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The Saskatchewan NDP struck a combative tone in the first question period of the fall sitting on Thursday, accusing a government minister of contempt amidst accusations he misled the assembly more than two years ago.

But the move failed after Speaker Mark Docherty refused to allow debate. He ruled there wasn’t “persuasive evidence” that then-economy minister Jeremy Harrison had been untruthful during a debate over the potential sale of SaskTel.

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Harrison said he was merely reporting “in good faith” what SaskTel had told him about the state of discussions with potential buyers.

NDP finance critic Trent Wotherspoon raised a question of privilege in the legislature on Thursday. He argued that Harrison, now minister of trade and export development, was in contempt of the Legislative Assembly for presenting what Wotherspoon called “false information.”

He pointed to remarks on May 2, 2017, when Harrison told the assembly that “there have been no formal discussions” relating to what a sale of SaskTel might look like. At the time, Bill 40 had redefined privatization to allow the government to more easily sell a partial equity stake in Crown corporations.