Ward 10 becomes three-way race with Chambers

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This article was published 18/08/2022 (1284 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The race to be Ward 10’s next councillor has become Brandon’s most-contested race with a third candidate entering the picture.

Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School math teacher Kevin Chambers has joined realtor Tyson Tame and nurse’s aide Franco Chartier in the competition to fill outgoing Coun. Jan Chaboyer’s seat at the council table.

Currently known as Green Acres, the district will be renamed as Ward 10 for the election.

Chambers said Wednesday it’s a good time for him to enter public office with both his sons — one a filmmaker and the other starting a master’s degree at the University of Waterloo — finding their own paths in life.

“I’ve got the time and I’ve got the energy to spend on something like this,” he said.

Though this is his first foray into politics, Chambers said he has been an active member of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, the Brandon Teachers’ Association, the Brandon Barbarians rugby club and Hockey Brandon during a lifetime spent in the Wheat City. He was also on the Senate at Brandon University as a student there.

His 30-year career in education has involved teaching at Sioux Valley’s on-reserve school, at École O’Kelly School at CFB Shilo as well as Kirkcaldy Heights School, Earl Oxford School and Crocus Plains in Brandon. Working in a diverse range of settings has allowed him to connect with people from all walks of life and backgrounds, which he sees as a benefit to his skillset as a potential councillor, he said.

“I’ve seen the width and breadth of every circumstance that a student can come from in Manitoba and their parents,” he said. “They’re great kids, great parents, but they’re facing some uphill issues that we need to put a lens on, and I’m hoping that as a city councillor … I’d like to be at the table to pitch solutions.”

In his home ward, Chambers said residents are concerned about traffic safety. On his morning commute to work, he said traffic is backed up at the intersection of First Street and Richmond Avenue for more than a kilometre, which is “an accident waiting to happen.”

He also wants the speed limit on residential streets to be lowered to 40 kilometres an hour from 50 km/h, to address commercial vehicles driving to the industrial park through residential streets as a shortcut and prevent industrial park employees from parking on residential roads.

To improve safety in back lanes, Chambers wants the city to go farther than the back-lane light installation subsidy it created earlier this year and just pay to install them for residents.

He also suggested the creation of a website that tracks issues reported by residents on a map to better co-ordinate solutions to problems across the city.

Earlier this week, Chambers was among the several prospective councillors at Monday’s Brandon City Council meeting where current councillors voted to approve the borrowing of $30 million for drainage improvements in southeast Brandon.

With the drainage problems seen by residents of Green Acres in recent years, Chambers said he is in favour of that project as well as the wastewater infrastructure improvements the city is looking to borrow another $30 million for in the southwest. However, he noted that the city could’ve done a better job at communicating with residents on why it believed these projects were necessary.

“These are exciting times,” he said of the projects. “Because it’s really stirred up people in Brandon to actually have a discussion about the city and what our vision is.”

The City of Brandon has several assets going for it, he said. These include the Keystone Centre, the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium and the Brandon Wheat Kings. But there are elements of the city that make it look like Brandon isn’t as prosperous and welcoming as it could be, especially downtown.

Chambers said he believes that not only is expansion necessary, but so is taking care of established areas so it doesn’t appear like they’re neglected.

Election day is Oct. 26.

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