A Saskatchewan provincial constituency (also called “riding” or “electoral district”) is a geographical area represented by a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). Electors vote for an MLA to represent the residents of their constituency in the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly. Each constituency therefore corresponds to a seat in the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly. Currently, Saskatchewan has 61 provincial constituencies.
The redistribution of Saskatchewan Provincial Constituencies is a process by which the constituency boundaries are redrawn to account for a legislated change in the number of constituencies, or simply to reflect changes and movements in the population of the southern portion of the province. The area north of the dividing line (the Constituencies of Athabasca and Cumberland) is outside the mandate of this Commission.
The rules for carrying out the redistribution process are set out in The Constituency Boundaries Act, 1993.
It is a legal requirement. The Constituency Boundaries Act, 1993 requires that the boundaries of Saskatchewan’s Provincial constituencies be reviewed after each decennial (10-year) census. This mechanism allows for changes and movements in Saskatchewan’s population to be reflected in the representation in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.
Your constituency* will likely change in some way. For example:
* Except for the two northern constituencies (Athabasca and Cumberland) which are not included in the mandate of the 2022 Saskatchewan Provincial Boundaries Commission.
There have been no changes to The Constituency Boundaries Act, 1993 since the last provincial redistribution. The process used by this Boundaries Commission will be the same as that used in the 2012 Commission.
The process started on April 27, 2022, when the Commission members were appointed. On that day, the demographic data from the 2021 Census was released by Statistics Canada to the Saskatchewan Constituency Boundaries Commission.
The new Saskatchewan Provincial Constituency Boundaries will be in effect for the next set date for Saskatchewan’s Provincial Election date of October 28, 2024.
The redistribution process is expected to take approximately 6 months to produce its Final Report that will then be submitted to the Speaker.
The process started on April 27, 2022, when the Commission members were appointed. On that day, the demographic data from the 2021 Census was released by Statistics Canada to the Saskatchewan Constituency Boundaries Commission.
The Boundaries Commission Act, 1993 requires that the commission release an Interim Report within three months of the establishment of the commission. The commission will then receive comment through a series of Public Hearings.
After hearing and considering the presentations made to it at the Public Hearings the commission shall prepare a final report. The Commission shall submit the Final Report to the Speaker within three months of the release of the interim report.
If the Legislative Assembly is in session when the report is submitted to the Speaker, the Speaker shall lay the report before the Legislative Assembly within 15 days of the day on which the Speaker received the report.
If the Legislative Assembly is not in session when the report is submitted to the Speaker, the Speaker shall submit the report to the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly within 15 days of the day on which the Speaker received the report. When the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly receives a report, the Clerk shall, as soon as possible:
If the Speaker submits a report to the clerk of the Legislative Assembly, the Speaker is deemed to have laid the report before the Legislative Assembly.
If the Legislative Assembly, by resolution, approves or approves with alterations the proposals of the commission as set out in its final report, the member of the Executive Council to whom for the time being the administration of The Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, 2007 is assigned shall at the same session introduce a Bill to establish new constituencies for the election of members of the Legislative Assembly in accordance with the resolution. The Bill required shall provide that it is to come into force on proclamation; and if it is enacted, the proclamation shall be issued.
The Legislative Assembly determines the new Saskatchewan provincial constituency boundaries. It does so, based on the recommendation of the Saskatchewan Constituency Boundaries Commission.
The Constituency Boundaries Commission is composed of three members.
(a) a judge of the Court of Appeal nominated by the Chief Justice of Saskatchewan; or
(b) a judge of Her Majesty’s Court of Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan nominated by the Chief Justice of Saskatchewan after consultation with the Chief Justice of Her Majesty’s Court of Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan; or
(c) a resident of Saskatchewan.
(a) are residents of Saskatchewan; and
(b) are not member of the Senate, a member of the House of Commons or a member of the Legislative Assembly.
As part of the redistribution process, boundaries commissions consult with the public via public hearings. The commissions will consider this input but retain the right to make all final decisions about the new constituency boundaries.
The 18+ Population of the Southern Constituencies in the Province = 844,032
844,032 divided by 59 constituencies = 14,306 (This is the constituency population quotient).
The redistribution of Provincial Constituency Boundaries is independent. For this reason, no sitting member of the Senate, The House of Commons or the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly can be appointed to the commission.
In determining the area to be included in a proposed constituency south of the dividing line and in fixing the boundaries of that constituency, The Boundaries Commission Act, 1993 states:
a commission shall ensure that the population of each proposed constituency is, as nearly as possible, equal to the constituency population quotient.
A commission may depart from the requirements above where, in its opinion, it is necessary to do so because of:
A commission shall ensure that the population of each constituency south of the dividing line remains within 5%, either more or less, of the constituency population quotient.
No. Saskatchewan has completely different federal and provincial electoral boundaries.
During the Saskatchewan Provincial redistribution process, the Chief Electoral Officer has been chosen by the Saskatchewan Boundaries Commission to serve as Secretary to the Commission with Elections Saskatchewan serving as its Secretariat. This means that Elections Saskatchewan will provide a variety of professional, financial, technical and administrative support services to the commission.
This may include liaising with Statistics Canada and other service providers on behalf of the commission, as well as assisting with mapping and data.
The Constituency Boundaries Act, 1993 provides that the commission may hold hearings at times and places it considers appropriate to allow presentations with respect to its Interim Report. The proposed dates and locations for the Provincial Constituency Boundaries Commission Public Hearings will be posted.
If anyone is unable to attend the public hearing at the community closest to their residence, they may register to attend in person at another of the above locations.
MLAs have three opportunities to give input into the Saskatchewan provincial redistribution process:
The Constituency Boundaries Commission will consider all comments received, but they are not obliged to make changes based on them. The Commission makes all final decisions with respect its recommendations for Saskatchewan Provincial constituency boundaries.
No, as per The Constituency Boundaries Act, 1993 the Constituency Boundaries Commission‘s mandate is to divide the area of Saskatchewan south of the dividing line into 59 constituencies and propose the name for each proposed constituency.
After they have been approved by the Legislative Assembly they will come into effect at the issue of the writs for the next General Election to be held October 28, 2024.
Chairperson:
The Honourable Justice Donald Layh, Court of Queen’s Bench, Yorkton, Saskatchewan
Deputy Chairperson:
Frank Quennell, K.C., Regina, Saskatchewan
Member:
Joe Donlevy, B.A., M.B.A, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Yes, the 2022 Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Saskatchewan is in the process of reviewing Saskatchewan’s Federal Boundaries. You may contact the Federal Boundaries Commission at:
E-mail:
[email protected]
Mailing Address:
Ms. Marlene Rodie, Commission Secretary
Saskatchewan Electoral Boundaries Commmission
PO Box 21031 RPO Gardiner Park
Regina, Saskatchewan S4V 0Y0
Telephone (toll-free) 1-855-747-7230
TTY (toll-free) 1-800-361-8935
If a provincial by-election is held before the next General Election, the by-election would be held based on the 2012 (current) Provincial Constituency Boundaries.