Legislative Report
(6 May 2009)

NDP Phony Membership Scandal

Your Saskatchewan Party caucus is demanding answers from NDP leadership candidate Dwain Lingenfelter. The former deputy premier and current Calgary oilman sold 1,100 NDP memberships in northern Saskatchewan without those persons’ knowledge. Not only did Lingenfelter then go into hiding, he also refused to divulge the name of the, in his words, “overexuberant” volunteer who sold $11,000 worth of NDP memberships.

Many questions remain unanswered, such as:

1. Who was the volunteer who supposedly signed up 1,100 members on his own?
2. Why isn’t Dwain Lingenfelter allowing this person to come forward and tell his side of the story?
3. How do we know he was acting on his own?
4. Was this done with the knowledge and consent of Lingenfelter’s campaign?
5. What was the plan to get these 1,100 people to vote for Lingenfelter, when they didn’t even know they had been signed up as members of the NDP?
6. If he was really acting on his own, how did he obtain $11,000 in Lingenfelter campaign money to pay for the phony memberships?
7. How do we know the Lingenfelter campaign hasn’t signed up people in other parts of the province without their knowledge?

Fellow leadership candidate Yens Pedersen described Lingenfelter’s actions as “the type of stuff that you expect to go on in banana republics.” One of the other candidates, Ryan Meili, said “there seems to be more to it (than Lingenfelter’s explanation).” Dwain Lingenfelter’s account of the events surrounding the NDP phony membership scandal is also at odds with that of his party. NDP president Deb McDonald said “… many volunteers means many eyes would have looked at these things which also means it wouldn’t have been one set of eyes looking at these.” That directly contradicts Lingenfelter’s claim a single volunteer was responsible for the sale of 1,100 NDP memberships and the collection of $11,000 to pay for them.

It is time for Lingenfelter and his “overexuberant” campaign volunteer to quit hiding and come clean with the people of Saskatchewan.

100 PER CENT RURAL INTERNET WITHIN TWO YEARS

Our government recognizes the importance of high speed internet and improved cell coverage to rural Saskatchewan. We are investing $220 million this year to ensure every business; every child in school and every senior has access to high speed internet regardless of where they live by the end of 2011. The investment includes:

1. $42.4 million from the first year of a three year Rural Infrastructure Program announced earlier by our government;
2. $37.6 million for wireless cell coverage improvements;
3. $43 million to expand rural broadband;
4. $48.5 million to begin construction of a new $172 million “next generation” wireless network for cell phones.

In the third year of the Rural Infrastructure Program, we will invest:

1. $11.9 million to increase bandwidth through fiber optics;
2. $12.8 million to enhance Max Entertainment Services; and
3. $61.4 million for basic network growth and enhancements.

Saskatchewan people already enjoy one of the best communication networks in the world. This funding will make that network even better.

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