Saskatoon voters gave Charlie Clark his second mandate as mayor.
The election fell in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and was delayed due to an unprecedented snowstorm.
Now that he’s returning to office, his top priority is COVID-19 and the impact on the city and its citizens.
Clark recently held a Zoom interview with Global News’ Ryan Kessler for a look back at 2020 and ahead to 2021.
The following interview is edited for clarity and readability.
Ryan Kessler: People are tired and frustrated, just feeling coronavirus pandemic fatigue. What is your message to Saskatoon citizens?
Charlie Clark: The last weeks and months have been a particular test because we’ve seen the virus spread, we still are having to do all of the restrictions and the sacrifices that people are making, the challenges to businesses and the challenges the people who have lost income. At the same time, we’re seeing the health-care system be overwhelmed.
We really need to look after people’s lives and people’s livelihoods and to keep our mental health up. It’s also important that we keep working together.
There’s a vaccine, there’s hope on the horizon, and people talk about a light at the end of the tunnel. My main goal as mayor is how do we get as many people through that tunnel alive as possible so by the next holiday season, there are as many people around to try to gather and celebrate and hopefully have a holiday season that’ll be much more like what we’re used to.
RK: Given the financial pressures that exist on the city, is this perhaps a time to think about scaling back some on some of the major capital projects?
CC: So what we’re needing to do is to really strike the balancing act between making sure we’re making very responsible financial decisions and managing our investments wisely and also stimulating the economy by making infrastructure investments.
The bus rapid transit is a project that has significant federal funding. They’ve allocated $162 million to our city towards transit investment. For me to not do some of these projects and leave that money on the table and not have them stimulate employment is not an approach I think we should take.
When it comes to a downtown entertainment district arena facility, I do think that is something that will certainly be affected in terms of a timeline by the reality of what we’re facing with the pandemic, the financial pressures we’re under.
RK: So you would still prefer a downtown arena over renovating SaskTel Centre?
CC: Yes, the case is very, very clear. The analysis of a renovation of SaskTel Centre shows that you could spend well over $100 million and you still wouldn’t deal with the fundamental challenges of the roof height and the circulation, space in the building.
And still, you miss out on a chance to have a facility that can create opportunities for people to go out and have a full evening of experiences and do it all within walking distance, all supporting local businesses in the downtown and also helping to drive that vibrancy of the downtown.
RK: How far back do you think this project could be pushed because of the financial pressure?
CC: This has never been a project that would be happening right away. We’re talking about both the fact that TCU Place and the arena are going to need renewal within the years to come.
We want to take a co-ordinated approach that brings the best value back to our citizens and the downtown and take the thoughtful steps to plan out those investments.
I can’t give you a timeline because we’re so early in it. It’s going to depend a lot on funding from other levels of government and finding ways to finance that is not reliant on property taxes. That’s been a goal for me from the beginning. The less it relies on property taxes, the more I think it’s a responsible project to go forward and has a better chance to succeed and for the public to support it as well.
RK: In addition to dealing with the pandemic, Saskatoon continues to see issues surrounding addiction and poverty, those issues continuing to fuel crime and general concerns about public safety in the city. What do you see as being the primary priority going into 2021 and what needs to be enacted to help address that?
CC: I’ve said for some time that the current system is failing — it’s failing because people are falling through the cracks. We don’t have the right mechanisms in place to get people off the street, transitioned into housing, supported to stay in housing and have (access to) the treatment facilities needed to properly deal with some of these very, very dangerous and destructive drugs like crystal meth, like fentanyl.
We are working through the safe community action lines and through new partnerships to identify how can we work together better and how can we fix these systems.
A significant number of people affected are Indigenous. More solutions and programs and projects that are driven by Indigenous ways of knowing and a more holistic approach to dealing with people are part of the solution.
I think that coming up with more harm reduction-based approaches to addictions is key. We’ve talked about a drug court for the city and we’ve got a commitment from the province to build a drug court in Saskatoon. But what we really need is the treatment facilities and the housing that has the right supports to keep people safely in housing.
RK: How challenging has this year has been for you as a leader of the city going through a pandemic. How hard has this been for you personally?
CC: I think there’s no question that the pandemic affects all of us. It affects our moods. It affects our families. I worry about my kids, the fact that they don’t have the same ability to socialize with their friends.
We have every reason for hope on the other side of this. We’ve got to draw on the strength of the community, be inspired by all the incredible work that’s being done and focus on the good in each other and be reminded that if we work together, we can get through all of this and have a reason for hope in 2021 and beyond.
RK: Are you a New Year’s resolutions person and do you have any for 2021?
CC: I am not great at keeping resolutions so I admittedly have not been as good at making them. But I would say this year, what’s certainly on my mind is gratitude when we’re faced with challenges.
My grandfather, Fred Ritchie, taught me a lot as he was a Second World War vet. He went through significant challenges and changes in his whole life and he always looked at the good things, he always was reminded of the things that he had that made him feel grateful as opposed to focusing on the challenges that were thrown at him. To me, that is a huge lesson of how to get through difficult times.
I have so much to be grateful for in my life — my family and my team that I get to work with in my city that I get to live in. So for me, it’s going to be about gratitude this year.
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