NDP cartoon upsets Sask. Party

The Saskatchewan Party government wants the NDP to remove and apologize for an online cartoon depicting Premier Brad Wall as a masked thief carrying away $3 million from the Progressive Conservative trust fund.

But the Opposition — which posted the cartoon on the party’s Facebook page — is standing by the caricature.

The cartoon was posted Monday, just about four months after NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter apologized for calling Wall "the little thief from Swift Current" in the legislature.

Sask. Party MLA Nancy Heppner said there was a clear "pattern of behaviour" from a "desperate" NDP.

"It’s beyond bad taste. It goes over the top and I don’t think that’s what the people of this province are looking for in their political leaders," she said.

NDP house leader Kevin Yates said he had approved the cartoon to be posted online and Lingenfelter had not seen it.

The cartoon shows a child-like figure in a mask and a knit cap that reads "Brad Wall" hauling a sack marked "PC Trust $3 million."

It steals a catchphrase from a series of Ally Bank commercials, with the cartoon reading "Even kids know it’s wrong to take something that isn’t yours. So why doesn’t Brad Wall know that?"

The cartoon is a reference to an ongoing court case that sees a revived PC party suing the trustees of the estimated $2.9-million fund and the Sask. Party, alleging they conspired to keep the trust fund dollars out of the PC party’s hands to ensure it would not be competitive in the 2007 election.

The Sask. Party has denied the allegations and is contesting the lawsuit.

The caption in the cartoon asks: "Why doesn’t Wall just give the money back?"

Speaking to reporters, Yates defended the cartoon and maintained that Wall has the ability to put the money into the PC party’s hands.

"He is part of preventing the Progressive Conservative party from getting their money."

But Heppner said it was an accusation "based on absolutely nothing."

"There’s absolutely no proof that Brad Wall or the Saskatchewan Party have taken any money. The fact is, the Sask. Party hasn’t accessed the PC Trust fund," she said.

Heppner said if Lingenfelter was sincere in his spring apology he would order the cartoon removed.