Letter to the editor

LEAD Saskatoon hiding its agenda

The StarPhoenix

October 14, 2003

It’s time LEAD Saskatoon levelled with voters.

One of its flyers mentions seeking financial support to “assist us in preparing and delivering a strong slate of common-sense, business-minded candidates.” Yet it insists it’s not supporting anyone. It wants to appear neutral or benevolent, yet condemns city administration and council, being only too happy to provide an eight-point hit list of issues that it claims have been mismanaged.

It wants voters to ask questions and be informed. So I wrote LEAD’s Joe Bloski asking who was a part of its slate in Ward 1 where I live.

He denied that LEAD was supporting anyone. His letter closed by wondering how I came into possession of the pamphlet, since I wasn’t on the contact list. Are only some Saskatoon residents qualified enough to be in the loop?

I haven’t been able to find one single name of the LEAD group on its Web site. Given this, I decided to pay my 10 bucks to obtain a copy of its Corporate Registry Profile Report from the corporations branch of the provincial Justice Department to see who its directors were. Since LEAD wants people to be informed, here is a list of directors as of Oct. 1: Bloski, David Criddle, Gary Emde, Coni Evans, Don Funk, Russel Marcoux, Todd Peterson and Don Ravis.

The report indicates the nature of LEAD’s activity as “political lobbying.” For what it’s worth, four of these folks appear in the city council minutes of July 16, 2001, concerning the firing of former police chief Dave Scott.

Saskatoon voters may want to steer clear of candidates suspected of having connections to LEAD or candidates running in wards in which they don’t live.

Joseph Kuchta
Saskatoon

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2003