Political analyst calls premier’s use of wife’s personal email and cellphone a lapse in judgement

Just one day after Manitoba’s premier defended his use of his wife’s personal email and cellphone to conduct government business while on holidays, a political analyst is questioning Pallister’s judgement.

On Wednesday, while addressing media, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister was asked whether his wife was a government employee. He responded ‘no.’ But, that didn’t stop him from using Esther Pallister’s personal accounts to share high level documents including a draft of this year’s budget speech while he was on vacation in Costa Rica.

READ MORE: Premier Pallister bristles at questions about using wife’s email, cellphone for government work

Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, Nelson Wiseman, called this a complete lapse in judgement.

“There’s no common sense here,” Wiseman said.

He said it’s obvious to him that Pallister’s lack of using his own government secure cellphone and email was poor judgement.

“It’s obvious that it’s not appropriate. It’s obvious that it ought not to be allowed. It’s obvious that the premier put his foot in it,” Wiseman said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's obvious that it's not appropriate. It's obvious that it ought not to be allowed. It's obvious that the premier put his foot in it," Wiseman said.

Pallister said now that the potential for problems has been brought to his attention, he will be using his government email going forward for official government business.