A few years ago, there was a discussion on whether urban municipalities should have elections every four years instead of three years.
While Estevan city council wanted to retain a three-year term, the bulk of the cities, towns and villages wanted four years, and so the four-year term was implemented in time for the 2012 civic election.
Now it appears we’re going to get a one-time only gift of a five-year term for municipal governments.
The provincial government has asked urban municipal governments, as well as school boards, to delay their next civic election from 2020 to 2021. They have also asked rural municipalities to wait until 2021. Then there would be a four-year term that would end in 2025.
Voters in Subdivisions 2, 4 and 6 in rural municipalities will still go to the polls later this year. But if the provincial government has their way, the next election for reeve and Subdivisions 1, 3 and 5 would occur in 2021, and the subsequent election for Subdivisions 2, 4 and 6 would be in 2023.
Clear as mud?
The next provincial election is slated for Nov. 2, 2020, which would be five days after the scheduled civic and school board elections.
The government is concerned that the two elections are too close together, so they say the civic and school board elections should be delayed.
Now, those with great memories will remember that in 2003, the civic election was held in late October, and the provincial election was two weeks later. Few complained about the timing of the two votes, and both elections received the attention they deserved.
Maybe the provincial government believes that the times have changed so much since 2003 that people can’t handle going to the polls twice in a matter of days.
But if the province is so eager to avoid this scheduling conflict, the government should lead by example and change their own date.
The last provincial election was held in April 2016. It was supposed to happen in November 2015, but due to the timing of the federal election in October 2015, the provincial vote was pushed back about five months.
The timing of a spring vote did cause the provincial government to delay the release of its budget until later in the spring, but outside of the budget issue, people weren’t complaining about the election timing.
So why not have a provincial election in the spring of 2020, instead of the fall of 2020? It would be four years since the last vote, and four years in the ideal time between elections, at least at the federal and provincial levels.
In theory, it should be easier for the provincial government to switch its election timing than its municipal counterparts. There are 61 provincial ridings, with one elected official in each, versus hundreds of urban and rural municipalities, where the number of elected officials ranges from three to more than 10.
It can also be tough for municipal councils and school boards to have a fifth year. Most mayors, reeves, councillors and school board trustees have full-time jobs. Some might be willing to stick around for two more years to fulfill their mandate, but they might not be so willing to be around for three years.
It could result in an increase in the number of resignations, which would lead to costly by-elections.
Municipal governments are the bedrock of democracy in this province. They are the level of government that we have the closest level of contact with, especially in rural communities and even in small Saskatchewan cities like Estevan.
While our member of Parliament, Robert Kitchen, and our member of the Legislative Assembly, Lori Carr, are both very accessible, one works in Ottawa and the other is in Regina. And both have other areas to represent other than Estevan. In the case of Kitchen, he represents a vast riding that requires several hours to traverse.
We have access to Mayor Roy Ludwig, and six councillors, that we aren’t going to have otherwise.
Estevan city council seems to be in favour of extending their terms by one more year. And the province will likely ratify the extension to five years for this term.
We still like the three-year term for urban municipal councils, although we understand why they went to a four-year term.
Five years is a really long time for a municipal government, even if it’s only going to happen once.
