Decision reserved in court case over Regina city budget

It was standing room only in a Regina King’s Bench courtroom Tuesday morning as arguments began in the court application against city manager Niki Anderson.

So many people were in the room at first that the arguments were pushed back an hour to allow other matters on the docket to proceed and clear out the room a little.

The arguments took about 2 1/2 hours, but Justice John Morrall reserved his decision, saying he didn’t think it would be fair to either side to rule from the bench.

Morrall expected to be able to give the decision some time on Wednesday — the same day city council is to begin its budget debate.

In the courtroom, Dan LeBlanc began. He’s a city councillor, but he’s also the lawyer arguing the application on behalf of Coun. Andrew Stevens and citizen Florence Stratton. They want the courts to force Anderson to include a plan to end homelessness in the proposed city budget — what’s called a mandamus application.

LeBlanc argued that city council passed a motion to include the cost in the budget, and Anderson then had a responsibility to carry out the council’s wishes.

LeBlanc argued to the justice that if a democratically elected body directs unelected staff to do something, it should be done and that the content or wisdom of that direction is irrelevant.

In his arguments, LeBlanc said Anderson, in not including the plan as a line item in the proposed budget, used discretion she didn’t have.

Afterward, LeBlanc explained the city’s manager’s duties are outlined in a bylaw, city council gave clear direction in June, and the city manager decided not to include the plan in the budget. He believes those three things are enough to pass the test for a mandamus remedy.

LeBlanc said afterwards he felt good.

“It’s always in the judge’s hands; there’s no such thing as a sure thing. We’ll see (Wednesday), but then at least we’ll have certainty going into budget debate,” said LeBlanc.

The councillor said there is some novelty in arguing this so close to the actual budget debate.

“It’s interesting to work for what I think is the public good through both legal and political realms and it’s nice to have a couple sets of tools in the toolkit,” he said.

He also said this was a novel, or new, case across Canada.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a situation of a city manager saying, ‘I know better than you politicians. I’m not putting it in.’ That’s quite novel and so is the application,” said LeBlanc.

During the arguments, Anderson’s lawyer, Milad Alishahi, argued several different points meant to demonstrate that the test for a mandamus application hadn’t been met.

He argued, among other things, that the city manager owes a duty to city council alone, not the public, and that it’s not a duty owed to the applicants either. He pointed out the rest of council voted in support of the city manager.

Alishahi also argued there’s little to no practical value to the application and there are alternative remedies that could have been engaged.

LeBlanc, speaking to media outside the courthouse, said he believes council and Anderson will be able to work together after this, though he admitted there could be a “re-warming” period.

“We’ve actually had three meetings between when we filed this and when we argued it today and that’s been fine. I mean (it’s) business as usual at council. Everyone’s professionals, at least when we’re doing it in public, and so it’s been fine. I anticipate it’ll be fine,” said LeBlanc.

If the judge does side with LeBlanc, Stevens and Stratton and the plan is included in the draft budget but council votes to remove it anyway, LeBlanc said he would be disappointed.

“But at least it will be fully legitimate and fully in the open,” said LeBlanc.

Anderson and her lawyer declined to comment on the matter until the decision is reached.

There are as many as 29 delegations expected to speak to council on parts or the whole of the city budget Wednesday, with more on Thursday. LeBlanc expects many of them to be speaking on the homelessness issue.

“Right now, it’s not set up to be the fulsome debate that we clearly set up in June but it’s going to be a more full debate than I think Regina has ever had on whether to actually fund and solve homelessness,” said LeBlanc.

The budget meeting is expected to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, and continue on into Thursday and possibly Friday. There are 75 delegates on the agenda to start on Thursday.