Gun violence, homelessness, culture rank high on Fougere's priority list
Looking ahead to his second four-year term, newly re-elected Mayor Michael Fougere has a long list of areas he wants to address — including gun crime, homelessness and a big downtown development project.
On Thursday, the day after his landslide win over four challengers, Fougere talked at length about his priorities with Morning Edition host Sheila Coles.
"There are many things that have not been completed," Fougere said. "The railyard renewal project is a work in progress that needs to be completed and will be completed, hopefully. We'll work on that very hard."
Road and sewers, but culture, too
As might be expected from any mayor, anywhere, in the 21st century, investing in infrastructure — roads, water pipes and sewers — is also high on Fougere's list.
"We have growth in our city. We need to fix our infrastructure both above ground and underground," he said.
Making Regina a more welcoming place for artists, musicians and other performers in another area Fougere wants to see city council work on.
'"That's very, very important as well," he said. "We have incredible talent in our city and we need to find a way to give a voice to that."
Making Regina safer
Reducing gun crime in the wake of more shootings is another area the mayor, who is also the chair of the Regina Board of Police Commissioners, wants to see progress on.
"We'll continue to talk about strategies to address that issue," he said.
"This is not a Regina issue alone. It is happening in most places in Western Canada where crime is going up — more gun violence driven by crystal meth and cocaine and all the crime that comes from that."
Finally, developing a strategy to end homelessness in Regina is another goal Fougere says he'd like to accomplish.
Housing is a federal and provincial responsibility, however, and the city's financial capacity to spend in this area is extremely limited, he said.
Local taxpayers cannot afford to build homes for the homeless, he added.
Fougere received about 70 per cent of the vote on Wednesday, and while the turnout was low — around 20 per cent — he's not letting that bother him.
"I don't think that will diminish the results of the election in any way," he said. "I would say that generally people don't vote when they are satisfied at the way things are going."
