Brandon mayoral candidates debate citizen engagement, downtown revitalization

Transparency, revitalizing downtown and increasing citizen engagement were among the key issues debated at a Brandon mayoral forum Wednesday evening.

Mayoral hopefuls Elliott Oleson and Jeff Fawcett faced off at the Brandon University Lorne Watson Recital Hall Wednesday. Their contest marks the first mayoral race in Manitoba's second-largest city since 2014.

Oleson, a longtime Brandon resident and volunteer, described municipal politics as "ground-level democracy" and a place where people can target their energy, skills and ideas to help their community.

However, there are barriers in place that make civic engagement difficult and can dissuade voters, he said.

He called on the city to serve as a conduit to bring the community together to create change, and he hopes his election run has inspired others to cast a ballot.

"Honestly, even if that means that everybody in Brandon turns out to vote against me, I don't care. I want to see people engaged," Oleson said. "That's what Brandon is lacking."

During the 2018 civic election, which saw outgoing mayor Rick Chrest acclaimed, the city reported a voter turnout of 16.86 per cent — 6,185 ballots cast among 36,675 eligible voters.

Fawcett, a businessman who's been a city councillor for 12 years, also wants to see voter turnout increase, given there are two names on the ballot for mayor and several competitive council races.

Council candidates have been acclaimed in four of the city's 10 wards because there was only a single nominee. Three other wards are two-person races.

"I hope that people do care enough to vote," Fawcett said. "I do believe there is a good awareness and I hope with three opportunities to vote before election day, really, we don't have a lot of excuses to not do it."

The ongoing saga of alleged secret council meetings launched the evening's debate — the current council has been dogged by accusations of hosting informal meetings where the public was not present before official city meetings. 

The Brandon Sun reported since the last municipal election, Brandon City Council had held 76 regular meetings, 27 special meetings and 103 informal sessions as of May. Fawcett has said no decisions were made at these informal meetings.

There is a need for radical transparency in the city to encourage democracy, and these meetings hurt citizen engagement by creating a feeling that Brandonites are not part of the running of the city, Oleson said.

Oleson promised if he's elected, he'll have a wide open policy, with city council and the police board providing as much information as possible to the public. 

Fawcett said these informal meetings emerged when he was first on council 12 years ago. With a new mayor, six new councillors and a new administration, they started having "lunch and learns" as a way to build continuity and stability in the city. 

Fawcett said after talking with management, he made notes from the meetings public if given the go-ahead. 

Revitalizing downtown Brandon

Brandon's downtown core has been hammered by COVID-19 and other challenges, Fawcett said, and restoring life will take time and targeted planning.

The downtown core is important because it is home to local businesses and the community and offers a "flavour" of Brandon, he said.

The city can help make the core more appealing by promoting businesses in the area, Fawcett said.

If people live and work in the area and amenities are in place, the core will begin to grow, he said, although it will take more than one thing to revitalize the downtown.

Oleson floated the idea of shutting Rosser and Princess avenues off to traffic over the summer on weekends for festivals and different events to celebrate arts and culture.

"What's important is bringing people to the downtown," Oleson said, and from there people will explore the businesses, hopefully sustaining growth in the area. 

Safe consumption in Brandon

Oleson said it is "socially, morally and economically" the right thing to have a safe consumption site in Brandon, and it should be downtown near other services. 

Fawcett, who at one time was sceptical about the benefits of a safe consumption site, said the city can lean on experts to decide where a safe consumption site could be placed in the city.

Advance polls for the Brandon municipal election will be open on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at city hall and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Pioneer Lounge at the Keystone Centre.

Election day is Oct. 26.