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Ward 3 Councillor Andrew Stevens is not running for re-election.
Stevens said the decision was based on family commitments that he made in 2016 when he first ran for council.
“When I won, I really didn’t have in mind much longer than two terms. Basically, how I functioned and my aspirations were along an eight-year arc,” he told 980 CJME.
In addition to being a city councillor, Stevens is also an associate professor at the University of Regina.
“What’s been very evident is that the job is becoming busier. It’s a full-time gig, and the reality is it’s increasingly more difficult to balance it with another full-time job,” he said.
“It’s been incredibly rewarding, but I never had a long-term horizon in mind when I ran.”
Stevens said he doesn’t regret working at City Hall, but he looks forward to spending more time with his family and working just one full-time job as an academic.
He said he was happy about fulfilling commitments to residents, but said there are still other issues he still need to be addressed, like homelessness.
“I wanted to see at least a plan to end homelessness and real resources going into fighting a serious social problem. We’re doing that, (but) certainly not as much as we should,” he said.
Stevens touted the city’s community safety and well-being plan, and said the city is going in the right direction in taking Regina’s infrastructure deficit seriously. He also celebrated the city including money in the budget for harm reduction and recreation, as well as adopting environmental policies and a sustainability framework.
“There’s a lot of stuff that I don’t think would have ever happened had it not been for a lot of new people who joined council in 2016, and again in 2020,” Stevens said.
Plan to end homelessness
In 2022, Stevens and Coun. Dan LeBlanc filed a lawsuit against City Manager Niki Anderson for not including funding for homelessness in the city’s 2023 budget after council had approved a motion to provide funding for it earlier in the year.
“I have zero regrets about fighting that. We had passed a motion, it was passed unanimously and frankly, that’s a serious issue, and I don’t think I would have forgiven myself for not fighting as hard as we could on that,” Stevens said.
Matters at council had at times become contentious in the wake of the lawsuit, but Stevens said that didn’t motivate his decision to walk away.
“To be perfectly honest with you, I like the dissent and I like the controversy and I like the discussion. That’s actually what makes the job worthwhile and makes it interesting,” Stevens said.
He added that people shouldn’t be afraid of disagreement or conflict over issues that people feel passionately about.
“I have many disagreements with my council colleagues, and they with me, but there’s 11 people around that table that are very committed to certain issues and I’ve never seen that before on council. We just don’t agree on what those issues are, but I think that’s a positive change,” Stevens said.
Stevens said he still plans on paying attention to city politics once he steps away and that he’s gained a new perspective on the importance of municipal politics.
Regina’s next civic election is set for November 13.
