WINNIPEG – Manitoba premier Greg Selinger admitted Wednesday he accepted a free seat at a Winnipeg Jets game but says he later paid for it by way of a charitable donation.
He never disclosed it during a major controversy two years ago about other NDP ministers accepting free seats to Jets games but says, “it shouldn’t be an issue.”
Selinger told 680 CJOB News he did sit in a box with Saskatchewan cabinet minister Ken Cheveldayoff (brother of Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff) when the Jets hosted the Los Angeles Kings at MTS Centre in December 2011.
“I attended a game with him and made a donation. He didn’t want reimbursement for the ticket. He recommended a donation and I made a donation. It was paid for by a donation,” Selinger told Richard Cloutier on CJOB. He said in a statement that he made a donation of $300 to Friends Housing Inc. on February 7, 2012.
The matter never came up during the Jets ticket scandal that rocked Selinger’s NDP government in 2012. It was revealed several cabinet ministers had attended games paid for by Crown corporations and businesses – a potential conflict of interest Selinger criticized.
“Clearly, we didn’t get it right here, and I accept responsibility for that,” Selinger said in May, 2012. He released a list of 13 MLAs who had accepted freebie tickets and said MLAs would in future be banned from accepting tickets to sporting events.
Selinger didn’t include his own name on the list, and never mentioned during the 2012 ticket flap that he also had been a guest at a Jets game in 2011.
“It shouldn’t be an issue because it was dealt with,” Selinger told CJOB.
Selinger’s office sent a statement via email to Global News Wednesday responding to the controversy.
“Every Jets game I’ve attended I paid for, including the 2011 game in question, which I paid for by donation. I attended a game at the invitation of Ken Cheveldayoff, an elected representative from Saskatchewan. He didn’t want reimbursement for the ticket but recommended I make a donation which I subsequently did to a non-profit housing organization. The ticket was paid for by donation.
I also purchased season tickets directly from the Jets,” the statement says.
It’s a different story than Selinger told the Legislature on May 9, 2012. Under questioning from then-PC leader Hugh McFadyen, Selinger claimed to have paid directly for his own trips to MTS Centre.
“I directly purchased my own tickets, yes,” Selinger is quoted in Hansard, the official record of what’s said in the Legislature.
“And were they purchased directly from the Jets organization?” asks McFadyen.
“Yes,” Selinger says.
Manitoba’s current opposition leader says he’s going to review the transcripts to see if Selinger was telling the truth.
“It’s the latest example of a dysfunctional team, and I suggest not a team at all just a group of individuals willing to throw each other under the bus,” said PC leader Brian Pallister.
Comments