At Regina City Council’s monthly meeting Wednesday, Councillor Jerry Flegel brought forward a motion to ask the city to look at allowing some sports and activities to resume as the province reopens.
Flegel said the reasoning behind the motion was the physical and mental well being of Regina residents, who have been cooped up at home for over two months.
“When you’ve got a house full of people that have to be cooped up, it gets pretty stressful around there,” said Flegel. “Sometimes going for a walk just doesn’t do it.”
He says the city has the facilities for people to play sports and obey physical distancing rules.
“When we look at this, we’ve got tennis courts, we’ve got pickle ball, lawn bowling, we’ve got hockey rink ice in a few places,” said Flegel. “It could be done properly with social distancing and even wearing masks.”
The motion was defeated by council, who decided to leave the reopening of sports facilities to the province. One of the concerns brought up by council was the ability to prevent transmission and exposure to COVID-19 through these activities.
Flegel says he agrees with the city’s decision, and hopes the province takes a look at the possibility of allowing these types of activities to resume sooner than later.
Flegel adds the best way to help reopen everything sooner, is to keep staying the course.
“I just want everybody to be safe. We’re doing the best we can to work within our range of city council, and the province is doing a good job, our administration’s been doing a good job,” said Flegel. “We have to stay the course in some way.”
In the Re-open Saskatchewan Plan, private gyms and fitness facilities will open in Phase 3 on June 8th, but outdoor and indoor recreation facilities will have to wait until Phase 4.
