Quote:
Originally Posted by Mayor Quimby
I have been consistent and balanced in my posts and it is council lack of this consistency that bothers me and I state it.
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You keep on telling yourself that. Your posts are more predictable than the sun rising in the morning.
Quote:
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I strongly believe in the 3T's for urban prosperity, what do you believe ?
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I could list your 3t's but it would likely get me banned from this site. Personally i believe in a city that is prosperous, proactive, and is a safe place to raise a family. One such as this one..........
History
Regina was established in 1882 when it became clear that Edgar Dewdney, the lieutenant-governor of the North-West Territories, eschewed the previously established and considered Battleford, Qu'Appelle and Fort Qu'Appelle as the territorial headquarters; these were widely considered more amiable locations for what was anticipated would be a major city, situated as they were in amply watered and treed rolling parklands whereas "Pile-of-Bones," as the site was then called, was in the midst of arid and featureless grassland.
First house in Regina, 1882.Dewdney had acquired land adjacent to the route of the future CPR line at Pile-of-Bones, which was distinguished only by collections of bison bones near a small spring run-off creek, some few kilometres downstream from its origin in the midst of what are now wheat fields. This probably constituted an improper private interest of Dewdney's in promoting the site of Pile-of-Bones as the territorial headquarters and was a national scandal at the time, but until 1896 when responsible government was accomplished, the territorial lieutenant-governor and council governed by fiat and there was little legitimate means of challenging such decisions.
Regina attained national prominence in 1885 during the North-West Rebellion despite the fact that the Canadian Pacific Railway had still only reached the formerly designated territorial headquarters of Troy (Qu'Appelle) some thirty miles to the east, which became the marshalling point to the northwest for troops arriving from eastern Canada by train. Subsequently, the rebellion's leader, Louis Riel, was tried and hanged in Regina — giving the infant community increased and, at the time, not unwelcome national attention in connection with a figure of significance in Canadian history.
Scarth Street, circa 1915.Regina was incorporated as a city on June 19, 1903 and was proclaimed the capital of the province of Saskatchewan on May 23, 1906 by the first provincial government, led by Premier Walter Scott. On June 30 1912, a tornado known as the Regina Cyclone hit the community, levelling much of the young city's business district, killing 28 people and injuring hundreds, making it Canada's deadliest tornado.
Regina's early history was of rapid growth which continued until the Great Depression began in 1929, at which point Saskatchewan had been the third province of Canada in both population and economic indicators. Thereafter, Saskatchewan never recovered its early promise and Regina's growth slowed and at times reversed. From the 1930s onward, Regina became a centre of considerable political activism and experiment as its people sought to adjust to new, reduced economic realities.
Events of national importance which occurred in Regina include the trial of Louis Riel (followed by Riel's execution) in July 1885; the Regina Manifesto, 1933; the Regina Riot, 1 July 1935 and the Saskatchewan Doctors' Strike in 1961 when medical doctors withheld their services in response to the introduction of Medicare.
Geography and climate
Downtown Regina in winterRegina has a semi-arid continental climate (Koppen climate classification BSk) with warm, somewhat moist summers and cold, dry winters. Annual precipitation is 390 mm (17 inches), and is heaviest from June through August with June being the wettest month at 75 millimetres.
The average daily temperature for the year is 2.8°C (37°F). The lowest temperature ever recorded was -50.0 °C (-58 °F) on January 1, 1885 while the highest recorded temperature was 43.3 °C (109.9 °F) on July 5, 1937.
East Regina NeighbourhoodThe city is situated on a broad, flat and originally treeless, though fertile plain. There is an abundance of parks and greenspaces: all of its trees, shrubs and other plants were hand-planted and Regina's considerable beauty is entirely man-made. Reginans make a virtue of the infelicitous climate and in winter outdoor rinks abound and cross-country skiing are major recreational activities, especially in Wascana Centre; Wascana Lake, the venue for summer boating activities, is regularly cleared of snow in winter for skating.
