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Written by Ashley Robinson

Published: 12 April 2015

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Executive Council is in charge of providing research, analysis, records management and policy advice to the Cabinet. They coordinate policy development and government communications. They are in charge of coordinating the management of relations with Canadian and foreign jurisdictions and are responsible for trade policy. They also coordinate manage matters relating to official protocol, provincial honours, awards and French language. They also provide administration services to the Lieutenant Governor and support to the Premier.

Executive Council did not use consultants in the two historic comparative years examined, 2005-2006 and 2008-2009. In 2012-13 they contracted Vancouver-based IT and management consultants Sierra Systems ($145,306). Also on the list was Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, a U.S. law firm on a multi-year contract to lobby Washington on behalf of the province ($51,570).

The following year, $121,663 was spent on payments to Seattle-based Pacific Northwest Economic Region, an inter-governmental networking and lobbying group, and to Blast Radius, a communications consulting firm headquartered in Chicago with an office in Vancouver.

In summary, the following firms were included in payments of the last two available years, 2013-2014 and 2012-2013:

• Sierra Systems (Information and management consulting, $145,306)
• Blast Radius (Social marketing/creative digital strategies, $70,093)
• Pacific Northwest Economic Region (Policy coordination, lobbying and “models of success,” $51,570)
• Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough (Lobbyists, $102,024)

No outside firms were used in 2005-2006 or 2008-2009.

Executive Council downloadable data spreadsheet

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Written by Dylan Bernhardt

Published: 12 April 2015

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Agriculture’s use of consultants is relatively low. The biggest pay-out in the years examined was to Stantec Consulting LTD during the 2012-2013 period ($295,577). Spending on consulting during this period peaked ($557,363), but dropped to its lowest cost during the following year, 2013-2014 ($120,256). However, it should be noted that two of the 2012-2013 consultants are now Ministry employees, presumably reducing the external payee list while transferring costs to internal payroll (Shelley Jones became Manager of Agriculture Awareness; Gregory Haase became Senior Advisor to the Deputy Minister.) 

Payees during the past two available years, 2013-2014 and 2012-2013, included:

• Gregory Haase (Management consultant, $56,101)
• Informa Economics (Market research & analysis, $62,500)
• Shelley Jones (Public relations/event promotion, $74,475)
• KPMG Consulting (Management consulting, $137,420)
• Stantec Consulting (Design & engineering consultants, $295,577)

Agriculture Downloadable Data Spreadsheet

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Written by Dylan Bernhardt

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Spending on consultants in Advanced Education is relatively marginal. Of the years examined, the ministry spent the most on consultants in 2008-2009, at $533,711. In 2005-2006, advanced education was not a ministry, and expenses were folded in with K-12 education spending.

The three years examined showed progressively less spending in each. Over the past two available years, 2012-13 and 2013-14, spending included:

• Insightrix (Saskatoon, market research, $237,239)
• Probe Research (Winnipeg, market research and polling, $135,214)
• Bell, Browne, Molar & Delicate Consulting (Ottawa, business management, $55,306).  

 Advanced Education Spreadsheet

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Finance is in charge of carrying out all central agency duties and functions for the Government of Saskatchewan. The ministry is responsible for operating the treasury board, management and control of the province’s finances, developing economic and fiscal policies, and supporting the Government in being accountable to the public for use of funds.

Finance has used a few consultants over the years. Between 2012 and 2014, $474,841 was awarded to Karen Lys of KML Consulting to manage the ministry’s Hyperion data base project. The ministry also turned to KPMG for advice during this time. Just three services were used during 2013-2014 and 2012-2013:

• KML Consulting (IT, $474,841)
• KPMG Consulting (Management consulting, $51,517)
• KPMG LLP (Financial consulting and audit services, $493,857)

In the past, the Ministry turned to Marsh Canada Ltd for risk analysis ($60,000 in 2008-09) and the Conference Board of Canada for economic forecasting ($55,950 in 2008-2009). CGI figured highly during the last year of the NDP government ($444,042 in 2005-2006), but did not appear in the other years examined. In earlier years, the ministry had contracts with Oracle, the former employer of KML Consulting's Karen Lys.

Finance downloadable data spreadsheet (Excel file)