The province has ordered an independent investigation into the Northern Village of Pinehouse.
The request comes in response to a scathing report released by Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner Ronald Kruzeniski that says the northern municipality has been actively blocking access to information requests for years.
Warren Kaeding is the government relations minister.
“Our biggest concern, really, was the lack of attention to responding to the freedom of information requests,” he says. “That really is our biggest concern. We have expectations of all our municipalities that when they’ve been asked by our courts, judicial system, by the processes that are in place, to respond in an appropriate manner and unfortunately that wasn’t happening there.”
However, the investigation Kaeding has asked for goes beyond access to information and will also include an examination of the municipality’s business activities and financial situation.
The expanded scope could have something to do with the fact it recently came to light that Pinehouse Mayor Mike Natomagan took home earnings of $124,000 in 2016 in spite of overseeing a community of only 1,000 people.
“Well, there was certainly some interesting numbers that came out of there,” Kaeding says. “And again, we don’t wan t to micromanage any of our municipalities but certainly seeing information like that would be concerning as well.”
The province has tasked Regina lawyer Neil Robertson with conducting the investigation and he is due to submit his report by Mar. 15 of next year.
With files from Dan Jones.
(PHOTO: Government Relations Minister Warren Kaeding. File photo.)