The Longest Ballot Committee targeted ridings in a number of recent byelections and during last April’s general election, when it produced a ballot nearly a metre long.

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The group has said it’s trying to call attention to the need for electoral reform, but the long ballots have caused problems for Elections Canada.

The chief electoral officer has called for legislative changes to limit the number of candidates one person can nominate in a riding, and to ensure candidates in the same riding have different official agents.

The House procedure and affairs committee, which has been studying the issue, is now recommending those changes in a new report.

Government House leader Steven MacKinnon is set to hold a press conference on Thursday to announce proposed amendments to the Elections Act.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2026.

A three-day hearing began this morning in St-Jérôme, Que., where Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagnés is challenging the results in the riding of Terrebonne, north of Montreal.

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The legal action came after a local woman, who said she voted for the Bloc, revealed that her special ballot was returned to her because of an error in the address on the envelope provided by Elections Canada.

Incumbent MP Sinclair-Desgagnés lost to Liberal Tatiana Auguste by a single ballot during the April 28 election.

Sinclair-Desgagnés’ lawyer, Stéphane Chatigny, says the voter’s Charter rights were violated because her ballot wasn’t counted and says a new election should be ordered in the riding.

Chatigny says other voters may have been affected by the same error, because 16 other special ballots were not returned by the deadline.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2025.

Scott Moe is set to speak from the Legislative Building in Regina at 11:30 on Tuesday.

980 CJME will carry the premier’s remarks live. Click here to listen.

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The election was won by Mark Carney’s Liberal Party, but whether it will be a majority or a minority government remains to be seen, with many ballots still left to be counted.

The election was a tough night for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who both lost their seats. Singh has resigned as leader of the New Democrats, while Polievre has promised to stay on as the head of the Conservatives.

While the Conservatives were holding a massive lead prior to the resignation of former prime minister Justin Trudeau early this year, but the biggest issue in the election shifted as U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods and made repeated jabs about turning the country into the 51st state.

I want to congratulate Prime Minister @MarkJCarney and all the leaders and candidates, their families and volunteers for a hard-fought campaign.

Saskatchewan voters sent a strong message by voting for change.

I will have more to say about this later today.

— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) April 29, 2025

Moe endorsed the Conservatives in a video statement shared last week, saying Saskatchewan has felt like it was “about a million miles away” from Ottawa under the Liberals.

“That’s because we have had a federal government that has turned its back on this part of the country,” Moe said in the endorsement video posted to social media on Wednesday.

The premier said he was backing the Conservatives because he believed that party’s policies would help keep communities safe, allow Saskatchewan to develop its resources and bring them to market more easily, and pave the way for “good paying jobs and opportunities” while ensuring that Saskatchewan receives treatment that is equal to other provinces.

Ultimately the Conservatives won 13 seats in Saskatchewan, while the Liberals won a single northern riding, meaning the province will have its first representative in government since Ralph Goodale’s defeat in 2019.

Moe congratulated Carney on his victory in a post on social media Tuesday morning, but noted that “Saskatchewan voters sent a strong message by voting for change.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith also congratulated the prime minister, but also urged Carney to immediately reset Ottawa’s relationship with her province, saying the governing Liberals have undermined Alberta’s resource-based economy for a decade.

–with files from The Canadian Press

A steady flow of people rolled in to cast their votes in the first hour after the opening of the polling station at Regina’s Core Ritchie Neighbourhood Centre, which is in the Regina-Wascana riding. Many voters said it was a quick process, and they were in and out in a matter of five minutes.

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Barclay Krause said he’s noticed more people talking about this election than he has in previous federal elections.

“It seems like everybody has feelings for sure, one way or the other,” he said. “Even seeing the advance polling, it looks like everybody’s actually willing to do something about it, so that’s good.”

Allison LeForte said she feels it’s very important to cast a ballot.

“As a woman, I feel it’s important to vote,” LeForte said.

“It’s important to vote to let the political leaders know that it is the people who hold the power to vote, and it’s important to remind them how we want our country run.”

Brayden Metz said he voted for the Liberal Party in the last federal election.

