The City of Regina recently released November’s civic election candidate expense reports that shows how much money individuals spent in their attempts to earn a seat at Henry Baker Hall.
Mayor and council candidates were required by law to submit their Disclosure of Election Contributions and Expense forms to Regina’s returning officer Jim Nicol within 90 days of November’s election.
Doing so, allowed candidates the ability to have a required $100 nomination deposit returned from Elections Regina.
Eligible expenses ranged from advertising to lawn signs or costs to rent office space and campaign-related functions.
Candidates were also required to disclose any contributions they received during the campaign. Mayoral hopefuls were to list each donation of $500 or more, while council ward candidates $200 or more.
Mayoral candidates
On election day, Nov. 13, 2024, Chad Bachynski earned over 3,000 more votes for mayor than second-place challenger Lori Bresciani.
According to his expense disclosure, Bachynski spent less than half as much on his campaign.
Of the top four vote getters, now Mayor Bachynski spent $12,088.71.
The majority of which went towards purchasing lawn signs and “other fundraising charges,” the report says.
The report also showed he spent just under $300 on other types of advertising, such as billboards.
Compared to former Mayor Sandra Masters, Bachynski spent significantly less on his campaign.
Masters, who served one term as Regina’s mayor from 2020 to 2024, spent $61,788.46, according to her expenses. The most of all mayoral candidates.
Similarly to Bachynski, the majority of Masters' costs went towards lawn signs.
Masters spent nearly $20,000 on advertising in a failed re-election campaign.
The second highest spender was challenger Bill Pratt who expensed over $43,100 during his campaign.
Pratt’s expense reports showed costs to rent a downtown office space exceeded that of Bachynski’s entire campaign.
Rounding out the top four, was former Coun. Lori Bresciani, who spent the third-most of any mayoral candidate.
Her finance reports show she spent $24,208 – more than double that of Bachynski’s campaign.
Now sitting in the mayor’s chair for about three months, Bachynski credited his success to what he called, a “grassroots campaign.”
“Twelve-thousand-dollars is a lot of money. It really is,” he told reporters following Wednesday’s council meeting. “I learned the cost for a billboard, cost for a small batch of signs. It’s not insignificant. It does add up.”
“But what we also showed is with a strong team and a strong strategy and you show up, word of mouth can go a long way,” Bachynski added.
Mayor donors
As part of the expense forms, candidates were also required to disclose any donations or contributions they received while campaigning.
Bachynski disclosed seven contributors of more than $500, totaling about $8,400.
The largest donor was David Bachynski, who provided $2,500.
Bresciani claimed that her whole campaign was covered by donations, with nine contributions of over $500.
Masters received $62,101 in contributions.
Several donations of $2,000 were listed from corporations such as Country Thunder Saskatchewan, Glenn Wig, Canwest Commercial & Land Corp, among others.
Pratt’s donor list included eight donors of $500 or more. Including over $16,000 listed as self-contributed.
“[We had] a multifaceted approach,” Bachynski said. “It was a combination of door knocking and leveraging as much time as I could, whether town halls, media, whatever it was.”
“It was just taking advantage of every opportunity to try and get in front of people and talk about my platform,” he added.
Mayoral candidates were not required to disclose any donations of less than $500.
Councillor expenses
Across Regina’s 10 council wards, 52 candidates sought a seat at Henry Baker Hall last November.
Of the 10 individuals elected, seven spent more than $10,000 to earn votes, according to the city’s report.
The current councillor who fronted the most cash was now Ward 7 Coun. Shobna Radons.
Her disclosure claimed $12,000 in campaign-related expenses. A total of $171 went towards advertising, with another $3,000 for lawn signs, $3,400 for printed brochures and $2,800 for “personal expenses.”
Radon’s forms also showed her entire campaign was paid for through contributions.
The lowest spender was Ward 9 Coun. Jason Mancinelli, who was one of just two re-elected incumbent councillors.
Mancinelli’s campaign expenses were about $4,622. He also disclosed no contributions of $200 or more.
Ward 1 Coun. Dan Rashovich expensed $11,957, Ward 10 Coun. Clark Bezo claimed $11,840, Ward 5 Coun. Sarah Turnbull disclosed $11,401 in expenses, while Ward 3 Coun. David Froh showed just over $11,000.
George Tsiklis, who defeated incumbent Ward 2 Coun. Bob Hawkins, claimed $10,886.
Hawkin’s expense forms claimed over $10,600, with no donations of $200 or more in a failed re-election bid. The most of any defeated candidate.
Ward 4 Coun. Mark Burton also spent over $10,000 on his campaign.
Re-elected Ward 8 Coun. Shanon Zachidniak expensed $7,768, while new Ward 6 Coun. Victoria Flores claimed the least of any new councillor at just over $4,900.
All candidates were required by law to submit their campaign expenses.
Two candidates, Talha Khan (Ward 1) and Chidi Igwe (Ward 2) did not submit their expenses prior to the 90-day deadline.
“Those two individuals will not be receiving the $100 deposit back,” Nicol told council Wednesday. “And we will subsequently work with our legal department to determine the pursuit of prosecutions, if necessary.”
Each candidate could receive a fine of up to $10,000, should the city pursue the penalty.
“It is serious,” Coun. Zachidniak said. “We all knew what needed to occur. We all need to follow the rules.”
“That casts doubt on the transparency of others, when folks do not want to follow what was clearly laid out,” she added.
You can find the full report here.
Election Review
As part of Nicol’s report, the chief returning officer said Elections Regina would be compiling a report of the 2024 Civic Election.
Which would review, “the lessons we learned and some of the things we’re looking forward to implementing in the 2028 election,” Nicol said.
Councillors brought up concerns over third-party endorsees and advertising.
“I know what I spent on this election and I know how many billboards my picture [was] on,” Coun. Mancinelli said. “Will we find out how much other people spent on this election or the effects to those third party advertisers on our election?”
“The third-party regulations’ legal field is very vague,” Nicol responded. “Because are [they] advancing a candidate or is that third party just putting out their opinion?”
With over 60 candidates running for mayor or council across the city, residents’ ballots were quite full.
Nicol said the city does have the ability to alter the requirements to be a candidate.
“The deposit is currently $100 per candidate for mayor or councilor,” he told council. “Saskatoon has been $500 for at least one, if not two election terms.”
