Another person has thrown their name in the hat to run for mayor of Regina in this year’s municipal election – this time it’s a city councillor.
Jerry Flegel, who has represented ward 10 for a number of years, officially announced his campaign for mayor late Thursday morning. He joins Michael Fougere, the current mayor of Regina, and Tony Fiacco, the brother of Fougere’s predecessor Pat Fiacco.
Putting his 14 years of being a councillor on the line, he told reporters that he has confidence in his bid.
“I’m the type of guy that would rather see us do four or five things, have four things be successful and work on the fifth thing to make it a success, as opposed to planning and waiting,” said Flegel. “That’s what’s going on today and we can’t have that anymore.”
He added that he has the energy and relationships with different communities to instill a cultural change to make the city better.
One reporter noted since he has been a councillor for 14 years, he has given input and voted in favour of a number of items with city council over the years. Flegel acknowledged he was part of the problem, but suggested that his leadership will move the city in a positive direction.
“In the political world, they say ‘everybody drinks a bit of Kool-Aid,’ but I’m tired of drinking the same Kool-Aid,” stated Flegel. “We’re starting to lose people to B.C. and Alberta again and we have to stop that to create a better environment for the city of Regina.”
As mayor, Flegel said he’d get to work on under-utilized areas in the city such as building affordable housing where Taylor Field used to sit and construct a recreation complex at the empty rail yard by downtown. The plan for the recreation site would include a baseball field for the Western Canadian Baseball League’s Regina Red Sox and a centre for events and groups.
Other goals he has set for himself include strengthening city council’s relationship with the provincial government, working on public safety such as policing and addressing the Black Lives Matter movement, and increasing the city’s effort with their COVID-19 plan.
Sexual harassment allegations
Flegel’s candidacy comes after he was specifically named in a post on July 23 on the Instagram account Victims Voices Regina. The social media page has been a safe place for victims and survivors to share their experiences anonymously whether it be sexual harassment, abuse or other incidents.
In Flegel’s case, an anonymous submission detailed an encounter with him at a charity event in 2015.
Flegel mentioned that he already responded to the post through the Regina Leader-Post, adding that he’s confident in the response he gave.
“It was about my professional conduct and I can tell you personally that I don’t act like that,” he shared. “I don’t do those type of things. I hold myself very high on how I handle myself on a personal and professional level.”
He has asked to speak with the person who submitted the story but there has been no response to his request.
Flegel said he doesn’t remember the incident, adding that he looked back on his calendar in 2015 when he attended roughly a hundred events.
“If somebody would have said and done what they stated I did, I would have remembered that,” he replied. “I’m clean. I’m good.”