More constituencies

Justice Minister Don Morgan introduced legislation to add three more constituencies, which means there will be 61 constituencies contested in the next provincial election.

Morgan said the new constituencies reflect the province's growing population.

"Three new constituencies represent an increase of about five per cent," Morgan said. "Saskatchewan's population has grown by five per cent in the four years since the last election and will likely grow by another five per cent by the time of the next election.

"We will likely have 100,000 more people in Saskatchewan compared to the last time the boundaries were changed in 2002 by the time of the next election. So this increase simply reflects that growth."

Morgan said the legislation will also be amended to ensure that every constituency has roughly the same number of voters as opposed to the same number of people, which includes children too young to vote.

Morgan said given the pattern of population growth in the province, the additional three constituencies will likely mean one more constituency in Regina, one more in Saskatoon and one more rural constituency.

"If we were to stay at the current number of constituencies, that would likely mean one or two fewer rural constituencies," Morgan said. "Many rural MLAs already represent constituencies that are very large in area and that would have meant making them even larger."

The number of constituencies in the province has not been increased in 25 years since the 1986 election. Saskatchewan has actually had 61 or more constituencies in the past. There were 61 constituencies in the 1975 and 1978 elections, 64 in the 1982 election and 66 in the 1986 election.