Regina city councillors react to Masters’ claims of loss of trust

At least two of the city councillors in whom Regina’s mayor says trust has been lost were taken aback by the comments.

On Thursday morning, Mayor Sandra Masters told 980 CJME there has been a loss of trust in some members of city council.

Between the volatile situation at the last city budget debates over homelessness, the city manager being taken to court at the time over a plan to end homelessness not being included in the budget, and opposition on the issue inside and outside of council chambers, things have been tense at Regina city council the last several months.

Masters said there has been a loss of trust between some councillors and those who have been supporting and bringing forward the homelessness issue. Those who signed on to Wednesday’s motion included councillors Dan LeBlanc, Andrew Stevens, Shanon Zachidniak and Cheryl Stadnichuk.

When Zachidniak was asked about the mayor’s comments, the councillor said she was surprised and called the comments baseless and defamatory.

“I’ve consistently demonstrated on council that I have a collaborative working style and I think that other councillors, if you reached out to them, would back that up,” said Zachidniak.

She said this was her first time hearing this feedback, and while she agreed there might be a lack of trust at council, she said that tone would come from the top.

“Hopefully the mayor can commit to being constructive in her comments to the media and in public in relation to other members of council and hopefully also display a commitment to a collaborative working style,” explained Zachidniak.

Stadnichuk thinks council works well together, depending on the issue.

“I think it is just on some of the social issues that there is some division, but otherwise, I would say that if you looked at the majority of votes, there is quite a lot of consensus,” she said.

Stadnichuk said it can be stressful when there’s a level of tension people can feel.

She said people build trust by getting to know each other and figuring out how to work together. She said there hadn’t been one event for councillors to sit down as a group over a supper or social arrangement.

“You build trust when you bring people together and there haven’t been very many opportunities for us as a council to come together, and I do think that that takes leadership to try to heal divides,” said Stadnichuk.

She’d like to see councillors be able to get together at some time in the future and heal some of those divisions.

Stadnichuk is also hoping for better communication from administration and the mayor’s office, saying it’s hard for councillors to understand what actions are being taken in the background on issues unless they’re told about them.

‘Houselessness emergency’

On Wednesday night, the motion that brought some tensions to bear — between councillors and from the gallery — was a motion to declare “houselessness” an emergency in Regina. It was defeated handily.

Stadnichuk was disappointed by the outcome.

“Everyone in this city, I think, acknowledges that we do have a crisis and even if there are plans being worked on, acknowledging that there is a crisis, I think, is very important,” she explained.

Zachidniak was also disappointed. She said she went into the meeting intending to make every effort to find common ground with other councillors, bringing forward some amendments based on the concerns that she’d heard.

She said she thinks some people on council are more hesitant than others to do more, or they’re concerned that by making a statement, they could add to the polarization of the issue.

“But the fact of the matter is that what the community sees from us right now, as a public-facing policy, is that we’re tearing down tents and putting up fences, and whatever work is going on behind the scenes, they aren’t currently seeing that and so they’re asking for more,” said Zachidniak.

Pieces of what Zachidniak and the others brought forward were referred to budget deliberations for 2024, and Zachidniak is hoping council can have a robust conversation then about how to address homelessness.