Premier Moe touts 'renewal' as cabinet ministers, MLAs continue to step down

A gun controversy stirred up by the Speaker of the House and six cabinet ministers not running for re-election has created plenty of attention for Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe heading into the summer before the fall election campaign.

Over the past two weeks, comments from Speaker Randy Weekes have forced Moe to answer questions on multiple occasions and led to Jeremy Harrison's resignation as government House leader.

Weekes initially caused a stir with a post on social media on May 15 with a photo of his Saskatchewan Party membership card cut in half with the caption "enough is enough."

The following day, Weekes made what is likely his last speech as Speaker, levelling serious accusations of bullying, harassment and intimidation on the part of the government and accusing Harrison of carrying a gun into the building in the past.

Harrison, via Moe, initially denied all allegations. But more than one week later, he offered his resignation as House leader after remembering he did carry a gun into the building about 10 years earlier. He remains in cabinet as the Minister of Trade and Export Development.

In the midst of all this, 18 of Moe's 46 MLAs who were in caucus last fall are not running for re-election for a variety of reasons — most notably, Finance Minister Donna Harpauer, ministers Dustin Duncan and Don McMorris, and Saskatoon veteran MLAs Don Morgan and Gordon Wyant.

McMorris was first elected in 1999, Harpauer and Morgan in 2003 and Duncan in 2006. All four served time in Opposition before Brad Wall's victory in 2007.

Last week, Wyant told Moe he would like to leave cabinet, after having already decided not to run in October. This week, another cabinet minister, Joe Hargrave, decided he would not run and asked to be dropped from cabinet as well. Both Wyant and Hargrave had previously won the nominations in their respective ridings.

On Monday, Moe told reporters the number of MLAs stepping away from politics was not abnormal, but was a chance for the party to renew.

"There's some personal reflection going on, I think in the broader scope of what it takes to serve in politics in today's day and age at any level — federal, provincial or municipal. We have 28 MLAs who are seeking re-election. That's likely slightly less than maybe the last two elections."

"There's no doubt there are some significant years of experience that are choosing not to run again," Moe said.

Moe said he was recently on a call with all of the nominated candidates and expressed his "excitement" about the upcoming campaign and their slate.

"I would say in particular in some of our urban constituencies, (we have) some pretty dynamic candidates. To me, that's exciting for the renewal of the party and indicative of where hopefully this party will be going in the future."

Weekes wrote "another one bites the dust" on his social media page following Hargrave's announcement.