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A Sask. Party MLA released a statement Wednesday, apologizing for calling federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh a terrorist on the floor of the legislative assembly.
Humboldt-Watrous MLA Racquel Hilbert made the comment on March 25, during debate on the provincial budget, while talking about Saskatchewan trying to open up new trade markets around the world.
“It’s been more difficult due to challenges presented by the federal government, propped up by the federal NDP, supported by this opposition. 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,” said Hilbert.
No reaction can be heard to the comments on the legislative video stream.
When asked for comment, Hilbert sent out a statement.
“I recently made an inaccurate and inappropriate statement about the federal NDP leader. I apologize for and withdraw that statement,” wrote Hilbert.
No one else from the government was made available to comment.
NDP MLA Tajinder Grewal considers the comments from Racquel Hilbert to be hate speech. Apr. 9 2025 (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
The Sask. NDP’s Tajinder Grewal, MLA for Saskatoon University-Sutherland, was emotional as he spoke about the impact of the words.
“Calling someone a terrorist is a huge statement. This is to me hate speech; it is simply not acceptable,” said Grewal.
He said the comments are deeply hurtful to the Sikh community, which contributes a lot to the province.
Grewal said he wasn’t in the assembly at the time the comment was made and only heard about it on Monday.
“I can’t believe it in the first place that this happened. It took me a while,” he said.
Grewal said racism has no place in the province and certainly not within the provincial government.
