WEIR URGED TO RESIGN
Campaign staff speak out
NDP members who worked on Regina MP Erin Weir’s 2015 federal election campaign are now calling for his resignation.
In a petition circulating online, roughly 30 NDP volunteers, employees and constituents living in Weir’s Regina-lewvan riding say they are “disgusted by Erin Weir’s behaviour.”
The letter attached to the petition describes the signatories as, “People who worked and volunteered with Erin Weir, and who donated our time and money to get him elected in Regina-lewvan. We are people who currently live in or have lived in Saskatchewan, who are represented by Erin Weir as our Member of Parliament, and who are members of the provincial and/or federal branches of the NDP.”
Weir, who is the Regina-lewvan MP, was banished from the federal NDP caucus and barred from running under the federal party banner in any election by national NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
Singh said earlier this month he is not confident the Saskatchewan MP wouldn’t repeat the harassing behaviour that got him kicked out of the NDP caucus last spring. Singh rejected the MP’S request to be readmitted to the NDP caucus, and said he won’t approve Weir’s candidacy for the 2019 election.
After a complaint was made against Weir earlier this year, an investigation was launched. It found one claim of harassment and three claims of sexual harassment against Weir were sustained — all of which were deemed to be “on the less serious end of the spectrum,” involving the MP standing too close or failing to read nonverbal cues in social settings.
Earlier this week, Weir said he is requesting that an outside authority review the investigation process launched this spring by Singh. He suggested an authority like the House of Commons human resources office or a human rights tribunal review the investigation process. He said he did not want to prejudge but said he thinks an external review would find “significant problems with investigative processes.”
The petition accuses Weir of choosing to publicly politicize the investigation, and notes the report found his behaviour to have caused “significant negative impacts” for the complainants.
The petition accuses Weir of using his position of power to “perpetuate toxic dynamics that make it difficult for women to come for- ward.”
Found online, the letter attached to the petition concludes by saying, “We stand behind Jagmeet Singh’s decisions to remove Weir from caucus, and to not allow him to run under the NDP banner in subsequent elections. We are also calling for Erin Weir’s resignation, effective immediately. We hope that Weir does the right thing.”
Contacted Thursday afternoon, Weir said via email he was not in a position to respond, in part because he had not yet had an opportunity to review the petition.