Rather than make 26 amendments to legislation that hasn’t been changed since 1978, the Saskatchewan government intends to repeal the act governing agricultural societies.
It does so with the full support of the Saskatchewan Association of Agricultural Societies and Exhibitions.
Executive director Glen Duck said the organization approved the move at its 2005 annual general meeting, agreeing that the act did not meet contemporary needs.
“It was pretty much an outdated act,” he said.
Agriculture minister Mark Wartman recently told the legislature that the act was first drafted before Saskatchewan became a province and no longer reflects what agricultural societies do.
“In the absence of the Agricultural Societies Act, agriculture societies can apply under the Non-profit Corporation Act to form legal entities,” Wartman said.
Duck said many of the larger societies are already incorporated as nonprofits.
There are 62 societies in Saskatchewan, ranging from those that hold one or two events a year to those that are busy year round.
