Saskatoon’s city councillors, mayor say they followed holiday health orders

It seems as though Saskatoon’s elected officials spent the holidays in the confines of their own homes.

650 CKOM reached out to all 10 Saskatoon city councillors as well as Mayor Charlie Clark on Monday, asking for transparency in the officials’ holiday plans and if they had travelled.

All 10 councillors say they did not travel over the holiday period. Clark’s office said he has not travelled out of province since last March.

The request was sent after stories surfaced about politicians from the federal and provincial levels violating public health orders. That includes now-former Saskatchewan Highways Minister Joe Hargrave’s Palm Springs trip, which resulted in Hargrave’s resignation from cabinet.

Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill offered some of his thoughts Monday on politicians violating the health guidelines.

“I think that the public expects us to lead by example, particularly when the orders of government — not necessarily municipal, but provincial and federal — are the ones that are putting the restrictions and the guidelines in place for the safety of everybody and they should be adhering to them. They should be the very first ones adhering to them, completely,” he said.

Hill said he spent his Christmas at home, aside from going to the grocery store and dropping off packages in the east end of Saskatoon.

“The onus and the responsibility lies with every community leader to lead by example,” he continued.

Hill said from Day 1, he has followed public health guidelines given by medical health professionals.

Other councillors did say their holiday plans included taking in some of Saskatoon’s attractions. Ward 3 Coun. David Kirton said his only trip was to the Saskatoon Forestry Farm & Zoo.

Ward 9 Coun. Bev Dubois said she has not travelled since last February. She said she wasn’t even able to be at the bedside of a close family member who ultimately died in September in Victoria, B.C.

On the Brent Loucks Morning Show on Tuesday, Clark joined guest host Gerald Bauman to discuss the quietest Christmas in his home.

“We didn’t have family gatherings. We stayed home as a family and did things like cross country skiing and some skating, puzzling and lots of takeout from local restaurants,” he said.

“I quite enjoyed the time with my family.”

Clark added with the backlash of the politicians’ violations of public health orders, he understands the frustrations.

“It creates mistrust in government. It creates essential undermining of the message that, ‘We’re all in this together,’ and all those things,” he said. “I appreciate and understand the concern of the public around these types of issues.”