Sandra Masters

Sandra Masters is a Canadian politician and the current Mayor of Regina, Saskatchewan. Masters is the first female mayor of either of Saskatchewan's major cities.[1] She was first elected in the 2020 Saskatchewan municipal elections.[2]

Sandra Masters
Mayor of Regina, Saskatchewan
Assumed office
November 23, 2020
Preceded byMichael Fougere
Personal details
CitizenshipCanadian
ResidenceRegina, Saskatchewan
ProfessionCredit manager

Masters moved to Regina in 1999 and worked for Richardson Agriculture as the manager of credit for the Prairie Provinces.[3] Since 2014 she had served on the board of Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL), but she resigned her role as board chair in order to run for mayor.[4]

Political career

Masters launched her campaign for Regina's mayoralty on September 16, 2020.[3] Her campaign focused on developing an anti-poverty strategy for the city, supporting the Regina Police Service and local businesses, and reducing city administration costs by 15%.[5][6] Masters won the election, unseating two-term incumbent mayor Michael Fougere in a nine-person race with 46.4 per cent of the vote.[2] This made Masters the first person since Pat Fiacco to become mayor of Regina with no previous city council experience.[7] She was sworn in as mayor on November 23, 2020.[8]

During her term, Masters became a backer of Regina's catalyst committee, which is tasked with overseeing the potential development of five potential downtown revitalization projects worth nearly $500 million, including new baseball, soccer, and aquatic facilities, a new event centre, and a modernized central library.[9] Masters hired the city's first female manager, Niki Anderson, in 2022 following the dismissal of Chris Holden.[10] By the mid-way point of her mayoral term, Masters also found herself leading a divided city council that saw in-fighting, persistent formal complaints against councillor Terina Nelson, and a fractious debate over affordability and a plan to address homelessness, which included councillor Andrew Stevens being part of a lawsuit against Anderson over budgetary procedural matters.[9] In December 2022, Masters stated that her accomplishments to that point in time centered on bolstering local pride in Regina.[9]

Election results
2020 Regina mayoral election
Candidate Votes %
Sandra Masters 19,015 46.4
Michael Fougere (X) 14,649 35.7
Jerry Flegel 3,240 7.9
Tony Fiacco 1,514 3.7
5 other candidates 2,583 6.3
Total 41,001 100.00

See also

References
  1. Djurik, Mickey (November 9, 2020). "Sandra Masters will be Regina's first elected female mayor". Global News. Retrieved November 16, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. "Regina's Sandra Masters becomes first woman voted to mayor's office in major Sask. city". CBC News. November 9, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. McNally, Ryan (November 16, 2020). "Sandra Masters enters Regina mayoral race". CKRM. Retrieved 2020-11-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. Solomon, Michaela (September 16, 2020). "Former REAL board chair Sandra Masters enters Regina mayoral race". CTV News Regina. Retrieved November 16, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. Salloum, Alec (September 25, 2020). "Sandra Masters lays out platform in race for Regina mayor". Regina Leader-Post. Retrieved November 16, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. O'Donovan, Connor (October 8, 2020). "Sandra Masters unveils mayoral platform promising 'a Regina for every citizen'". Global News. Retrieved November 16, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. Salloum, Alec (November 12, 2020). "'I'm one of eleven,' says Sandra Masters of her approach to leadership". Regina Leader-Post. Retrieved November 16, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. Mattern, Ashleigh (November 24, 2020). "Regina's new city council ready to get to work, says Mayor Sandra Masters". CBC News. Retrieved November 24, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. Quon, Alexander (2022-12-27). "Regina mayor's legacy is beginning to take shape — whether she wants it to or not". CBC News. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  10. "Niki Anderson selected as Regina's new city manager". CBC News. 2022-09-27. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
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