Moe stands ground amid further criticism for Unified Grassroots phone call
Global News
The call to the president of the group, which was involved in a court challenge of the vaccine passport system, took place Friday and reportedly lasted around an hour.
Despite two days of opposition criticism, Saskatchewan’s Premier Scott Moe insists that an hour-long phone call with the president of Unified Grassroots last week was the right thing to do.
“We may not agree with the point of view of a number of those individuals on both sides of this conversation from a government’s perspective, but that should not restrict us from engaging and making those calls,” Moe said Tuesday of the chat with Nadine Ness.
Ness helped start the group, which was involved in an unsuccessful court challenge of Saskatchewan’s proof-of-vaccine mandate, in September.
While he declined to “name names,” Moe said more than one MLA and a medical professional asked him to reach out to Ness, a Saskatoon resident who told Global News she first reached out to MLA Randy Weekes to talk about her group’s beliefs.
He also said he wasn’t aware of the group’s involvement in the aforementioned injunction application, which was also endorsed by Mark Friesen, who has led several protests against public health orders in Saskatchewan.
“There was definitely points where we did not agree, and we were quite open about that,” Moe told reporters.
Ness first requested contact from the premier in a YouTube video posted on Nov. 27 that accumulated more than 20,000 views.
After Ness posted another video in which she spoke of the conversation, Opposition Leader Ryan Meili took issue, first on Monday.