As in other prairie cities, American elms were planted in front yards in residential neighbourhoods and on boulevards along major traffic arteries and are the dominant species in the urban forest. The streetscape is now endangered by Dutch elm disease, which has spread through North America from the eastern seaboard and has now reached the Canadian prairies; for the time being it is controlled by intense pest management programs and species not susceptible to the disease are being planted.
Industry and resources
Oil and natural gas, potash, kaolin, sodium sulphite and bentonite contribute a great part of Regina and area's economy. The farm and agricultural component is still a significant part of the economy but it is no longer the major driver of the economy; provincially it has slipped to eighth overall, well behind the natural resources sectors. The Innovation Place Research Park near the University of Regina hosts several science and technology companies.
Urban planning issues
New Regina City Hall (1976)Regina has grown from a collection of wooden shanties and tent shacks clustered around the not-yet-built railway line into a modern city. Original city development centred around the railroad tracks in what is today Regina's downtown. As in other Canadian cities, the disappearance of the Simpson's and Eaton's retail department stores in the downtown, as well as the proliferation of shopping malls and "big box stores" on northern, southern and eastern periphery, together with a corresponding drift of entertainment venues (including all cinemas) to the city outskirts, depleted the city centre. Recently, changes have been underway to return vitality to the city centre, with condominium housing and business developments strongly encouraged. The former location of the Hudson's Bay Company department store (previously the site of the Regina Theatre) has been converted into offices; Globe Theatre, Casino Regina and its show lounge in the old CPR train station, the Cornwall Centre and downtown restaurants again draw people downtown although the mooted development of another large retail commercial area in the southwest near the airport would inevitably further compromise efforts to revitalize the central business district. The north-central sector of the city has in recent years become the focus of attention for its poverty, high rates of drug use and prostitution, and it remains be seen in the future if the attempts by community and all levels of government to improve the situation in the area will be successful.
Historic buildings and precincts
11th Avenue and Scarth Street, 1911. 1908 City Hall and Medical Arts Building in background; Old Post Office to the right; Imperial Bank of Canada across 11th Avenue.Many buildings of historical significance and value were lost during the period from 1945 through approximately 1970; a side-effect of the city's mid-century modernization. Regina's loss of the Romanesque Revival city hall on 11th Avenue is a particularly unfortunate example of the phenomenon. (It was replaced by a shopping mall, which was renovated extensively later to create office space for the Government of Canada.)
Since the 1970s, as has also occurred in many other Western Canada cities, a more historically conservationist attitude has taken hold in Regina, and many of the old buildings have been put to new uses instead of being demolished: the transformation of the old Normal School on the Regina College campus of the University of Regina into the Canada-Saskatchewan Soundstage and the Old Post Office on the Scarth Street Mall are two examples.
Natural recreational amenities
Regina has a large percentage of its overall area devoted to parks and greenspaces, with biking paths and other recreational facilities throughout the city. The City operates five municipal golf courses, including two in King's Park northeast of the city. Kings Park Recreation facility is also home to ball diamonds, picnic grounds, and stock car racing.
Within half an hour's drive is the summer cottage and camping country in the Qu'Appelle Valley with Last Mountain and Buffalo Pound Lakes and the four Fishing Lakes of Pasqua, Echo, Mission and Katepwa; slightly farther east are Round and Crooked Lakes.
Bedroom communities
From its first founding, residents of Regina have repaired to the nearby Qu'Appelle Valley on weekends and for summer holidays. Since the 1940s, many of the towns near Regina have steadily lost population as western Canada's agrarian economy reorganised itself from small family farm landholdings of a quarter-section (160 acres, the standard land grant to homesteaders) to the multi-section (a "section" being one square mile) landholdings that are nowadays necessary for economic viability. Some of these towns have enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance as a result of the excellent roads that for many decades seemed likely to doom them; they—and to some extent the nearby city of Moose Jaw—are now undergoing a mild resurgence as commuter satellites for Regina.
