REGINA - Now that I finally have time on my hands, I decided I would do a column outlining my experience during my first year covering news in Regina.
Yes, it has been a year since the big move to become Glacier’s provincial reporter for SASKTODAY.ca. Or, more accurately, over a year. I had initially planned to write this back in May to coincide with the anniversary of my move here from North Battleford, but my workload had been through the roof.
That’s the one big difference between covering news here as opposed to there: Regina is basically the centre of the universe when it comes to Saskatchewan news. Basically, most of the important stuff runs through Regina, because this is the centre of government and political news — and it is also the centre of Saskatchewan Roughriders news.
That is another change you may have noticed of late. I am now officially covering the Saskatchewan Roughriders home games with pre-and-post Gameday reports, following up on our major coverage last fall of Grey Cup Week festivities. I figure there's no shortage of interest in Riders news, so why not?
In reality, there hasn’t been a major change in the types of stories I cover. I’m still covering sporting events, municipal council meetings, provincial and federal politics, local events and so on.
It’s just on a bigger stage than before and in a bigger city. The main challenge I have found is having to constantly fight traffic and road construction to get to where I am going for media events, not to mention finding parking.
When I go to the Legislature I have a different challenge: trying to dodge the poop left by the birds who populate Wascana as I enter the building.
Wascana Centre is absolutely overrun by Canada geese, who are all over the grounds and even make their way to the lawn right in front of the Leg building. They're pretty amusing, actually, they think they're humans.
The animals here are something else, which reminds me of a story from when I first came down to Regina to search for a place to live. During that search I arrived at this one apartment block, and in front of the building I found a rabbit hopping around. A big, adorable bunny rabbit.
I immediately thought back to when my family took our trailer on a trip to Regina and I would sit inside and watch Bugs Bunny cartoons on TV. Seeing this bunny rabbit — it had to be an omen, a signal of some sort.
That was it, I signed on the dotted line and moved in.
As it turned out, this silly rabbit wasn’t an omen, or a sign from the heavens or any of that. This was just one member of one rabbit family who lived on the grounds, and that was just the start. These beasts are EVERYWHERE.
I saw them down by Government House. I saw them down by the RCMP Depot. I saw them on the other side of town. The rabbits are all over the place.
I wasn’t expecting this, because in central and northwestern Saskatchewan, rabbits were a rare sighting. Here, there are so many that I worry they might get culled by the local authorities. Already I have seen at least one rabbit as roadkill on the streets here, so I am afraid Regina is no place for them.
It isn’t just the abundance of hares. Ducks are also everywhere down at Wascana Centre, and there is no shortage of gophers — and the gophers here seem incredibly polite. Yes, this place Regina truly is one big Looney Tunes cartoon.
On the topic of movies, the other thing I didn’t expect was to move to the Saskatchewan version of Hollywood.
That’s right, the expansion last year of the Creative Saskatchewan Film and TV Production Grant has touched off a host of production activity here in Regina. I have covered media events down at the soundstage, and have been on the sets covering productions such as Zarqa and Die Alone, and recently covered the news conference for the Regina International Film Festival and Awards.
You would think you were in LA with all this stuff going on — and if you go to the local Carl’s Jr. on the east side, you’ll definitely feel like you’re in Southern California.
Now here is a look at some of the stories that I have had the opportunity to cover, which have been particular highlights of my time covering the news so far in Regina.
The Legislature:
After years of covering Saskatchewan provincial political happenings from a distance in the Battlefords, I found myself with a seat in the Legislature's press gallery every day, watching the proceedings live.
During the session, my day would consist of watching Question Period, and then afterwards I would head down to the rotunda where reporters posed questions to the political leaders on the news of the day.
It’s a lot of work, and some days are more hectic than others, such as the day major legislation like the Saskatchewan First Act is passed. Even more hectic was Budget day, and the Speech from the Throne.
The wildest days were the ones when MLAs got too carried away attacking one another in the Assembly, and then the Speaker would have to suspend a member for the day for refusing to apologize.
Throne Speech day in 2022 was particularly wild because of a controversial invited guest who showed up. It was Colin Thatcher, convicted years earlier of the murder of his ex-wife JoAnn Wilson, showing up in the Chamber.
All heck broke loose when the reporters found that out. We surrounded Minister Christine Tell in the rotunda and she was telling us Thatcher had paid his debt to society and had a right to be there. Wow.
That story, and the numerous apologies that followed from various government members including Premier Scott Moe, percolated for days. Lyle Stewart ended up being stripped of his Legislative Secretary duties because of his invite of Thatcher.
