Issues Remain with Saskatchewan’s Referendum and Plebiscite Legislation

May 14, 2025 – In September 2019, Saskatchewan’s Chief Electoral Officer, Dr. Michael Boda, issued a report calling for the modernization of Saskatchewan’s referendum legislation. The recommendations set out in the report have not been acted upon, and as a result the issues identified six years ago remain unresolved.

The report stated that a new legal framework was “urgently required” to define a modern and flexible approach for staging a provincial referendum or plebiscite. Five major shortcomings were identified. They were:

  • The Referendum and Plebiscite Act and its Regulations do not reflect current electoral procedures and lack overall coherence;
  • Majority threshold for a referendum is inappropriately defined as 60 per cent voting support;
  • A minimum of 50 per cent participation of all eligible voters is unrealistic;
  • Rules allowing citizens to petition for a non-binding plebiscite vote are too onerous; and,
  • Plebiscite votes in Saskatchewan have been legally defined as a very expensive alternative to a public opinion poll.

Beyond those issues, other important features in the existing framework were identified in the report and still need to be addressed, including:

  • Defining a clear process for ensuring a neutral and straightforward ballot question;
  • Specifying the role of government and the provision of information;
  • Establishing a level playing field campaign advertising regulations and creating appropriate spending limits, contribution rules and financial disclosure requirements; and
  • Ensuring mechanisms exist to assure the integrity of voting and ballot counting processes.

A copy of the 2019 report, Modernizing Saskatchewan’s Referendum Legislation, that includes the full analysis of the specific issues, as well as recommendations that would allow Elections Saskatchewan to effectively and efficiently administer a referendum, can be found here.

Elections Saskatchewan (ESK) is the province’s nonpartisan election management body and an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. ESK directs and supervises the administration of provincial electoral events. Information for voters, workers, media, candidates, and parties at www.elections.sk.ca.

For more information contact:

Tim Kydd
Senior Director, Outreach & Communications
Elections Saskatchewan
306.537.9211
tim.kydd@elections.sk.ca