Qu'Appelle, at one time intended to be the Territorial metropole, enjoyed a temporary reprieve from its inexorable decline during the 1950s and '60s when Regina cottagers passed through en route to the Qu'Appelle Valley; Highway 10, which bypassed Qu'Appelle, quickly ended this brief holiday; Fort Qu'Appelle remains the summer vacation resort of choice; Indian Head is far enough from Regina to have an autonomous identity but close enough that its charm and vitality attract commuters; White City and Emerald Park are quasi-suburbs of Regina, as have become Balgonie, Grand Coulee, Pilot Butte and Lumsden in the Qu'Appelle Valley, some ten miles (16 km) to the north of Regina. Regina Beach — situated on Last Mountain Lake (known locally as Long Lake) and a 30-minute drive from Regina — has been a summer favourite of Reginans from its first establishment; Rouleau (also known as the town of Dog River in the television sitcom "Corner Gas") is 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Regina.
Wascana Centre
Wascana Lake with downtown ReginaWascana Centre is a 9.3 square kilometre (2,300 acre) park built around Wascana Lake and designed in 1961 by Minoru Yamasaki — the Seattle-born architect best known as the designer of the original World Trade Center in New York — in tandem with his starkly modernist design for the new Regina Campus of the University of Saskatchewan.[2]
It brings together lands and buildings owned by the City of Regina, University of Regina, Province of Saskatchewan and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, including:
the Royal Saskatchewan Museum;
the Powerhouse of Discovery Science Centre and Kramer Imax theatre;
the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery;
the Conexus Arts Centre concert hall and theatre complex (formerly known as the Saskatchewan Centre for the Arts);
the Canada-Saskatchewan Soundstage;
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
the Regina College campus of the University of Regina including the Regina Conservatory of Music (in the old girls' residence wing of the Regina College building), the Darke Hall theatre and concert venue and
the Saskatchewan Legislative Building.
Spruce IslandWascana Lake was created as a "stock watering hole" — for the CPR's rolling stock, that is — in 1883 when a dam and bridge were constructed 1½ blocks to the west of the present Albert Street Bridge. A new dam and bridge were built in 1908, and Wascana Lake was used as a domestic water source and to cool the city’s power plant and, in due course, the new provincial legislative building.
Regina's improbable location made its water supply a perennial issue, but by the 1920s — with the Boggy Creek source of domestic water — Wascana Lake had ceased to have a utilitarian purpose and had become primarily a recreational facility, with bathing and boating its principal uses. It was drained in the 1930s as part of a government relief project; 2,100 men widened and dredged the lake bed and created two islands using only hand tools and horse-drawn wagons.
During the fall and winter of 2003–2004, Wascana Lake was again drained and dredged to deepen it by about an average of five metres (16 ft) while adding a new island, a promenade area beside Albert Street Bridge, water fountains, and a waterfall to help aerate the lake.
Transportation
Streetcar on Albert Street Bridge circa 1935; Provincial Legislative Building across lake.The city's public transit agency, Regina Transit, operates a fleet of 110 buses, on 16 routes, 7 days a week with access to the city centre from most areas of the city. A massive fire at the streetcar barns, on January 23, 1949, destroyed much of the rolling stock of streetcars and trolley buses and helped to propel Regina's diesel bus revolution in 1951. Because of the 1949 fire, original Regina streetcar rolling stock was rare, though through later years a few disused streetcars remained in evidence — a streetcar with takeaway food, for example, on the site of the Regina Theatre at 12th Avenue and Hamilton Street, until the Hudson's Bay Company acquired the site and built its 60s-through-90s department store there, and for many years another in the Scarth Street Mall.