“This time, I’m switching sides,” he said.

“It’s good to make sure everyone gets out and votes,” Metz added. “I had very few things that swayed me to vote Liberal again this year. I hope we get the change we need.”

While some voters said they had a difficult time choosing which party to support in the 2025 election, Josh Alton said the decision was an easy one for him.

“I spend a lot of my time looking at political issues and looking at issues around the globe, so no, this time I did not have a difficult time choosing,” Alton said.

“But that doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t have a difficult time choosing. It’s not supposed to be easy. We get to vote maybe once every four years, and it has a big impact, and we can’t take it back after we do.”

Oscar Burdick said he is voting for a future for his one-year-old son, and he said he has heard a lot of people talking more about voting this year.

“There’s been a lot more talk, especially because my age group has just kind of gotten into the voting group age now. We’re definitely all talking about it. We’re all excited, and we’re all hopeful for the future,” he said.

Leighanne Bousfield said the decision on who to vote for was an easy one for her.

“I’m the kind of person who always likes to tiptoe the fence. I like to look at both sides, but this particular election did not show me looking. I am not a biased person, but I definitely know who I’m voting for,” she said.

However, Bousfield said not all of her peers are voting the same way.

“I can think of at least five of my friends that I know are voting the same as me and at least five that are not,” Bousfield explained.

“It is quite an interesting time, and everybody is talking about this election like it is a do-or-die kind of thing and you know, maybe it is.”

Election worker pleased with advance voter turnout

It’s a busy day for election workers across Canada.

Advanced voting in this election saw historic turnout, with around 7.3 million people voting early. According to Elections Canada, that’s an increase of almost two million people from the 5.8 million that voted in the advance polls in 2021.

Ken Nordick, a central poll supervisor in Saskatoon, said it’s encouraging to see so many getting out and casting their ballots.

“It’s great. It’s a democracy; you have to vote, otherwise it’s worthless,” he said. “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.”

Nordick is stationed at the SaskAbilities headquarters in Saskatoon, and said the polling station average around 650 voters during each of the four days of advance voting.

“We had over 2,600 voters at this location,” he said.

Not many changes were made to the voting station between the end of advance voting and election day on Monday.

“It’s a little simpler today,” Nordick said. “There’s some extra work that we have to do at advance polls just to be able to update our lists, so it’s a little easier on people today.”

There are three voting stations inside the building with around eight election workers helping ensure the process runs smoothly. Nordick said they will probably be busy working until 10 p.m.

“After the polls close at 7:30, we have to close up and then we have to do our count,” he said.

“The ballot box gets opened, the (deputy returning officer) pulls ballots out one at a time, reads the name. One of our workers is a tabulator, so they keep track of the votes.”

After the count is complete, the results will be phoned into Elections Canada, and Nordick said if all things go well the count at his polling station should take less than two hours to complete.

Nordick said he’s seen a steady stream of people voting on Monday, and expects to see things pick up even more in the late afternoon.

–with files from 650 CKOM’s Will Mandzuk

Elections Canada allows 16 and 17 year olds to work at polling places despite their age. And 31 Grade 12 students will be taking advantage of the opportunity after learning about elections and democracy through an Elections Canada module in school.

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Zahin Jeena and Avril Hatitchki both took the course at Luther College High School. Jeena said it was really impactful for him.

“I realized how important elections were in changing the outcome of our country,” he said.

Though, at least at first, the main motivation for him was the pay.

“It was kind of hard to deny that, I guess, because there’s not many opportunities in school where you could do a course that would lead to a job that you could get paid for,” he said.

Hatitchki said it was an easy decision to apply to be an information officer because she just turned 18.

“The voting process was kind of scary and new to me, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. So I kind of thought, OK, if I work the election I have nothing to be afraid of and I know what the process is like, and that would take away from the nerves,” she said.

Cali Cloutier went through the course at Michael A. Riffel High School, and she wants to work in government in Ottawa one day. She said that made it an easy decision to work during this election.

“It is really nice to be only 18 and be able to actually get my hands on what the system I want to work in actually looks like, and not only that, the system that I live in,” she explained.

