Sask. Party, NDP scrap over leaked police reports
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 | 10:49 AM CT
CBC News
Saskatchewan Justice Minister Don Morgan says he knows who the Regina police suspect of leaking confidential documents about missing money from the NDP caucus, but he won't make it public.
Late last week, the Regina police wrapped up their investigation into police files taken from their offices.
The files, from 1992 and 1994, concerned a former New Democrat caucus employee who admitted she took about $6,000 in caucus funds she wasn't entitled to take. The reports also included references to NDP politicians and staffers who weren't accused of anything.
Release of the documents last year resulted in two police investigations: one into the missing money from 1992 and the other into the question of who took the police documents. Neither investigation resulted in charges.
Regina police said last week they think they have identified the person who took the reports — a former police officer who's been retired for a number of years. However, an Alberta prosecutor decided there wasn't enough evidence to lay criminal charges.
The documents were given to the then-opposition Saskatchewan Party in the spring of 2006. The Saskatchewan Party went public with the documents a year later, tabling them in the legislature and posting them online.
The leaked files were fodder for numerous fiery debates in the legislature, with the then-Opposition Saskatchewan Party suggesting the NDP wanted to cover up a crime, and the New Democrats accusing the Opposition of smearing them with innuendo over a 15-year-old incident.
Cabinet minister Glenn Hagel, who had been the NDP caucus chair in the early 1990s, temporarily stepped down from cabinet when the case was referred to the police. Hagel failed to be re-elected in the 2007 election.
The NDP was demanding Monday that the government say who gave the Saskatchewan Party the documents.
Justice Minister Don Morgan said that while he knows the name of the suspect, he won't release it.
"The practice in this province has been that once charges are laid, that's when the matter is made public," he said. "That's served us well and it wasn't something that I would contemplate to try to change now."
However, there's no good reason Morgan isn't making the name public, other than to protect himself and his party, NDP justice critic Frank Quennell said.
"I'm not sure the people of Saskatchewan believe that the members of the Saskatchewan Party are being entirely co-operative on this matter," Quennell said.
Share Tools
Latest Saskatchewan News Headlines
- Baby featured in documentary has brain tumour
- A young couple featured in a CBC Saskatchewan documentary about absent aboriginal fathers is now worried for the life of their baby daughter. more »
- Who will be Regina's next mayor?
- The race is on for the next mayor of Regina and some candidates are already declaring their intentions to run. more »
- 2 NDP MPs back final Commons vote to kill gun registry
- Two NDP MPs broke party ranks to vote with the government in the final House of Commons vote on scrapping the long-gun registry. more »
- Freezing puppy rescued by hockey players finds home
- A new home has been found for a Prince Albert, Sask., puppy that was abandoned and nearly froze to death last month before being rescued by three hockey players. more »
Top News Headlines
- Tories move to curb 'bogus' refugees
- The Conservative government is poised to change the refugee system yet again in an attempt to deter what it considers "bogus" claimants, CBC News has learned. more »
- Children of immigrants challenged at school, home
- By 2016, foreign-born youth and Canadian-born youth from immigrant families will make up a quarter of the country's population, according to predictions by the Canadian Council on Social Development. As their numbers grow, more attention is being paid to their successes and failures. more »
- 2 NDP MPs back final Commons vote to kill gun registry
- Two NDP MPs broke party ranks to vote with the government in the final House of Commons vote on scrapping the long-gun registry. more »
- B.C. house party trial hears from tearful teens
- Two teenagers cried as they testified at the trial of a B.C. woman who was charged after a teen died while her son was hosting a party at her house in 2008. more »
- Body found at site of Saskatoon crash, fire
- Baby featured in documentary has brain tumour
- Who will be Regina's next mayor?
- 2 NDP MPs back final Commons vote to kill gun registry
- Midale woman dies in Estevan highway crash
- Tisdale man, 70, dies in crash
- Former Métis Nation official sentenced for fraud
- Saskatchewan mines for workers at Toronto trade show
- Fatherhood in aboriginal families examined in show

