the holidays to finalize the sale of a personal property.

On Thursday, Hargrave confirmed he had talked to Moe before taking the trip.

Hargrave added he and his wife each has a stake in the property, so they went to California to finalize its sale and to retrieve personal belongings which they’ll bring back to Saskatchewan when they drive home.

“Both the Minister and his wife are aware of local public health requirements and have followed all public health orders in California, including the self-isolation requirement which they are still observing until Jan. 5,” said the statement. “The Minister and his wife will follow all public health orders upon their return, including self-isolating for 14 days upon their return to Canada.”

During a media conference earlier Thursday, NDP Leader Ryan Meili and MLA Nicole Sarauer asked for Hargrave’s removal from cabinet.

“It is pretty convenient that the financial matter happened in one part of the world’s vacation season,” Meili said. “(Hargrave) should have asked whether this actually had to be done now in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of a time when COVID-19 is raging in California. We have serious problems here in Saskatchewan; did this really have to happen now?

“To just decide to instead ignore the rules and abuse his power as a minister, doing what he felt like doing when everybody else is asked to be making sacrifices is just wrong.”

Meili added there were other options available for Hargrave to handle the sale without leaving the country, while calling Moe’s decision to allow Hargrave’s travel unacceptable.

“We have clear advice and clear guidelines from this government to avoid international travel and to stay at home; the premier has asked people to do this,” Meili said. “Yet the premier’s own minister, Joe Hargrave, had the permission of the premier to fly off to California, which is in a state of very serious COVID outbreak.

“Both the premier and the minister have shown extremely poor judgment by having this trip take place. At the very least Hargrave should be gone out of cabinet.”

Sarauer called Hargrave’s decision insulting, saying Saskatchewan families have had to make a lot of sacrifices over the holiday season.

“It’s nothing short of disgusting, frankly, to see a minister who thinks that this is acceptable,” Sarauer said. “We haven’t heard anything in terms of any sort of reasonable or credible explanation.

“To have a cabinet minister who doesn’t think that rules apply to him or guidelines apply to him should no longer be a cabinet minister in Premier Moe’s cabinet any longer, but this ultimately falls on the premier who was very clear that he knew about this trip.”

Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips resigned Thursday from his position in cabinet after returning home from a personal trip to the Caribbean.

Sarauer says there’s a resemblance between Phillips and Hargrave.

“(Hargrave) didn’t have to go down to California to conduct business for his job, which is what other people would consider a business trip,” she said. “Just because Minister Hargrave has deemed it a business trip does not make it a business trip.

“I find it very convenient, and very difficult to buy this as an actual business trip.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Logan Stein