Requirements by October, 1965. Copywright In

THE USE OF THE PLEB I SC[TE AND REFERENDUM I N SASKATCHEWAN A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Economics and Political Science University of Saskatchewan by Elizabeth Jean Chambers. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan October, 1965. The University of Saskatchewan claims copywright in conjunction with the author. Use shall not be made of the material,contained herein without proper acknowledgement. 294385 UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE October 22, 1965 The Faculty of Graduate Studies University of Saskatchewan We, the undersigned members of the Committee appointed by you to examine the thesis submitted by ELIZABETH JEAN CHAMBERS, B.A. (University of B. C.), in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, beg to report that we consider the thesis satisfactory both in form and context. Subject of Thesis: "THE USE OF THE PLEBISCITE AND REFERENDUM IN SASKATCHEWAN" We also report that ELIZABETH JEAN CHAMBERS has successfully passed an oral examination" on the general field of the subject of the thesis. '�� . Examiner, ____ �)(Outside ��w. R.�aham , History Department) .�w� N. M. Ward ACKI\OWLEDGEMENTS �he writer is indebted to Professor Norman Ward, who supervised this thesis, for his guidance and encouragement. Appreciation is also expressed to D.H. Bocking� Assistant Pro vincial Archivist of Saskatchewan, and his staff in Saskatoon for their unfailing helpfulness, and to R.A. Walker, Q.C., former Attorney General of Saskatchewan, for his kindness in making available certain of his files on the time question. Grat efu l acknowledgement is made of a So·cial Sciences and Humanities scholarship from the University.of Saskatchewan to assist in this researc�. TABLE OF mNTENTS Chapter Page I NTRJDUCTION 1 I [ REFERENDUM ON THE DIRECT LEGISLATION ACT 21 III REFERENDUM ON THE LIQUOR STORES SYSTEM 64 IV PLEB I SC [TE 0 N PRO HI BIT ION 129 V PLEBISCITE ON BEER BY THE GLASS 164 VI PLEBI SCITE ON THE TIME QUESTION 189 VII OBSERVAT IONS AND mNCLUSION 226 BIBLIOGRAPHY 248 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION On five occasions the government of Saskatchewan has asked the electors of the province to vote on a specific issue or legislative enactment. In three instances the subject submitted to a popular poll was the regulation or prohibition of the liquor traffic. The other two topics on which the electorate was consulted were a direct legislation measure, the operation of which. had been deferred pending popular ratification of the act, and the question of establishing a uniform time system in the province. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the circumstances under which these departures from the customary legislative processes of our parliamentary system of government took place, and assess the advantages and disadvantages which accrued from these episodes of direct consultation of the electorate of Saskatchewan. "There are two forms of democratic government -- direct and in direct."1 Direct democracy involves "voting on a subject matter rather than electing a person to vote on a subject matter.,,2 In the contemporary nation-state the form is indirect; the electors choose representatives to do their law-making for them. In some polities this system of indirect democracy, that is, government through representative institutions, may be supplemented by the use of certain mechanisms which constitute "a modern 1 C.C. Rodee, T.J. Anderson, and Q.C. Christol, Introduction to Political Science, New York, McGraw-Hill Company, 1957, p. 109. 2 C.J. Hughes, liThe Referendum", Parliamentary Affairs, XI, no. 1, Winter 1957-58, p. 13. 2 attempt to regain some of the advantages of direct democracy,,3 which prevailed in an earlier era. However, in the British system of representative, responsible parliamentary government upon which the Canadian system is based, the accepted practice is for the elector to participate in government only to the extent of choosing, from among contending can- didates, a representative to sit in the legislature. Yet in Canada the voters have on occasion become more directly involved in the legislative process. The method by which this active participation in government is achieved is called direct legislation, the instruments of which are the initiative and referendum and, less often, the recall. These devices originated in Switzerland, from whence they were introduced into the United States.4 From its start in South Dakota in 1898 the direct legislation movement spread rapidly, gaining the most ground in the states of the western plains and the west coast. By 1918 the constitutions of 20 states had been amended to provide for the initiative and referendum or, in a few cases, the referendum only,5 after which time the movement lost most of its momentum. The initiative and referendum may be employed in either constitutional or matters. the initiative and statutory Only statutory referendum, __ 3 C.C. Rodee, T.J. Anderson, and Q.C. Christol, op. cit., p. 121. 