When you think about an election, Cloutier said you normally just think about the candidates.

“It’s really nice to be able to see people… who are working behind the scenes who don’t get as much recognition, and then you know that that’s so much more going on than you think,” she said.

Also hailing from Riffel, Leiyanne Nepacena said when you’re under 18 it seems like you’re left out of the conversation around elections.

“So it’s an amazing opportunity to get involved and kind of solidify the idea in you that your participation matters and that you have something to contribute, even if you’re not old enough to vote yet,” said Nepacena.

All four of the teens were excited about election day – they’ll start work at 6:30 a.m. and potentially have a 14- or 15-hour day ahead of them before the ballots are all counted.

Jeena pointed out that they won’t be able to leave the polling place at all during the day in order to prevent things like vote tampering.

“Seeing actual processes in place to preserve democracy is really interesting, and it shows that there are aspects to keep democracy alive,” he said.

Polling places will be open 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, voters can find their polling places through Elections Canada’s website.

Farmers are looking for certainty and stability as Canada is currently embroiled in a trade war with both China and the U.S.

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“Everyone’s talking about tariffs. There’s tariffs (from) the United States, but it’s the tariffs (from) China that’s an extreme concern for a lot of grain producers, especially in this province,” said Josef Buttigieg, owner of Fenek Farms.

Will Robbins had a different view. For him, it’s the U.S. tariffs which are causing the greatest amount of uncertainty.

“I think the American tariffs are actually a bigger worry in terms of total dollar value for the agricultural industry and the prairie provinces,” Robbins said.

“They’re both a worry but I actually think the American tariff situation being less stable and maybe less logical is more of a cause for concern.”

Robbins also noted that it was Canada that instigated the trade war with China, unlike the trade war with the U.S.

Canada imposed a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles and 25 per cent levy on Chinese steel and aluminum, leading China to retaliate by imposing a 100 per cent tariff on canola oil, canola meal and peas, along with 25 per cent tariffs on some pork, fish and seafood products.

Robbins said that whichever party wins the election, he hopes it does not sell out Canadian farmers while negotiating international trade deals. In particular, Robbins said he’s worried about Canadian farmers being potentially undercut by “product dumping” from other countries.

Josef Buttigieg said he’d like to see more emphasis on removing interprovincial trade barriers ahead of the election on Monday. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

Shaun Haney, host of RealAg on the Weekend, said farmers want to see concrete measures addressing the issues around tariffs.

“We can only talk about some of these things for so long,” Haney said.

“So if we are actually serious, whether it’s reducing some of the trade barriers on interprovincial trade – that’s maybe working on some of the trade infrastructure to try to get product from, say, the middle of Saskatchewan to the Port of Vancouver and and on a boat into the ocean – we have to have some action.”

Interprovincial trade barriers

Although international and global trade is important, Buttigieg said he also hopes the incoming federal government removes barriers around interprovincial trade.

He raises sheep on his mixed farm, and said producers of sheep products from Saskatchewan and other areas were hit with licensing fees when attempting to sell their products in Ontario. The implementation of the fees was overturned by the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal.

“I thought it was ludicrous because I thought, you know, ‘elbows up,’ everyone in Canada for Canada and all of that type of thing, but it’s not the case at all,” Buttigieg said.

“I think, needs to stop, especially if you want growth in the country here.”

Buttigieg said he also wanted to see the federal and provincial governments take more thorough and well-coordinated measures to address the spread of avian flu.

Other issues

Robbins said there are other long-term issues that always press farmers.

“The massive rise in productivity in farms in the last 50 years hasn’t really translated into corresponding income rise,” he said.

“A lot of that income gain from that productivity has been siphoned off in other parts of the ag sector.”

Robbins said grain buyers and large companies like Cargill are doing well, but farmers aren’t benefiting from growing more per acre.

Robbins also said he’d like to see the federal government provide support or training to farmers who are transitioning to more sustainable practices, given the climate uncertainty affecting the industry’s future.

