Good afternoon Regina!!!
I have heard from many, many great Regina Taxpayers over the course of the past while, and one common element I keep hearing is "Why didn't they put the Stadium to a referendum?" (Also of note, I've heard on more than one occasion that this referendum should also be considered a Vote of Non-Confidence/Impeachment if the Vote YES side wins)
Just as an FYI for everyone reading this. No matter the turnout of this referendum, ANYONE can file a Court Injunction to immediately stop the development of the Stadium until City Council satisfies the public desire to have their input on the project. Now, I am not saying I want to see another referendum; the City has made it quite evident how they would approach such a thing (unethically and borderline illegal activity), but I do know that I have heard many, many folks state that they’d have rather had a referendum on the Stadium, and can’t believe that the City Council wouldn’t put it on this ballot anyways.
Keep in mind – The referendum you are voting on is NOT the result of Regina Water Watch’s petitioning. As great and amazing as they had been in their efforts, the City of Regina deliberately ignored the true intention of the Provincial Legislation (Cities Act and Local Government Elections Act) and deemed “just enough” signatures to be “invalid” to consider the petition invalid. Thus, when Regina City Council decided to pursue the referendum anyways, “on their own accord”, they had the opportunity to word the question however they wanted, include as many questions as they wanted, and have as many options as they wanted.
Public opinion is that they “gave in” to public pressure and worded the question EXACTLY as the petition, because if they didn’t, well, they’d have faced a pretty angry electorate and they’d guarantee themselves no re-election in 2016. However, the reality is that because they chose to pursue the referendum on their own accord, the results are NOT BINDING, at least as far as those that wrote the legislation are telling me. It would be absolutely ludicrous for the City to deny the electorate if a Vote Yes wins, but unfortunately, nothing would surprise me anymore with this group of self-entitled blowhards.
Regarding the Stadium issue, I DID request that the City of Regina put this question on this referendum, since they were going to incur the costs of a referendum anyways, and that seemed to be a big argument against the Stadium Petition drive during the election. (The reality is they just didn’t want to hear the true opinions of an informed electorate) They outright refused, with the explanation that “we believe people gave us the mandate by voting us all in – in the 2012 Municipal Election”. Translation: “Nah, nah, nah we won – you didn’t – too bad, go cry in a corner.”
This leaves only one other option. That of legal means. And, considering I’ve already begun legal action against the City of Regina, as has Mr. Keith Peterson for a completely separate matter, this would not be too difficult to add to the case in a motion, if we so chose. (FEDERAL COURT for those who want to search the publicly available documents - EDIT: Apparently someone has already searched the documents and made them available on the internet - See links below)
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