REGINA - A brouhaha erupted this week at the Legislature over accusations of inflated motel bills directed to the Ministry of Social Services from a property owned by a SaskParty MLA.
Regina Northeast MLA Gary Grewal is listed as the owner of the Sunrise Motel, a venue which temporarily housed senior Evelyn Harper for several days earlier this month. Harper had been evicted from her government housing unit and checked into the motel, with her costs being covered by Social Services as of Oct. 29.
At an NDP news conference Nov. 15 in the legislature, Opposition Social Services Critic Meara Conway released a number of receipts and requisitions obtained from the Ministry of Social Services. She pointed the finger at the motel, and by extension Grewal, for inflating the room costs that Social Services was picking up the tab for.
"These documents raise questions about the mismanagement of public funds, the transparency of the Sask Party government, and possibly even the ethics of its individual MLAs. They demonstrate that the Sunrise Motel, which is owned by SaskParty MLA, Gary Grewal, significantly inflated the rates when the Ministry of Social Services began footing the bill," said Conway.
According to Ministry of Social Services requisition forms provided to the media by the NDP, from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 the price of Ms. Harper’s room went up from $132.09 to $168.55 per night.
Then starting Nov. 1, Harper was charged $200 per night for the next two nights. According to the NDP, Harper stayed at the motel until Nov. 10 and a ministry requisition receipt showed a bill of $200 for that final night's stay.
The NDP also noted the costs for the motel were much higher than what is normally the average cost when booked online, usually running at $71 to $80 per night.
Soon after Conway’s news conference, the Sask Party government fired back with a statement accusing the NDP of “making serious and unfounded allegations based on the fact they don't understand that Social Services doesn’t typically pay damage deposits - even though it was a part of their media presentation today.
“There is no standard rate for motel rooms. The price fluctuates based a number of factors including the type of room requested, demand and availability. Specific to this situation, all regular guests must provide a $200 damage deposit. However, Social Services does not typically pay damage deposits, which amounts in room charges being restated, appearing higher than when Social Services does not pay the cost.”
The statement from Executive Council also noted Grewal did not work at or manage the motel, and was not available to media that day as his brother had passed away.
The issue was then raised in Question Period by Conway in which Minister of Social Services Gene Makowsky received an extensive grilling. Following that, Makowsky met the media and tried to explain the situation. One question he was asked was if he knew how often this particular property had housed Social Services clients.
“No, I don’t have that information,” Makowsky replied, noting hotels are used “for different reasons, but I don’t have the numbers at this time of what motels are used or how often.” He did say the amount of hotel use had declined in recent years.
Makowsky once again noted Social Services did not typically pay damage deposits in a general sense, but said it “could be rolled into the base cost of the number of nights of hotel stays.” He also emphasized Social Services “tries to get the best rate,” but it fluctuates depending on the time of year or the weekend.
As for the potential for conflict of interest involving Grewal, Makowsky said his understanding is Grewal “will re-look at this with the Conflict of Interest commissioner in that area, but wasn’t aware of that situation.”
On whether the Ministry of Social Services should have checked beforehand on whether there was a conflict of interest situation, Makowsky said usually it would be up to the individual MLA to disclose it. “I don’t know that the ministry would have that level of information to check all the potential owners of every hotel, they might be a national chain or whatever. It would fall on each individual MLA to disclose that.”
The following day, Thursday, in the legislature, Conway resumed her grilling of Minister Makowsky, in particular seeking answers to the host of questions she had asked the previous day. That exchange was recorded in Hansard:
Conway: “Will he table the missing requisitions? And is it true what the hotel told me and Evelyn, is that the $200 nightly rate continued for the rest of her stay? We don’t have those requisitions. We are told they are in California. I don’t know, Mr. Speaker. Will he table the rest of the requisitions today?”
Hon. Mr. Makowsky: — “Mr. Speaker, we’ll get the information as soon as we can. But again, Mr. Speaker, we work with clients on a daily basis. We’ve been able to increase supports for our most vulnerable citizens when they need help, and that will continue, Mr. Speaker. But again my concern is our most vulnerable people here in our province, and finding them a warm place to stay when it happens to be minus 30 out here in Saskatchewan. It’s unfortunate the NDP is more concerned about scoring political points.”
Ms. Conway: — “Mr. Speaker, he can’t even provide the requisitions. These answers are even worse than yesterday’s answers, Mr. Speaker.
“This whole file stinks. When Evelyn checked into the hotel she was charged $132 a night. When the ministry was picking up the tab it was jacked up to $200 a night. These are public dollars and the ministry needs to make sure Saskatchewan people aren’t getting ripped off. Reporters asked the minister why there’s no policy to prevent this from happening. He didn’t have an answer, Mr. Speaker. So I ask the minister here: why are there no safeguards in place to ensure taxpayers aren’t getting ripped off, and when is he going to shed some light on this mess?”
Hon. Mr. Makowsky: — “Mr. Speaker, the ministry, through caseworkers, works with individuals to try and find the best rate at that night when individuals are most vulnerable, and that is what happens. In this particular case, the individual checked in on their own and was not part of the income assistance situation. So, Mr. Speaker, I will continue to look at this and endeavour to get the appropriate information the member opposite is looking for.
“But again at the bottom line, we want to look after, on this side of the House, Mr. Speaker, the most vulnerable people in a very vulnerable situation, Mr. Speaker, and we will continue to do that.”
In speaking to reporters Thursday, Conway expressed her frustrations that more information was not being shared about either this situation or about hotel use in general by the government.
“I mean, look, there have been rumours swirling for years about government-owned hotels or government investing in hotels,” said Conway. “But also, I’ve been concerned as housing critic because I’ve seen that some of the policies that the SaskParty has enacted on the housing side, one example being the SIS program, resulted in increased evictions and more reliance on hotels. We’ve also heard anecdotally about an uptick in hotel use on the child protection side, there’s a lot of responding to crises as opposed to prevention. I mean that’s my view on a policy perspective. We’ve been concerned about this increased reliance on hotels, quite apart from any government involvement in hotels.”
Conway also said that she was “disappointed that the minister couldn’t even produce policies today, that’s something that you’d think he’d be able to find quite easily… no more clarity on the policy, no more clarity on this case.”
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