Sask. NDP renews calls for premier to ditch private email

The Saskatchewan NDP is asking the province's privacy commissioner to look into the premier's use of private email to conduct government business.

In May, after concerns were raised by the NDP, Brad Wall initially said he would continue to use his private account. He later agreed to only use his government account.

• Sask. Opposition blasts premier for doing government business with private email

The NDP says a recent email mistakenly shared with a reporter revealed Wall is still using his private email in a conversation with one of his staff members.

"The premier has already been scolded a few times for using his private email for government purposes. So we're asking the privacy commissioner to look into that again because it's clear it hasn't stopped," said NDP interim leader Nicole Sarauer.

• Sask. privacy commissioner criticizes government's use of private email

A spokesperson for the government said the premier has used his private email rarely, except for times when there were technical issues and in cases when his government email account was not working. That was the case on the day the email was inadvertently shared with a member of the media.

But Sarauer isn't buying the government's explanation.

"I saw that their response was he was using this email because his government email was down for two weeks, which is ridiculous. That's basically the dog-ate-my-homework excuse."

The government spokesperson said all emails pertaining to government by the premier will be archived and be subject to freedom of information legislation. 

• Q&A: What's the big deal if the Sask. premier uses private email anyway?

Questions about Freedom of Information requests

The NDP also said the email that was inadvertently shared raises concerns that the premier had been provided with personal information regarding freedom of information requests. In this case, they were requests made by the NDP and one made by a member of the media.

The opposition leader called it a "clear violation of the rules around freedom of information requests and privacy that have been violated by the premier and the premier's office."

But a spokesperson for the government says the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act was not violated.

The NDP said it will raise both issues with the province's information and privacy commissioner.