Realtor joins three-way race for Ward 3 council seat

Another Brandon realtor who has entered the race for councillor says he wants to see more industry come to the city.

Ward 3 candidate Quentin Derhak said while Maple Leaf — now Canada Packers — moved to Brandon nearly 30 years ago and provided a plethora of new jobs, more needs to happen now.

“We need to market this city to industry leaders and have those conversations, and aggressively market the city,” said Derhak, who previously worked as a barber.

“We can’t just sit here with our hands open. We have to be proactive in it, not reactive.”

He said putting together a marketing team to attract business is important so young people today, and in the future, have local jobs.

“If you want your kids to stay here, and you want your kids to have their kids here, they need to have jobs that are going to make them want to stay here,” Derhak told the Sun while on a walk in the city’s westernmost ward, which includes neighbourhoods west of 34th Street and north of the CN rail line.

Derhak faces former Westman Immigrant Services executive director Enver Naidoo and executive adjuster Craig Shanks for the council seat.

Derhak is one of at least three realtors campaigning in the election, with incumbent Tyson Tame (Ward 10) and Ketan Patel, a Ward 8 challenger, also registered.

He said while he lives just across the street in Ward 4, he decided to run in Ward 3 because he understands the issues well, and incumbent Ward 4 councillor Shaun Cameron is “awesome” and is doing “a bang-up job.”

Derhak ran in the 2022 election in Ward 3, but lost to outgoing Coun. Barry Cullen 552-389 in a two-person race. Cullen announced in March that he would not seek another term after 12 years on council. Derhak said there “are big shoes to fill” for the ward.

He also ran unsuccessfully in a Brandon School Division byelection in 2023, when he finished in fourth place in an eight-person competition.

Safety, snow clearing and infrastructure are other key points Derhak said he is campaigning on. He said there are too many break-ins in his neighbourhood and that public pathways are seeing snow pile-ups year after year.

“The snow piles up, it is city property, why aren’t they clearing it? The snow melts, it drains into (residents’) property, goes into their basement. It’s a lot of little things that add up to look like a big, big problem,” he said.

When it comes to infrastructure repairs, Derhak said better communication with residents would be important.

Having a queue on when work will be completed would be a good service to provide residents, he said, as transparency is “hugely important.”

“It’s sometimes just a matter of putting the information out there so people understand it,” he said.

He said while the results of the last municipal election didn’t go his way, he doesn’t feel as though his attempt was unsuccessful.

He now has a baseline for what residents’ concerns are and can build on that to be a better candidate this year, he said.

“I want to see the city grow. I want people to be happy that are living here.”

Brandon has a lot of potential, he said, and it’s hard not to want to be part of that.

The election is Oct. 28.

» alambert@brandonsun.com