The CPR no longer operates regular passenger services, though in the past railway passenger trains constituted the principal mode of inter-urban transit between Western Canadian cities. Its former station in downtown Regina — once the urban hub — has become a casino (see below). Nowadays Regina can be reached by several highways including the Trans-Canada Highway from the west and east sides and four provincial highways from other directions. The city is served by Ring Road, a high speed connection between Regina's east and northwest that loops around the city's east side (the west side of the loop is formed by Lewvan Drive) with plans calling for another perimeter highway to encircle the city farther out.[3]
Regina International Airport, the oldest established commercial airport in Canada, has recently undergone a major upgrade and expansion to allow it to handle the projected increase in traffic for the next several years. Situated on the west side of the city, it has eight gates that handle flights to major centres in Canada as well as daily flights to and from Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota via Northwest Airlines. WestJet and Air Canada Jazz airlines are also regularly scheduled in and out of Regina International Airport.
Education
University of Regina
In the years prior to the establishment of the University of Saskatchewan, there was continued debate as to which Saskatchewan city would be awarded the provincial university: ultimately Saskatoon won out over Regina and in immediate reaction the Methodist Church of Canada established Regina College in Regina. Regina College was a high school and junior college affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan — Campion and Luther Colleges, run by the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches, operated on the same basis. Ultimately the financially hard-pressed United Church of Canada, which in any case had ideological difficulties with the concept of fee-paying private schooling, could no longer maintain Regina College during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and Regina College was disaffiliated and surrendered to the University of Saskatchewan; it became the Regina Campus of the University of Saskatchewan in 1961. After a protracted contretemps over the siting of several faculties in Saskatoon which had been promised to the Regina campus, Regina Campus sought and obtained a separate charter as the University of Regina in 1974. The University of Regina had some 12,500 students as of the 2002-2003 academic year and was rated 6th in the 2005 Maclean's magazine Canadian National Comprehensive Universities Rankings.
The original Regina College buildings on College Avenue continue in use; the old Girls' Residence is now the Regina Conservatory of Music and the old Normal School is now the Canada-Saskatchewan Soundstage.
Campion College and Luther College were church-run, private high schools offering junior college courses accredited by the University of Saskatchewan, on the same basis as the old Regina College. Both colleges now have federated college status in the University of Regina, as does the First Nations University of Canada.
The Regina Research Park is located immediately adjacent to the main campus and many of its initiatives in information technology, petroleum and environmental sciences are conducted in conjunction with university departments. A member in the research park is Canada's Petroleum Technology Research facility, a world leader in oil recovery and geological storage of CO2.
Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology
Wascana campus of SIAST.
The Wascana campus of this province-wide technical institute is adjacent to the University of Regina. It occupies the former Plains Health Centre, previously a third hospital in Regina which in the course of rationallizing health services in Saskatchewan was in due course closed.
As with the federated colleges of the University of Regina, however, SIAST participates in and contributes to university life to the advantage of both its own and University of Regina students.
SIAST offers diplomas in some 175 trade and semi-professional fields ranging from accountancy and auto-mechanical technician through corrections worker, dental hygiene, driving instructor, nursing and school secretarial qualifications.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Academy, Depot Division
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Academy, "Depot" Division, is on the western perimeter of the city. As territory capital of the North-West Territories, Regina was the headquarters of the Royal North-West Mounted Police (the RCMP'S predecessor) before "the Force" became a national body with its headquarters in Ottawa in 1920. The city takes great pride in this national institution which is a major visitor attraction and a continuing link with Regina's past as the headquarters of the Force. The "Depot" Division chapel (the oldest building still standing in the city) is high on the list of must-see visitor attractions in Regina. An RCMP Heritage Centre is planned for opening in May 2007.
Public, separate and private schools
Main article: Public, separate and private schools in Regina, Saskatchewan
The Regina Public School Board, operates over 50 elementary schools and 10 high schools with approximately 20,000 students enrolled throughout the city with a small but growing number of home schooled children under the guidance of Regina Public School Board. A survey of student populations and school facilities is currently underway with the possibilty of school closures and reorganizing of school boundaries being hotly debated with some conclusions to be reached by late 2007 and decisions to be undertaken by June of 2008. The Regina Public School Board also supplies accredited teachers and services for several of the private schools in Regina. The publicly-funded Roman Catholic Separate School Board operates 25 elementary schools and four high schools, and has a current enrollment rate of approximately 10,000 students.
