The Court rejected the US principle of "one man, one vote" from the US Supreme Court decision of Baker v. Carr (1962), and instead held that the right to vote meant "effective representation".

The government of Saskatchewan passed a law establishing a commission to revise the provincial electoral boundaries.

Justice McLachlin, writing for the majority, held that the deviation between districts did not violate section 3 of the Charter.

However, the decision also meant that constituencies should have a reasonably similar number of voters for the representation to be effective; room for disproportionality was allowed due to geographical limits in drawing boundaries and to give minorities more representation within a constituency.

Justice Cory, writing in dissent, held that the provincial government should not be able to impose restrictions on boundaries revision committee, and accordingly, there should be a violation of section 3 of the Charter.