Current municipal election date a barrier

Municipal governance, like municipal services, tends to be something people only think about when it’s not working. There are, by design, no party affiliations for people to focus on; there tend to be few Twitter wars fought on municipal ground; and the dozens of cameras that sit in the House of Commons catching members of parliament sleeping are absent from most council chambers.

While this lack of a circus is an important part of why municipal governments—those closest to the people—can get so much done, it often makes it more challenging to encourage residents to take part in municipal elections. In 2020, Nipawin saw a voter turnout of 30 per cent, and Melfort saw a similar turnout of 28 per cent. In Saskatchewan’s two biggest cities, where seats are nearly always contested, voter turnout was 27 per cent and 21 per cent in Saskatoon and Regina, respectively. 

Regina’s voter turnout was similar in 2016, meaning in the last two municipal elections, four out of five eligible voters in the city did not cast a ballot.

Municipalities have historically struggled to get people to the municipal polls. And in 2020, the Government of Saskatchewan made it even more difficult when they moved the municipal election date to November to accommodate their own election in October. Cue a November blizzard. 

Nothing dissuades someone faster from voting than having to venture out in cold, blowing, snow. With travel brought to a standstill in many parts of the province, the provincial government had to pass an emergency order to extend the election period so that anyone could make it to the polls.

Blizzards are not uncommon in Saskatchewan, in November. (As the saying goes, there are only two seasons in Saskatchewan—construction and winter.) Having municipal elections so close to a provincial one also causes other problems, including voter confusion and fatigue in both voters and volunteers running the polls. November also tends to be a time when many people turn their eyes to our neighbours to the south and the spectacular spectacle they provide during their elections.

The province’s own Chief Electoral Officer acknowledged the challenges of the 2020 election date in his report on the provincial election and recommended that the municipal election date—the next election scheduled for November 2024—be moved to spring. SUMA, the voice of cities, towns, villages, resort villages, and northern municipalities in Saskatchewan has made a similar call of its own, after consultation with members: towns and villages should have their date move into September, and cities should be moved to May.

Despite these many calls, the province’s response has been a consistent “no.” They have said no to municipalities, who fund their own elections and know their residents best, no to the recommendations of their own Chief Electoral Officer, and no to an election date that would maximize the number of residents exercising their democratic right to vote for their municipal council.

It’s time for that no to become a yes.

Randy Goulden is a councillor for the City of Yorkton and President of SUMA.