Bill 44 (The Co-operatives Act, 2025)
Intergovernmental Affairs and Justice Committee

From Committee Hansard (22 April 2026)

To view this section on video, click here and start play at 5:05:25 PM.

Chair B. McLeod: — So we will move on then to the consideration of Bill No. 44, The Co-operatives Act, 2025, a bilingual bill, beginning with consideration of clause 1-1, short title. Minister McLeod is still here with his officials. Minister, please make your opening comments for us.

Hon. Tim McLeod: — Thank you, Mr. Chair. Staying with me, the same officials as previously. I would offer very brief opening remarks for Bill 44, The Co-operatives Act, 2025.

This new Act is the next stage in the ministry’s corporate registry review. Many of the updates are based on The Business Corporations Act, 2021 and The Non-profit Corporations Act, 2022.

These updates include clarifying the use of modern technologies; 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.

Several further updates are unique to co-ops. First, the current co-operatives Act, 1996 and The New Generation Co-operatives Act are combined into a single Act. New generation co-operatives will continue as a specialized co-operative under the new Act.

Second, a new multi-stakeholder specialized co-operative is added. This change was made in response to requests from stakeholders.

Third, the new Act provides all co-operatives clear authority to raise capital through the sale of preferred shares to non-members. With that, Mr. Chair, I’d be pleased to answer any questions.

Chair B. McLeod: — Thank you, Minister. I will now open the floor to questions. I recognize MLA Sarauer.

Nicole Sarauer: — Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Minister, for your opening comments. Could you explain to the committee who was consulted on this bill?

Neil Karkut: — Consultations were an ongoing matter over a number of years. The registrar of co-operatives maintained regular contact with different co-operatives across the province and collected their feedback through that process. And that’s how you heard about, for example, the multi-stakeholder co-operative. That was raised in a lot of those discussions.

Over the years too there’s been an increasing request for access to greater capital for co-operatives. And you’d hear that probably more from larger co-operatives, but then also there’s a Canadian co-operatives group that has identified access to capital now four years in a row as one of the top concerns for co-operatives across the country.

So it wasn’t a directed consultation paper per se. It was an ongoing conversation with these different stakeholders by the registrar that led to these changes in this Act.

Nicole Sarauer: — Thank you. In those ongoing conversations, were there any recommendations requested by stakeholders that aren’t included in this bill?

Neil Karkut: — There were a number of requests that weren’t included. So for example there were certain groups that wanted specialized co-operative types. There’s already certain co-operatives, specialized groups like employment co-operatives, for example, or new generation co-operatives, that have specific rules and are a subset of co-operative. Some of those categories that were asked for, they weren’t actually necessary because they can already be established through the existing rules.

There were some requests around technology that we actually already have, so for example to host an electronic meeting. That already existed in the Act. There were some categories . . . Several housing co-operatives did ask for a review process through a specialized tribunal, but the Act already provides a review process both through members as well as the courts. And so that change didn’t proceed as well.

Nicole Sarauer: — Thank you. For the changes that are included, could the ministry explain why these were requested?

Neil Karkut: — Sorry. Just in general, all the changes that were included?

So the first component are the ones that were already included both in The Business Corporations Act and The Non-profit Corporations Act. The goal with some of these reviews is to create consistency amongst the Acts. So one piece is removing the registrar from a lot of the business-related decisions. There’s certain requirements to notify the registrar, make requests to the registrar where it’s really not a registry-related piece, it’s a business-related decision. And that just created extra red tape for those groups. So removing those types of changes to create consistency amongst all the different pieces of legislation.

In consultations, we actually found that there was in general a lot of support for the existing Act. Stakeholders found the Act worked well, so it wasn’t a matter of completely rewriting the legislation in any way. It was just finding places where you can make updates.

The piece about capital, as I mentioned, has been identified now as a growing concern. So that made sense that, when we were combining the two Acts, to make sure it was clear that all types of co-operatives can raise capital through preferred shares to non-members, rather than just new generation co-operatives. And that matches the approach in Alberta, and Canada’s Act as well.

And then the multi-stakeholder co-operative again was a request that was received across . . . from numerous stakeholders. We felt that was an appropriate change to include.

Nicole Sarauer: — Thank you. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

Hon. Tim McLeod: — Mr. Chair, if I could just build upon what Mr. Karkut has shared.

One of the provisions that I mentioned was being added is to remove the registrar from certain business-related decisions. One of those: the current provision allows that a person would appeal the termination of their membership to the registrar. And that’s being repealed.

