Regina investing $1.5M towards 2027 Grey Cup: Mayor

The following questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.

GREG MORGAN: How did the city come out of Tuesday night’s storm and what kind of response has there been for areas with damage?

CHAD BACHYNSKI: Pretty interesting, I heard quite a bit about a different sense of that storm in different parts of the city. I think the biggest one that I heard was we were dispatching some folks out on an emergency basis to try and help get some of the storm drains cleared out right away. I know some of that flash flooding was happening, and so we were trying to get folks out, make sure that the drains were clear to get the water away from homes.

Is there anything as far as damage to the city?

BACHYNSKI: No, nothing that has been reported up through me. So, I think (from) that perspective, we were okay.

You have a downtown survey online right now. Has there been a good response to that? What is it telling you?

BACHYNSKI: We’ve had some conversations. Conversations with downtown businesses and stakeholders have already started, and what I’ve heard is even things like downtown safety, we’ve had some response already from downtown folks that are working and living downtown, even where there is starting to be a shift. So that focus on, especially the public safety component, people are seeing a difference. I think the challenge is sharing that perspective from folks who are seeing the change to folks who maybe don’t visit downtown as often, who still have a perception from their last experience, maybe two or three years ago. There’s that component, then there’s also investment in downtown and making sure that things like 11th Avenue get done effectively and quickly, but also making sure it’s done well, looks good and is something that we can be proud of as a city.

There has been a recent spike in overdoses in the city, which triggered an alert from the Ministry of Health. How alarming is it that we’re still lacking the resources to tackle this?

BACHYNSKI: Whenever we see these spikes, I think it highlights the fact that we still need more help and more resources to help with this, both from keeping folks safe who may be accessing those types of things, as well as trying to get those types of drugs out of our city. On all fronts, number one is keeping people safe – making sure that the information about those alerts is to be safe around those types of substances – but also trying to get those types of things out of our city altogether is another factor. It has been a challenge, for sure, and it’s definitely an ongoing conversation as to how we tackle that in the resources that we need for the city.

Yesterday (Wednesday) at City Council, it was pretty brief. You were in favor of giving $1.5 million for the Grey Cup 2027. Why do you think this should be done?

BACHYNSKI: I think our deputy city manager, Jennifer Johnson, did a great job of really highlighting some of the economic factors, especially, but even community benefits, as well. Last time, I think we were looking at more than $40 million in economic benefit for the city, with tens of thousands of people coming to our city, going to restaurants, staying in hotels, but also, even the community events. I know that the Riders and a lot of community partners come together to host many community events throughout the city. It puts Regina on the map. It’s exciting for everybody in the city, whether you’re a football fan or not. There are family zones, and there are parties that are happening across the city. There’s just a lot that will happen, and that economic benefit that we get – not to mention when we do sell out the stadium, we do get a $12 ticket facility fee that would equate somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000 that would go towards paying down our stadium debt. With all those factors in mind that were laid out yesterday, to me, it’s overall a benefit to host something like this in our city.