Stewart admits ‘error in judgment’ for inviting Thatcher to throne speech

Convicted murderer Colin Thatcher was at the Saskatchewan legislature for Wednesday’s tough-on-crime speech from the throne.

Thatcher, a former Progressive Conservative MLA who served 22 years in prison for the 1983 murder of his ex-wife JoAnn Wilson, was invited to attend the throne speech by Saskatchewan Party MLA Lyle Stewart.

The furor generated by Thatcher’s attendance prompted Stewart to issue a statement Thursday explaining his decision.

“Each MLA is given the opportunity to invite a number of guests to the Throne Speech,” Stewart wrote. “It was my decision alone to invite Colin Thatcher, who is a constituent and long-time friend.

“In retrospect, this was an error in judgment as his presence was a distraction from a very positive and forward-looking Throne Speech, which included a number of new initiatives to keep Saskatchewan families safe in their communities.”

On Thursday, Premier Scott Moe told reporters inviting Thatcher wasn’t a decision he would have made, but he stopped short of apologizing.

“Me? What would I apologize for?” he asked a reporter. “This is an individual that invited someone. It wasn’t a government that invited someone. I think we need to draw that distinction.”

NDP Leader Carla Beck said Wednesday the decision to invite Thatcher to the speech was “rather hypocritical” of the Saskatchewan Party, given it had issued a tweet on Sunday about Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew speaking at the Saskatchewan NDP convention.

The tweet linked to a Winnipeg Free Press story and said Kinew was “known for his misogynistic and homophobic rap lyrics.”

“I’m not out here to defend their reasons for inviting Mr. Thatcher here,” Beck said after the throne speech. “I do think it is remarkable on a day that this government is talking about getting tough on crime, when they’re pointing fingers again about rap lyrics, that this is a choice that a member of that cabinet made.”

Stewart isn’t currently in the Sask. Party cabinet.

Christine Tell, the minister of corrections, policing and public safety, said the 84-year-old Thatcher had a right to be at the Legislature because he’s “a free citizen.”

“Colin Thatcher is a citizen who has gone through the justice system, gone through the courts (and) done his time in incarceration,” Tell told reporters after the speech. “He has now paid that debt to society that society has deemed for him to do and he’s living his life as a citizen of our province.”

The speech laid out the government’s plans to get tougher on crime, including the establishment of a new marshals service to assist the RCMP and municipal police services with policing.

Tell didn’t find it at all strange that a convicted murderer was in the gallery as the government announced crimefighting initiatives.

“There are other people that have been convicted of crimes too that may be in the building,” she said. “I don’t know (if there are) and I don’t care.”

Beck noted Saskatchewan has the highest rate of domestic violence in Canada and accused the government of not addressing that rate. For Beck, having a man who was convicted of murdering his wife in the gallery Wednesday was stunning.

“I think people will be shocked to hear that that invitation is made,” she said, “and, again, I would ask the government to hold themselves to the same standards, be a little less hypocritical on this and frankly to dig in and actually deal with the issue of domestic violence, which is something that has been persistently high in this province.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick and The Canadian Press