Three of the smaller Saskatchewan parties are allying to fight a recent increase in candidate deposits.
The Saskatchewan Green Party, Liberal Party and Progressive Conservatives feel the increase will discourage independent candidates from running for office and are in talks to file a lawsuit against the decision.
The decision to increase the candidate deposit was unanimously approved during the previous winter legislature in December 2022. Since 1905, Saskatchewan political candidates had to pay a $100 deposit to enter an election. This money would be returned to them after the election is over and after filing the proper paperwork. The new rules make it so the deposit is $500, which would still be returned to the candidate.
The chief electoral officer of Elections Saskatchewan made the recommendation to increase the deposit “following a significant increase in candidates failing to submit returns following the 2020 provincial general election,” Elections Saskatchewan said in a statement. The recommendations were put into Bill 123 by Minister of Justice Bronwyn Eyre, and passed the Legislative Assembly with approval of both the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP.
With byelections coming up, Elections Saskatchewan sent out the updated rules to all potential candidates, which caught the smaller parties by surprise.
“This bill was never debated in the legislature, so we did not fully know what was in it until we got the update from Elections Saskatchewan,” Jeff Walters, leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party said.
Walters added that it might actually block some people with lesser financial means from running.
Green Party Leader Naomi Hunter is also afraid the decision will deter independent candidates from running.
“This increase will not discourage a party like the Green Party from running a full slate. However, a small independent candidate might not want or can put in $500 for this. That would make the political landscape a lot less diverse,” Hunter said.
A full slate in Saskatchewan consists of 61 candidates which previously would cost a party $6,100 but has now increased to a $30,500 deposit — a value so high, the three parties (Green Party, Liberal Party, Progressive Conservatives) have started discussing legal action.
“When the deposit was only $100, nobody really cared about it. Now that is has been increased fivefold it is raising some red flags. Now it might be more pragmatic to actually fight this in court,” Walters said.
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The three parties might actually have a good chance of winning the case. In 2017 the Alberta court deemed the $1,000 deposit that was required of federal candidates unconstitutional. It could be used as a precedent to fight the provincial deposit. Walters explained that a lot of provinces still require a candidate deposit, but according to him “all it takes is one lawsuit to change that”.
Walters questions the reason why Elections Saskatchewan made the recommendation.
“We just made this increase, knowing full well or at least should have known full well that the decision was unconstitutional at a different level. That should raise some eyebrows. Is Elections Saskatchewan aware and they did it anyways or are they ignorant that it was found unconstitutional at the federal level?”
When asked during an interview Thursday, Minister Eyre did not comment on the legal nature of the issue but said that the advice of the chief electoral officer to use the deposit increase to incentivize candidates to file their returns was followed. She emphasized hat candidates will get their deposit money back.
The Saskatchewan Greens, Liberals and PC’s are still in talks about filing a lawsuit to get rid of the deposit all together. Green party leader Naomi Hunter said the decision is undemocratic and the deposit needs to disappear.
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