McCrae enters school trustee race

Veteran politician Jim McCrae has registered to run for a seat on the Brandon School Division board of trustees.

McCrae, a former provincial cabinet minister and Brandon city councillor, joins the list of candidates seeking seats on the board, including current vice-chair Duncan Ross, incumbent trustees Kirk Carr and Lorraine McConnell, and Community Futures Westman executive director Bill Hogan.

McCrae, 77, said his decades of public service and education experience have prepared him to contribute to the governance of the school division.

“My last cabinet position was as minister of education and training. I travelled extensively in Manitoba and met with many teachers and others involved with the education of our children,” McCrae told the Sun. “I gained a much greater appreciation of the challenges we all face in these rapidly changing times.”

He said his family’s deep ties to Brandon schools also influenced his decision to run.

“Five generations of our family have been educated in Brandon schools,” he said. “I have been retired recently and can’t seem to get public service out of my system. I grew up in Brandon, love our community and want to serve.”

Brandon School Division faces significant challenges as it adapts to changing demographics and rapid technological advances while maintaining responsible financial management, he said.

“The challenges facing the school division are daunting, given the changes in our demographic makeup over the past 30 years,” McCrae said. “Technology has changed significantly as well. Meeting those challenges while respecting taxpayers’ ability to do so is the annual budget-making job of school trustees.”

He said one of the board’s key priorities should remain improving educational outcomes for all students while narrowing achievement gaps between different student groups.

“Brandon schools must continue to raise the achievement levels of all students to prepare them for the brightest future possible,” he said.

McCrae said his experience working alongside senior administrators in municipal and provincial government would help him work effectively with school division staff and fellow trustees.

“I have worked with many administrators at the highest levels of civic and provincial government. This experience will assist as I work with division managers and fellow trustees,” he said. “Building consensus is not always easy, but it is the best way forward. Respect for everyone is key.”

He said trustees must also prepare for future changes driven by technology, evolving labour markets and shifting social dynamics.

“Trustees must be open to addressing, with open minds, the best advice they can acquire — from whatever source — and applying their best judgment to their decisions,” he said.

Throughout his political career, McCrae said he developed strong consensus-building skills that he hopes to bring to the school board table.

“Respectful debate and discussion are far better than anger and division,” he said. “People who come to make presentations to the board deserve to be heard and respected. Trustees must listen carefully and respectfully to the concerns brought to them by parents, ratepayers and others.”

It is important to support teachers, as educators who feel valued are better positioned to help students succeed, he said.

“Teachers’ concerns must be seriously addressed. Teachers who are happy in their work are effective, and the children benefit from that,” McCrae said.

He added that school board decisions should remain free from partisan politics.

“The Manitoba legislature is a very political place; city council and school board members ought never to bring their partisan politics into their deliberations,” he said.

If elected, McCrae said his first term would be judged by measurable improvements across the division — “by steady improvement in student achievement, teacher satisfaction, solid financial management, happy children, safe schools everywhere,” he said.

“I hope voters will take into account my record of public service over the past 40-plus years and acknowledge that any positions I have taken — or opinions I have held — have placed their interests above my own.”

McCrae served on Brandon city council from 1984 to 1986 and again from 2006 to 2013, and represented Brandon West as a Progressive Conservative MLA from 1986 to 1999. During Gary Filmon’s government, he held several senior cabinet portfolios, including minister of justice and attorney general from 1990 to 1993, as well as minister of health, minister of environment and minister of education and training.

Following his political career, McCrae served three terms as chair of Manitoba’s Vulnerable Persons Living with a Mental Disability Review Board, from 2017 to 2023.

The school board election is on Oct. 28, with candidate registration open until Sept. 22.

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