The provincial government introduced legislation to ensure that future provincial election campaigns do not overlap with a federal election campaign.
Under the current set election date law introduced by the government in 2007, provincial elections in Saskatchewan are to be held on the first Monday in November every four years. That means the next provincial election would be held on November 2, 2015.
However, under the federal set election date law, the next federal election is to be held on October 19, 2015. That means the provincial and federal election campaigns in 2015 would overlap. Premier Brad Wall called this an untenable situation.
Wall noted that four other provinces - Ontario, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island - face a similar conflict between their set election date and the federal election date.
"I have written to the Prime Minister asking that he consider changing the federal election date," Wall said. "Our strong preference is to stay with our current provincial election date in November 2015.
"But it just doesn't make sense to have both campaigns going on at the same time. So, in the event that a federal election is held during the normal period of our provincial campaign, the provincial election date will be moved to the first Monday in April the following year."
That means if the federal election is held in October 2015, the next provincial election will occur on April 4, 2016.
"The most important thing is - all parties and candidates will be on an even playing field as everyone will know the exact date of the election," Wall said.
