Regina Minute: Cathedral Slowdown, Flood Detection, and Experience Regina Awarded

Regina Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Regina politics

This Week In Regina:

• The Audit and Finance Committee will meet this afternoon at 4:00 pm. The Committee will examine new ways to provide stable funding sources for various municipal reserve funds. One of the reasons for this, as a later discussion in the agenda shows, is that there was a $2.7 million deficit in the General Fund Reserve. Another important item on their agenda is to deal with a report on the preparation of quarterly financial statements.
  
  
• The Executive Committee will meet on Wednesday at 9:00 am. The first thing on the agenda is to hear the annual report of the Integrity Commissioner. Then, the Committee will consider options for enhancing access to accessible taxis, before turning to a private session.
  
  
• A new flood detection system is now active at three Albert Street underpass intersections, equipped with sensors that automatically close the underpass and activate a "do not enter" sign during high-risk flooding. This initiative aims to enhance driver safety by preventing vehicles from getting stuck in floodwaters, following 16 claims totaling $157,645 for flooded vehicles since 2019 at one underpass. The system, costing $185,000 and funded by SGI and the City, is part of ongoing efforts to address flooding issues, with future inspections planned to improve drainage infrastructure on Saskatchewan Drive.

Last Week In Regina:

• After much debate, Council approved lowering the speed limit in the Cathedral area to 40km/hr. Initially, the plan was to change the speed limit to 30 km/hr, but it was revised upwards to 40. An initial vote failed to pass, but Councillor Mancinelli changed his mind, and received permission to change his vote from nay to yay. The motion should have passed, but another Councilor attempted to change their vote, this time turning against the motion. This led to a great deal of confusion, but it was eventually ruled by a clerk that the motion was carried, as the second Councillor didn’t have permission to change their vote. The next step is to update the Traffic Bylaw to reflect the change, which is anticipated at the May 22nd meeting of City Council. The costs of signage changes to 13th Avenue and other affected streets will be about $15,000.
  
  
• Experience Regina “won” one of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s Teddy Awards, given for extreme cases of government waste. The project famously saw Tourism Regina become Experience Regina, for five whole days. After that, the newly renamed organization’s suggestive taglines led to so much backlash that the rebrand was immediately reversed. This attempt cost $30,000 and a great deal of mockery, but we should probably be glad - a recent rebranding of Calgary cost $4.8 million!
  
  
• Hudson’s Bay announced that they would be closing down their Cornwall Centre store next spring. This is Regina’s only remaining Hudson’s Bay store and one of the major anchor stores of the Cornwall Centre. The HBC is struggling to find its place in the changing Canadian marketplace, with closures in other major centres across the nation, as well as layoffs in its corporate offices. The announcement that the lease for the store would not be renewed comes not long after an arson temporarily shut down the store. It had since reopened, only for the April 2025 closure to be announced.