Moe's response to questions about chemtrails, COVID at community meeting shows lack of leadership: Sask. NDP

The leader of Saskatchewan's Official Opposition says Premier Scott Moe should be shutting down conspiracy theories, not entertaining them, after a video of a recent meeting in Moe's home constituency surfaced online.

The two-hour meeting, held about six weeks ago in the village of Speers — which is northwest of Saskatoon and in Moe's constituency of Rosthern-Shellbrook — started with the premier giving a speech, followed by a question and answer session. 

A video of the meeting was posted on the website rumble.com last month. The description indicates some of those in attendance were not residents.

Moe discussed familiar topics like his Saskatchewan Party government's opposition to the federal Liberal government, its carbon pricing policy and the province's parental rights law.

The content of the question and answer portion, though, has drawn criticism from the NDP leader.

In the video, one person claimed aircraft are dropping chemicals on the population.

"What are you going to do about the barium, aluminum, strontium, lithium, atrazine, raw kerosene, raw gasoline and raw diesel that's being dumped on your province by God knows who?" asks one man.

"I believe he is talking about chemtrails," and "it's a fact," can be heard from the crowd.

"I am starting to hear about this through emails into our office the last number of months and I, honestly, I'll have to do some more work looking into it," Moe responded.

"I don't know if there is as co-ordinated an approach as some folks think, but obviously there are emissions that are coming out of the jets that are flying over and the prospect is, or the projection is, there is going to be a lot more jets flying in the not too distant future than there is today."

David Keith, a physicist and professor in the department of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago, has been the target of those who believe chemtrail conspiracies.

"We've actually done some polling results that suggest some significant fraction of Canadians and Americans, like 10 or 20 per cent, believe their government is somehow part of a conspiracy that is using commercial aircraft to spray some kind of toxins, where the purported purpose might be mind control or mass murder or who knows what," Keith told host Stefani Langenegger in an interview with CBC's The Morning Edition.

"This conspiracy theory is out there for sure, and the question is why the premier responded the way he did."

Keith listened to the question and Moe's response.