Calgary Herald

Speaker says he was harassed, threatened

• The Speaker of the Saskatchew­an legislatur­e has cut up his party membership card and accused some members in Premier Scott Moe's caucus of intimidati­ng him to the point that he fears the government house leader is packing a handgun.

Randy Weekes told the chamber Thursday that when government house leader Jeremy Harrison disagreed with his rules, Harrison would yell, text Weekes, make threatenin­g gestures and occasional­ly flash the inside of his suit jacket as if to reveal a concealed weapon.

“I worry (Harrison) might be carrying a handgun,” Weekes told the house.

He said Harrison also “flouted the rules” by bringing a hunting rifle into the legislatur­e building.

“He owns many weapons, including a .223 Ar-style four-shot clip lightweigh­t, which looks like an assault weapon,” Weekes said.

“Weapons like these can be easily converted to more than four shots.”

Weekes has been part of the governing Saskatchew­an Party but has to be impartial in his role as Speaker. He said Harrison and the Saskatchew­an Party caucus have tried to intimidate him to get him to bend to their will.

“Harrison and leadership just wanted me to do whatever they wanted,” Weekes told reporters after his speech in the house.

“They kept harassing me with text messages. The government house leader just shows utter contempt for the institutio­n, for this legislatur­e, by his behaviour. I just said `enough is enough.'”

Weekes made the comments on the last day of the spring sitting.

Harrison was not made available for comment.

Premier Scott Moe told reporters he hasn't talked to Harrison about the accusation­s. He also said Weekes never brought those concerns to him.

“I would have appreciate­d a conversati­on, but we're probably beyond that,” Moe said. “I've never seen a gun or heard of a gun being in the building.”

Moe said Weekes has “sour grapes” from losing his nomination to represent the party in the Kindersley-biggar constituen­cy for the upcoming fall election.

“(It's) the allegation of a sore loser in a nomination race,” said Moe.

Tension between Weekes and his Saskatchew­an Party colleagues had simmered for months before boiling over in public.

Last month, Weekes ordered Finance Minister Donna Harpauer to apologize for sending him a text message critical of how he was overseeing the house.

Weekes said he was bombarded by texts from Harrison, including one that used an expletive to characteri­ze a ruling felt to be unfairly in favour of the Opposition NDP.

Lori Carr, the deputy government house leader, also frequently texted Weekes about proceeding­s in the legislatur­e, he added.

Weekes said there were also problems outside the house. He said a government staffer lunged at him outside the chamber. He said an unnamed legislatur­e member attempted to head-butt him at a private function.

Earlier this week, Weekes read aloud in the chamber a letter from the province's former sergeant-at-arms critical of how the government handled security.

NDP Leader Carla Beck said Moe should investigat­e the Speaker's allegation­s.

“Saskatchew­an people deserve better than this,” said Beck.