4 The constitutional referendum was first used in the United States and then was adopted in Switzerland where it was developed and extended, and where the initiative in constitutional and ordinary legislation was added. Almost a hundred years later these devices were reintroduced into the United States. See C.J. Friedrich, Constitutional Government and Democracy, New York, Ginn and Company, 1950, p. 553. 5 See Winston Crouch, The Initiative and Referendum in California, Los Angeles, Calif., The Haynes Foundation, 1950, p. 3. 3 as used in the United States, will be discussed at this point. The initiative is a direct law-making tool, provided for in organic or statute law, which enables a designated fraction of the electorate to petition for the enactment of a measure which the legislature has failed to pass or has been unable to agree upon.6 A citizen or group of citizens, usually a political-interest group, may then, draw up a bill. This done, the next step is to obtain the signatures of a specified proportion of the voters (usually 5 to 10 per cent of the number of votes cast at the last preceding election for governor or some· other specified office) to a petition requesting that the bill be enacted into law.7 In the case of the direct initiative, if the proposal is approved by the required majority of voters at the next regular election or at a special election, it becomes law, without the intervention of the legislature. Under the indirect form of initiative, the proposal goes before the legislature at its next session. If that body enacts the proposed bill without material alteration, it becomes law without being submitted to the electorate. If the legislature fails to pass it, the bill is voted upon by the electors, possibiy along with an alternative measure proposed by the legislature. The veto power of the Governor ceases to exist with res pect to la0s thus initiated by the voters.8 The 'referendum, in contrast to the positive nature of the initiative, is a negative device which gives the electorate a veto over legislation. The referendum may be mandatory or optional in form. Where the 6 Ibid., p , 5. 7 Wm. H. Young, Ogg and Ray's Introduction to American Government, 12th ed., New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962, p. 733. 8 E.P. Oberholtzer, The Referendum in America, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913, p. 175. 4 mandatory type of referendum is in effect, the coming into force of all legislation, with certain specified exceptions, is suspended for a certain period (usually 90 days) after passage. If during this interval a petition is filed by the prescribed number of voters asking that a referendum be held on a particular measure, its implementation is further deferred until a popular vote has been taken on it at the next election. The optional referendum authorizes the legislature, at its discretion, to specify that the implementation of an enactment shall be postponed until it has been approved by the electorate at the polls.9 Whereas the initiative and referendum logically go together and supplement each other,lO the recall is not a necessary accompaniment of them, although it may be adopted with them.ll The recall is "the right of a designated number of voters to demand the immediate removal of any elective office holder and to have their demand submitted to the voters ,,]2 for decision. Upon presentation to the appropriate authorities of a petition signed by sufficient voters, in which the reasons for demanding the removal of the elected official before the expiration of his term are usually stated, a vote is held. Depending upon whether or not a majority of those voting are in favour of his removal, the elected person either vacates his position at once or continues in office.13 Provision for the recall may be made in law, or the recall procedure may be adopted by a 9 Wm. H. Young, Ope cit., pp. 732-733; W.B. Munro, American Govern ment To-Day, New York, The MacMillan Company, 1937, pp. 356-357. 10 W.B. Munro, The Government of the United States, National, State, and Local, New York, The MacMillan Company, 1924, p. 502. 11 Ibid., p , 518. 12 W.B. Munro, American Government To-Day, p.364. 13 Ibid., p. 365. 5 political party or movement and involve the depositing of a signed "recall", a formal resignation, in the hands of a committee of the can didate's nominating convention.14 The purpose of the recall is "to en- sure the complete and continual responsibility of public officials to the people who have elected them.,,15 Not actually falling within the category of direct legislation is the advisory referendum or plebiscite.

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