Mandryk: Ex-speaker says Moe, MLAs fuel Sask. redneck image

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At about the time new Speaker Todd Goudy was contending with a racist outburst from Saskatchewan Party Humboldt-Watrous MLA Racquel Hilbert, former speaker Randy Weekes was trying to get his legacy fund off the ground.

For those curious about what Weekes has been up to since his political career came to a heated end last year when he levied charges of bullying and racism within the Sask. Party caucus, he has launched an annual scholarship of $1,000 annual for a deserving University of Regina student.

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Administered through the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation, the fundraising effort is aimed at financially assisting a U or R student in arts, political science, philosophy and other related fields.

Priority will be given to students from under-represented groups including Indigenous people, women, 2SLGBTQIA, persons with disabilities, visible minorities and low-income students.

“This award is a testament to Randy Weekes commitment to inclusivity and diversity within the education community,” states the Legacy Fund website, underscoring the hope the legacy fund will expand.

It’s not exactly what one might expect from a self-described “old Conservative” who sat as a rural Sask. Party MLA for a quarter century — especially in today’s climate that sees another rural Sask. Party MLA taking heat for calling federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh a terrorist.

Friday, Premier Scott Moe removed Hilbert from the Wanuskewin Board and the Caucus Irrigation Committee for the March 25 remark. The reprimand falls well short of calls from local and national Sikh organizations to have her removed from the government caucus altogether … or, at least, to undergo racial sensitivity training.

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Hilbert has so far refused to be interviewed by the media on the matter. Moe has similarly avoided interviews. Last Thursday his staff said he had to catch a plane to fly to the True North Strong and Free Conference that the NDP and others say is buttressing Western separation sentiments.

Weekes says such responses underscore the notion that the problem lies more with the Saskatchewan Party caucus than it does with rural Saskatchewan people, who, once again, are being branded as redneck racists because of Hilbert’s stupid remark.

“It’s offensive to me that the perception is rural Saskatchewan is a bunch of rednecks, racists, bigots,” Weekes said in an interview last week.

“There’s obviously lots of that out there, but there’s lots of that in the cities, too. There’s people in rural Saskatchewan that have degrees and that are from minorities.”

However, it’s also become rather easy for the governing party to capitalize on the intolerance that is out there — something that Weekes describes as a longstanding problem within the Sask. Party.

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The former speaker describes this as a longstanding problem going back to the days of original Sask. Party leader and former Reform MP Elwin Hermanson.

While racist sentiments and intolerance were not tolerated under Brad Wall’s leadership, “there was just a wholesale change in attitude once Scott Moe became premier,” Weekes said.

After his parting words in the assembly last May, the former speaker unleashed even more serious allegations during the October general election campaign.

Weekes accused Saskatoon Fairview MLA David Buckingham of repeating racial epithets first uttered by former Yorkton MLA Greg Otenbreit. He also said racist remarks — including ones made directly to visible minority Sask. Party MLAs — were quite common.

After losing all but one Saskatoon-Regina seat, Moe vowed last November his new Sask. Party caucus would be better.

But Hilbert’s remark in a speech supposedly about the budget leaves Weekes wondering if anything has really changed within a party that made pronoun use a constitutional issue and dragged trans-kids into the election debate.

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Many of the new rural MLAs, like Hilbert, were given a clear path to win the local Sask. Party nomination, suggesting that this party has little interest in diversity or renewal, said Weekes, adding he’s been told election post-mortem meetings in constituencies expressed little concern about why they lost in the cities.

And, given the Hilbert fiasco, Weekes wonders if the Sask. Party really cares about intolerance in this province.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

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