Luebke running for re-election

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This article was published 28/06/2022 (1549 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The former voice of the Brandon Wheat Kings is hoping to keep his voice at the council table come fall.

On Monday, Coun. Bruce Luebke sent out a release stating that he’s running for a second term as the representative for the South Centre ward on Brandon City Council in this October’s municipal election.

Councillors Sunday Frangi (Meadows-Waverly), Shaun Cameron (University), Glen Parker (Riverview) and Barry Cullen (Victoria) have already declared their intention to run again.

Mayor Rick Chrest and Coun. Jan Chaboyer (Green Acres) have announced they’ll be retiring from politics after the current term, while Coun. Jeff Fawcett (Assiniboine) is so far the only registered candidate in the mayoral race.

In an interview with the Sun, Luebke said the decision to run for re-election wasn’t difficult, but figuring out what role he was running for was.

“That’s why I waited so long to make any announcement,” Luebke said. “I wanted to make sure this was the right path for me at this time … probably for two or three weeks I changed my mind on whether to run for mayor or whether to run for council. I think ultimately, I feel like being a strong voice at the council table is important and for a variety of reasons that seeking the mayor’s chair in 2022 isn’t the best timing from my standpoint.”

Having first been elected to in 2018, Luebke is running for his second term as a councillor. However, he doesn’t see his campaigning strategy varying too much from the last election.

Even though his ward will get bigger when new boundaries come into effect on election night, Luebke doesn’t think the additional six to eight blocks will add too many complications to his plans.

Though Luebke lists his work on items like approving funding to repair the Sportsplex and helping get truth and reconciliation training for city staff, he said the most fulfilling part of his job has been assisting constituents with issues one-on-one.

“We had some issues along the tracks on the south side of Park Avenue businesses that probably didn’t get a lot of mention,” he said. “But certainly, being able to help them deal with the issue of having members of the vulnerable population hanging out in that area and causing some grief for those businesses was one of the things I feel was handled appropriately and worked with the businesses to resolve. It’s those type of things … that I look back and feel most rewarded with.”

One of Luebke’s other roles is chair of the board of directors for the Keystone Centre, and he has advocated for the creation of a stable funding agreement from the province and the City of Brandon to support it. Asked if he would continue to pursue that goal if elected to a second term, Luebke suggested that the current council’s work on that file isn’t over yet.

When it comes to addressing the low voter turnout that affected the last municipal election and last year’s Meadows-Waverly byelection, Luebke is hopeful that the money council voted to put aside for promotions and advertising for this year’s election will be successful at drawing awareness.

“At this point, I don’t know if there are any great or controversial topics or issues, but that can change in the coming weeks or months,” Luebke said. “There always seems to be more of a turnout if there’s something engaging people from an issues standpoint. And, of course, we’re all hopeful that there’d be a race for the mayor’s chair. If there is, I think that would increase turnout from residents as well.”

He added that he thinks it would be beneficial for the city to have a debate over its direction through the electoral process and choose someone who knows the city’s history and has a vision for the city for the mayor’s chair.

Candidate registrations for residents interested in running for city council will open Thursday. The official nomination period for both council and mayoral candidates is Sept. 14-20.

Election day is Oct. 26.

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