SASKATOON — The provincial government and the Saskatchewan NDP once again locked horns on the issue of Premier Scott Moe attending the funeral of the late US Senator Lindsey Graham last week in Washington, D.C., upon the invitation of Graham’s family.
Moe joined other world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who paid their respects to Graham, one of the most prominent supporters of President Trump and his policies, including imposing more tariffs on Canadian exports.
“Senator Graham had a deep understanding of Saskatchewan and its importance to North American energy and food security. He was always gracious, thoughtful and generous in his dealings with our province,” said Moe.
The government said that Graham was a longtime friend of Saskatchewan, and even visited the province in 2009 and 2015, including tours of SaskPower's Boundary Dam Power Station and its carbon capture and storage facility near Estevan.
The government said that Premier Moe’s most recent meeting with Graham was in 2025, where they discussed Canada-US trade relations, which included energy security and the importance of maintaining a strong bilateral relationship.
The government said the trip is necessary, since one of the premier’s core responsibilities is to lead and represent Saskatchewan internationally, such as advancing trade and conducting diplomacy, whenever the opportunity arises.
“Always advancing the interests of this province is what we were elected to do. Some prefer to focus only on process. We focus on the work, and evidence of that is in our recent trade deals with China and India. Travel costs will be publicly reported, as they always are,” said the government in a statement.
The government said that the NDP has urged Moe to pursue trade missions to China, India, and the US, but now condemns the premier for going, adding that demanding action one day and attacking it the next is not serious politics, which is why no one is taking the Opposition seriously.
Graham: The Trump supporter
Shadow Minister for Trade and Export Development Kim Breckner clarified to SaskToday that the local NDP is not opposed to provincial trade missions, but is criticizing Moe's trip to attend Graham’s funeral using public funds. She said if Moe is close to Graham, he should have used his own money.
She said that the NDP supports legitimate government-led trade missions to countries such as the US, China and India, provided they have clear objectives, transparent agendas and measurable outcomes. Their criticism is directed at taxpayer funding being used for Moe's attendance at Graham's funeral.
"Our concern is that he is using public funds to attend the funeral of somebody supportive of tariffs that have really negatively impacted our economy. If the government truly was going for trade negotiations, then the public has a right to know the details of that — to see the agenda, see who they're talking to. A funeral isn't a trade meeting,” added Breckner.
She said the Opposition supports provincial efforts to strengthen Saskatchewan's international trade relationships, but expects those missions to be focused on delivering results. She noted Trade Minister Warren Kaeding recently acknowledged he could not identify a specific success resulting from the government's trade missions, despite significant spending on trade offices and international advocacy.
Breckner also pointed to the recent production curtailment at the Big River sawmill, where 117 jobs were affected, saying that Carrier Forrest cited US tariffs on forestry products as a key factor. She argued that Graham was a prominent supporter of those trade policies and said that Saskatchewan taxpayers should not fund the premier attending the late senator’s celebration of his life.
She added that the government has "zero credibility" on trade after what she described as repeated failures to defend the province's interests, and criticized Moe for previously urging other Canadian jurisdictions to reverse restrictions on US alcohol sales while, she said, failing to show empathy for workers in Big River whose jobs were affected by tariff-related market conditions.
"We won't take a single word of advice from a premier more interested in befriending the people attacking Saskatchewan than supporting the workers under attack," said Breckner, who added that the NDP would continue to support transparent and accountable trade missions while opposing what it considers an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars for the premier's attendance at Graham's funeral.
Graham, 71, served as the GOP senator from South Carolina for over two decades and died on July 11 due to an aortic dissection, which is a severe tear in the aorta’s inner layer. It is an arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease caused by the hardening and narrowing of the arteries.
