Brandon Minute: Issue 115

Brandon Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Brandon politics

📅 This Week In Brandon: 📅

• City Council received a presentation on Open Streets Brandon, a pilot that would temporarily close part of Lorne Avenue to cars and turn it into a car-free route for walking, cycling, and gathering. The corridor would run along Lorne Avenue from 15th Street to Franklin, between Rideau Park and Stanley Park, and would be open as a car-free route on July 19th, August 16th, and September 13th from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. Some cross streets would stay fully open to traffic while others would be on a soft close. The City ties the project to several adopted strategies, including the City Plan, the Climate Change Action Plan, and the Greenspace Master Plan, and it is being delivered with partners such as Prairie Mountain Health, Brandon University, Bike Brandon, and the Brandon Downtown BIZ, with the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation as the funding partner. Organizers plan an area mailout and outreach to affected businesses and churches, and the pilot is to be evaluated afterward.
  
  
• City Council has also received a presentation on the 2025 wildfire season, described as the most severe in Manitoba in the last 30 years, with 433 fires burning more than 2.1 million hectares and the province declaring two states of emergency along with 34 local states of emergency. Across the province, about 32,000 people from 12,600 households were evacuated, and the Royal Canadian Air Force carried out what was described as the largest domestic air evacuation in Canadian history. Brandon served as a host community and took in evacuees from 18 different communities, peaking at more than 1,175 people over a 128-day span, housed in 12 hotels, a campground, and with family and friends. No state of emergency was enacted in Brandon itself. The City is filing a Disaster Financial Assistance claim covering Brandon Fire and Emergency Services overtime and Access Transit costs. An after-action review with provincial emergency agencies flagged the reimbursement approval process and the clarity of host-community roles as areas for improvement.
  
  
• City Council has approved a rezoning to allow a 20-unit, three-storey apartment building at the corner of First Street and Park Avenue, after an earlier open hearing drew pushback from several residents over traffic. The project had been voted down in a 2-2 tie at a Planning Commission meeting in May, but principal planner Sonikile Tembo noted that result functions only as a recommendation and that Council is free to vote as it sees fit. Administration told Council that traffic should not be an issue and that the building fits the City's plan for higher-density housing along main corridors and corner lots. The site currently holds a house and a vacant lot, and construction could break ground as early as this fall. The building would include 12 three-bedroom units, four one-bedroom units, and four four-bedroom units, sizes the City had identified as in short supply. 
  
  
• The opening of the new critical care centre at Brandon Regional Health Centre has been pushed to mid-June after equipment delays, having been scheduled to begin providing patient care last month. Prairie Mountain Health Chief Executive Officer Treena Slate cited slight delays but did not respond to followup questions about the cause, and Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the Province was unsure what equipment the hospital is still waiting for. The province spent approximately $120 million on the building, which began construction in the fall of 2022. The new intensive care unit has a 16-bed capacity but will open with 12 beds because of staffing shortages, while the second-floor Internal Medicine Unit will open 15 of its 30 beds for the same reason. Manitoba Progressive Conservative Health Critic Kathleen Cook said opening delays are becoming a pattern with the NDP government, pointing to the St. Boniface emergency department and the Portage hospital. 
  
  
• Brandon School Division trustee Duncan Ross has announced that he will seek re-election in October, with the school division and municipal election set for October 28th. Ross was first elected in 2022 and is Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees. He said his priority for the coming term is to push for more provincial funding, arguing the division has a low amount to spend per student despite taxing residents at among the highest mill rates in the province. Ross said the province has provided some additional funding but that more is needed to make up the difference, contending Brandon is not being treated fairly. He listed past accomplishments including changes to the board's communication policy, opposing a proposed banning of certain books, and working to keep taxes affordable.

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