REGINA - A range of issues ranging from the aquatic centre and the downtown library to infrastructure and housing were all brought up at Sunday night’s all-candidates forum for Mayor of Regina.
The event was staged by the Cathedral Village Community Association and was the first official mayor’s forum of the municipal campaign. Seven of the 11 candidates on the ballot on Nov. 13 were on hand: Shawn Sparvier, Bill Pratt, Chad Bachynski, Lori Bresciani, Kevin Kardash, Bevann Fox, and the incumbent Sandra Masters.
The candidates all outlined where their priorities would be during their opening statements. Sparvier, a member of Cowessess First Nation, said his plan as Mayor was to “find income for the city.”
“The way that I plan to get income for it is I believe that the city will be successful, and one of its only ways it will be successful is by partnering with First Nations or a First Nations,” he said.
Pratt saw the role of mayor as “like a leader of the orchestra.”
“... As the leader of the orchestra, the leader of council, it's the job of mayor to ensure that the council understands their role of governance, understands what administration does, and lead the city in the way that brings out the best of everyone.”
Bachynski said he was running for mayor “because I'm frustrated.”
“I'm extremely frustrated. I'm frustrated with our ever increasing property taxes. I'm frustrated with the ever ongoing construction projects. I'm frustrated with the diminishing sense of security and safety in our communities.”
He said he would bring “my experience, which is more than a decade in project management, construction management, critical infrastructure. All these pieces that come together to really work on the foundations of a city.”
Bresciani also said she was running because she was also frustrated. She pointed to her platform themes of “being prudent with the tax dollar,” as well as “engagement with the community.”
“The biggest job, and one of the biggest jobs as a mayor and a councillor, is to listen and hear what people are saying in our community.”
Kardash said he was running for mayor “to make a difference.”
“Because now our city is kind of broken, to be honest,” he said. He pledged to “work with our city councillors, to work with every organization we can to make services available for everyone, and that's what would make this city whole again. Vote for me Nov. 13th, and let's make Regina great again like it used to be.”
Fox, a member of the Pasqua Nation, said that she would not “make promises nor to fix things immediately, nor reinvent what already has been done by the previous council. There's plans already in place.
“However, I will listen and advocate to continue and do more for the city. There's always a way to find best solutions when people work together, collaboratively and in partnership. Even when plans or policies are already developed, there's always ways to work within policies to create more solutions.”
Masters pointed to the issues council had worked to address in Cathedral, such as the Vision Zero initiative to lower speed limits to 40 km/h.
“I think that you make the city better block by block. And yes, construction is frustrating, but that's how you deal with an infrastructure deficit. We deserve to have a city that we're proud of.”
The first question at the forum was on lead service connections — a hot topic in the neighbourhood with Cathedral having among the highest number of lead service connections in the city. Candidates were asked about Regina's plan to replace those over another 12 years, by 2036, at a cost of $36 million.
A number of candidates thought that was not a fast enough timeline.
Pratt said “you may want to take out your yellow highlighter for what I'm about to say, because what I'm about to say needs to be underscored. This is a health issue. It's not an infrastructure issue.”
Pratt then took a shot at both Bresciani and Masters by saying council “had a chance to accelerate the plan to make it faster. Five people said no. Two are in the room tonight. We had a chance to improve the bottled water program for our citizens. Five said no. Two are in the room tonight. As mayor, I will commit to bring this topic front and centre to see what we can do to accelerate the process to remove the lead pipes and improve the water support.”
“We can do this faster, and we have to,” Bachynski said, adding he thought it should be a top priority. “It is a public safety issue, and we have to look at this and prioritize it.”
“I totally agree. I think it absolutely has to be a priority,” said Bresciani, who added “I know they were going to bring a report back in four years, and we said we want it back in two.” Her answers didn’t sit well with one audience member who said “you voted against it.”
“I think, to build upon a little bit of what Councilor Bresciani had to say, is that I can't agree to a utility rate increase that is five times what we agreed to increase it for, with a lead pipe replacement, for all utility rate payers,” Masters said.
“That approach is a place that is unacceptable, which is why I was more than supportive of the filter program, the rebate program for when it's bought privately, the mandatory replacement of private lines, as well as the accessible funding program for homeowners to spread it out over five to ten years.”
The candidates fielded other questions including ones on housing density, their plans for the city to achieve net zero, how to resolve the affordable housing crisis, what they see as the future for the downtown library, expanding free transit, and taxes.
They also were asked about what projects would be priorities. Bresciani took the opportunity to vent her frustrations about the costs for the new Aquatic Centre.
“I think one of the most frustrating things is, you know, we approved an Aquatic centre, didn't know the cost. Last year, we got the cost, $160 million. In August now, it's $245 million, plus another $27 million for geothermal. We're at $272 million. Same cost as the stadium. Library is also on the books.
“We can't afford it all. I'd love to say yes to everything, but, guys, we can't. We have other needs in our city, which you all are aware of.”
Masters made clear she thought the aquatic facility project needed to be a priority,
“In terms of the order of things, I think a 15-year-old project probably takes priority for me as it relates to the pool. And with due respect, it was identified in 2009, and had it been planned for and actually been dealt with at the time, we could have saved $83 million of taxpayer money.”
Candidates were also asked if they would support changing the name of Dewdney Avenue. Sparvier said he would “keep the name the same that it is.”
“It's always been that way. It's not about changing the name of a place in order to make it seem better or revitalize an area. It's about revitalizing the area and making the environment better.”
Pratt said “in theory, I do support the name change. Is it something that's going to happen today? I don't know. But I am supportive of it, and I think it matters to our community, it matters to our history, and it matters to the people that have been advocating for that, and it seems like they're... You know, it makes sense.”
“So, you know, this is something that did come to Council, and I could not support it, and I'll tell you why,,” said Bresciani. “I have many Indigenous friends as well, and, you know, one of the things we talk about is, you know, how do we move forward together? Truth and reconciliation.We talk about how we move together. One of the things was, you know, do we learn by tearing things down or history down, or do we actually walk together? And so that was kind of the reason that I supported that we, you know, move forward, rather than kind of tearing the infrastructure down, we work together and understanding the history, but moving forward and telling that story to work together.”
Fox said she was “one of the children that made it home from the residential school… and I would definitely look for a long-term plan on how to change the name.”
“You know, it would take a plan, of course, you know, a long-term plan. It wouldn't happen overnight.”
“I think that in all of the conversations and in my relationships that I have developed within community, I can't see a clear line of sight on this one,” said Masters. “And I worry deeply about things that create divisiveness versus bringing folks together.”
Masters expressed her support to “find out how folks are feeling about that name change, and if there are competing interests, and there always are, what would be preferable?… The name overlay has already been talked about. We have north-central revitalisation as well as it relates to Dewdney Avenue. And through that work, I'm thinking we can find a pathway forward.”
Cathedral Village Community Association chair Jonathan Lorenc said this forum is a tradition within the Association for a while, as part of their mandate to the community,
“We believe that candidate access is almost a form of community engagement, where the community gets access to ask their candidates questions that matter to them, even if other outlets don’t necessarily ask those questions.”
He said holding this event was important “because political engagement matters.” He pointed to low rates of voter turnout, and said the community association “see it as a service to our community that is incredibly important part of our electoral process.”
