Cabinet minister guilty of ethics violation may have buyer for family business two years after offering to sell

Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures Minister Ian Bushie has a potential buyer for Grandpa George’s gas and convenience store at Hollow Water First Nation after offering it to sell it two years ago when he was found guilty of an ethics violation.

“Grandpa George’s is currently in negotiations with a buyer and that process is ongoing,” Bushie’s press secretary Caedmon Malowany said in a prepared statement Monday.

Bushie held a news conference in 2024 to say he would voluntarily sell the business after he violated provincial ethics rules.

The MLA for Keewatinook, who was not available for an interview Monday, was not required to sell the gas bar after former ethics commissioner Jeffrey Schnoor ruled in September 2024 that Bushie inadvertently violated the new Conflict of Interest (Members and Ministers) Act.

At that time, Bushie announced he would sell the business that has been in his family for 28 years, saying: “I want to go above and beyond.”

Grandpa George’s, which is overseen day-to-day by a manager, had a government contract for many years to provide groceries and supplies to workers who fight wildfires in the area. The agreement allowed for the store to provide up to $100,000 in groceries and supplies but the largest amount it billed in a fiscal year was $44,549.80 in 2021-22.

Under new conflict of interest legislation that took effect after the 2023 provincial election, contracts in existence at the time of an MLA’s election are permitted, but renewals and extensions are not.

The ethics commissioner found Bushie broke a rule when he renewed the gas bar contract with the province on April 1, 2024. That agreement was cancelled by the government on June 3, 2024, the day the Progressive Conservatives raised the matter in the legislative assembly.

On Monday, the PCs were again questioning Bushie’s ethics, this time over allegations that he offered a bribe in September to a First Nation chief in return for the removal of a highway checkstop that has outraged hunters.

The minister faced a barrage of questions from Tory MLAs about who approved the $250,000 that Bloodvein River First Nation Chief Lisa Young says Bushie offered for economic development if the First Nation removed its blockade.

Bushie repeatedly denied there was any bribe offered and accused the the Tories of using First Nation citizens as “political props.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca