The Opposition NDP has released dollar amounts on Sask Party cabinet ground transportation in the past six months, showing Dustin Duncan's travels in Paris cost as much as the other 16 trips combined.NDP Jobs and Economy Critic Aleana Young released the findings and accused the government of needless spending.“Families are struggling to make ends meet and this Sask. Party government is so out of touch that they’re billing taxpayers for private Mercedes tours through Paris. They’re treating taxpayer dollars like their own piggy bank,” said Young.“It’s clear that this government is just in it for themselves. Saskatchewan people deserve better, and this October they’ll have the opportunity to vote for real change.”On November 26, Duncan and his staff flew to Paris to represent Saskatchewan at the World Nuclear Exhibition for a five-day conference. In March, an FOI request revealed that Duncan had procured a $3,444.97 private Mercedes chauffeur service for his time in France. The NDP said less expensive options were available, such as renting a car for $350 per day.Read more: Sask NDP chastises cabinet minister over Mercedes chauffeur in Paris (March 6)Duncan’s official itinerary showed that he was supposed to be touring the conventions on November 29. According to the NDP, limo logs revealed that he was actually an hour away from the convention centre, sightseeing at some of Paris’s most well-known attractions, including Napoleon’s tomb and the Arc de Triomphe.When the premier and minister were asked about the trip in Question Period on March 6, no apology was given. The Sask. Party caucus gave the minister a standing ovation for his service to the province.Duncan said, "The member was suggesting yesterday in this House that I was missing meetings that I had previously scheduled to do personal things, and that was not the case. Mr. Speaker, our meetings had completed in the morning, Mr. Speaker, and there was time, a few hours’ time in between the morning and the afternoon meetings."I participated in 15 formal meetings and engagements during three and two half-days while I was in Paris. I participated in a panel discussion with other Canadian provinces. I met with France’s ambassador to Canada; Business France; Canada France chamber of commerce; EDF [Électricité de France], which is an operator of 55 nuclear power plants in Europe; the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade; the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy; the CEO [chief executive officer] of Orlen Synthos Green Energy, which is working to bring the same technology that we’re working on to Poland; the senior vice-president, executive vice-president of the mining business unit of Orano, who is France-based; as well as the director of nuclear energy for the department of Poland’s Ministry of Climate and Environment. Mr. Speaker, there were additional meetings as well."Young recalled when Premier Brad Wall had one of his ministers repay the cost of a trip."Nearly ten years ago today, June Draude was in hot water for hiring a private chauffeur to drive her and Rick Mantey around London for $3,600," Young said.However, Duncan had NDP history of his own to recall."We used a van service to travel while we were in Paris, four of us from the Government of Saskatchewan at a similar cost that has been done previously by government, including the NDP government, Mr. Speaker, in fact including in Paris where in 2006 Eric Cline and Lorne Calvert had a van service that for three days cost taxpayers $1,900," he explained."If you put in those 2006 dollars into 2024, that would work out to be about $900 per day, which is less than what we spent a couple of months ago, Mr. Speaker. And on one of those days, Mr. Calvert and Mr. Cline used the car service on a Sunday, which there was no government business, but to partake in a fourhour guided sightseeing tour of Paris which was booked for them by Government of Saskatchewan employees."Here’s what Moe and his Ministers spent on out-of-province ground transportation in the last six months:
