
Prairie Dog readers recognize that life isn’t perfect. They know there’s always challenges and problems. That said, most of them would agree everything’s getting crappier these days. From smoke-filled, climate-changed summers and terrifying, broken winter weather to collapsing democratic and civil institutions; from rising hatred and arrogant ignorance to poverty, addiction epidemics and ever-increasing suffering, Saskatchewan is getting worse. It’s okay for Prairie Dog readers to recognize this moment — and in our first-ever Worst of Regina, that’s what they did.
Worst Local News Story
The Experience Regina Fiasco
2nd: Regina’s Homelessness Crisis
3rd: Proposal to open Scarth St. Mall to Cars
Runner-up: Rainbow Cinemas Closes
The Experience Regina Fiasco doesn’t deserve any more ink spilled on it. But maybe some readers tripped on 11thAvenue’sWorst of Regina sidewalk, bonked their buckets and got amnesia? Fine, here’s a recap:
IT BEGINS In June 2022, the City moved Tourism Regina from Economic Development Regina’s control to the Regina Exhibition Association (REAL).
THEN! In March 2023, inspired by a 2008 American-made viral video, Tourism was renamed Experience Regina, and launched a campaign with promotional slogans including “The City That Rhymes With Fun” and “Show Us Your Regina”. After instant and massive backlash and embarrassing international news coverage, REAL CEO Tim Reid apologized for the slogans, saying his organization “crossed the line”. The campaign was suspended.
AND THEN! In April, Experience Regina’s name was changed back to Tourism Regina. In July, an “independent report” said an unnamed “junior staffer” published the slogans before management could vet them. Huh, okay. Problem solved?
NO! On Nov. 8, City Council voted to move Tourism Regina,presumably in a radiation-proof container, from REAL to the City. Later, Council voted to fire REAL’s board of directors. They also quit — just to make sure, I guess?
And that’s the tale of Regina’s Worst Local News Story as voted by Prairie Dog readers. “Stupidest Local News Story” wasn’t a category but I bet The Experience Regina Fiasco would’ve won that, too. /SW
Worst City Hall News Story
Council’s Constant Bickering, Fighting and Whining
2nd: Anti-Homelessness Funds Left Out Of City Budget
3rd: City Hall Encampment Forcibly Evicted
Runners-up: The “No Trespassing” City Hall Fence”
The runners-up — all about the ongoing homelessness crisis — arguably sealed Council’s Constant Bickering, Fighting and Whining victory here, because “The Squabbles” (as we’ll call them) all started with a lawsuit around a homelessness budgeting dispute, and (may have?) settled down after the City Hall Fence came down. Council’s recent cooperation on a federal housing grant suggests tempers have cooled and fences have been mended. As long as no one storms out of any council meetings, right? /SW
Worst Intersection
Victoria Ave & Arcola St
2nd: Saskatchewan Dr. & Albert St
3rd: Dewdney Ave & Lewvan Dr.
Runners-up: Saskatchewan Dr & Broad St, Albert St & Regina Ave, Broad St & Lakeshore Dr
I’m no traffic engineer or even driver (outside of the odd time) but I am a cyclist, so I’m writing this blurb from that perspective. The first alarm bell is the sheer size of this freaking intersection. Traffic tends to move pretty fast through it too, especially coming and going on Arcola (a.k.a. Arsehola), where the speed limit is 60. For cyclists, that’s a double whammy (preferably not literally). Then there’s Arcola itself, which is misaligned, which messes with sightlines when cyclists are checking for oncoming traffic, and forces them into lengthy, parabolic left turns. All in all, an astute choice by voters. Chachi would be proud, I’m sure. Wah, wah, wah! /GB
Worst Public Sidewalk
11th Ave (All of it)
2nd: Sask. Drive (Albert St to Elphinstone St)
3rd: Dewdney East of Broad St
Runners-up: Rae St next to the (former) Golden Mile Mall, 13th Ave East of Winnipeg St,Toronto St near 15th Ave
This category could have had dozens of worthy winners. Scarth Street Mall, with its crumbling paving stones, would be my write-in pick. But 11th Ave. definitely has issues, highlighted — for me, anyway — by the huge bus shelter at Scarth and 11th by the Bank of Montreal. The shelter clogs up foot traffic and is a nightmare, I’m sure, for people with mobility challenges. That’s not to slam the very real need for transit infrastructure in the downtown, just to lament that, because of the dominance of big-ass trucks and SUVs, alternative transport modes in Regina get pitted against each other in a life-and-death struggle (sometimes literally) for the scarce space that remains. /GB
Worst Residential Street
Hill Ave between Elphinstone & Albert St
2nd: Elphinstone Between Regina Ave. & McCallum Ave
3rd: Angus St (200-300 Block)
Runners-up: Forget St. (1700 Block), Marsh Cres., Academy Park Rd, Primrose Green Dr., Mayfair Cres., Garnet St (17th to the Creek), Yarnton Cres.
