2 challengers in Ward 7 taking on incumbent who had highest victory margin in 2016

Carol Reynolds says she did her research when deciding to run for the Ward 7 seat on Saskatoon city council, soshe knows she's going up against a formidable incumbent candidate, based on the last election.

In the 2016 municipal contest, Ward 7 Coun. Mairin Loewen secured the highest margin of any returning city councillor.

Loewen bestedher only opponent, Monique Koskie, by 6,475 votes.

The second highest winning margin belonged to Ward 10 Coun. Zach Jeffries, who defeated his lone challenger, Mattea Merta, by 5,051 votes.

"She came out very strong," Reynolds said of Loewen, who is seekingher third full term in the Nov. 9 election. "I don't expect this race to be easy, but I'm no stranger to hard work."

Reynolds is not alone. A third Ward 7 candidate, Darcy Warrington, announced his candidacy last week.

"I respect her, to be honest. She's a good politician," Warrington said of Loewen."But I wanted to run in the ward that I live in. I think I bring something else to the table."

Reynolds and Warrington'sentries into the Ward 7 race stand out at time when five other incumbents including Jeffries, Ward 4's Troy Davies and Ward 1's Darren Hill, who also enjoyed some of the highest margins of victory in 2016 face no challengers this year so far. The final slate will be known on Oct. 8.

Here's a rundown of all three Ward 7 candidates so far, in order of when they officially entered the race.

Carol Reynolds

Reynolds is a former communications manager for the City of Moose Jaw who owns a coffee shop in Saskatoon. She said her top priority as a candidate is reigniting the economy and getting people back to work amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

"As a city I think we need to do the most to make that happen," Reynolds said.

In a move unique among the 2020 election candidates so far, Reynolds has launched a campaign podcast, 5 Minutes with Carol, which offers her quick take on issues. Her second episode was uploaded soon after that day's governance and priorities committee of city council, during which councillors took the first steps toward mandatingmasks for Saskatoon Transit riders and officially recommending mask use in city-owned buildings.

• Council backs mandating masks on Saskatoon Transit buses

Reynolds said the city should have acted on maskssooner a criticism alsovoiced by mayoral candidate Rob Norris. Reynolds said she is not a Rob Norris candidate.

"Absolutely not. I want to work for the residents of the Ward 7. I've known Rob for a number of years. And perhaps he's following my book and web site very closely and listening to my podcast," she said.

Reynolds said Saskatoon has to plan for its future growth, but that plans for the bus-rapid-transit (BRT) service need to be put on the backburner, saying it's "not a huge priority right now."

"Right now we're still in a pandemic. Kids are not back to school yet, people are still in the transitional stages of going back to work, not going back to work, working from home. We need to be more responsive to the immediate needs of our residents."

Mairin Loewen

Loewen, who grew up in Ward 7, formally announced her re-election campaign on Aug. 24. She was first elected to the ward in a 2011 byelection.

Loewen said it's going to be important to have stable leadership as the city tries to navigate a recovery from the pandemic.

"Something that I'm really pleased with in terms of the work of the last four years on council is the progress we've been able to make on managing the city's infrastructure and doing that in a sustainable way," Loewen said. "We've made really good progress on things like parks, sidewalks and roadways and in the neighbourhoods of Ward 7, many of which are older suburbs. Refreshing that infrastructure is really important."

• BRT 101: A quick primer on Saskatoon's future bus rapid transit system

Unlike Reynolds, Loewendoes not feel BRT planning should be delayed.

"BRT is a project that will be tackled incrementally and with support from the federal government. I think it would be it would be unwise for the city to walk away from the potential to have significant capital support from another government."

The BRT would "not only deliver a very good service to the city, but generate a considerable amount of construction in the community," Loewen added.

Reynolds has said Loewen and other councillors have been too focused on spending and "not enough on making what we already have work more efficiently. Our current transit system is just one good example."

In response, Loewen said balancing competing priorities is a challenging exercise.

"I'm proud of the fact that tax increases over the last four years were, on average, lower than in the previous term of council," Loewen said.

Darcy Warrington

Warringtonteaches band and physical education at a Saskatoon public school. He entered the race late last week.

Asked what's top-of-mind for him, he said he's concerned about the plan for a new $134-million downtown library, given the timing.

"It's not that I don't value the library and reading and education. Obviously, I value those things, but I think we need to look at other things to keep costs down, to keep taxes lower for people that are already struggling," he said.

Warrington said he would vote alongside Norris in rescinding council's previous decision to approve $67.5 million in project borrowing by the Saskatoon Public Library board of trustees,"with the plan to save money so that it can be done at a more appropriate time."

• Some candidates are wary of plans for a new $134M downtown library. Here's why

Warringtonis touting a "3-3-3-3"cost-reduction plan that includes ideas such as no tax increases of more than three per cent for two consecutive years, reducing his council salary by three per cent and donating three per cent of his after-tax salary to charity.

He said he would also seek to spend less than some current city councillors oncommunication budgets.

Warringtonsaid he also wants to engage higher levels of government on some issues.

"The voice of a councillor, while not necessarily more important than that of a city citizen, typically is heard more easily," he said. "So I would be willing to go to higher levels of government in situations where citizens are struggling in situations where the city hall might not normally have some sort of impact."