Former speaker says Sask. Party is dealing with ‘all-out war’ internally

The Saskatchewan NDP's annual convention took place in Saskatoon, and included a surprise - a longtime Sask Party member, now carrying an NDP membership card.

The Saskatchewan NDP convention in Saskatoon hosted an unexpected guest over the weekend. Among more than 600 delegates sat former Saskatchewan Party MLA and speaker of the legislative assembly Randy Weekes – who has formally shifted his allegiance to the New Democrats.

“My experience was as speaker and watching how the Sask. Party has really turned to an extreme right-wing party ... the party is just not something that I want to be associated with,” Weekes told CTV News on Saturday.

After famously sharing a picture of his Sask. Party membership card cut into pieces and sharing allegations of harassment among caucus members, Weekes has replaced that card with an orange one.

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While Carla Beck was endorsed by 87 per cent of delegates in what party officials called “the highest post-election leadership review result in the history of the Saskatchewan NDP,” Weekes alleges that Premier Scott Moe is not seeing that same support within his own party.

“There’s an all-out war within the party. Moe and his people are trying to get people to go to the convention to vote in favour of his leadership,” Weekes told reporters. “There’s MLA’s, former cabinet ministers, that are actively phoning around to get people to go to the convention to vote no to his leadership. So, I think that’s a big distraction within the Saskatchewan Party government because of the leadership uncertainty.”

The Saskatchewan Party will be holding its convention in November, where a post-election leadership review will also be held.

Moe has seen significant support in previous leadership reviews – receiving more than 80 per cent of membership support in 2021 – which increased to 97 per cent in 2023.

The Saskatchewan Party has been in power since 2007, elected with majority governments in five elections over 18 years. The party is on track to become the second longest serving administration in the province’s history by the end of its current term.

However, Weekes claims that despite this success, the party is full of, “internal bickering behind the scenes.”

Weekes cited the Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program as a particular point of contention. He criticized the program for allegedly only providing those in need with funds, as opposed to wrap around services intended to break the cycle of poverty.

“That’s why they have problems, because of their mental health addiction issues and these people are living homeless on [the] streets know some horror stories, people [with] frozen limbs and things because they’re living in tents ... really it’s incumbent upon the government to look after everybody in society, not just your base,” Weekes said.

In a statement to CTV News in response to Weekes’ comments, the Saskatchewan Party described Weekes as “a disgruntled former MLA who lost his 2024 Saskatchewan Party nomination by a substantial margin, then joined the NDP to help them lose the election.”

The former speaker shared that while his participation at the convention is sure to raise some eyebrows, he isn’t particularly concerned with the opinions of his former party members.

“I don’t care what they think about me being at this convention,” Weekes explained. “I’m very proud to be here and I will be supporting [the] NDP ... the Opposition under Carla Beck and her team are definitely a government in waiting. She is the premier in waiting.”