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“I get phone calls from people every week,” he said. “They want to know why, in Saskatchewan, our impaired driving issue is as bad as it is. And if they want to understand why it’s this bad, you look at actions like this today.”

“I was a corporate recruiter for 16 years,” Waldron said. “I’ve seen companies fire people for impaired driving; I’ve never seen a company re-hire an individual within seven months of it happening.”

Though McMorris told the Leader-Post in October he had no immediate plans to return to the caucus — saying members could invite him back if they wanted him back — in the end, the reinstatement request came from McMorris himself, with caucus chair Randy Weekes saying he had first received a letter in January.

Weekes said the vote was by secret ballot with a “50 per cent plus one” threshold, but said the tally would not be announced. He would not be drawn on whether concerns were raised by members who spoke before the vote.

“Now that we’ve had the vote, caucus is united in the decision for him to come back,” he said.

“After 18 years I guess, of being on this floor, and 10 years in government and 10 budgets, they think I have some experience,” McMorris said of his constituents. “I feel I have experience that can be beneficial to our government.”

After three months had passed since his conviction, McMorris was entitled to resume driving using an ignition interlock program. His full licence will be restored once he completes a year with the interlock in place, he said.