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Nadine Wilson is no longer a member of the Saskatchewan Party caucus.
The Saskatchewan Rivers MLA has resigned.
In a Thursday afternoon news conference, Premier Scott Moe said he accepted Wilson’s resignation as a result of her “mispresenting her vaccination status.”
Caucus chair David Buckingham was in charge of seeing proof of vaccination from every Sask. Party MLA after receiving verbal confirmation in the spring.
“That’s when we found out that one of our members was not indeed vaccinated. That had to be dealt with. That’s not acceptable,” Buckingham said Thursday shortly after the party accepted Wilson’s resignation.
Earlier in the year, Moe was quoted as saying the entire caucus was either vaccinated or in the process of being vaccinated.
“It forced the premier to make statements that were not as good as they could be,” Buckingham said.
The party confirmed that all 47 of its remaining MLAs are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Buckingham said Wilson never forged any documents, but did not provide her proof of vaccination ahead of Friday’s launch of the vaccine passport system.
During Question Period at the Legislative Assembly on May 14, Wilson could be seen wearing an “I got my COVID-19 vaccine” sticker.
Nadine Wilson during a May 14, 2021 question period session. (Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan video archives)
In an email statement, Wilson said she “can no longer support the direction of the Saskatchewan Party government or follow the government with true conviction regarding the current health situation.”
“I was elected by the people, for the people, in the Saskatchewan Rivers constituency,” she said. “I will continue to work for them to the best of my abilities. I believe in the fundamental values of freedom of personal choice, voluntary informed consent, without the element of duress or coercion.”
Wilson will now have to present a negative COVID test result from within the last 72 hours to serve as an independent MLA.
Official opposition leader Ryan Meili was not impressed the premier decided to make the announcement on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation rather than Wednesday or Friday.
“If the Premier knew about this deception yesterday, he should have announced this at the COVID briefing, rather than taking attention away from residential school survivors whose voices deserve to be heard today,” Meili said.
When asked why he chose to announce this on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as opposed to any other day on the calendar, Moe said he simply wanted to go public once the caucus learned of Wilson’s vaccine status.
Wilson has a been an MLA for the area near Prince Albert since 2007. She never served in cabinet but was appointed by former Premier Brad Wall to numerous committee positions, including Provincial Secretary.
She stepped down from that role in 2019 following an assault charge. That charge was withdrawn following a mediation process.
— With files from paNOW
