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Florence Stratton is taking issue with Regina Mayor Sandra Masters calling a lawsuit she is taking against the city administration to have “sexist undertones”.

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“It’s ridiculous,” Stratton said Thursday.

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Stratton and County. Andrew Stevens (Ward 3) filed a statement of claim — not a lawsuit, as it has been called — against Regina City Manager Niki Anderson. The lawsuit seeks an order directing the city manager to include funding to end homelessness as a line item in the city’s proposed 2023 budget.

“It has to do with the fact that there is no money in the budget for the homeless. It has nothing to do with her gender. To say it’s sexism is quite an exaggeration.

Stratton was responding to Masters’ comments after this week’s city council meeting. Asked about the candidacy on Wednesday, Masters said she wouldn’t comment as mayor but personally thought it was “disgusting” and had “tones of sexism.”

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Further, Masters added, “We cannot impose what the administration recommends, which is an administrative budget. We were asking for the numbers to be considered,” she said of the original motion.

At issue is a motion passed unanimously by council in June 2022 that directs the city administration to include in the proposed budget: “Full operational funding to address homelessness across the city using a model housing with support services. This funding project must be clearly delineated in a line item of its own.

That funding was not included when the city unveiled the proposed budget Tuesday.

“I’m not mad at the new city manager, I’m mad at management, whoever did it,” Stratton said.

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“I feel pretty pissed off.”

Additionally, she didn’t expect the city to try to end homelessness “all at once” and finds the city’s posted figure to be “grossly inflated.”

Specifically, the city estimates the cost to end homelessness will be “$98 million in capital investment and approximately $25 million in annual operating costs.” This figure does not imply any funding from the province or the federal government and implies the construction of 488 new dwellings.

At Con. Dan LeBlanc (Ward 6), who is the attorney representing Stevens and Stratton, this number is not reasonable.

“I dispute those numbers,” he said Thursday, adding that he believes the figure is $24.9 million, which they are asking to be budgeted.

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In response to the accusation of sexism, LeBlanc said “the clearest evidence against it, I think, is that we’re talking about housing homeless women, as well as homeless men.”

The city administration said the inclusion of the initiative in the proposed budget could result in a 21% increase in the per-mille rate. LeBlanc said “that’s fair,” but this issue should be discussed openly and funding should be in the budget.

“The problem with this action so far, which has led to the legal action, is that we have been deprived of the opportunity to have this debate that we have agreed to organize in June,” said said LeBlanc.

When asked Thursday to comment on the original request, a city spokesperson said “at this time, no statement is being released.”

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The city’s budget is set to be discussed on December 14 while the initial request is set to be heard on November 29 in the Court of King’s Bench, though that day could change.

As for the precedent of this kind of action, it could be isolated.

Jack Lucas, an associate professor at the University of Calgary in the department of political science specializing in municipal politics and democracy, said in an email that “this kind of thing happens so rarely that there really isn’t any research on the subject in Canada”.

Lucas went on to say there was “good research,” however, showing tensions between municipal governments and city councils across Canada.

“There are even cases where senior executives have subsequently chosen to run for office against the outgoing mayor or councillors! Lucas said.

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LeBlanc noted that Anderson faced no liability, there were no costs or damages against her. “It’s not about her as a person. This is about the office she holds,” he said.

Stratton says she just wants to see action on homelessness in the city, and when council voted unanimously to include the funding in the budget, she was thrilled, but that has now faded.

“We continue to pay consultants for these plans and do nothing with them. They just sit on a shelf and gather dust,” Stratton said. “I don’t know how we live with ourselves in this town.”

alsalloum@postmedia.com