Supply management system

Robbins and Buttigieg find themselves on opposite sides of the quota management system.

First authorized in the early 1970s, the system aims to make sure prices for supply-managed farms are stable and predictable. The products controlled under the policy are dairy, poultry and eggs.

Buttigieg argued that supply management stifles the efforts of smaller operations such as his own, and runs the risk of having farming be concentrated in the hands of too few people.

Robbins, on the other hand, said it’s more effective than the free market in ensuring income gains for farmers in the program. He also expressed concern over the U.S. potentially pushing to remove the system in exchange for tariff relief.

“Any time there’s any sort of trade negotiation or discussion about food prices, supply management always comes up,” Haney said.

“Right now this is a big topic, because in the last renegotiation of the NAFTA agreement in the first Trump administration, there was a lot of talk about ‘Were the Americans gonna come after supply management?’ Try to break down the pillars of it to try to get more U.S. dairy products into the country. That ended up not being the case.”

Haney said whether or not the U.S. will follow through with that demand in Donald Trump’s second term remains unknown. He said it will depend on what the president’s actual goals are in this trade war.

Election day is scheduled for Monday.

On his first day as prime minister, Mark Carney signed an order to scrap the consumer carbon tax, which applied to things like fuel, effective April 1.

SaskEnergy fell under the consumer side of the carbon tax law, because the Crown corporation delivered the gas used for home heating, while the customer is the one who burns it, creating the emissions.

But as of January 1, 2024, the tax hasn’t been charged to consumers in Saskatchewan. The provincial government removed the levy from the natural gas used for home heating in response to the federal government’s decision to cut the tax from heating oil, which is primarily used in Atlantic Canada.

The legality of that change has been in limbo. Last summer, the province reached a deal with the Canada Revenue Agency over the non-payment, issuing a letter of credit – a promise to pay the amount owed – if the province loses its challenge in court.

That dispute has not yet been resolved.

On Friday, Premier Scott Moe posted a list of commitments he wanted to hear from Carney, and the list included a request for the federal government to stop trying to collect the carbon tax on home heating in Saskatchewan.

Today was my first opportunity to speak with Prime Minister Carney, and probably my last opportunity to do so before a federal election is called.

On behalf the province and people of Saskatchewan, I call on the Prime Minister to commit to the following:

1. Reach out… pic.twitter.com/X9zYD9Wb2Z

— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) March 21, 2025

Currently, SaskEnergy bills include lines explaining what the charge would be, followed by lines showing a credit for that amount.

After April 1, the carbon tax line will stay on the bills, but will show $0. That’s because the carbon tax law – The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act – is still in force, according to Crown Minister Jeremy Harrison.

“The federal government could increase the carbon tax at any time using the same mechanisms that are being used to lower it to $0 on April 1,” Harrison said in a statement.

Some customers might see the carbon tax on bills after April 1, to cover natural gas that was delivered before that date.

On the other side of the coin, SaskPower customers will continue to pay a carbon tax.

SaskPower is considered a large emitter because it burns the coal and natural gas and then delivers the power to the consumer.

However, Saskatchewan has its own carbon tax program for large emitters, called output-based performance standards. The program was brought in at the beginning of 2023 to take Saskatchewan industrial emitters away from the federal backstop.

That plan sees money flowing from SaskPower to the provincial government’s General Revenue Fund, and then into the Small Modular Reactor Investment Fund and the Clean Electricity Transition Grant. Money from the performance standards from industrial and resource facilities in the province goes towards the Saskatchewan Technology Fund, which then sends grants to regulated facilities to pay for emission-reduction projects.

Money from the output-based performance standards program helped Saskatchewan post a surplus at the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year.

In the provincial budget presented last week, the government budgeted for $431.5 million in revenue from the output-based performance standards, significantly higher than the $353.3 million projected for the past year.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has promised to get rid of the large-emitter carbon tax if he’s elected. That could create an opening for the Government of Saskatchewan, which has long been vocal about its opposition to any carbon tax.

“We’re looking at what our opportunities are as we see federal leaders zeroing out part or the entirety of the carbon tax,” said Premier Scott Moe.

