November 18, 2024 | Advertise with us

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A look at Chad Bachynski’s successful mayoral bid

Engineer Chad Bachynski is the new Mayor of Regina.

With no political experience, he was able to stunningly defeat a well-known incumbent Sandra Masters and a well-funded challenger and sitting city councillor Lori Bresciani.

Speaking to CTV last week, Bachynski said, “Regina was looking for change. They wanted to take a different direction and to look at some new, fresh ideas.” His simple platform of promising process efficiencies, infrastructure investment, and financial responsibility attracted many supporters who wanted the city council to focus on prioritizing the basics. Bachynski’s campaign slogan “Moving Regina Forward” was very similar to the slogan that Masters used for the campaign.

The desire for change mirrored other recent elections around the globe, where many incumbents lost. This feeling of change, combined with dysfunction at Regina City Hall emphasized by third-party advertising, had many voters looking for an outsider who has private sector experience, much like Bachynski.

Bachynski had this to say as his reason for putting his name forward, “I am running for mayor because I am frustrated with the dramatically increasing property taxes, poor accessibility with never-ending construction and a diminishing sense of safety and security in our city.”

He marketed himself as an outsider, which he indeed was. His authenticity and charisma attracted many supporters without needing to spend too much. He said, “I confidently can say that we ran a true grassroots word-of-mouth campaign through and through. I think that really resonated with people, and that’s what people took to heart.”

He did not run a single Facebook ad during the campaign, and it’s also understood he didn’t buy a single billboard. His social media pages have just 1,000 followers combined. Bachynski connected with voters through his word-of-mouth messaging and utilized the Regina Civic Election and CBC News promotions to connect with voters.

Bachynski also benefited significantly from other competitive candidates receiving a lot of votes, which some could argue allowed him to come up the middle. Bresciani ended up in second place with 13,041 votes, with Masters ending up with 12,114 votes. Bill Pratt received a strong 12% of the vote to finish in fourth place.

Regina voters have a history of electing outsiders to the role when they want change at city hall. Most recently Masters defeated longtime incumbent Michael Fougere in 2020 after being relatively unknown.

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The issues facing incoming councils in Saskatoon and Regina

The recently elected councillors have only had their jobs for a few days, and are already ramping up to make big decisions.

Across the province, the first order of business for newly elected municipal governments is the budget process.

In Saskatoon, the first council meeting is next week, with an inauguration planned for this week. There is an even mix of five incumbents and six rookies in the chamber. The top issues in Saskatoon will be addressing homelessness, a debate over the location of a shelter, the downtown entertainment district, and property taxes.

Councillor Bev Dubois told CBC what new councillors can expect with the job, “You have to look after yourself and try not to do everything at once. We get a lot of invitations to things to attend, and I've seen councillors come on and they go to every single thing for the first like three to six months, and then they just get worn right out and can't do it anymore."

Newly elected Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block says her number one priority is homelessness: "When people are safely housed, community safety goes up for all of us. And so the urgency of getting people off the streets into safe housing is urgent.… But municipalities are on the front lines of a problem that we don't have all the tools to solve alone, which is why I really want to move forward with the task force as soon as we can to get residents and businesses at the table alongside fire, police and service providers."

In Regina, a budget process is also underway with their first council meeting next month, while council orientation takes place over the coming weeks. The council will be sworn in today. Regina’s new city council is fairly green, with only two incumbents compared to nine rookies in the chamber, including the Mayor.

The top issues facing the new council in Regina include the new aquatic centre, property taxes and public safety.

City Clerk Jim Nicol said, “The first week will focus on governance and procedural matters so they understand their roles, legal authorities, etcetera. The second largely reverts to the City Manager’s office to provide much more of the administrative and financial details.”

Former Mayor Michael Fougere gave some advice to the new councillors, “Talk to other members of council right away. Get to know who is there. Then get down to business. It’s about building a city together, building a team and working together.”

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Moe lays out priorities for new legislative session

Saskatchewan MLAs will be heading to Regina next week for a fall session as the Legislature resumes.

Premier Scott Moe said, "Saskatchewan people elected a government with a mandate for a strong economy and a bright future, but we also know that many people voted for change and we will deliver both," Moe said. "The new Legislature provides an opportunity for a new beginning, and we won't waste any time getting to work on the priorities of residents." 

The legislature will convene on Monday, November 25 and the session will last two weeks. The day will begin with the election of a Speaker done in secret ballot. There will be a Throne Speech, laying out the priorities of the government, and beginning on Tuesday political watchers will get to see Question Period between a nearly evenly split chamber.

Moe said this session is an opportunity to deliver on campaign promises, "We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to govern for all residents regardless of who they voted for," Moe said. "Saskatchewan people can expect to see some very specific goals that will drive some much-needed improvements in the areas of health care and education, while also implementing the affordability measures and the economic growth initiatives we have committed to."

We can likely expect many of the affordability measures promised by the Saskatchewan Party to be implemented. Other top issues likely to be raised by the opposition NDP include health care, education, addictions, and the proposed Marshals Service.

More news and info

• Canada Post workers go on strike, disrupting deliveries ahead of holiday season (CBC News)

• Friends of VIDO receives $1M from Saskatoon philanthropist (SaskToday)

• City of Regina cancels official Palestinian flag-raising and ceremony (Regina Leader-Post)