The Saskatchewan Party must be held accountable for Colin Thatcher’s presence at throne speech
had been an error in judgment. Premier Scott Moe said it was a decision made by the MLA alone, and an unfortunate distraction from the governing party’s strong set of policy initiatives.
“If anybody has a right to be here, it’s Colin Thatcher,” Mr. Stewart said to the bafflement of many. Mr. Thatcher was granted full parole in 2006, but his life sentence means that he’s under supervision until the end of his days. Still, Saskatchewan Public Safety Minister Christine Tell said of him: “He’s a citizen of our province who paid his debt to society. That’s just the way it is.”
As the Saskatchewan Party talks about strengthening its fight on crime, including cracking down on the illegal use of firearms, Mr. Thatcher’s appearance as a guest in the legislature can only be viewed as a sign that the government is not serious. Or that some members regard killing your former wife as a different kind of crime.
The Canadian Press said that when a reporter in the rotunda asked Mr. Thatcher if he thought the province needs tougher crime measures, he laughed and said “enough” before walking away. He then joined Mr. Stewart for tea at a social gathering. While that legal battle was playing out in January, 1981, Ms. Wilson was shot by a high-powered rifle through her patio door window, injuring her shoulder. As the Supreme Court of Canada would later recount, she was hospitalized for three weeks. She was terrified. No one was ever charged with that shooting. But even as she was still recovering, she ceded custody of her second oldest child to Mr. Thatcher – as he had long demanded.
Testimony also came from a former girlfriend. Lynn Mendell, who lived at Mr. Thatcher’s Palm Springs condo for a time, recalled him saying, “I have to admit it is a strange feeling to have blown your wife away,” shortly after Ms. Wilson was killed. As reported by Maclean’s in 1984, the defence lawyer asked Ms. Mendell what kind of woman sleeps with a man she knows has killed someone. Someone “afraid that if she didn’t, she’d get smacked around,” she replied.