On insider access

Joe Kuchta's latest is an absolute bombshell, taking the Sask Party to task for convening multiple private cabinet meetings with the Saskatchewan Construction Association while refusing to speak to a single workers' representative. But it's worth noting one more piece of how the Sask Party's spin on Bill 80 conflicts with reality.

Here's one of the areas of disagreement between Labour Minister Rob Norris and construction workers over Bill 80 this spring:

Parker said those unions are also unhappy with Norris over comments he made when Bill 80 was introduced in March 2009. He told reporters that no business entities or construction firms were consulted in the drafting of the legislation.

But a freedom of information request produced a letter from October 2008 addressed to Norris from Saskatchewan Construction Association president Michael Fougere that called on the government to revise "abandonment" regulations and "end the monopoly of the Building Trades in the construction industry."

Those are two of the major provisions of Bill 80.

Norris told reporters Wednesday that he did not consider that letter to be consultation, noting that the ministry receives multitudes of correspondence.

Now, Norris' original spin about the letter from Fougere was sketchy enough. But to the extent one takes it at face value as the standard which ought to be applied in judging the Sask Party's actions, the SCA's 2008 meeting with the entire cabinet obviously goes far beyond the type of access or consultation which would be granted to any other stakeholder.

Of course, the Wall government's stubbornness in forcing Bill 80 through this spring likely suggests that no revelation would have been damning enough to push them off course. But Joe's post offers yet another case of the Sask Party being far less than honest with the public about who gets a hearing with government decision-makers (whether paid or not) - and the more those pile up, the more reason Saskatchewan's voters will have to make sure Brad Wall isn't left in charge of deciding who gets privileged access to the cabinet table.