Sask. Party MLA removed from government after charge for ‘sexual services’

A Sask. Party MLA has been removed from the government’s benches and stripped of all his appointments and responsibilities.

Ryan Domotor, MLA for Cutknife-Turtleford, has been charged under the section of the Criminal Code that relates to paying for sex.

Few details were available Friday, and the decision was revealed to the media in an email Premier Scott Moe’s office.

“Those in public office should be working to support vulnerable women, not exploit them,” said Moe.

“There is absolutely no place in our government, nor frankly in the Assembly, for someone who has been charged with such a crime.”

According to the Regina Police Service, the city’s Vice Unit recently undertook a project to combat “sexual exploitation and human trafficking,” which ran from Tuesday through Thursday of this week.

The project, police said, resulted in 16 arrests, including Domotor.

“He is facing a charge of communicating for the purposes of obtaining sexual services,” police said in a statement. “The male was arrested at a business in East Regina at approximately 2:00 p.m. on November 16, 2023.”

Domotor was elected in October of 2020. In July, he was acclaimed as the nominee for the Saskatchewan Party for next year’s election.

His first court appearance is set for Jan. 4, 2024 in Regina.