Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
REGINA — Saskatchewan will not be buying high-tech attack weapons for its marshals service after all.
Community Safety Minister Michael Weger says the program was never approved and that the purchase bid request was due to an employee who went rogue.
“I’ll take overly ambitious over lazy any day of the week, but (the employee was) overly ambitious on starting the process of a specialized unit when we’re not ready for that yet,” Weger told reporters Friday.
“There was no chain of command for how this should proceed, because that direction hadn’t come from my office.”
Weger said the whole program is up in the air.
“I can’t say I support (a tactical unit) right now because I have almost no information on the need for a specialized response unit,” Weger said.
Last month, the marshals put out a bid request seeking sniper rifles, sound cannons, a thermal camera, night-vision goggles, hydraulic breaching tools and a multi-shot launcher.
The equipment was meant for a tactical team that would support RCMP and other policing agencies.
The marshals have said none of the equipment was purchased and that the need for a tactical team was identified when it first started operations.
The minister and Chief Marshal Rob Cameron weren’t aware of the bid request, Weger said, adding he found out about it last week.
The minister said the marshals need to focus on hiring more officers and work alongside RCMP or other policing agencies before thinking about starting a tactical team.
The marshals began operating last year with the mandate to help other policing agencies fight rural crime, gangs and drugs. It’s also to arrest high-risk offenders with outstanding warrants.
The service has 27 officers so far and is planning to hire more to reach its goal of 70.
“As that sort of evolves and the marshals get up to a full staff of 70 members, then those discussions have to happen. And that’s where we would get that information as to whether there’s a need for this type of unit,” Weger said.
Asked if the service requires the province’s approval if it wants to form the unit in the future, he said, “Oh, absolutely.”
The Opposition NDP has criticized the bid request.
At a news conference Friday, NDP community safety critic Hugh Gordon called the situation an “absolute circus.”
“They want to blame some underling marshal, throw them under the bus, for a decision that they rightly would have or should have known about,” Gordon said. “Either way, it’s looking like incompetent city over there.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2026.
Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press
