“None of us picked up on it (at the time). Had we heard those words that day, all of us would have stepped in.”
Alec Salloum
Regina Leader-Post
The Saskatchewan Party’s Racquel Hilbert has been removed from some of her MLA duties but will remain in caucus after calling federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh a “terrorist.”
It was announced Friday in an email from executive council that Hilbert, who represents Humboldt-Watrous, will be forced to relinquish some of her “additional MLA responsibilities, including Treasury Board, Wanuskewin Board of Directors, Caucus Irrigation Committee and Deputy Caucus Chair.”
Hilbert, while speaking about the 2025-26 provincial budget on March 25, said from the floor of the legislative assembly: “We did not hear the Opposition denounce their federal leader as being a terrorist in India and denounce the collateral trade damage to Western Canada.”
Premier Scott Moe did not speak with reporters on Thursday following question period, but he did speak from Ottawa while attending the Canada Strong and Free Network national conference. Moe was asked pointedly by reporters if Hilbert would face consequences.
“We’re actually working through some of what the consequences will be,” Moe said earlier on Friday.
Speaker says he missed comment
Hilbert is being reprimanded more than two weeks after she made the comments.
Saskatchewan’s Speaker of the House says he simply missed it when she called Singh “a terrorist.”
“I’m responsible for whatever goes on in the chamber,” Speaker Todd Goudy said in an exclusive interview with the Regina Leader-Post on Thursday. “None of us picked up on it on (March 25). Had we heard those words that day, all of us would have stepped in.”
It wasn’t until April 9, when the Leader-Post first reported the story and reached out to his office, that Goudy said he first became aware of the comment.
“I don’t know how that slipped through that day,” he said, “but obviously those words are not acceptable.”
The Speaker was appreciative of the opportunity to address the issue, adding he doesn’t want anyone in the province to feel as if he doesn’t care about them or their community.
“The comments that were made, they’re inappropriate, unacceptable, have no place in the chamber,” insisted Goudy, adding that he has met with three members of the Opposition to apologize for what was said.
“It is my role to listen to the best of my ability what’s going on in there,” he said. “So yes, that’s on me, the fact that it got through. But definitely, had I heard it that day, I would not have allowed that to go on.”
Goudy was joined by a law clerk during the interview. When it came to the matter of Hilbert’s statement potentially being tantamount to hate speech, the clerk said: “Mr. Speaker would receive advice from either the procedural experts or the will of members in the chamber.”
During his time as speaker, Goudy has tried to run a tight ship, often asking MLAs to re-ask certain questions, to withdraw and apologize, and frequently appealing to elected officials to act “parliamentary.”
“You want to do your best,” he said. “I wish I would have heard that in the moment.”
‘Just a slap on the wrist’
Speaking in Saskatoon on Friday, NDP critic for advanced education Tajinder Grewal restated his position that the premier needs to remove Hilbert from caucus outright — a call that has been echoed by members of the Sikh community in Saskatchewan and Canada.
The decision to strip Hilbert of some responsibilities was not good enough, he said.
“That’s nothing; that’s just a slap on the wrist,” said Grewal, who added that Moe’s decision to stand by the MLA sends “the worst possible message to the Sikh community and all Saskatchewan people.”
The Leader-Post has made multiple unsuccessful requests to interview Hilbert since Wednesday.
alsalloum@postmedia.com
