Final debate for Regina mayoral candidates

The final debate for the 2012 Regina civic election took place Thursday morning.  

Regina’s Chamber of Commerce hosted the debate with 8 out of the 9 mayoral candidates taking part. The lone candidate who did not attend was Tim Siekawitch.   

About 200 people from the business community turned out to see what the candidates had to say.  

“It is part of giving the business community the opportunity to be part of the democratic process as well as citizens throughout the city,” said John Hopkins CEO for the Regina Chamber of Commerce   

Some of the main topics that were discussed included affordable housing, infrastructure and Regnia Revitalization Initiative.    

The candidates did their best to make their pitch, many times focussing on a topic very important to those in attendance – growth.  

“It’s fundamental to our quality of life and growth for our community,” Michael Fougere said. “We want people to stay here, live here, invest here and create jobs here.” 

Liz Brass said growth needs to happen in a responsible and sustainable way.  

“We need to plan ahead and we need to look at our infrastructure, increase our density in our brown field development,” she explained. 

Most agree there has to be a plan in place to handle growth.  

“Regina looks good right now, but what about 10 to 20 years?” asked Meka Okochi. “What kind of legacy do we want to leave to our children?” 

Chad Novak said a long term plan should be realized.  

“We’ve seen where we can get without being controlled and without planning it properly,” he said. “I think we need to make sure we have a 20 year plan, a 30 year plan.” 

Marian Donnelly feels better connections should be built with areas outside of the city, like the RM of Sherwood.  

“We need to be looking at Regina as a regional economic entity, not just as our city,” she explained. 

Others say they support a growing Regina but have to make sure no one is left behind. “I think there are thousands of people here who don’t see any growth,” Charles Wiebe said. “Maybe they see growth in their tuition or their rent.” 

Jim Elliott agrees. 

“Growth and unavailability of housing or other infrastructure problems is the wrong way to go,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Tom Brown said he supports growth but feels instead of growing out, the city needs to grow “up” and become more compact. 

“We don’t need a great big large city that has a lot of roads to look after, we need a small city,” he explained. 

Hopkins said the debate was a good way to see where every candidate stands.  

“Generally speaking, most of the candidates are in favour of growth and continuing to move ahead, so that’s positive,” Hopkins added.    

Reginans go to the polls October 24.