Private schools exist in Regina but have very small enrollments: the Roman Catholic, United, Lutheran and Anglican churches all established private schools in Regina in the early days of Western Canadian settlement but the inclusivist ethos of Saskatchewan society, particularly given the Public versus Separate Schools history, appears not to be especially hospitable to the concept of private schools. The Anglican (St Chad's), United Church (Regina College) and Roman Catholic Church (Campion, Sacred Heart College and Marian High School and Sacred Heart Academy) have long since closed their fee-paying schools in favour of the state-funded schools; the historic Luther College, operated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada persists as a high school on the site of the first Government House in association with the University of Regina federated college of the same name.
Latterly several private schools have been established in Regina for pre-school through Grade 12, albeit with small but currently growing enrollments, using premises long since abandoned by former state-funded schools: the Regina Huda school for Islamic education; Harvest City Church and Christian Academy occupying the former Sister Marion McGuigan Separate High School site; the Western Christian College and High School operated by the Churches of Christ using premises vacated by the Missionary Alliance; the Regina Christian School on the former site of Campion College.
Cultural life, sports and visitor attractions
Culture in Regina
Royal Saskatchewan MuseumRegina has a rich cultural life in music, theatre and dance, amply supported by the substantial fine arts constituency at the University of Regina, which has a large fine arts department including faculties of music and theatre. At various times this has attracted notable artistic talent: Donald M. Kendrick and Joe Fafard, now with significant international reputations, have been particular stars. The Regina Conservatory of Music operates in the former girls' residence wing of the Regina College building. Regina’s multicultural community earned Heritage Canada’s designation of 2004 "Cultural Capital of Canada" (in the over 125,000 population category).
Regina lacked a large concert and live theatre venue for many years after the loss to fire of the Regina Theatre in 1938 and the demolition of the Old City Hall in 1962 at a time when preservation of heritage architecture was not yet a fashionable issue,
The Conexus Arts Centrethough until the demolition of downtown cinemas which doubled as live theatres the lack was not urgent, and Darke Hall on the Regina College campus of the university provided a small concert and stage venue. (See Regina's historic buildings and precincts.) The default was remedied in 1970 with the construction of the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts (now the Conexus Arts Centre) as a Canadian Centennial project, a theatre and concert hall complex overlooking Wascana Lake. According to its promotional literature, it is one of the most acoustically perfect concert venues in North America. The Royal Saskatchewan Museum (the present 1955 structure a Saskatchewan Golden Jubilee project) dates from 1906.
Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Cathedral and Knox-Metropolitan United Church have particularly impressive pipe organs, maintain substantial musical establishments and are frequently the venues for choral concerts and organ recitals.
Sports
Mosaic Stadium at Taylor FieldSports teams in Regina include the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League, the Regina Thunder of the Canadian Junior Football League, the Prairie Fire of the Rugby Canada Super League, the Regina Red Sox of the Western Major Baseball League, the University of Regina's Regina Cougars, Regina Rams of the CIS, and the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a community-owned professional sports team. The Riders have a strong and loyal fan support base. Out-of-town season ticket holders often travel 300 to 400 kilometres (200–250 mi) or more to attend home games.
Regina's curling teams have distinguished the city for many decades. Richardson Crescent commemorates the Richardson curling team of the 1950s; in recent years Olympic Gold medal winner Sandra Schmirler and her rink occasioned vast civic pride.
Visitor attractions
The Kramer Imax Theatre located at the Saskatchewan Science CentreAttractions for visitors in Regina include the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (a museum of natural history); the Saskatchewan Science Centre; the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery and numerous smaller galleries and museums; the Saskatchewan Legislative Building; Holy Rosary Cathedral; the RCMP national training centre and the museum; Government House; Casino Regina, the Globe Theatre; events held at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field; Ipsco Place (formerly Regina Exhibition Park), the venue for the annual Buffalo Days Exhibition every August; and the Connexus Arts Centre (see the City of Regina website below).
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