Regina city councillor readying for court application date

A day ahead of the first court date for his application, Regina city councillor Dan LeBlanc believes the court is still the best way to go.

LeBlanc, who is a lawyer, has filed the application on behalf of another city councillor, Andrew Stevens, as well as a Regina citizen.

It argues the city manager had a duty to include the cost of a plan to end homelessness through a housing-first, supportive-housing model, as was agreed in the summer when a motion passed city council.

Speaking on Gormley on Monday, LeBlanc said there’s technically the power to call a special council meeting, pull other councillors together and get the plan into the budget.

“It would be hard to give clearer direction than that we gave in June and (city manager Niki Anderson) would remain at liberty to ignore that direction as she was with the June direction and I think that’s effectively where we hit the limits of what we can do with our councillor hat on,” said LeBlanc.

LeBlanc said political avenues are done and legal ones are the only ones available. He said there’s also a matter of urgency, since budget deliberations are set to begin Dec. 14.

“It would be, I think, strategically, at least, unwise to hold another meeting to redirect her, as we did in June, to see if she follows it and then to still need to bring a legal application in any event,” he explained.

LeBlanc said, as he has since the application was filed last week, that it’s up to elected people to set the policy direction of the city. He doesn’t believe it’s for unelected employees to decide not to follow that direction.

“The beauty of the democratic process is we had to run for our jobs on vote and we can lose our jobs, so if we make policy our residents don’t like, they can un-elect us. And they don’t have that power with respect to the unelected city manager and that’s why it’s important we’re the ones driving the bus,” said LeBlanc.

While LeBlanc agreed it’s dangerous for an unelected judge to be setting political policy, he said in this case he’s asking the King’s Bench justice to issue an order to ensure that the right people are making policy.

The first court date for the application is Tuesday, but LeBlanc said that’s a short timeline to file materials, so he and the city manager’s lawyer will ask for a special chambers date with the judge by Dec. 6.

If that’s not possible, they’ll ask for a regular date for Dec. 6 and then hope for a decision by Dec. 13 — the day before city council is set to begin budget deliberations.