Fougere looking to keep city afloat with another term

Michael Fougere isn’t just planning for another term as Regina’s mayor — his third if he wins — he’s planning another decade down the line.

As part of his platform, Fougere has a 10-year plan for the city. He said it’s to figure out how to get the city up and growing again after the hit it has taken from COVID-19.

“(It’s) all about how we continue to work together but build on our strengths, for our economy and for tourism and event-planning, I think is quite important,” said Fougere.

There are a few things Fougere highlights if he’s asked for the Cliff’s Notes of his campaign: Keeping people safe during COVID, keeping them employed and keeping businesses going.

That’s why he wants to freeze property taxes. The city has had to face a budget crunch due to COVID as well, but Fougere believes it is still responsible to freeze the city’s main source of revenue.

“We don’t have a lot of tools to help people out but keeping taxes at zero, I think, is the easy way to do that. We can afford to do that,” said Fougere.

Fougere also talks about investment to infrastructure like roads, the wastewater treatment plant, and downtown including moving the buses from 11th Avenue and improving the area around the Globe Theatre.

Other candidates are campaigning for the top job by saying Regina is standing still and not much has been happening, but Fougere disagrees. He points to the city’s low unemployment rate and its title before COVID hit as the city with the fastest-growing international migration.

“We’ve seen a lot of leadership and growth. I’m very proud of my record of eight years and it stands up against anybody being a mayor anywhere,” said Fougere. “I’m very proud of what I’ve done, and what I want to do is continue on the steady leadership that’s calming and gets us through this crisis, then gets us into a strong economy going forward.”

Fougere also mentioned reconciliation and relations with the Black community and Black Lives Matter movement as important pieces.

A plan to end homelessness is prominent in Fougere’s platform.

“In a land where we have so much prosperity here, generally speaking, compared to the rest of the world, we shouldn’t have people living on the streets,” said Fougere.

The city has been working on reducing homelessness for years, and when asked why he thinks another five years would help when previous initiatives didn’t see much in results, Fougere talked about engaging with the federal and provincial governments to get the job done.

“We’ll do our part as a city but we do need partners, there’s no doubt about that,” said Fougere.

When he’s not working, Fougere can often be found in his basement with a pair of headphones on and drumsticks in his hands. He plays the drums and his band, including other local bigwigs like John Hopkins and Murad Al-Katib, has raised more than $1.4 million for local charities and initiatives.

“Aside from being able to help out in some major causes in the city, on a personal level, it’s just a whole lot of fun playing drums,” said Fougere.

He taught himself to play with his older brother’s kit when he was 10 or 11 and said he picked it up again after university.

Fougere said it’s a nice break, something completely different from being mayor.

Aside from drumming, Fougere has some heretofore publicly unknown skills, like being able to do handstands and cartwheels (which he declined to demonstrate) and pretending to fall down the stairs.

Fougere explained he shared an apartment with his sister in university and there was an old metal set of stairs outside, and he got pretty good at tromping down them in such a way that it sounded like he’d taken a spill.

“It’s just the way you do it that you’re safe, though. You don’t actually hurt yourself, obviously. So I used to do that a lot,” he said.

With a win in the Nov. 9 municipal election and a full term served, Fougere would tie two others for the longest time served as a mayor.