A man on trial for threatening to hurt Premier Ed Stelmach admitted to police he made a verbal attack on the premier's life, an Edmonton courtroom heard Tuesday.
Ronald Labelle, 57, is being tried for 31 charges, including three counts of uttering threats.
"I uttered a threat which I shouldn't have okay?" Labelle said in a police video. "You know I could have picked up a baseball bat and did something stupid, but I just said, you know, something I shouldn't have said."
Labelle faces threat charges after he allegedly called the premier's office on Sept. 7, 2007, and told receptionist Jennifer Dalmer he was going to hurt Stelmach and his family.
While on the stand, Dalmer testified she quit her job out of fear because she was so frightened by Labelle's call.
"(He said) that he was going to go to the premier's farm, dig it up and kill his cattle," she said.
Dalmer said the caller sounded intoxicated as he criticized Stelmach for about four minutes about a construction workers dispute that was ongoing at the time.
A police constable who arrested Labelle in his northwest-Edmonton home testified that officers found a total of 14 rifles and shotguns in the basement.
Labelle is also facing 14 counts of unauthorized possession of a weapon and 14 counts of improper storage of a weapon.
Defence lawyers argued Labelle was not a real threat and had no intention of harming the premier.
Const. Richard Abbott, who questioned Labelle at the legislature, testified he didn't feel threatened by Labelle.
Meanwhile, Stelmach said he's not following the trial.
"I don't even know when he's going to court, but I have confidence in the justice system," he said.
The trial continues.
With files from Scott Roberts
