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REGINA — Saskatchewan’s Opposition is calling on a government backbencher to show his receipts after he says he paid out of his own pocket for a private jet to criss-cross the province.
Kevin Weedmark, the Saskatchewan Party legislature member for Moosomin-Montmartre, says he wouldn’t have been able to drive to all government announcements he committed to on Aug. 27, including one in Lloydminster on the boundary with Alberta.
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He also attended an event in Saskatoon and made a stop in Regina before returning to Moosomin, near the Manitoba boundary.
“There were no taxpayer dollars involved,” Weedmark said Tuesday in a statement.
The NDP said it wants Weedmark to “prove it.”
It also questioned the need for the trip, since other members of Premier Scott Moe’s cabinet and caucus attended the same events Weedmark flew to.
NDP health critic Meara Conway said Weedmark is out of touch and pointed to a social media video posted by a woman who appeared to travel with the politician on the plane.
“Here’s just, like, a little behind the scenes of a private jet if you’ve never been on one,” the woman says in the video, which has since been deleted.
“I thought it was really cool and wanted to share with you guys.”
She takes viewers through several aspects of the day, including how she woke up in Moosomin and had breakfast with her mother before taking the first flight to Lloydminster for an announcement about new sober living beds.
The woman mentions the government stops but also shows off snacks on the plane, a restaurant lunch and a shopping mall stop, before being dropped off in Regina, where she says she goes to school.
Conway said it doesn’t seem like a regular day for many people.
“For most Saskatchewan people, a day in the life means worrying about making rent or their mortgage payment, keeping the lights on and whether there’s enough left at the end of the month for groceries — not hopping around the province on a private jet,” she said.
“Kevin Weedmark got his private jet ride. Now Saskatchewan people deserve some answers.”
Spokespeople for the government and Sask. Party caucus didn’t respond to questions asking if the woman is a government staffer or what her association is to Weedmark.
Read more:
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