Does Elphinstone even connect to Hill Avenue? Are you guys sure? Did you maybe mean Montague? I left this to deadline and don’t have time to search for some mythical Elphinstone-Hill intersection. I’m also not sure Hill Ave is any worse than most major roads in Lakeview, but Prairie Dog readers voted and results are legally binding. Sorry, Hill Avenue: you officially stink. /SW
Worst Parking Lot
General Hospital
2nd: Evraz Place/ REAL District
3rd: Superstore (Any Of Them)
Runners-up: Victoria Square Mall, Costco, Northgate Mall, Gordon Place (off South Albert)
Even if the lot was pristine asphalt, hospital parking isn’t ever gonna be the funnest, is it? I’d just love to know how many votes came from patients and families, and how many from hospital staff. /SW
Worst Place To Build An Arena
Anywhere in Regina
2nd: Downtown
3rd: Wascana Park
Runners-up: REAL District
Prairie Dog readers reeeally hate new arenas! /SW
Worst Wildlife
Wasps
2nd: Canada Goose a.k.a. Cobra Chicken
3rd: Mice
Runners-up: Pigeons, Feral Cats, Jackrabbits, Crows, Regular Squirrels, Ground Squirrels, Gulls
Fun fact: in June 2021, I made a big effort to peacefully co-exist with wasps. Fun fact: in August 2021, an asshole wasp stung me anyway. Fun fact: fuck wasps. /SW
Worst Saskatchewan News Story
The Mass Stabbing at James Smith Cree Nation
2nd: Saskatchewan’s Fentanyl and Addiction Epidemic
3rd: One in Five Sask. Children Live in Poverty
Runners-up: Worker Burnout Crisis in Saskatchewan Health Care, Saskatchewan Has Canada’s Worst HIV Rate, Saskatchewan Sets Multiple Heat Records
On Sept. 4, 2022, a rage-filled, alcohol-fuelled 32-year-old began a rampage that left 11 people dead and 17 injured, nearly all of them on James Smith Cree Nation. It ended — for him — with his death three days later. For survivors, family, friends and the community he brutalized, the scars remain. /SW
Worst Provincial Government Minister
Dustin Duncan
2nd: Paul Merriman
3rd: Christine Tell
Runners-up: Don McMorris, Jeremy Cockrill, Bronwyn Eyre
Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Dustin Duncan has been a wolf in sheep’s clothing in a few Ministries since first being elected in 2006. Environment (yeah, right). Health (crumbling faster than Regina sidewalks, see above). The Global Transportation Hub (“money flying away” emoji).
But it was likely his recent “star turn” in Education that put him over the top in this hotly contested category.
Since 2017, Sask. Party funding for public education has been largely static — this at a time when enrollment, in urban schools anyway, is skyrocketing, and more students with complex needs are entering the system. The result hasn’t been pretty, and Duncan’s relationship with school boards and teachers was predictably prickly. Then came the August 2022 Legacy Christian scandal, where 18 former students stepped forward with disturbing allegations of physical, sexual and psychological abuse at a private religious school in Saskatoon. Pending a police investigation, which has so far seen three school officials charged and a fourth plead guilty, students asked Duncan to freeze the school’s funding. Instead, Duncan bent over backwards to keep the school open, even hiring a “supervisor” to monitor operations.
Last March, the Moe government doubled down, giving private religious schools a 25 per cent budget increase while public schools got a crummy 2.5%.
That record alone makes Duncan a contender in this category, but more shit hit the fan this summer… /GB
Worst Sask. Politics News Story
Sask. Gov’t School Pronoun Policy and Notwithstanding Clause Shenanigans
2nd: Sask. Gov’t Privatizes Liquor Retail and Kills 400 Jobs
3rd: Sask. Party MLA Invites Convicted Killer to Throne Speech
Runners-up: Sask. Gov’t Raises Minimum Wage but it’s Still Canada’s Worst, Sask. Gov’t Snubs Estevan MRI Offer,Sask. Gov’t Bungles Affordability Crisis with stupid “Moe Money”,Sask. Gov’t Brags It Won’t Meet Climate Emissions Targets, Sask. Gov’t Slashes Surplus Forecast by a Half-Billion Dollars
So many options! But there can be only one.
This “winning” news story drew international attention. The Moe government, spooked by a strong showing by the right-wing Sask. United Party in an Aug. 10 Lumsden-Morse by-election, rushed into law a homophobic pronoun policy that mandated parents be informed when students under 16 wanted to change their names, gender identity or pronouns. This is a problem. Non-binary teens virtually never come out to their parents first — even in the safest, most accepting homes. And in conservative, religious families, where kids have heard their parents condemn LGBTQ identity? The stakes are just too high.
The pronoun policy followed a June decision by Education minister Dustin Duncan (see above) to boot Planned Parenthood from sex-ed classes in schools after an innocent (and frankly, harmless) mistake — this in a province with nation-leading rates of teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other STIs, and domestic and sexual violence.
The pronoun policy was drafted in a shockingly short time with zero consultation with affected youth, families, educators and health professionals. Similar moves are all the rage in Trump America, but so far in Canada only New Brunswick — and now Saskatchewan — have followed the Red States’ reactionary lead.
Reaction was fast and fierce. Critics charged the policy was unconstitutional and warned it puts vulnerable youth at risk. To cover its legal ass, the Moe government used the Notwithstanding Clause to steamroll an interim Kings Bench Court injunction. That drew condemnation too, with Sask. Human Rights commissioner Heather Kuttai resigning in protest, and legal scholars slamming the maneuver as an attack on civil liberties.
The legal case brought by UR Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity and Egale Canada is still going forward under a s.12 Charter argument (protection against cruel and unusual treatment or punishment) which isn’t covered by the Notwithstanding Clause. Stayed tuned. /GB
Worst Saskatchewan Premier Ever
Scott Moe
2nd: Grant Devine
3rd: Allan Blakeney
Runners-up: Brad Wall
Given the Grant Devine government’s legendary “reign of error”, it’s one hell of an achievement to get voted Worst Saskatchewan Premier Ever. Congratulations, Scott Moe — you’ve earned the crown. /SW