A far more sombre moment came this spring, when the Legislature adjourned for the day due to the death of Regina Walsh Acres MLA Derek Meyers. You could hear a pin drop in there that afternoon.
Regina City Hall:
Folks, I have been covering municipal politics for over 15 years, mainly in North Battleford and Battleford. All I have to say is in all those years I have never covered a more wild, more crazy city council than the one at Regina City Hall.
The situation that unfolded in November and December with the budget, with Councillors Dan LeBlanc and Andrew Stevens taking the city manager to court and with the gallery being filled with homeless advocates during the budget process, was one I won’t forget.
The fallout from all of it plus all the other craziness emanating out of this city -- such as the uproar over the brief and botched rebrand of “Tourism Regina” as “Experience Regina” -- provided endless stories for myself at SASKTODAY.ca and for all the other reporters here in Regina.
There have also been plenty of other stories as well, such as announcements on major road construction happening, the Catalyst Committee recommendations on major "transformational" city projects, and news conferences on the city's response to the latest storms or snow dumps.
Airport happenings:
What I didn’t expect before coming to Regina was the amount of stories I would do emanating from the latest happenings involving the YQR airport.
From Sunwing’s cancelled flights to news of new WestJet routes and a runway reconstruction project here, there has been major stories from the airport throughout my time in Regina.
What was particularly exciting was when memorable flights came to town. One was when Swoop had their inaugural flight to the Regina airport, when we rushed out to the tarmac to capture photos of the Swoop 737 aircraft receiving the water cannon salute. There was also the evening when the first flight of Ukrainians landed in Saskatchewan to much fanfare, on a flight from Warsaw on a large Boeing 787, no less — a rarity for Saskatchewan.
A few days later we were at the University of Regina where a “one stop shop” was set up to help the new arrivals with housing, getting jobs, getting drivers licenses, health cards, bank accounts and so on.
James Smith Cree Nation tragedy:
Eerily enough, right before the Labour Day weekend I wrote a column about how I found the late August - early September time to be a melancholy time because of the bad news associated with that point in the calendar, such as the death of Princess Diana and the 9/11 attacks. Then came the news events of September 2022, which will surely confirm that feeling for all time.
The stabbing rampage on James Smith Cree Nation and at Weldon, Saskatchewan put me on the job on what was supposed to be a restful Labour Day weekend watching CFL football on TV. Adding to the drama and uncertainty was a report — later proven to be unfounded — that the suspects had been spotted in Regina.
That would mean trips down to RCMP F Division for the latest updates on the situation. One of the most hectic nights I ever spent covering the news came after we learned that suspect Myles Sanderson was apprehended. As I prepared to go to the RCMP news conference in Regina for the news conference, the rumours started to swirl that Sanderson had died in custody shortly after being captured. That night, the RCMP confirmed it. It was a dramatic conclusion to a sad and tense several days for the people of Saskatchewan.
The Queen:
The very next morning, Queen Elizabeth II died.
It really was one of those “where were you” type of moments. In the days afterwards, I would be down at Government House for the proclamation of King Charles III, followed the following week by the province’s memorial service in Regina. This year, I also went to Government House and to the Legislature for the commemorations marking Charles III’s coronation.
What struck me was seeing how seamless a transition it was from one monarch to the next, and it all happened according to protocols that were well defined in advance. It really was seeing our constitutional monarchy in action.
Trudeau visits Regina:
There have been no shortage of political leaders in Regina during the past year. I posed questions to Jagmeet Singh at FCM, and covered one of Pierre Poilievre’s political rallies during his leadership race. The most memorable, though, was the visit of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Regina this year.
Trudeau held a media event at one of the local Co-op grocery stores and the reporters were able to ask him questions, myself included. My friends and family are, of course, quite impressed by that. I suspect you readers at home are less impressed.
The funniest part of Trudeau’s visit was when he left in the motorcade before heading to a town hall in the afternoon. As he entered the automobile, Trudeau was serenaded by a large throng of protesters waving placards and jeering him. He reacted by smiling and waving at them. When I saw that, I just about doubled over in laughter, it was so funny. Trudeau was not rattled in the least by that scene.
I could point to other interesting moments, like the time Joey Chestnut came to Regina and set a record eating mini-donuts at a donut-eating contest at the Queen City Ex. There was the time PBR Canada came to town and I got photos of the bulls bucking the riders off. There was the Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention, the NDP provincial leadership race, Miyo-wîcîwitowin Day at Mosaic Stadium, the 2024 Brier announcement, and of course Canadian Western Agribition and the Grey Cup Festival.
All in all, there’s never a dull moment here covering the news in Regina.
