Bill 45 (The Co-operatives Consequential Amendments Act, 2025)
Second Reading

From Hansard (3 December 2025)

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Hon. Tim McLeod: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This time I’ll start at the top of my speech, not the bottom.

When it comes to The Co-operatives Consequential Amendments Act, Mr. Speaker, the items in this legislation will support the new co-operatives Act and make simple consequential amendments to the English legislation. These amendments are mostly housekeeping in nature and will maintain consistency between the different corporate legislation.

With regard to the Act itself, Mr. Speaker, I would like to just explain a few things. The Ministry of Justice and Attorney General is conducting an ongoing corporate review of the registry. To date, that review has resulted in several important legislative updates, including the new business corporations Act, 2021 and The Non-profit Corporations Act, 2022. The Co-operatives Act, 2025 is simply the next stage in this review.

A co-operative is a business entity owned and controlled by its members to fulfill a common purpose, such as providing groceries, housing, or daycare. Mr. Speaker, this unique business structure serves an important purpose in Saskatchewan. Co-operatives across the province provide goods and services to meet the needs of our many communities.

Updates in the new Act are based on previous modernizations and enhancements under The Business Corporations Act, 2021 and The Non-profit Corporations Act, 2022. These updates include clarifying the use of modern technology; reducing red tape by removing the registrar from business-related decisions; expressly allowing business names to include words in Cree, Dene, or other Indigenous languages; and simplifying the liquidation and dissolution procedure.

Additionally, there are several updates unique to co-operatives. First, the current co-operatives Act, 1996 and new generations co-operatives Act are combined into a single piece of legislation. New generation co-operatives will remain a form of specialized co-operative within the new Act.

Second, to meet a common request from stakeholders, a new multi-stakeholder specialized co-operative is included within the new Act. This type of co-operative is owned and controlled by more than one type of membership class, such as customers, producers, workers, or volunteers.

Finally, the new Act will provide all co-operatives clear authority to raise capital through the sale of preferred shares to non-members.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to move second reading of The Co-operatives Consequential Amendments Act, 2025.

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