Singh challenged by NDP veterans over candidacy ban
OTTAWA — Jagmeet Singh won’t allow scorned MP Erin Weir to run as a New Democrat in the next election, a decision that has caused a rupture between the NDP leader and the party’s longstanding members in Saskatchewan.
In a letter to Weir this week, Singh says he isn’t confident the Saskatchewan MP won’t repeat the harassing behaviour that got him kicked out of the NDP caucus last spring.
Consequently, Singh says he rejects the MP’s request to be readmitted to the NDP caucus and won’t approve his candidacy for the 2019 election.
But 67 former New Democrat MPs and MLAs from Saskatchewan have written to all NDP members of Parliament, accusing Singh of denying Weir due process and unfairly maligning his character, while flouting the party’s constitutional rules for dealing with harassment complaints. The letter was signed by “every living former MP” from Saskatchewan, according to former provincial cabinet minister Pat Atkinson, who wrote the letter on behalf of the 67 former legislators.
Among the signatories are former MPs Dennis Gruending, Lorne Nystrom, Bill Knight and Dick Proctor. Knight and Proctor are also former national directors of the party.
Weir was one of three New Democrats elected in Saskatchewan in 2015, ending a 15-year drought for the federal party in the province.
Atkinson predicted Singh’s unilateral decision to oust Weir will jeopardize that hard-won comeback.
“I think what it means is that there’ll be less people willing to donate, there’ll be less people willing to step up to door knock. I think it has a very serious impact on the federal party in our province,” Atkinson said.
The former Saskatchewan legislators first wrote to Singh in May when he expelled Weir from caucus following an independent investigation into allegations of harassment. Atkinson said they have tried to work with the leader to remedy the situation, but “there was no listening, no accepting, he just had his mind made up, obviously.”
In his letter to Weir, Singh said he isn’t satisfied the MP has taken the actions necessary to rectify the damage he did to the NDP’s “work of building a safer workplace and party.”
“I have not seen evidence of a genuine understanding of how your behaviour needs to change,” Singh wrote.