Premier Brad Wall apologized Monday for comments he made on a controversial videotape 17 years ago.
"They were wrong in 1991 and they are wrong today," Mr. Wall said in Saskatchewan's legislature.
On the video, Mr. Wall feigned a Ukrainian accent to mock then-NDP leader Roy Romanow, a son of Ukrainian immigrants. Mr. Wall, then 25, said Mr. Romanow has "his head up his ass. I don't even know how he walks upright with his head so far up his ass."
Mr. Wall told the legislature Monday afternoon that his comments crossed the line between good-natured humour and intolerance.
"I wouldn't have said these things to Mr. Romanow directly, so they obviously should not have been said," Mr. Wall said.
The videotape was released by the Saskatchewan NDP on Thursday after it was found in an office. The video also featured homophobic comments by Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski. At one point in the video, recorded during a boozy party at Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative campaign headquarters, Mr. Lukiwski said: "There's A's and there's B's. The A's are guys like me. The B's are homosexual faggots with dirt on their fingernails that transmit diseases."
The Regina MP stood in the House of Commons on Friday to apologize formally for the comments, saying he will spend the rest of his political career and life trying to live down the shame.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday that Mr. Lukiwski will not face discipline for his comments.
"He has given an unqualified apology - clear, heart-felt remorse for these actions . . . I believe when such apology and remorse is sought from an individual member, the generous and high-minded thing to do is to accept that apology."
Mr. Wall also said Monday that he will not pursue a defamation lawsuit against The Canadian Press over its coverage of the video's release.