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Gerrand said that while Barclay is enduring public criticism for not launching an inquiry, the real problem is the restrictions of the Conflict of Interest Act — a problem that the Saskatchewan Party government could remedy by launching an inquiry through the Public Inquiries Act, he said.

“They (the Sask. Party government) are the only party that can call for this public inquiry and they should do it,” said Gerrand, noting that past governments have held both legislative and public inquiries into everything from David Milgaard’s wrongful murder conviction to the Channel Lake Inquiry into purchases of natural gas leases.

Asked about calling such an inquiry, a senior official in Wall’s office responded: “At this point, we are not ruling out anything with regard to further review of this matter. However, it would not be appropriate to initiate any further review while this matter is still under police investigation. When the police investigation is concluded, the government will consider what further action may be required.”

While former leadership candidate Jeremy Harrison called for tougher conflict of interest guidelines before withdrawing from the race Friday, others hopefuls have skirted the issue of any possible GTH wrongdoing. “The people of Saskatchewan have an expectation, an expectation of their public figures in the province,” Scott Moe said Friday as he launched his leadership bid. “We’ve had processes in place to protect that in this province, and those continue to be in place. The fact of the matter is that, as we move forward, this team here that we have today will be having discussions on all sorts of public policy.”