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Best of City Hall 2021
Regina city council’s best and worst of 2021
Councillors, reporters, and citizens, lend us your ears
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sara birrell news editor
2020 (and 2021) was a terrible year for any of us who were conscious, but in Regina, the one saving grace was the election of a new mayor and council. This included five new councillors, four of whom were endorsed by the Regina and District Labour Congress – people who, it was hoped, would support Andrew Stevens, who was, until then, the lone progressive voice in council meetings. With a new year starting, here’s a best and worst of Regina city council in 2021.
The best of councillors:
Dan Leblanc – Repping Ward 6, which includes Heritage, Eastview, and Al Ritchie, Leblanc, a lawyer who is arguably council’s MVP, has had several Best Of moments this past year.
In January 2021, Leblanc introduced an amendment to the city’s Sponsorship, Naming Rights, and Advertising policy that would see fossil fuel companies barred from advertising in the city. While the amendment failed (after a council meeting filled with hours of propagandizing from fossil fuel proponents like Craig Lothian) and Leblanc was fired without cause from Gerrand Rath Johnson shortly after, unlike John Findura, he never backed down, setting the tone for the rest of the year.
In April, after a brutal and disgraceful meeting about banning conversion therapy turned into a platform for hateful rhetoric, Leblanc apologized to Regina’s queer community, saying “I’m sorry that you’re not part of this city council that’s deciding fundamental rights about you… And apologies that these are the sorts of indignities that you have to suffer, without you here.”
In November, Leblanc proposed another amendment that would allow councillors to raise a point of order if they believed another councillor was disrespectful to city administration.
In December, Leblanc joined Andrew Stevens, Shanon Zachidniak, and Cheryl Stadnichuk in rejecting the $92.8 million operating budget for RPS, as well as drafting a motion to increase transparency at City Hall.
Honourable mention –Cheryl Stadnichuk
The best of reporters:
Paul Dechene – City Hall reporter for the Prairie Dog and one half of the Queen City Improvement Bureau, Dechene live tweets (sometimes rage tweets) most council meetings at @PDCityHall. Clever and acerbic, with something of a bend to the left, Dechene’s column and feed is a
must-read if you’re wondering what’s going on in Regina. And it’s a good thing that Dechene is the best person for the job, because he is also the only person for the job, since the Leader-Post somehow does not have a dedicated reporter at City Hall.
Honourable mention – Also Paul Dechene
The best of citizens:
Florence Stratton – A local activist and retired English professor, Stratton understands the assignment. From homelessness to the police budget, if council is debating something, Stratton can be counted on to be there with her gravelly Bea Arthur voice, fighting for the underdog.
Kale MacLellan – A Cree, Saulteaux, St’at’imc and Scottish mother, MacLellan is soft-spoken but packs a heavy punch. She’s a frequent presenter before council
and consistently shows up wherever people are in need, from Camp Hope to Defund the Police movements to mutual aid groups.
Honourable mentions – Rebecca Granovsky-Larsen
The worst of councillors:
Terina Shaw – Shaw is one of the five new candidates, and the only one who was not endorsed by the RDLC. She represents Ward 7. Shaw, who has spent the past year calling Councillor Andrew Stevens “Councillor Andrews,” has been relentless and unwavering in her commitment to being the worst person on council, as well as the councillor most likely to be ratioed on Twitter.
In January 2021, Shaw said, “My belief is until you turn off your heat and ride a bike you have absolutely no room to talk against fossil fuels,” literally becoming the meme about wanting to change society somewhat.
In an April 2021 meeting about conversion therapy, Shaw came close to conflating queerness with pedophilia (she later apologized for her comment coming out “the wrong way”).
In December Shaw asked municipal treasure Florence Stratton, who was speaking against the police budget, if she would put a price on her children’s lives. Shaw has also been consistently anti-poor, and that same month she argued that people can easily live off $860, that “money doesn’t fix money problems,” as well as asking, “what about the people who want to be homeless?”
Honourable mentions – Landon Mohl, John Findura; Lori Bresciani
The worst of reporters:
The Leader-Post – For not having a dedicated City Hall reporter, the Leader-Post is hands down the worst reporter in Regina.
