Sask. government review says vendor-sponsored travel did not violate rules

The Saskatchewan government says a review of vendor-sponsored trips for government employees found no rules violations.

Cam Swan, the deputy minister to the premier, performed the review. He says there were "no cases of reported vendor sponsored travel that did not meet learning and development or procurement requirements."

"We can't be out doing things, accepting gifts for our personal benefit. But I think obviously when you do a review like this it raises the awareness. It's a good reminder," Swan said.

Premier Scott Moe tasked Swan with the review in November 2018 after CBC highlighted the case of three eHealth employees who were fired after taking vendor-paid trips. 

CBC reported that a private printing firm doing work for the government flew eHealth employees to North Carolina to attend the PGA Championship and business meetings.

Some of those employees were fired for violating eHealth's conflict of interest policy.

A former senior eHealth official previously told CBC that employees from several health regions went on a trip to Austin, Texas with all expenses covered by a vendor.

As part of the report released Friday, three recommendations were made to strengthen the existing code of conduct framework for public sector employees:

1. Expansion of the Conflict of Interest Policy to include clarity on vendor relationship and acceptance of gifts including a definition of permitted vendor sponsor travel.  
2. Every employee within the Government of Saskatchewan undertake conflict of interest training.
3. Updating current travel approval forms to indicate whether the purpose of travel is vendor sponsored.

"Although the Government of Saskatchewan's Oath of Office and Conflict of Interest policy for public employees is similar to those across the country, I found that there is no clear policy within executive government that outlines specifics of employee behavior as it relates vendor relationships," Swan said.  

One of the recommendations is mandatory conflict of interest training for all employees. Swan said training was already mandatory for supervisors, managers and people in positions "where a conflict of interest is maybe more likely to occur."

"Our government expects all public sector employees to adhere to a high standard of conduct. I accept all recommendations made by Mr. Swan, and will ensure action is taken to implement these recommendations immediately," Moe said.

Swan said that, in the case of the three eHealth employees, they were in violation of an existing policy. He said vendor-sponsored travel is most common in health care. 

"The health system by far and away is the lion's share of the situations in the report," Swan said.

The opposition had previously called for a widespread review by the province.

"We are happy that they took this step to actually look at this. Now we need to make sure that there are changes made. The last thing we need is decisions being made with Saskatchewan taxpayer dollars being made based on who's paying for a trip or who's paying for other perks," said NDP Leader Ryan Meili.