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Meara Conway, Opposition critic for social services, says she wants to know why these motels were selected to house clients.
“We see it’s not just one hotel, but it’s the second hotel that follows this exact same pattern,” she said. “No business from the Ministry of Social Services before Gary Grewal, who financially benefits from these hotels, was elected and then after the election we see a huge spike in business.”
Premier Scott Moe objected to how the Opposition raised this matter, saying it was “trying to suggest that there’s something nefarious” with respect to the motel procurement.
“We’re demanding basic accountability,” said Conway. “These numbers could not be more damning.”
Speaking on Tuesday during question period, Minister of Social Services Gene Makowsky said he had no role to play in where ministry clients are housed on a short-term basis.
“I am not involved in any procurement of any hotels or anything else. That is done by our valued public servants as well as our third-party mobile crisis workers,” said Makowsky.
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But Conway wanted an explanation as to why the amount paid to the motels jumped when Grewal was elected. During the current session, Conway has drawn attention to the fact that Makowsky and Grewal share a constituency office.
“How can the minister explain this explosion of payments made to hotels connected to his officemate?” asked Conway during question period on Tuesday.
Makowsky said Conway was playing “gutter politics,” adding that “the number of hotels, particularly in Regina, has decreased” and as such if “there’s a similar amount of clients (who) need it, then that would result in higher expenditures per hotel.”
Jeff Redekop, executive director of income assistance, said the Ministry of Social Services used to focus on two criteria when selecting hotels.
“When selecting a hotel, it was a matter of which hotels were available, (and) which would accept a client from our ministry,” said Redekop.
The ministry has a new policy where it seeks the lowest of three quotes from hotels in a client’s community. As for whether the ministry will determine if hotels or motels are owned or invested in by MLAs, Redekop said “the ministry doesn’t cross-reference that.”
Makowsky said in addition to the ministry securing a block of rooms in Saskatoon and Regina, the “new policy will hopefully drive those costs down, increase the amount of units available in case there is a situation where it is needed, an emergency situation.”
“The ministry has generally no knowledge of who owns the hotel and has never been instructed by government to use a certain hotel,” he added.
Redekop said the ministry is focused on the lowest rates for clients.
“Ownership would be a matter for government to address,” he said.
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