REGINA - The opposition New Democrats are pounding Sask Party MLA Gary Grewal again after it was learned he had an ownership stake in a second hotel that took on Ministry of Social Services clients last year.
At a news conference Tuesday at the legislature Opposition Social Services and Ethics and Democracy Critic Meara Conway pointed to documents released by the government last week on the issue of Social Services use of hotels. According to the NDP those revealed that Grewal, MLA for Regina Northeast, had declared in a disclosure form a financial interest as an investor in Thriftlodge Regina.
This is a second hotel that Grewal has a financial stake in, the other being the Sunrise Motel in Regina. The Sunrise Motel had been the centre of controversy last fall after the NDP accused the motel of inflating room rates upwards upon learning that a guest who checked in was a client of Social Services. Now, similar accusations are being hurled by the NDP at the Thriftlodge.
“This matters because the two hotels that are massive outliers in terms of charging the Ministry of Social Services inflated rates appear to be the Thriftlodge Hotel, and the Sunrise Motel, both connected to an MLA with the Sask Party government,” said Conway.
Conway accused both Grewal-owned hotels of vastly inflating room rates for those clients. The NDP noted the ministry had paid Thriftlodge on average $185 a night, and the Sunrise Motel $162. According to the online rate listed for Feb. 13 at Booking.com, the room rates for both hotels are $90 a night and $99 a night, respectively.
What’s more, Conway noted, the Thriftlodge “charges the highest average rate to the Ministry of Social Services compared to any other hotel across the province.” She also said it was only the hotels owned by MLA Grewal that charged the inflated rates.
Conway again pointed to the use and spending at Sunrise Motel having increased substantially during Grewal’s tenure as an MLA, from $282 in 2018-19 up to $220,474 in 2022-23.
Conway also accused Social Services Minister Gene Makowsky of having misled the public when he spoke to reporters last Friday. In an exchange with a reporter that day, when asked if he knew if any of the other hotels that are used by the government have any MLAs or their spouses with any ownership stakes, Makowsky replied: “Only one I’m aware of.”
“The minister said last week that they only use three hotels in Regina,” said Conway. “Is the Sask Party government really hoping people believe that they weren’t aware that their MLA had a financial stake in two out of the three motels that they rely on here in Regina?”
“We’ve seen a pattern of not being transparent, we’ve seen a pattern of even trying to mislead the public. The minister claimed that spending was down. The documents show that spending on hotels by the Ministry of Social Services is consistently up," said Conway.
“... And now the Minister claims no other MLA‘s had a financial stake in any other hotels regularly used by the Ministry of Social Services, and that has turned out to be false as well. Scott Moe and the Sask Party have had these documents for months. It’s clear at this point they’re trying to cover for a colleague, and the people of Saskatchewan deserve better. Apparently, growth that works for everyone is growth that works for the Sask Party MLAs.”
Minister Makowsky has issued the following statement in response to Conway’s news conference. In his response he does not address the latest accusations against Grewal directly, but did touch once more on the challenges regarding his ministry’s use of hotels.
“Last week, the Ministry of Social Services provided the Opposition and members of the media with a detailed package of data regarding ministry policy and its use of hotels.
“The ministry uses hotels to provide immediate help for individuals and families in emergency situations, and for longer-term support for families and children in crisis.
“Unfortunately, there are hotels that will not accept income assistance clients due to past interactions and challenges, including disruption and damage.
“The number of hotels willing to work with the ministry to provide rooms for income assistance clients in Regina has decreased since 2021. Payments to each hotel continuing to work with the ministry have increased as a result.
“When securing hotels for individuals, the ministry balances cost effectiveness, safety and availability. To strengthen our approach, as announced last week, we are updating our procedures for securing hotels for individuals and families.
“The procedure updates we are implementing will add more formality and transparency to the process of securing and procuring hotels. It will also allow us to determine if a pilot project that involves damage deposit guarantees and procuring a block of rooms is more cost effective.”
