Narrow win puts Frangi on council

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This article was published 06/05/2021 (1701 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The unofficial results are in: Sunday Frangi will be the next member of Brandon City Council.

Turnout was extremely low, with Frangi carrying the day over opponent Gordon McRae by a slim margin of 50 votes to 42.

Wednesday’s result was a successful second effort by Frangi, who unsuccessfully ran as a Manitoba Liberal candidate in the 2019 provincial election against Progressive Conservative Brandon West MLA Reg Helwer.

“It feels great to be part of the decision-making process in our city,” he told the Sun over the phone. “I’m so excited I can serve the people of Meadows-Waverly because a lot of things need to be done and they need good representation for sure.”

He said his first effort as councillor will be to address drainage issues, which were exacerbated last year during record-setting rains and flooding at the end of June and beginning of July.

According to sources with the city, there hasn’t been a Black councillor in Brandon since at least 1979, while retired Brandon University political science professor Meir Serfaty couldn’t remember any Black councillors dating back to 1973. There may have been a Black councillor before then, but Frangi is the first in approximately 40 to 50 years.

“It’s very meaningful milestone for me,” Frangi said. “I’m very overwhelmed with what’s going on now, but to many immigrants, it will mean a lot. It will also open the doors for lots of immigrants to step in and participate in moving the city forward.”

The winning candidate had kind words for his opponent.

“I thank him a lot for stepping forward,” he said of McRae. “That platform he had and the one I had, there was no difference … he doesn’t have to consider himself a loser today quite simply because, at the end of the day, his interests and my interests were in serving the residents of Meadows-Waverly.”

The byelection became necessary after former councillor John LoRegio, who had represented the ward since winning a 2013 byelection, resigned in early February after this year’s budget deliberations were completed.

LoRegio resigned to focus on his fight against multiple myeloma cancer. He told the Sun after announcing his resignation that he didn’t endorse any candidates while covering council as a journalist and he wouldn’t be offering any endorsement in the race to choose his successor.

In the 2018 Manitoba municipal elections, McRae was LoRegio’s only opponent in the Ward 5 race. In that race, LoRegio got 393 votes to McRae’s 140 votes.

Turnout in 2018 was approximately 17 per cent, which drew McRae’s ire.

“It is disgusting how few people came to vote,” McRae told the Sun on that election night.

McRae echoed his concerns over low turnout once again on Wednesday.

“I’ve spoken to well over 685 people, handed out thousands of pamphlets and only less than a hundred people showed up,” he told the Sun.

Mayor Rick Chrest said Wednesday evening that the wheels were already in motion to make sure that Frangi is sworn in at the next Brandon City Council meeting on May 17.

“It’s always pleasing to see people that want to be part of the system, part of democracy and it took a lot of courage to step forward,” he said. “To both individuals, Mr. Frangi and Mr. McRae, kudos for stepping forward and running and putting the work in and the like. We were glad to be able to have a contested byelection and we will all welcome Mr. Frangi to council.”

He added that Frangi joining council shows the changing face of the community.

“We’ve become a very multicultural community over the last two decades, and so it’s great to see a level of diversity coming on to our council and we really welcome that,” he said. “It’s probably high time.”

Chrest was less worried about turnout than McRae, saying that byelections typically have lower turnouts, and this particular byelection was held during a pandemic.

It was an uneventful campaign, with most events typically associated with elections being off-limits due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

No signs were put up by either candidate, though both men did go door-knocking in the ward while following public health orders.

In an online debate held last week by local addiction advocate and former provincial Liberal candidate Kim Longstreet, both candidates attempted to prove they understood the needs of the ward they intend on representing despite not living in it.

They identified drainage as a key concern following last year’s heavy rains and subsequent flooding last summer along with sidewalk safety and excessive speeding.

To address local crime, McRae proposed reinstating the Citizens on Patrol Program, while Frangi said that the revitalization of downtown Brandon should include addressing the root causes of crime, like homelessness.

Despite the Meadows-Waverly vacancy getting filled, city council isn’t back at full strength. Earlier this week, Brandon City Council voted to approve an indefinite medical leave for Coun. Ron Brown (Richmond).

Chrest said at that meeting that council would hold off on filling Brown’s vacancies on boards and committees so that the new councillor could get their share of responsibilities after their election.

The official results of the byelection, including a breakdown of votes from each voting site, are set for release on Friday morning.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

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