Prince Albert Carlton MLA says he wishes he’d handled things differently, maintains trip was purely for business reasons
Prince Albert Carlton MLA Joe Hargrave expressed regret for travelling to Palm Springs to sell a house over the Christmas break, but also fired back at the NDP in his first comments since arriving back in Canada.
Looking back, Hargrave said he would have done things differently instead of travelling internationally to finalize the sale of a house with his wife. However, the former Minister of Highways also pushed back against criticism that he was simply vacationing, arguing the trip was purely for business reasons.
“I wish I hadn’t done it,” Hargrave said. “In hindsight now, we would have done it differently. We probably wouldn’t have gone. We have a home down there that, as was shown from the NDP, but it’d been sitting vacant for 10 months and will probably be sitting vacant for another year. It was a $500,000 home. You know what damage can happen for a home if it sits vacant for two years. That’s why we felt it was necessary.”
Hargrave has faced torrent of criticism since the Canadian Press broke news of his trip to California. Critics have called for him to resign his seat, and criticized him for listing his house only after he arrived in Palm Springs.
On Friday, Hargrave said they went down to clean the house before their agent started showing it, but then received an offer before it was formally listed. Even though they accepted the offer, Hargrave said their agent told them to list it anyway.”
The offer was made, and he said, ‘I guess we should list it too. We’re going to have to list it. It’s sort of one of our rules,'” Hargrave explained.
“In our community there was very few homes for sale–only a couple–and there was high demand for it,” he added.
Hargrave took aim at the provincial NDP, as well as comments made on social media since news of his trip broke. He said too many online commenters were getting carried away with misinformation, and weren’t taking a closer look at the facts. He accused some commenters of bullying behavior, and argued others came close to slander.
He also hit back at criticism from NDP ethics critic Matt Love that he was acting as if the rules didn’t apply to him.
“They’re trying to take us back to those pre-Brad Wall days where they want us to be embarrassed because of one’s success,” Hargrave said. “You can’t have a nice vehicle. You can’t have a holiday home like that. You can’t have stuff like that. That was the old NDP, and they’re just trying to drag us back.
“Their big comment was ‘he has a $500,000 home in a gated community.’ Well, what difference does that make about COVID? Not a single thing.”
“We followed all COVID policy,” he added. “We quarantined down there. We quarantined here. We always follow COVID policy. COVID is extremely important to me. I know what is happening out there and it’s very dangerous. We tried to err on the side of being extra cautious in everything.”
Hargrave confirmed Premier Scott Moe’s account of the discussions that took place before he resigned. The Prince Albert Carlton MLA said he had nothing but respect for Moe, and the two came to a mutual agreement about the decision.
While Hargrave agreed to resign his place at the cabinet table, he staunchly refused to do this same with his constituency. Hargrave said he’s received a lot of criticism, but also a lot of support from Prince Albert voters who want him to stay on as MLA.
“I was just elected by the people of Prince Albert Carlton,” he said. “I’ve had I don’t know how many emails and texts and calls from people … and not like personal friends of mine, just constituents saying ‘this is wrong.’ They want me to stay and that’s what I’m doing. I’m going to be working hard with my constituents and meet with my executive. There’s lots of things that are on the go here that I’ll still be working very hard on.”
Hargrave resigned from cabinet on Jan. 4 after travelling to the United States on Dec. 22. Records show his property wasn’t listed until Dec. 26-27. The NDP has argued Hargrave had no reason to travel to complete the sale, and say he owes voters an explanation for his behavior.
“Everyone has sympathy for those who have friends and family who are sick that they can’t see,” NDP ethics critic Matt Love told the Daily Herald on Jan. 4. “What we’re asking is why Sask Party government ministers think rules and directives don’t apply to them? Why are they telling regular people to do one thing and then doing another themselves.”
Hargrave is just one of several Canadian politicians facing criticism over decisions to travel outside of Canada over the holidays. Cabinet ministers in Ontario and Alberta have also resigned after their travel plans became public.