– Dan Leblanc
Hasn’t been seen for weeks
syd mcwilliams
news writer
Queen Elizabeth II has been the reigning monarch in England (and the Commonwealth, of which Canada is a part) for a staggering 69 (Editor’s note: nice), almost 70, years. She has always been a solid public figure unwavering in her service over the decades. At this point it would be hard to imagine someone else on the throne, and to most it feels like she is invisible to death and his scythe. However, everyone eventually gets old and over the past year, the queen has had some seemingly serious health complications.
She is now 95 so it is not surprising, but it still is cause for concern. Most of her appearances in the latter part of last year and into this year have included online meetings, pre-recorded messages, and her being spotted driving her Jaguar wearing a scarf and hat, and the last time she officially hosted an event in person was November 23, 2021. She hasn’t been seen outside of her home since then. People who study the royals have dubbed this transition out of the public eye as the queen enters a new phase of her reign, like a large, clicking insect transitioning from its larval stage. A stage in which she allows Charles to take on more responsibility, and steps away from a lot of her duties in public service. However, other royal watchers aren’t so sure that this is a natural phase at all.
“She’s either sick or she’s dead one hundred percent,” says Sarah Labadie, an education student at the U of R, when asked what she though was happening at Buckingham Palace. “They don’t know who’s going to replace her. There’s all the heat on [Andrew], Harry, and Meghan just
did their Oprah thing, and I think that they don’t know if they want to give the throne to William because it would mean giving the throne to Kate. They’re going to do as much damage control as possible before going public.” Essentially Buckingham Palace is Weekend-At-Bernie’s-ing Liz while they figure out what they’re going to do.
Labadie’s not alone in this line of thinking. The queen is not officially scheduled to be out in public again until her platinum jubilee in February, and the internet took what information they had and ran with it, spinning stories of their own. Now, a large portion of people believe the queen has actually died and that Buckingham Palace is covering it up for the time being, but it is hard to know for certain with so little information to go on whether or not her speculated death could be a genuine fact or just another in-
flated conspiracy theory.
The queen’s health began declining in April 2021 when the haggard, shuffling corpse of Prince Phillip finally bit it. Queen Elizabeth II and Phillip – who were cousins, because the monarchy is nothing if not white trash – were married for seventy-three years, and the queen is quoted referring to Phillip as her “Strength and Stay.” Grief takes its toll on the healthiest of people. Then in October, she canceled a trip to Northern Ireland; afterward, it was revealed that it was canceled because the queen had to spend the night in hospital for unspecified medical issues and tests. At the end of October, she canceled another in-person event in Scotland and was then advised by her doctors to take at least two weeks off to rest; she remained at home for a while.
However, she remained committed to attending a ceremony
for Remembrance Sunday on November 14, stating how important it was for her to honour the people who died in warfare. Unfortunately, her attendance was canceled on the day of the ceremony due to a sprained back. Buckingham Palace released a statement that said, “The Queen, having sprained her back, has decided this morning with great regret that she will not be able to attend today’s Remembrance Sunday Service at the Cenotaph. Her Majesty is disappointed that she will miss the service.” Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla attended the ceremony in her absence, and Charles laid a wreath in his mother’s absence.
Kailee Trost, an avid news follower, thinks that while the queen is probably still alive, “she is probably hiding from Omicron because she is old as hell; if she gets it she is a goner,” but reason aside, she also said, “maybe she passed away on New Year’s Eve too, but because Betty White died they were like ‘Nah, can’t announce it because Betty White will overshadow her.’ So, there are many things that could be going on.”
Regardless of what people think, the reality is that Queen Elizabeth II cannot live forever, and if she is indeed still alive it is only a matter of time before she passes. The only thing people can do is watch and wait to see if to see if she appears in February like she’s supposed to, and until then, continue to enjoy the memes of her “entering a new phase” that have strangled certain corners of the internet.
– Sarah Labadie
Sergeant Adrian Harlen via Flickr You can’t hide from death, Liz.
