REGINA -- The Saskatchewan NDP has dropped a prominent Regina candidate, just weeks before the fall provincial election campaign.
Sandra Morin, a former NDP cabinet minister, has been informed that the party leader won’t endorse her candidacy. She was chosen as the Regina Walsh Acres candidate in May 2019. Now, party headquarters will not let her run.
“Today I did receive a letter from the CEO of the Sask. NDP staying a couple of reasons,” Morin said.
In a statement Wednesday, Ryan Meili, the leader of the Saskatchewan NDP, said the decision was made following a party vetting process.
“The former candidate was informed of those reasons verbally on more than one occasion, and has also been provided with those well-founded reasons in writing,” he said.
“These decisions are not taken lightly, but the reasons for this choice are compelling and I stand firmly behind this decision.”
Neither Morin nor the party will publicly state what the issue is. However, Morin has shared the party’s letter with her campaign executive and they stand behind her candidacy.
"Our executive are all behind Sandra Morin and we’ll be continuing with our election campaign,” Barb Dedi, the president of the Regina Walsh Acres NDP Constituency Association, said.
“[NDP Headquarters] asked us to call a new nominating meeting and our executive has passed a motion that we will not be doing that.”
Morin was Minister of Culture in the former Calvert government. She plans to fight the party decision.
“I have no intention of backing down from that because I was democratically elected by the constituents of Regina Walsh Acres to be their candidate for the election and I intended on keeping that commitment to them,” Morin said.
The provincial NDP dropped its Regina Walsh Acres candidate in the last provincial election as well. That was over a social media post.
The federal party meanwhile cut ties with former MP Erin Weir who also represented the neighbourhood. Subsequently, the NDP went on to lose both elections.
