tank: separatists face uphill battle to hold vote in saskatchewan
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a sign calling for saskatchewan sovereignty is posted on a light pole outside the saskatchewan legislative building on tuesday in regina.
heywood yu
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regina leader-post
saskatchewan’s economy grew by 3.4 per cent last year, the second highest among provinces and more than double the national growth of 1.6 per cent.
this province’s gross domestic product reached a record $80.5 billion and private investment increased by 17 per cent to $14.7 billion to lead canada.
sounds like time to blow it all up and leave canada, right?
a survey of 125 online panellists based in saskatchewan, conducted by angus reid from march 20 to 24, showed one-third of respondents would vote for separation if the federal liberals were re-elected. apparently, those folks oppose success and prosperity.
after prime minister mark carney led the liberals to victory last month, alberta premier danielle smith has stoked separatist fires by relaxing the rules for a citizen-led referendum and acknowledging she is willing to allow a vote on separation if the required 177,000 signatures are obtained.
in saskatchewan, premier scott moe has been criticized as soft on separatists, refusing to condemn the movement, even though you might expect the leader of a government so focused on the economy to frown on activity that will deter investment, as separation talk most certainly will.
but moe courted the sovereignty movement in saskatchewan following the surprise success of the sovereigntist buffalo party, which was formerly known as wexit, in the 2020 election.
in the saskatchewan party’s last term, the government shifted its focus to greater sovereignty and independence, including stealing buffalo’s idea for a provincial police force. moe thwarted the growth of far-right populist parties, but must now pander to those elements inside his own party.
the buffalo party’s platform included a referendum on independence from “this colonization project” (canada).
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but existing rules for referendums in saskatchewan remain stacked against citizens who want to force one.
in 2019, saskatchewan chief electoral officer michael boda recommended changes to modernize the province’s referendum legislation. boda criticized the 60 per cent threshold for majority support as “inappropriately defined” and the requirement for half of all eligible voters as “unrealistic.”
he also called the rules for citizens to force a non-binding vote “too onerous.” as moe himself has noted, such a vote would require the verified signatures of 125,000 adult residents or 10 per cent of eligible voters.
so boda produced yet another thoughtful document on how to improve democracy in saskatchewan. and, like the others, the province ignored it.
but one group is still trying to spark a sovereignty vote.
the right-wing populist group unified grassroots has started a petition to gather the names needed to prompt a referendum and to change the rules governing direct democracy. as of tuesday afternoon, the petition on the group’s website cited fewer than 3,000 signatories.
yet saskatchewan’s ndp opposition held a news conference tuesday to reveal research connecting two saskatchewan party mlas, david chan of yorkton and jamie martens of martensville-blairmore, to unified grassroots. in an email, the government denies either mla belongs to the group.
the ndp shared frame grabs purporting to show the two last year joined the unified grassroots facebook group that began as a conspiracy-driven lobby against pandemic restrictions and vaccine mandates.
comments by unified grassroots leader nadine ness were also shared by the ndp, which called her a “far-right conspiracy theorist,” with claims on social media the group helped “several freedom loving candidates win their nomination race” and then get elected.
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and ness called chan “one of us” on a podcast that included chris barber, who was convicted last month for his role in the 2021 freedom convoy occupation. ness also attended pierre poilievre’s conservative party rally on the outskirts of saskatoon last month.
the ndp opposition plans to introduce a bill called keep saskatchewan in canada proposing changes to referendum rules. it’s not immediately clear what changes are being proposed, but the province has only held seven such votes in its history, the last time with three questions during the 1991 provincial election.
however, the ndp is probably far more interested in exposing separatist sentiment in government mlas than in actual changes.
phil tank is the digital opinion editor at the saskatoon starphoenix.
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