Saskatchewan NDP bill aims to make it harder for province to separate
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REGINA — Saskatchewan's Opposition NDP introduced legislation Wednesday that, if passed, would make it tougher for the province to separate from the rest of Canada.
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Party leader Carla Beck told the legislative assembly it's a chance for Premier Scott Moe's Saskatchewan Party government to put its money where its mouth is and quash separatist sentiments after Prime Minister Mark Carney's win for the Liberals.
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'I'm going to ask him to lead by example,' Beck said. 'Will he allow a free vote on my legislation so we can see once and for all who actually over there wants to keep Saskatchewan in Canada?'
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Moe told the assembly he would allow a free vote on the bill. He also accused the NDP of trying to silence the public through the legislative changes.
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'This is a government that is not interested in condemning people,' Moe said.
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'The legislation is in place in Saskatchewan that if there are the required number of people that sign the petition for that event to happen … the people of Saskatchewan will have the voice under this government.'
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The premier has said Saskatchewan is not interested in separating, but he wouldn't stop a vote on the issue from coming forward.
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Beck's bill doubles the threshold for citizens to initiate a plebiscite on separation, requiring 30 per cent of eligible voters to sign on to a petition instead of 15 per cent.
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The threshold of 15 per cent would continue to apply to other issues.
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'Citizen-led referendums are part of our democracy. People deserve to have a say,' Beck told reporters before tabling the legislation.
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'But, we also need to be clear as leaders that a vote to separate from Canada would damage our economy for years to come and the bar has to be set high to reflect the gravity of that vote.'
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Beck said the legislation would also prevent the government from unilaterally launching a referendum on separation unless it has a clear mandate from voters, which could come in the form of a general election.
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She said a referendum vote, even if it fails, would scare investment away from Saskatchewan.
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She pointed to economic issues that followed the Quebec independence movement in the late 1970s into the early 1990s, where businesses moved their corporate headquarters out of Montreal.
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'The worst thing we can do is send a message of instability,' Beck said.
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There is an online petition in Saskatchewan calling on the province to negotiate new terms with Ottawa or look at separating. It had more than 3,000 digital signatures as of Wednesday.
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Saskatchewan law allows public votes to come forward through plebiscites or referendums.
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The public can initiate plebiscites through a petition, provided 15 per cent of eligible voters sign. The province can also direct a plebiscite and legislators can initiate a vote should they get a motion passed in the assembly.
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Referendums are ordered by government. The result is binding if more than 60 per cent of ballots are cast in the same way on a question. Referendums aren't binding unless at least 50 per cent of eligible electors vote, the law says.
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Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative government has introduced legislation that, if passed, would sharply reduce the bar petitioners need to meet to trigger a provincial referendum.
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Smith has said she doesn't want Alberta to leave Canada, but she would allow a vote on separating if enough residents sign a petition.
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National Observer
36 minutes ago
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CTV News
43 minutes ago
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CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
G7 will be a success if Trump ‘doesn't have an eruption,' experts say
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According to data from the International Monetary Fund, India is the world's fourth largest economy. 'We want to make sure those investigations are taking place, and they're independent of the government when it comes to matters of law enforcement,' Naqvi said. 'It's also really important that, at this moment in time, when so much is changing around the world, that we do engage in a large economy like India.' 'Very big investor' Carney's invitation to Saudi Arabia is also raising eyebrows. In 2018, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concluded that bin Salman had ordered the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi a year earlier. Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of the Saudi government, was dismembered after walking into the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkiye, to pick up marriage documents. Roland Paris, director of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, told CTV News that Carney understands that he needs to talk to countries that Canada has a difficult relationship with in order to further his economic goals. While bin Salman is an 'unsavoury actor,' Paris says the crown prince has considerable resources that could be invested in Carney's nation-building projects. 'One of the issues that Prime Minister Carney wants to really push at this meeting is catalyzing private investment for infrastructure around the world - and the Saudis, especially through their sovereign wealth fund, is a very big investor,' Paris said. The crown prince also has warm relations with U.S. President Donald Trump. Last month, Saudi Arabia signed a pact to invest US$600 billion in the United States after Trump visited the Gulf state. Paris notes when Italy hosted the G7 last year, it also invited Saudi Arabia, but the crown prince did not attend. So far, the Saudis have not confirmed if they will accept Carney's invitation. Zachary Paikin, a senior fellow with The Institute for Peace and Diplomacy, says that Saudi Arabia is gaining influence as a regional power and mediator. In March, the Saudis brought Ukrainian and Russian delegations to Jeddah to embark on peace talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also be at the G7 and will be seeking a bilateral meeting with Trump. Carney's invitation to bin Salman could facilitate further peace talks. Carney's G7 objectives Paikin says Canada risks becoming marginalized on the global stage unless it is willing to engage with countries it disagrees with. 'To put it very frankly, the overwhelming majority of the world's governments and peoples do not share the values and worldview of the liberal, capitalist democratic West,' Paikin told CTV News in a zoom interview from Geneva, Switzerland. 'When Canada isolates itself, it puts itself at the mercy of Donald Trump, and we cannot afford that if we want to preserve our status as a sovereign, proud and independent country.' Even though the U.S. has launched a trade war with much of the world, Paris expects the prime minister will strive to find areas of 'commonality and progress' on his key priorities, such as combating transnational crime, strengthening access to critical minerals and energy security, along with improving joint responses to wildfires. A clearer framework outlining Canada's future economic and security relationship with the U.S. could also come into focus in bilateral meetings. Paris says the success of this summit will depend a lot on managing the unpredictability of the American president. 'This will be a successful meeting if Donald Trump doesn't have an eruption that disrupts the entire gathering,' Paris said. 'Anything above and beyond that is gravy.' The last time Canada hosted a G7 was in 2018, during the first Trump administration. Talks fell apart in Charlevoix, Que., and the U.S. president left without signing the final communique.
