As Chad Bachynski looks back on 2025 and his first year as the mayor of Regina, he admits there were challenges but they haven’t dampened his optimism for the city. Bachynski was elected mayor on Nov. 13, 2024, unseating incumbent Sandra Masters to become Regina’s 36th mayor. As he took the reins of his first political office, Bachynski joined forces with a city council that has nine of its 11 positions filled by first-time councillors. “There were some challenges. There were challenges in working through some of the leadership challenges in some of our organizations with the city and RPS, challenges in terms of a new council, getting through and understanding and learning. That probably is the biggest challenge, that learning curve, not only for myself, but as you know, nine out of 11 new counsellors having to learn the processes, the procedures, how to work with administration, to understand the information and how information comes to us,” Bachynski told CTV News. “[Council is] very different than a traditional organization where everything is expected and needs to be in the in public. That is the way this works, to make sure that we’re transparent in the decisions that we’re making. A lot of the year was learning, and it was expected to a degree with also adding in some of those unexpected challenges.” Despite the inexperience, Bachynski believes council had a productive year. “Leading into the positives, where we made a lot of decisions this year, I would say when it comes to housing, houselessness, infrastructure, we made a lot of decisions when it comes to zoning and different types of housing being enabled and activated across the city. Underutilized land strategy partnerships with growing young movers to help maintain vacant lots in our North Central community, and construction projects like 11th Avenue and Dewdney that really are key to tackling our infrastructure deficit as well as creating a vibrant city that that we all want to live in,” said Bachynski. “There’s lots of challenges. Every city has challenges, but I’d say there’s a lot of optimism and opportunity as well.” While there may be issues that council members disagree strongly on, Bachynski feels that council hasn’t allowed emotions to hinder the process. In fact, he’s impressed with how council has operated. “I’m very proud of this council in the way that they’ve rallied behind coming together and finding a way to work together. We have a very diverse council. We have opinions on every topic, on every side, but we found a way to come together,” said Bachynski. “I think the narrative for this council has very much been that we debate hard in public, really get your stance where you need to get out there in public. But when the cameras turn off and the meeting is over, we can shake hands, walk away, and live with the decision because ultimately, it’s a decision of council. It’s a democratic process.” A mechanical engineer by trade, Bachynski ran on a platform that highlighted his background in project management, in core infrastructure and managing multi-million dollar projects with major capital budgets. Regina’s infrastructure has been an issue for years with Bachynski and council tackling the difficult problem that doesn’t have a quick or easy solution. Having said that, Bachynski has said there is a plan in place to move forward with the provincial and federal governments playing roles. “Overall, we have about a nearly a billion-dollar infrastructure deficit. That doesn’t get fixed overnight, and frankly, the city can’t do that on its own. This is part of what I’ve been doing this year, building a lot of those relationships, both with the provincial government and the federal government ... We can’t do it on our own,” he said. “We can’t catch up on the backs of taxpayers and municipalities. It’s not an effective model to do that, so we need that help and there is a there’s a benefit on both sides. The goals of the federal government are to increase housing output by investing in our core infrastructure the way that we’re proposing that will do that, that unlocks capacity for us to develop areas like Coopertown as well as infill development that will increase the housing capacity that they’re looking for.” And of course, when the topic is infrastructure, construction dominates any conversation. Bachynski recognizes how aggravating construction can be for people and businesses but he also stresses that construction projects are imperative to the city. “Construction is frustrating. It impacts residents. It impacts businesses and commutes but it’s necessary. It’s absolutely necessary. You mentioned [Dewdney Avenue] looks great, and it absolutely looks great. But just as exciting is what’s underneath that people don’t see every day. The underground infrastructure that we don’t always talk about is critical to the growth of our city,” said Bachynski. “It’s getting to a place where we can manage the construction, the investments and understanding from the community where it’s critical and necessary to do in order to get to the next step in the growth and development, to have those nice things in our community.” With a year of experience under his belt, Bachynski has a few thoughts of how he would like council to move forward in 2026. “I still have certain things on my radar that I want to tackle. I campaigned strongly on construction, that is very much top of my mind, and early in the New Year, I plan to start diving into that more. Now that we’re trying to get to a place of stability, I want to lean into that more,” said Bachynski. “And then, part of that is talking with my colleagues who I’ve started that conversation with, and they understand where I want to go with that in terms of not dictating operations, but just understanding the way that we execute, and the balance between cost effectiveness and execution and impact to our community. In this role, what I’ve learned is every day you may need to pivot and address what’s in front of you.” “Are we in a place where there’s trust? Are we being transparent and do we have the right leaders in place to create a culture for our city that we can be proud of?” he asked. “There are challenges that we have to face, but ultimately, that’s our job, and we have to make those decisions in the best interest of the city.”
