Regina Minute: Issue 116

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

📅 This Week In Regina: 📅

• The Executive Committee will meet on Wednesday at 9:00 am, and one of the items on its agenda is a request for advanced approval of an $8,200,000 capital program at Mosaic Stadium to replace the artificial turf and the LED video display boards and systems ahead of the 2027 Canadian Football League season and the Grey Cup that Regina is set to host. Administration wants procurement to begin immediately after approval, citing the compressed manufacturing and installation timelines tied to those events. The work would be funded entirely from the Regina Revitalization Initiative Stadium Reserve, which Administration says would be drawn down to a forecasted balance of negative $10,500,000 and is expected to stay in a negative position for at least the next five years, with no impact to the mill rate. The existing turf, installed in 2016, has reached the end of its service life and must be reconfigured for new CFL field dimensions taking effect in 2027. The LED boards, also from 2016, are increasingly failing, no longer have manufacturer support, and a January 2026 independent assessment warned of a strong likelihood of unrepairable black sections appearing on the main display before the Grey Cup. Council would consider the recommendations on June 24th.
  
  
• Also on Wednesday's agenda is a request to authorize Administration to negotiate and execute a funding agreement with the federal government worth $29,068,000 for the Southwest Sewer Upgrade Project, after Regina was conditionally approved through the Build Canada Strong Fund's Direct Delivery Stream. The five-phase project has an estimated total cost of $100.3 million, and the first two phases, totalling $28.3 million, were completed in 2024 and 2025. The federal money would reduce the City's remaining contribution on the final three contracts from $72 million to roughly $45.9 million, and would let the City reallocate about $7.6 million in planned debt to other projects, with the effect on other funding sources to be settled during 2027 budget deliberations. The project is intended to increase wastewater capacity, reduce the risk of basement flooding and untreated discharges to Wascana Creek, and support growth.
  
  
• The Committee will also be asked to let Administration raise the consulting engineering contract for the replacement of Pumps 1 and 2 at the North Pump Station above the $750,000 threshold that requires Council approval. The station, built in 1963, is the City's primary water pumping facility, and the pump replacement is the final component of a long-running upgrade. During detailed design the consultant found that the central programmable logic controller, the uninterruptible power supply, and the 1963 diesel day tank were obsolete and needed replacement. Those added scope changes total $165,834.90 and would raise the engineering contract from $708,400.92 to $874,235.82, with the City saying adequate funds remain in the Water Pumping Station program budget. 
  
  
• Rounding out the major items on Wednesday's agenda, Administration is recommending that Council approve a 25.5-year lease of Currie Field and a portion of adjacent billboard lands to The Regina Red Sox GP Inc. The lease would be granted for less than fair market value and without a public offering, with an option to renew for 10 years and a possible further extension to a total term not exceeding 50 years. The arrangement updates a deal Council approved in October 2024, after the team was sold into private ownership, and would see the club take over operations, maintenance, and capital costs on December 1st, 2026, collect and retain facility revenue, and receive a $110,000 annual operating grant beginning in 2027 plus a grant equal to the municipal property taxes on the field and billboard. If the team relocates to a new facility anywhere within Regina, the City would reimburse approved capital improvements up to a cap of $3.75 million, broader than the previously approved limit to the Taylor Field and Railyards sites. Council would also be asked to amend the Currie Field alcohol bylaw to remove the limit of six special events per year. 
  
  
• Mayor Chad Bachynski says he has high hopes for a new Federation of Canadian Municipalities initiative, From the Ground Up, which asks cities to identify land committed to housing development in order to compile a national picture of housing-ready lots. The initiative was announced at the Federation's annual convention, held in Edmonton from June 4th to June 7th, and Bachynski said Regina is one of its founders. The Mayor said he hopes the program will encourage more cities to adopt the land bank model, in which a municipality takes ownership of unused public land or vacant properties to develop into below-market or accessible housing, and will demonstrate to Ottawa the need for a dedicated funding stream for municipal land banks. Regina established its own land bank in 2024 using federal Housing Accelerator Fund money, and as of November 2025 had collected 16 properties for future housing development. The City most recently set up land trusts in the North Central and Heritage neighbourhoods to help direct next steps.

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