Unless the Sask. Party government moves to close a loophole their fixed-election-date law introduced, residents of the constituencies of Regina Walsh Acres and Saskatoon Eastview will go more than a year without an MLA before the next provincial election. To close this loophole, NDP Ethics and Democracy Critic David Forbes tabled a bill today that would require a by-election be called within six months of a seat becoming vacant when the period between general elections is more than 48 months.
“MLAs Warren Steinley and Corey Tochor have already been nominated candidates in the next federal race,” said Forbes. “They’re focusing on a job other than what the people of Saskatchewan elected them to do, and by law they’ll have to resign their seats when the writ drops next August. But because of a loophole in the Election Act, the Sask. Party won’t have to face a vote in those constituencies for a further fourteen months, leaving those people with no voice in the Legislature. That’s unfair.”