Sask. resort villages await confirmation on July elections

SASKATOON Saskatchewan’s 41 resort villages are scheduled to head to the polls on July 25, but how those elections will be held or whether they might be postponed remains to be seen.

Candle Lake Coun. Ron Cherkewich said he’s contacted the provincial Ministry of Government Relations in an effort to find out whether the elections will still be held given the COVID -19 pandemic.

In an email to Postmedia, ministry spokeswoman Marina Sigouin said the government is consulting with resort villages on the elections, but no final decision has been made yet.

Some candidates have already started to campaign for the July election, according to Cherkewich, who said he does not intend to seek another term.

“I can understand where the government might want to hold off to see where the COVID numbers go before they mess with the election date,” he Cherkewich said.

The issue for resort villages lies in the summer election date, since Saskatchewan residents who own cabins in resort communities are allowed to vote in these elections, regardless of their permanent residence, Cherkewich said.

In the instance of Candle Lake, there are thousands of such cabin owners allowed to vote, compared to the 800 or so permanent residents, he added.

Moving the election outside the summer months could mean cabin owners are not present to vote and conducting the election by mail could prove problematic, he said.

Gordon Barnhart, president of Municipalities of Saskatchewan (formerly the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association or SUMA), said Friday that the organization has polled resort villages on a possible revised election date.

Barnhart said the responses indicate that should the province decide to move the election, the preferred revised date would be sometime in late summer or early fall. “We feel that it’s up to resort villages to decide,” Barnhart said in an interview.

Sigouin said the ministry continues to consult with SUMA, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, northern communities and city mayors throughout the health crisis.

“At this time no decisions have been made to make any changes to the fall election timelines,” Sigouin’s email said.

The provincial election is slated for Oct. 26.