The election is over. The votes have been cast, the ballots have been counted, and tax cuts have won the day.

The people of Saskatchewan voted overwhelmingly for tax relief. Almost 40% opted for the party offering the most substantial tax relief promises - the Sask Party. And more than 78% of all voters cast their ballots for the two parties, the Sask Party and the NDP, that made tax relief the number one issue of the campaign.

There is no doubt that voters are demanding tax relief. Our families need more after-tax income in their pockets to help make ends meet. Our businesses need lower taxes to compete at home and abroad. And above all, our farmers need to get the government's tax monkey off their backs.

What is happening in our province is a reflection of the trend right across the country. From coast to coast, voters are rewarding those parties, regardless of political stripe, that offer tax cuts as the centerpiece of their platforms.

But taxpayers beware. The challenge now moves from getting the politicians from talking the talk, to walking the walk. That was the whole point of the CTF's Tax Cut Guarantee campaign - to get our political leaders to show taxpayers a sign of good faith and sign a pledge committing themselves to implementing their own tax cut promises, or they would resign.

Now that the campaign is over, we must continue to press the government to clarify exactly what its tax cuts agenda will be over the next few years.

Certainly some interesting political times lie ahead for Saskatchewan. But above all, we must make sure our politicians are held accountable, and we finally see meaningful tax relief in our province.

One overlooked point of the recent provincial election is an analysis of the popular vote. Saskatchewan has become the third province in as many years where the main opposition party actually received more votes that the governing party.

With our first-past-the-post or "winner-take-all" voting system seldom does the governing party win a majority of the votes on election day. Often, as is the case for the federal Liberals, 38% of the votes can be enough to form a "majority government".

At least in the case of Saskatchewan, the NDP's 38% did not grant them the absolute dictatorship afforded the election victors under our system - but does remind us of the inequities of the status quo. Just ask the Liberals who received 20% of the votes cast but only 5% of the seats.

Most democracies around the globe have some element of proportionality in their voting system whereby the percentage of votes received by a party on election day is more closely connected to the numbers of seats that party receives in the legislature.

There are literally thousands of variations, but one thing is for certain, any jurisdiction that calls itself a democracy should allow the majority of its citizens a say in who governs them. Canada and its provinces do not meet this threshold.

With Great Britain in the verge of reforming how Members are elected to Westminster, Canada will be one of the few countries left on the planet that still uses first-past-the-post. As we enter a new millenium its time we revise our election practices and parliamentary institutions so they are democratic, fair, and accountable.