A flyer shared with Regina residents ahead of the municipal election is sparking debate on endorsements, as some candidates feel they’ve been misrepresented in what they stand for and believe.
Over the weekend, pamphlets were placed on a number of car windows that claimed Regina schools and students are being inundated with sexual teachings.
Photos of the pamphlets, viewed by Global News, show a list of school trustee and city councillor candidates the flyer claims would get sexual teachings out of the classroom.
Alex Tkach a candidate running for councillor in Regina’s Ward 8 said he was frustrated to find his name on that list.
“Just arbitrarily adding somebody to a list and then making allusions that I advocate or feel a certain way around something is a whole other layer of that frustration,” Tkach said.
“We spent the day doing damage control to our reputations over spending time during the last few days of a campaign which is completely unfair.”
The pamphlet is in part attributed to Wayne Bernakevitch, the founder of the Regina Civic Action Awareness Network (RCAAN).
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When reached by phone, Bernakevitch told Global News he and RCAAN were not involved in producing the pamphlet which he said was made by a friend of his, but said he did give permission for his name to used.
RCAAN is publicly backing several school board trustee candidates, but Bernakevitch told Global News he was unclear as to why the names of city councillor candidates were included in the pamphlet.
Tanis Wilder, is running for councillor in Regina’s Ward 9 and was surprised to see her name attached and says she’s now scrambling to set the record straight.
“I was a little bit confused because I’m not with RCAAN and they are running a slate of school board trustees and I’m not running for the school board,” she explained. “And city councilors don’t have anything to weigh in on in regard to curriculum.
“I didn’t want my name to be affiliated with RCAAN.”
Wilder said the seeming endorsement has led to a lot of questions from residents on where she stands on certain issues that have nothing to do with her role as a potential councillor.
“I’m running on the issues here in Regina Northwest,” Wilder said. “We’re out in the new development of Rosewood, and I would really like to talk about how it’s been seven years and there’s only one road going in and out.”
She said your vote should come down to your own research at the end of the day.
“When it comes to some of those divisive issues, I would just really encourage people to research the candidate that they would be voting for to see where they stand on it and does it align with their values,” Wilder said.
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