Clarion Staff
Former Kindersley MLA and Eston-area resident Bill Boyd faces charges in relation to altering land and wildlife habitat near the South Saskatchewan River.
According to a media relations official for the Executive Council of the Saskatchewan government, Boyd has been charged with three violations under the province’s Environmental Management and Protection Act, 2010, and one violation under the Wildlife Habitat Protection Act.
Former MLA Bill Boyd is facing several charges
The charges are in relation to the alteration of shoreline, wildlife habitat and ecological lands near Eston. Boyd is scheduled to make an appearance in provincial court in Kindersley with respect to the charges on Oct. 10.
The former MLA has been charged with altering wildlife habitat and ecological lands, contrary to a section of the Wildlife Habitat Protection Act. The other charges are covered by section 84(2) of the Environmental Management and Protection Act, 2010.
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Boyd is charged with one count of altering the configuration of the bed, bank or boundary of any river, stream, lake, creek, marsh, or other watercourse or water body; one count of removing, displacing or adding any sand, gravel or other material from, in or to the bed, bank or boundary of any river, stream, lake, creek, marsh, or other watercourse or water body; and one count of removing vegetation from the bed, bank or boundary of any river, stream, lake, creek, marsh, or other watercourse or water body.
The Executive Council media relations official said the government won’t comment any further since the matter is before the courts. Boyd resigned as Kindersley MLA as of Sept. 1 but the charges came in his final days in office.
It has been a rough span for the longtime MLA and founding member of the Saskatchewan Party. The province’s conflict of interest commissioner previously found Boyd to be in conflict due to his involvement in a private business dealing.
The arrangement involved a trip that Boyd took to China while serving in government to promote an immigration-irrigation opportunity to a Chinese company and an investor.
Premier Brad Wall removed Boyd from the party’s caucus before his retirement date in response to the commissioner’s findings.
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