Blight aims for council return in Riverview

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This article was published 04/02/2016 (3787 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A familiar face in Brandon’s city council chambers will vie for the Riverview ward seat in a municipal byelection expected to take place in May.

Retired police officer Murray Blight, who served three terms on council, resigned after the 2010-14 term. But after a year and a half away, Blight said it’s time to return to the political realm.

“I miss it,” he said. “Once it’s in your blood, it’s in your blood.”

Coun. Vanessa Hamilton, elected in October 2014, has announced her intention to run for the Liberal party in Brandon East in April’s provincial election. She plans to step down as councillor in March. According to the city clerk’s office, the tentative dates for the nomination period is early April, followed by a byelection mid-May.

“The timing couldn’t be more perfect,” Blight said. “I’m available and I can hit the floor and run. I haven’t been away from the game that long.”

Blight said he plans to run on his experience as Victoria ward councillor and deputy mayor, and the fact that he lives in the east end.

Some of Blight’s priorities include promoting economic development, encouraging long-term strategic planning, pursuing major infrastructure improvements and balancing the city’s operational costs against the need to maintain a reasonable tax burden.

Tyson Tame was the runner-up in the 2014 municipal election, losing by only 49 votes to Hamilton. Tame said he was thrilled when he heard Hamilton’s plans.

“I felt like I was a shoo-in when I heard she was stepping down,” Tame said, adding he hoped it meant that he could do what he set out to do in the 2014 election.

“I wasn’t looking to forward a political run in any other form, I was just looking to serve the city.”

Tame admits it was “disheartening” when he heard Blight would be running for the seat, as he considered him a political mentor.

“It was him that called me two years ago and said ‘you need to run for council’ and he supported me,” Tame said. “So to hear that he’s going to challenge me for it, then that sure changed the flavour of the whole thing for me.”

Tame recently became a partner at Royal LePage, and has some other obligations, but said he is still very interested in city council.

“There’s a few different considerations. I just need to decide where my time’s going to be spent,” he said.

Meanwhile, Blight said he realizes there are other people interested in the opportunity, which is part of the reason he stepped down in 2014.

“I thought … maybe it’s time just to move over,” he said. “But really … after a year and a half and following what was happening in the city … it really comes down to I miss politics.”

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