City council takes on refinery, CNIB/Brandt, and their own paycheques in continued meeting

Regina’s city council tackled some topics that created heat under some collars at its continued meeting Thursday.

First, the councillors discussed a motion that would have them send a letter to Premier Scott Moe, asking the province to do everything in its power — including binding arbitration — to bring an end to the labour dispute at the Co-op refinery.

Unionized employees have been locked out since Dec. 5.

All of the councillors talked about how much the dispute has hurt people and the city — that people are out of work and they’re hurting, as well as the businesses they usually patronize.

“It is now clear that collective bargaining has run its course and, in this case, will not work. Any attempt to break the union is unconscionable. The lockout has proved so costly to this city and to its citizens that it must end. The harm of continuing to wait is now too deep,” said Coun. Bob Hawkins.

Coun. John Findura agreed, saying: “Enough is enough. Let’s get going here. Let’s move on because it’s impacting all of us.”

The motion passed almost unanimously, but Mayor Michael Fougere was the only holdout.

He said he agreed that the lockout has been going on far too long and that it has been a problem; he mentioned his office has received 1,759 emails about it. But Fougere also said stepping into private labour disputes isn’t the city’s place.

“I think we overstepped our bounds and it’s not our obligation or right to tell the province what to do. We are not involved with a private sector strike,” said Fougere.

Fougere also pointed out that on Wednesday, Moe said he would not be forcing binding arbitration on the labour dispute.

“I understand the foundations and the backdrop for the motion but I won’t support it because I think it sets a precedent that we can have other disputes come to the table, and I worry that we would have someone interfering with our collective agreements in the future,” Fougere said.

Brandt/CNIB building

The next motion involved recommending that the Provincial Capital Commission, which oversees Wascana Park, publish a detailed public consultation plan as recommended by the auditor and then undertake that plan for the CNIB/Brandt building in the park.

The delegations who called in to talk to council about this included the CNIB’s Christall Beaudry, who spoke about how frustrating this process has been. She didn’t think the motion was necessary because those things are already being done, as per the auditor’s recommendations.

Councillors were sympathetic, but some talked about the need for transparency in this situation.

Hawkins was one of the councillors who brought forward the motion. In speaking for it, he said that it’s never redundant for council to say it endorses public consultation.

“There is a deep feeling in this city that the process for public input into the Brandt/CNIB project has not been adequate. And that feeling was endorsed by the auditor, and I’m pleased to hear that the PCC is working on it but I think they also need to know that we as a council support that, and for us to vote this down is to send exactly the wrong message,” Hawkins said during the meeting.

The vote was close, 6-4, but the motion passed.

The councillors unanimously passed a motion on the same subject, asking the CEO of the Provincial Capital Commission to come to city council and report on the commission’s progress on some of the auditor’s recommendations and to answer any questions they have.

Councillor paycheques

City council also passed a motion to create a committee to take a look at elected officials’ pay and then report back with a recommendation.

Only Fougere and Findura voted against the motion, both saying this is not the time to be thinking about how much they’re being paid.

“There are better places that we can put our money to. Council increases are going to come out of the taxpayers’ pockets. I’m not just talking about now that we’re in a pandemic, but this makes it worse,” argued Findura.

Findura said he had voted against this motion before.

Coun. Mike O’Donnell was in favour, saying he thinks council needs hard-working people and he doesn’t want their remuneration for that work to be a disincentive for people to run for council.

Later, Fougere pointed out the city has had to find $20 million to deal with the pandemic. He said voting against the motion was a statement of principle.

“Now more than ever, we should set that aside, focus on what needs to be done and worry about that issue later. So I very strongly feel that this is not the time to do that and I want residents to know that I’m focused, that we’re focused as a council, on doing what is important for residents,” said Fougere.

The committee will meet in August and make its recommendations then. Any changes would come into effect on Jan. 1.

The rest

Council also voted for a pandemic bylaw to update different services and deadlines in the city.

It includes extending taxi licences so they won’t have to be renewed in person while physical distancing rules are in place, and gives some flexibility in the filing of annual reports.

Council passed a motion to allow Evraz Place to pursue “material alterations” to the Evraz Place site. It would allow the governing body to look into commercial partnership to generate more revenue to help pay for infrastructure needs at the facility.

Approval also was given for the city manager to enter into a memorandum of understanding to start a feasibility study for a joint-use high school in southeast Regina. The study’s budget would be up to $25,000.