Ten seeking trustee seats

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This article was published 23/09/2023 (1085 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The upcoming Brandon School Division byelection will include 10 candidates who are running to secure two empty seats on the division’s board of trustees.

The school division unveiled a full slate of candidates earlier this week after the nomination period officially came to a close on Tuesday afternoon.

Eight of the candidates will be gunning for a seat in the division’s city ward (Ward 1), which was left vacant in May following the resignation of trustee Jason Gobeil.

The remaining two candidates are running in the rural ward (Ward 2) that was represented by Caroline Cramer until she unexpectedly resigned from the board earlier that same month.

This year’s city candidates include residents who previously ran for public office and want another kick at the can.

This includes nominees like Kirk Carr (Brandon and District Labour Council president), Brad Rusnak (autobody manager for Fowler Hyundai) and Bonnie-Lynn Mills (Habitat for Humanity community engagement manager), who all took part in last fall’s BSD election.

Local real estate agent, and former BSD instructor Quentin Derhak is also no stranger to the local political scene, having gone head-to-head with Coun. Barry Cullen (Ward 3) in last year’s municipal race.

And Kara Morrice (Plan Point director for the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba) previously ran for the BSD board in 2006.

However, candidates Sheri Miller (founder of Miller’s Pharmacy) and Breanne Bauche (local child-care provider) are completely new to the political scene.

While no biographical information on candidate Scott MacMillan was listed on the Brandon Votes website, the Sun was able to contact him over the phone and confirm that he is a former oil field worker who was left paralyzed from the chest down following an accident in September 2019.

After several years in recovery, MacMillan told the Sun he wants to re-enter the public sphere in a big way and make meaningful contributions to the community.

The remaining seat in BSD’s rural ward is a two-horse race between Children’s Den executive director Lorraine McConnell and retired health-care worker Henry Sieklicki.

In her online candidate profile, McConnell stated that she wants to use her experience as a longtime Ward 2 resident, and mother of two children who have been through the division, to help students “develop and flourish.”

Meanwhile, Sieklicki, who is the father-in-law of current BSD trustee Breeanna Sieklicki, listed a variety of campaign initiatives on his Brandon Votes profile, which include lobbying the province for more stable funding, reviewing school bus policies and increasing transparency at trustee meetings.

Sieklicki has been an open supporter of his daughter-in-law throughout her controversial campaign to establish a book review committee in the division, holding up a sign at a June 26 school board meeting that read “An attack on Breeanna is an attack on democracy.”

The Sun will provide one-on-one interviews with each BSD candidate in the leadup to the Oct. 25 byelection.

Profiles on Carr, Rusnak, Bauche and Miller are currently available to read on the Sun’s official website.

For information on the remaining candidates, visit brandon.ca/votes.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com