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck also called for the federal carbon tax to be removed on Monday.

When asked about Saskatchewan’s output-based performance standards, Beck said if that program were to be removed as well, she would want to see a plan to replace the revenue to the province and to reduce emissions.

International carbon taxes

Carney has said Canada will still need a carbon tax in order to be competitive in international trade.

He said European countries will either require that imports come from a country with carbon pricing, or will impose a tariff.

Carney was referring to the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will fully be in place in 2026.

“The CBAM will ensure the carbon price of imports is equivalent to the carbon price of domestic production, and that the EU’s climate objectives are not undermined,” the European Commission noted on its website.

When asked about Carney’s comments, Moe rejected the idea that not having a carbon tax could hamper trade. The premier went on to make point he often does when talking about Saskatchewan commodities, saying the oil, potash, and agricultural products coming from the province are among the least, if not the least, carbon intensive in the world.

But Jeff Walters hope to break that trend.

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He’s running for the Liberal party in Regina-Wascana, and officially kicked off his campaign on Monday. It’s not, however, the start of his conversations and engagement with the voters. Walters was acclaimed to run in the riding for the Liberals in November.

“If this was a couple months ago, we’d be having a very different conversation. Things have changed dramatically,” said Walters.

He said feelings have changed on the doorstep through the Liberal leadership race, which installed Mark Carney as the head the party and as prime minister.

“You could palpably actually see the optimism growing (during) the whole race for the leaders,” said Walters.

He said Saskatchewan had been focused on the “twin bogeymen” of the carbon tax and Justin Trudeau, but the new leader has people thinking about the good things the Liberals have done and what the party can do – Walters cited $10-a-day daycare, the child tax benefit, and the Housing Accelerator Fund, to name a few.

When asked about Justin Trudeau’s leadership, Walters said that a decade from now there might be a different perspective on what happened.

“Mistakes have been made, and I think that it’s probably best to just focus on the future, which is what is at hand anyway,” said Walters.

Walters is no stranger to politics. He’s currently an instructor at the University of Regina, but served as the leader of the provincial Liberal party from 2021 to 2023.

He’s running in the Regina-Wascana riding, which has voted for Conservative Michael Kram in the past two elections, but had previously been a stronghold for Liberal Ralph Goodale for 22 years.

“Remember Ralph Goodale, how much good he did as a sitting cabinet minister for Regina and Saskatchewan, and we need to get to that level once again,” said Walters, saying he believes the Conservatives and Liberals in the riding are neck and neck.

Walters said, if Saskatchewan wants to be heard in government, it needs to send someone to Ottawa who will be in government.

“If we do have a Liberal government, which is looking like it might well be, it’s best to have a seat at the table, and you’re not going to have a seat at the table by continuing to vote Conservative,” he said.

He said Western dissatisfaction stems from not having that voice.

The federal election is set to happen April 28.

Western alienation could be big issue in election

One political scientist believes a stronger feeling of western alienation could be on the horizon.

Jim Farney, director and professor at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina, said there is a lot of political discontent right now, and that there could be further dissatisfaction if the Liberals are re-elected over the Tories.

During an interview on the Evan Bray Show on Monday, Farney said that could lead to a resurgence of the same sentiment that led to the creation of the Reform Party in 1987.

Listen to the full interview with Farney:

“The dissatisfaction is deep, but unlike Reform, I think it is primarily concentrated in Saskatchewan and Alberta, not across the whole west. So yeah, rural Manitoba and bits of rural B.C. (too), but we’re really talking about a deep dissatisfaction with the two oil-producing provinces,” Farney said.

“That’s a massive challenge. We haven’t seen any of the splinter right-wing parties break through yet, but we were also seeing different styles of engagement from the provincial government.”

Farney said the discontent being felt in Saskatchewan and Alberta has caused him to have shifting concerns about a national unity crisis.

“Last summer I was worried about a Quebec-driven national unity crisis. I think it is fair to be worried about one coming from the prairies right now, because that dissatisfaction about the now and the worry about the future is very deep, and it’s very real,” he said.

