Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wasn’t going to make a statement today, but since the Premier raises the issue of the Northbeat report last night on CBC, I feel I need to respond to that.
Mr. Speaker, this is what I heard in the report last night. I heard that the Premier’s statutory declaration of residency indicates a different address than where he lives and a different address than that indicated on a recently filed conflict of interest disclosure, and that is according to his comments. I get from the story that, although the Premier indicates that he remains the tenant of record on a lease for a home on School Draw, he says he no longer lives there.
I get that, although the Premier and his new partner have a combined household income that exceeds $250,000 per year, he asks if we would have him turn his wife and children out. Have they not already been through enough? Mr. Speaker, I think that is a question the Premier needs to answer, not ask us and not ask the public.
Although the Premier declares this to be a personal and private matter, why does he insist on dragging us, the public, and the public interest into this by wanting us to pay the cost of housing for his estranged wife and his children? Why does he ask if we, I assume the public, would have him turn his wife and children out? That is a question he should be asking himself. Of course not, Mr. Speaker. His personal choices have nothing to do with us, unless he expects us to become involved in footing the bill that he should be rightly responsible for.
The Premier says that he has been repeatedly assured that he complies with the Ministerial Benefits Housing Policy, but we all know that the eligibility for the reimbursement of accommodation expense turns on the stated sworn address of where the Member normally resides. The Premier knows this and the opinion that he seeks and this assurance that he seeks comes from hardly an arm’s-length opinion, Mr. Speaker, considering that we know is the deputy minister’s opinion and interpretation and that all deputy ministers are at-pleasure appointments by the same Premier. For that reason, an impartial ruling will soon be hopefully responded to by the Conflict of Interest Commissioner.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.