What is a Caucus Member?

The elected members of any particular political party form a Caucus.

In the British Parliamentary tradition, of which Saskatchewan is a part, the government Caucus traditionally provides legislative support to the decisions made by Cabinet. The Opposition Caucus criticizes the government and proposes alternative measures.

After its election in 1991, the Romanow government democratized the role of the government Caucus by making it much more involved in the decision-making process from the beginning. Decisions on the creation and implementation of legislation and/or policy are debated in camera by Caucus; once a consensus is reached within Caucus, all members are expected to abide publicly by the decision because, in Parliamentary law a government that loses a vote on a major legislative initiative must dissolve itself and go to the voters hence the term "Caucus solidarity."

 

What is an MLA?

An MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) in the province of Saskatchewan is an elected member of the provincial legislature.

MLAs are the provincial equivalent of MPs (Members of Parliament), Canada's federal representatives.

The Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly currently has 58 MLAs, each elected to represent a constituency of approximately 18,000 people. MLAs are elected in a provincial election which, by law, must be held no more than five years from the previous election. An election may be called earlier if the government so chooses, or if the Legislative Assembly expresses non-confidence in the government.
 
After an election, the political party with a majority of MLAs forms the government; the Premier and Members of Cabinet are chosen from among the government MLAs.

 

 


 

 

 

Andy Iwanchuk
Saskatoon Fairview
...

Under the Wall government we went from having $2.3 billion in the bank to a $1.05 billion deficit in less than 2 years

"By the end of the year there will likely be two consecutive quarters of negative growth in the province, which means Saskatchewan will be in a recession."

- Finance Minister Rod Gantefoer

Brad Wall tries to hide the bad news...
November 27, 2009
Hidden somewhere behind all the ponies, gophers, cheesy moustaches and general warm and fuzzies that Premier Brad Wall has served up at the legislature this week has been a lot of bad news in what’s become a bad sitting for his Saskatchewan Party government. -Murray Mandryk, The Leader-Post