City council to discuss future of Tourism Regina, separation from REAL

On Wednesday afternoon, Regina city council will discuss reversing a decision made just over a year before to give Tourism Regina to Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL).

The board chair at REAL, Wayne Morsky, sent a letter to the mayor and city clerk asking for the tourism body to be taken back from REAL’s responsibilities.

The move comes after the disastrous Experience Regina campaign and rebranding that was launched in the spring and was quickly cancelled after critics called elements of it tone deaf and misogynistic.

In the summer, an independent consultant released a report on what happened, saying there wasn’t enough supervision on the project, leaders had too much on their plates, and timelines were rushed.

At the time, Morsky admitted REAL may not have been properly prepared to take on tourism but said it wasn’t a mistake.

“We believe that the reason that Tourism Regina was placed in REAL still exists today and we are going to continue to work in that manner by going through our organizational structure and reviewing the procedures that we’ve put in place and what we need to do to make change,” Morsky said in July.

Now, Morsky’s letter to the city says the REAL board unanimously agreed to ask for the responsibilities to be removed from REAL.

“Based on the findings of the independent external review performed by George Cuff and Associates it is the position of the Board of Directors that REAL must focus on the core business of the organization, there is much work to be done as REAL continues to recover from the transformational impacts of COVID-19,” read the letter.

The letter also talks about the steps REAL has taken to address some of the issues the review pointed out, like reviewing corporate policies and planning training and programming to “improve operational risk mitigation related to sexual violence and enhance the cultural awareness of the organization.”

Mayor Sandra Masters said ahead of the council meeting that she thinks this is the right move to make, saying REAL needs to focus on other things.

“We need events, conventions and trade shows here. That’s really where a lot of the money and a lot of the events and influx of economic impact are,” said Masters.

At least two city councillors also believe the change could be a good thing.