Note:
- To work backward click on: 2014-04-05 Next step, six-year effort to get Govt of Sask to abide by court rulings on Election Deposits
- Scroll to bottom to see communication to other Provincial Green Parties about the same issue.
From: Colin, Jennifer OCEO
Sent: April-14-14 1:15 PM
To: Sandra Finley
Cc: PeterCEN2 Rosenthal; VictorGRN Lau; RobertGRN Cosbey; Gardner, Nancy PSC; Elections Info OCEO
Subject: RE: Question re Election Deposits.
Dear Ms. Finley,
In December 2013, The Election Amendment Act, 2013 was passed and I am pleased to inform you that one of the legislative changes made to The Election Act, 1996 has to do with the refunding of candidate deposits.
The refunding of candidate deposits is now based on each candidate’s compliance with section 261 (candidate’s election expenses return) rather than the number of votes received. Section 47 of the Act, which addresses the handling and forfeiture of candidate deposits, now reads as follows:
The most current version of The Elections Act, 1996 is available in its entirety on our website at http://www.elections.sk.ca/publications/the-election-act-1996/ .
Additional Elections Saskatchewan reports and publications are also available on our website at http://www.elections.sk.ca/publications/reports/.
I trust that this addresses your concerns with respect to election deposits. However, if you have additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Jennifer Colin, CMA, CIA
Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, Corporate Services and Electoral Finance
Elections Saskatchewan
1702 Park Street
Regina, Saskatchewan, S4N 6B2
Ph: (306) 787 4061
Cell: (306) 520 4705
From: Sandra Finley
Sent: April-05-14 2:10 PM
To: Elections Info OCEO
Cc: Nadon, Brent OCEO; PeterCEN2 Rosenthal; VictorGRN Lau; RobertGRN Cosbey
Subject: Question re Election Deposits.
TO:
Michael Boda, D.Phil., Ph.D.
Chief Electoral Officer
Province of Saskatchewan
Dear Michael Boda,
Prior to finalizing a decision to initiate legal action against the Govt of Sask,
Will you please forward a copy of, or link to the spring 2013 Report of the Chief Electoral Officer to the Sask Legislature?
Also, I will be appreciative of information regarding the Government’s intentions or lack thereof, regarding Election Deposits, should you have any.
The main points in the six-year endeavour to get the Govt of Sask to abide by the court rulings regarding Election Deposits are appended, FYI.
Many thanks for your consideration
And best wishes,
Sandra Finley
On behalf of the Green Party of Sask.
On Mon, 17 Jun 2013, Peter Rosenthal wrote (to the AG of Sask):
> I was able to open the attachment; thanks.
> The letter attached is undated; when was it written?
> It states that the Chief Electoral Officer’s Report will be tabled in
> the spring; does that mean within a week from now?
> May I request that you email me a copy of (or a link to) the Chief
> Electoral Officer’s Report when it is tabled?
(No reply from the AG)
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BRIEF HISTORY
Efforts to resolve the illegality of election deposits in Saskatchewan:
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1. Dec 2007: The Green Party of Saskatchewan (GPS) respectfully approached the Govt to resolve the issue. Action was initiated more than six years ago.
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2. APRIL 30, 2009: Elections Sask recommends to the Govt to change the legislation on election deposits:
(from http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=2678)
From Elections Saskatchewan, cover letter addressed to Saskatchewan Legislature, Speaker Don Toth, dated April 30, 2009. The enclosed “Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Volume III, Recommendations for Changes toThe Elections Act 1996, Twenth-sixth Provincial General Election, November 7, 2007
Page 34: “2. Handling and Forfeiture of Deposits [Section 47] …
If challenged in court, Saskatchewan’s nomination deposit, that is contingent upon the election outcome,would likely be found to violate Charter rights and therefore should be changed.…. ”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
3. Sept 2012: the GPS engaged lawyer Peter Rosenthal (Toronto) who had previously argued (with success) the illegality of election deposits levied by the Federal Government, and in a second court case, the illegality of election deposits collected by the Province of Ontario. (The Govt of PEI subsequently addressed the issue of Election Deposits voluntarily.)
Lawyer Rosenthal began correspondence with the Attorney General of Sask.
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4. AUG 22, 2013, Peter Rosenthal:
Your AG wrote me again, saying that, as a result of the Chief
Electoral Officer’s recommendation and our letter, they will
“consider it.” I think we could wait and see rather than getting into
the expense of actually starting legal action. What do you think?
Peter
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APRIL 14, 2014 EMAIL TO OTHER PROVINCIAL GREEN PARTIES
RE: Election Deposits, constitutionality
From: Sandra Finley
Sent: April-14-14 5:46 PM
To: Mayo McDonough
cc: ‘info at greenpartyofalberta.ca’; ‘info at greenpartynb.ca’; ‘yukongreenparty at gmail.com’; ‘Alex.Tyrrell at pvq.qc.ca’; ‘ken.mcmurray at pvq.qc.ca’; ‘Stephanie.Stevenson at PVQ.qc.ca’; Olivier Kolmel (olivier.kolmel at partivert.ca)
Subject: FW: Just in Case. BC/Quebec do not refund Election Deposits?
cc’d: Alberta, N.B., Yukon, Quebec Greens
Sent from Party websites: N.S. and Manitoba Greens
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Hi Mayo (B.C. Greens),
At one time I knew which provinces still did not refund Election Deposits.
Just in case BC is one of them, you may be interested:
Lawyer Peter Rosenthal successfully argued the unconstitutionality
– Federally
– Province of Ontario
of Election laws by which deposits are forfeited.
PEI then voluntarily changed its law on election deposits.
Saskatchewan – I just received word that the Sask Elections Act has been amended to bring it into conformance with the Court rulings (it took us 6 years to get the Amendment!).
Other Provinces: the last time I looked, the other Provinces still had unconstitutional Election Deposit laws.
Alberta Greens had started the effort to get the Amendments; I don’t know what became of that.
The COST, for example, to provincial Greens in Saskatchewan:
- $100.00 per candidate
- 63 candidates (used to be 58)
all of it forfeited every Election.
With the Amendments, as long as the Election Expense Returns are in on time, all of the deposit money is refunded.
The documentation of GP Sask communications to the provincial Attorney General are on my blog; they can be used as templates by other provincial Green Parties, if needed.
Please get in touch if there are questions I might be able to answer.
Cheers!
Sandra Finley
RE Election Deposits:
Recent – – http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=12819
Start of the documentation: http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=2678