Brandon Minute: Issue 133

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

📅 This Week In Brandon: 📅

• Some commercial property owners in downtown Brandon are frustrated that they cannot vote in the October 28th municipal election. Brandon's senior election official, Heather Ewasiuk, says Manitoba's rules for non-resident property owners apply only to property owned by individuals, so property registered under a corporation or numbered company carries no voting rights. Emmy Sanderson, Executive Director of Brandon Downtown BIZ, argues the rules leave businesses that pay significant property tax with no say in who represents the ward where they own property.
  
  
• The Province has yet to respond to Ward 8 Councillor Jason Splett's push for a multi-year agreement under which the City would mow provincial boulevards in Brandon. On Monday, October 5th, General Manager of Operations Todd Burton told Council that as of mid-September, Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure had not established a position on the proposal. Splett introduced the motion in August, seeking a three- or five-year term for routes such as 18th Street, First Street, and Victoria Avenue, after the short-term agreement for 2026 was ratified late. He hopes to have a deal in place before budget deliberations so Council can decide whether more equipment or staff are needed, and said it could include an escalator to keep pace with municipal inflation. Ward 6 Councillor Bruce Luebke questioned why the City is pursuing the plan if the Province is not interested, arguing it could hire a third-party contractor and free up City staff.
  
  
• Mayoral candidate Len Isleifson says that if elected on October 28th, he would push for an operational review of every City department and the creation of a public safety committee. Isleifson is challenging Mayor Jeff Fawcett. The reviews would task department heads with finding improvements and efficiencies, and the public safety committee would bring in business and community groups to look at reducing crime and making sure police and fire have the resources they need. Isleifson said some staff with good ideas do not feel listened to. Fawcett said his opponent's plans are positive, but that the City already reviews its departments regularly and has a downtown safety committee. Fawcett, who is seeking a second term, said he will not make campaign promises because the Mayor cannot make decisions alone, and pointed to new industry, added Manitoba Hydro generating capacity, new homes, and work on a new outdoor pool as progress over the last four years.
  
  
• Ward 7 Councillor Shawn Berry, the longest-serving member of City Council, is seeking a fifth term against challenger Quentin Robinson in the October 28th municipal election. Berry wants to push Council for infrastructure repairs in his ward, where he says water main breaks now number up to 10 a year. He defended the City's decision to pay for the lift station serving the new Brookwood South and Bellafield neighbourhoods through debentures rather than charging developers, calling citywide taxpayer funding the fair way growth has always been paid for. Robinson a former provincial and federal NDP candidate, argues that growing Brandon outward is driving up taxes and water rates, and wants the City to pause and review development in those neighbourhoods. He favours infill housing that uses existing infrastructure, and wants the South Village development, which is being built on a wetland, re-evaluated before approvals are made, citing the $2 million spent on flood mitigation this year.
  
  
• Four candidates are running for the downtown Ward 2 seat in the October 28th municipal election, tying it for the busiest race in Brandon. Former Councillor Sunday Frangi, who represented the Meadows-Waverly ward from 2021 to 2022, says revitalizing downtown and improving safety are his top concerns, and that the fix starts with more housing, including supportive and transitional homes. Deveryn Ross, a former Brandon Sun columnist who ran for mayor in 2006, argues that safety is a more pervasive concern across the ward than most people realize, and wants the City to work with the Province to make downtown safer and to find housing solutions beyond downtown. Sonikile Tembo, a principal planner on leave from her job with the City, also names safety as the biggest issue, along with homelessness and drug use, and wants Council to consider locating new social services in other parts of the city. Pastor Buchi Onuke, who works downtown but lives in the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis, says stability for the ward's businesses and residents is his main concern and suggests a town hall with business owners, workers, and residents on attracting new business. Asked about flooding after part of the ward was under evacuation notice over the summer, Tembo wants the flood-prone area kept to low-density housing, while Ross warns that saturated ground sets the city up for a real problem next spring.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

Brandon residents will head to the municipal election polls on October 28th.

Advance voting will be available on October 14, 17, and 22 at various locations, including City Hall and the Keystone Centre.

Learn more about dates and times for advance voting at the link below:

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