Interesting parallel to our previous conversation where I would just point out that where a housing co-operative member wishes to appeal their membership, the appeal of that termination goes to the members. And that’s consistent across a number of co-operatives and credit unions alike.

Nicole Sarauer: — We’ll let the co-operatives and credit unions duke it out with each other on that particular provision.

You mentioned some comparison to other jurisdictions on one of the provisions. Could you speak about how these provisional changes within the bill compare to other jurisdictions across Canada?

Neil Karkut: — Yeah. Because it’s quite a big Act, we focused primarily on both the Canada . . . the federal co-operative Act and then Alberta’s co-operative Act as two pieces of legislation that we primarily focused on when making these changes because they aligned with a lot of what we wanted to do.

So for example, the new generation co-operative piece is within one bill or one Act in Alberta, and that they both do allow that preferred shareholder component. So it was really Alberta and Canada’s Acts that were the primary focus when we were conducting this review, and there’s a lot of coordination between those two Acts and our new bill.

Nicole Sarauer: — Thank you. Does the ministry feel that the new bill will be able to streamline and modernize services within the registry?

Jared Pashovitz: — Jared Pashovitz, acting registrar of co-operatives. So the new legislation will be tied into the new registry technology that will be forthcoming, and it will assist with streamlining registry operations that way.

Nicole Sarauer: — Thank you. Does the ministry have any sort of funding initiatives, or the government more largely speaking, that they use to support the co-operative movement in Saskatchewan? And if so, what are they?

[17:15]

Catherine Benning: — Catherine Benning from the office of public registry administration. There are some very targeted supports available within government, and I’ll just give you a couple of examples. For example, with northern fishing co-operatives, there are supports available through the Ministry of Environment. And for all co-operatives, the Ministry of Justice and our service provider, Information Services Corporation, provides supports for the registration and registry-related aspects of co-operatives.

Nicole Sarauer: — Thank you. I have no further questions.

Chair B. McLeod: — Seeing no more questions, we will proceed to vote on the clauses. Now I’m just going to take the temperature here a little bit in that regard. There are over 400 clauses here that have to be signed or initialled by myself, doubled because it’s bilingual. We can have everyone stay, officials associated with this bill, or we could dismiss them and allow them to have a great evening with family, and the rest of us will have to suffer. Are we in agreeance with that?

Okay. So I’ll just then say, any closing comments by the minister before everybody runs away?

Hon. Tim McLeod: — Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and sincere thanks to the committee for that indulgence. I know all of the team that surrounds me and myself greatly appreciate that.

I want to just quickly thank all of my officials that joined me this evening. As you can see, as every time I come to this table, I come surrounded by just an absolutely tremendous team and I feel very well supported, and the province is very well served by each of them. I want to thank you, Mr. Chair, and the committee members for their thoughtful questions and participation in the process this evening. And I want to thank Hansard and broadcast services, of course, and Madam Clerk for her assistance at the Table. Thank you very much to the committee, and enjoy the rest of your evening.

Chair B. McLeod: — Thank you. Any closing comments from members?

Nicole Sarauer: — Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just briefly, I’d like to join with the minister in first of all thanking him for answering my and my colleague’s questions this afternoon. It’s greatly appreciated. Of course for all of your officials, for their thoughtful responses today and all of their work each and every single day. Of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank your chief of staff as well, Minister, as well as all of the committee members; yourself, Mr. Chair; committee staff; Hansard and broadcast services as well. Thank you.

Chair B. McLeod: — Thank you so much. And we will dismiss officials and thank you for your presence here tonight. Enjoy the evening.

All right. As I already indicated, this bill has over 400 clauses. Is the committee in agreement that we review the bill by parts? Any objections? So then we will get started. This is what we have to get through, so bear with me here.

So part 1 is the preliminary matters. Clause 1-1, short title, is that agreed?

Some Hon. Members: — Agreed.

Chair B. McLeod: — Carried.

[Clause 1-1 agreed to.]

[Clauses 1-2 to 32-7 inclusive agreed to.]

Chair B. McLeod: — His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, enacts as follows: The Co-operatives Act, 2025, a bilingual bill.

All right, I would ask a member to move that we report Bill No. 44, The Co-operatives Act, 2025, a bilingual bill, without amendment.

MLA Brad Crassweller moves. Is that agreed?

Some Hon. Members: — Agreed.

Chair B. McLeod: — Carried. Well thank you, everyone. What a marathon. Now we have one more small task. We are going to proceed to vote on the committee resolutions.

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