REGINA - Political reaction has been swift to news that Moose Jaw Wakamow MLA Greg Lawrence, has been charged with assault and choking.
Moose Jaw police have arrested Lawrence, who is due in court March 18 to answer the charges. On Tuesday, Lawrence resigned from the Sask Party caucus and a statement was issued confirming he was under police investigation.
On Wednesday, Premier Scott Moe issued this statement:
“Yesterday, I learned that it was confirmed the MLA for Moose Jaw Wakamow was under active police investigation and resigned.
“Today, I learned through media the nature of the charge.
“I am deeply concerned by this news. Our government has enacted some of the strictest measures and implemented some of the strongest programs for violence prevention.
“Our work will not be deterred and we will continue to focus on violence prevention initiatives to protect our families, our communities and our province.”
On the steps of the legislature Wednesday, Opposition Leader Carla Beck denounced the government.
“Today,we’re out here talking about the fact that for the second time in two months a Sask Party MLA has been criminally charged in this province,” said Beck, who was also referring to the criminal charge against Cut Knife-Turtleford MLA Ryan Domotor for procuring sexual services.
“Now one might be a bad apple. But two? That’s a pattern. And this government should be more focused on fighting crime in this province than committing them.”
Beck added that a reasonable question to be asking is “when did Scott Moe and his staff know about this, what more can they tell us about this, and are there more announcements like this to come? Because the people of this province hold their elected officials to a higher account. This building and what we do in here, these roles representing the people of this province, they mean something to me. They mean something to the people of this province. And sometimes when they’ve been in government for a long time — and unfortunately we’ve seen this movie before in this province — governments can forget who they work for, they can forget whose interest they should be working, and they can forget that these roles that we play, these elected roles, serve as an example for the people of this province and the people of this province deserve better than what we’ve seen from this government in the last two months.”
Lawrence is a former Estevan resident. He moved to Moose Jaw in 2004. In 2011, he was elected as the MLA for Moose Jaw Wakamow, defeating long-time NDP MLA Deb Higgins.
He was re-elected in 2016 and 2021.
Lawrence announced last fall that he would not seek re-election in 2024, weeks after sustaining injuries in a motorcycle accident.