–with files from 980 CJME’s Abby Zieverink

The official numbers were released Thursday afternoon, showing voter turnout at 26 per cent. That’s a five per cent increase from the 2020 election, representing about 10,000 more people casting a ballot.

“We have a long ways to go, I’d respectfully say, but to increase it five per cent over the last election, I think speaks to both the quality and the issues that people were engaged in,” said Jim Nicol, returning officer and city clerk.

He said turnout can depend on things like the quality of candidates as well.

“A spirited mayoralty race always adds some spark to things,” Nicol said.

Nicol was happy about the increase but not exactly jumping for joy.

“Am I sitting here saying, ‘Woohoo, we did a great job, we got 26 per cent?’ Yeah, great small steps, but we still have a ways to go,” he said.

“When 20-25 per cent of a population the size of Regina is voting and making decisions on matters it does beg the question, what are the other 75 thinking or doing?”

Though Nicol said it’s not for him to ask or answer, he said he was just musing as a person.

The provincial election happening just days before advanced polls and two weeks before election day was also problematic, according to Nicol.

“It’s voter fatigue, it’s worker fatigue and it’s just a clutter of information out there,” he said.

City councils and municipal returning officers have made it known to the provincial government in the past that they would like a larger separation between the two, according to Nicol, but it hasn’t changed. He said a suggestion had been made for the provincial election to be held in the spring, and then there would be five or six months between it and the municipal elections.

Results were slower coming in on Wednesday with more than half of polling stations seeing lineups when the polls closed at 8 p.m. Some people said they waited close to two hours to vote, while others said they didn’t have the time to wait, so, they didn’t vote.

Nicol said he feels for those who may not have been able to vote.

“There’s just nothing I can wave a wand to make that happen. We did prepare as best we could based on historical voter turnout,” he explained.

Nicol said Election Regina made it as convenient as possible for people to vote.

“I’m not chiding anybody, but we also provided four days of advanced polls and mail-in ballot applications,” he said.

There could also have been people who just got engaged in the last few days or more people came out because Wednesday was a nice day for weather, mused Nicol.

Sandra Masters, who finished third in Regina’s mayoral race with 12,114 votes, told 980 CJME’s Greg Morgan her feelings when she found out she was not re-elected as mayor on Wednesday. She said the blow was softer than it might have been because she was surrounded by family and friends on election night.

Listen to Greg Morgan’s interviews with Sandra Masters and Chad Bachynski:

https://iono.fm/e/1502658

“I had my daughter and son-in-law and my grandkids in town. I had some friends in from out of town that I’ve been friends with a long time, and then just staff from the office and just an amazing group of other leaders in the community,” she said.

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“So actually it was OK. It was in a room full of love and support, so it was better than you might expect.”

Masters said she knew there would be a vote split when the results started coming in, and the trend held throughout the night.

“When probably about 46, 50 per cent of the polling was in, you just went, ‘That’s some serious consistency there,’” she said.

When she saw people were waiting in long lines to vote, suggesting a higher voter turnout than the 21 per cent that voted in 2020, Masters said the outcome started to become more clear.

“We were looking and hearing about the polling stations, knowing that they had been lined up. You know that when there’s higher voter turnout, normally that means change,” Masters said.

Asked if she had any regrets about her time as mayor, Masters said the truth of the matter is you always learn from your mistakes.

“You do something and go ‘That didn’t work out the way you were hoping.’ It’s a lot of moving parts, and so as you’re trying to drive those moving parts forward, depending upon the support you get, both internally as well as from other external sources, sometimes the regret is you can’t move things faster than you want to,” she said.

Masters said she phoned Chad Bachynski the night of the election and congratulated him on his win, but she also shared some advice as he heads into his new job.

That advice included getting familiar with the city’s master plans and focusing on building relationships.

“At the end of the day, there’s a whole bunch of people in the city that are going to be looking for connection and leadership in terms of the relationships I’ve developed,” she said.

“Make sure to start connecting with the organizations of different communities across the city to understand what they’re doing, because they’re actually moving the city forward.”