Skip to content

Who will pay to settle the dismissal mess by the councillor board?

Ron Walter writes about Graham Edge and ongoing legal issues
MJT_RonWalter_TradingThoughts
Trading Thoughts by Ron Walter

Inappropriate, shocking, scandalous.

Those are just some of the words to describe the way the city council-appointed board fired the manager of Mosaic Place/YaraCentre in the spring of 2018.

At least that’s the takeaway from the court documents filed by the fired manager Graham Edge in his lawsuit against three board members. The lawsuit claims have yet to be tested in a court.

Edge, hired six months before the dismissal, was fired for “incompatibility with staff” when the board canned him. The board was made up of acting director Ted Schaeffer and the three councillors, Brian Swanson, Scott McMann and Crystal Froese.          

According to Edge’s story, shortly after he arrived on the job a complaint was made about a male employee harassing a female employee.

Sexual harassment is illegal under the Saskatchewan Employment Act and not allowed under the harassment and professionalism policy adopted by the board overseeing the two facilities.

Instead of supporting Edge and his internal investigation which revealed eight cases of harassment, the board dragged its feet, discouraged Edge from reporting the matter to the police, then fired him.

Contrary to the law and normal government practice, Edge says no minutes of these meetings were kept.

Without those minutes, we have he said/they said stories from all sides in this mess.

It seems pretty obvious from these claims that something was wrong in the dealings with Edge. We won’t know until he has his day in court. We may never know if the claims are settled out of court.

The board members tried to sweep the harassment issue under the rug.  Why wouldn't the case be settled out of court now to keep the details hushed?

Council voted sanctions against the three councillors on the board with Swanson receiving the worst punishment. We don’t know if he received the hardest shot because of the role he played. Or did his sanctions reflect other councillors’ dislike of his combative style?

This claim was filed in April, becoming public four months later. Why did council not make the claim public? How many times has council discussed the claim in one of those closed door meetings?

Will the taxpayer eventually foot the bill for a court judgment or settlement of Edge’s claim of wrongful dismissal without severance pay?

Don’t be surprised if our tax dollars wind up paying for this scandal.

Were there previous harassment claims made before Edge came? If so, why was nothing done?

All these questions merit a thorough independent investigation of the situation.

As someone said: only in Moose Jaw.

Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.  

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks