Brandon Minute: Issue 131

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

📅 This Week In Brandon: 📅

• City Council met on September 21st and authorized the City to enter a 10-year contribution agreement under the Canada Public Transit Fund. The deal provides $3.89 million in federal funding over the next decade toward the City's plan to replace Brandon Transit buses. Council also authorized Administration to negotiate a new destination marketing and event tourism agreement with Brandon First, which will take over tourism marketing currently delivered through Brandon Riverbank Inc. The City believes the change will create a more streamlined approach to promoting tourism and events. Council approved a bid from MNP for consulting services to evaluate the Brandon Police Service recruit training program. It also gave first reading to changes to the Animal Control By-law that address how many pets a household may keep and pet licensing requirements. The next City Council meeting is on October 5th at 7:00 pm.
  
  
• Also at its September 21st meeting, Council voted 7-3 against a motion from Ward 6 Councillor Bruce Luebke to extend the on-street parking limit from 48 hours to 96 hours. Administration recommended against the change, so the 48-hour limit stays in place, along with existing exceptions for certain neighbourhoods. Luebke first asked for a review of the rule in June 2022, but Administration took more than four years to report back. He argued that more people now work from home, and questioned why the City spends millions promoting transit while pushing residents to move their cars every other day to avoid a ticket. Ward 7 Councillor Shawn Berry and Ward 3 Councillor Barry Cullen supported the motion, with Berry citing complaints from seniors near cul-de-sacs who are being ticketed. Ward 5 Councillor Greg Hildebrand and Ward 10 Councillor Tyson Tame opposed it, with Hildebrand warning that a longer limit would promote "on-street parking lots". A Council report found bylaw officers issued 142 tickets for overstaying the limit last year and 256 in 2024, mostly in response to complaints.
  
  
• Mayor Jeff Fawcett says he would not be opposed to a small data centre being built in Brandon, provided the economic impacts make sense, including local jobs. Fawcett made the comments at a September 22nd forum hosted by Brandon University's student politics committee and Sustainable Brandon. Fawcett recalled that, before he joined Council in 2010, Google and Facebook asked about building a centre in Brandon that would use the city's cheap energy without employing local workers, which he said was never supported. 
  
  
• Meanwhile, nominations for the October 28th municipal election closed on September 22nd, with 27 candidates running and Ward 6 the only seat decided by acclamation. Ward 6 Councillor Bruce Luebke, first elected in 2018, was acclaimed for a third term. That is down from four acclamations in 2022 and six in 2014. Mayor Jeff Fawcett faces former Brandon East MLA Len Isleifson in a two-way race for Mayor. Every other ward has between two and four candidates, with four-way races in Ward 2 and Ward 3. In Ward 3, Councillor Barry Cullen is not seeking another term after 12 years on Council. In Ward 4, challenger James Epp says he does not want any votes and is running only to block another acclamation.
  
  
• The Province is investing more than $1 million to provide free transit for youth in Brandon, Municipal and Northern Relations Minister Glen Simard and Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt announced on September 21st. Youth aged 6 to 17 ride free, as do those aged 18 to 21 who are attending high school. A monthly youth pass currently costs $59.90, or $718.80 per child per year, and the Province claims an average family with two children could save about $1,400 a year. Passes are being distributed to students through schools in partnership with Brandon School Division, and beginning in November they will be distributed through the Brandon Transit Information Centre. Simard argued that free transit for youth encourages lifelong transit use, while Mayor Jeff Fawcett thanked the provincial government for the investment.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

On a scale of 1-10, how engaged are you with the upcoming municipal election?

1 = Not paying attention at all
10 = Following everything closely

Reply to this email and let us know!

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