Regina city councillor not running in fall election

Regina Ward 3 councillor Shawn Fraser won’t be seeking the public’s votes in the upcoming election.

Fraser said the decision not to run in the upcoming election wasn’t taken lightly. He made the choice after a lengthy discussion with his family and friends.

“Ultimately it’s a job where you get to help people.”

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The one-term councillor and his wife recently had a baby girl last month. He said he wants to focus more on his growing family and his full-time job at the YMCA.

“I think whenever, wherever you get to work with people and help people, there’s no better job than that,” Fraser said.

Fraser also said he’s not endorsing any candidates for Ward 3, which encompasses the Cathedral neighbourhood, anytime soon, but will keep his eyes open.

“I’m under no illusion that I’m the only person that could do a good job of representing Ward 3,” Fraser said.

“Ward 3 will be well represented, just by someone else.”

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READ MORE: City Council pushes back discussion on Regina being a ‘living wage employer’

He said he’ll be asking candidates what their stance is on some of the issues he’s raised during council, like discussions around a city living wage or the motion of the Blue Dot movement.

The motion included a non-binding commitment to include environmental concerns in decisions and a a commitment to call on the provincial and federal governments to include an amendment to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms outlining the right to a healthy environment.

READ MORE: Regina city council supports idea behind Blue Dot Movement, but has some concerns

Fraser said there’s still issues in Regina that need to be worked on, but things have improved.

“My focus when I ran for this job was to talk about housing here in the city. We haven’t solved all the problems but the situation around rental housing has gotten a lot better,” he said.