Luebke only acclaimed candidate as nominations close

Only one of Brandon city council’s 11 seats will be filled through acclamation this year, down from four in 2022.

Ward 6 Coun. Bruce Luebke, the lone candidate whose name won’t appear on any ballots in the Oct. 28 election, said he’s “split” on the lack of competition.

“It’s always a little anticlimactic to get acclaimed. You don’t get to sit around on election night and see the votes,” Luebke, who will enter into his third term, said on Wednesday.

The nomination period officially closed at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, with between two and four candidates registered for every other ward, and two hopefuls in the mayor’s race.

Luebke, first elected in 2018, was also acclaimed in 2022. The 2018 election saw three acclamations in Brandon, including for the mayor’s seat, while the 2014 campaign had six seats go unopposed.

“I am happy, pleased that I’ll have an opportunity to sit at the table for the next four years and continue doing the work that I’ve, you know, tried to do for the ward and for the city of Brandon as a whole,” Luebke said.

“It’s one of those things where I’m glad to see we have so many candidates running this year and races in the other nine wards, and it’ll be an excellent opportunity for exchange of ideas and those kind of things. I wish there was an opponent for me to do the same.”

Ward 6 is in the middle of the city, between Victoria and Richmond avenues and First and 18th streets.

Aside from not having to clutter his ward’s boulevards with campaign signs, nothing changes for the next four weeks, or during his next term, Luebke said, adding that he still plans to go out door-knocking to speak with residents.

“I still expect to be out talking to residents, finding out what their issues are in the ward,” he said.

Being acclaimed, he said, is also a vote of confidence in that it likely meant that “no one thought I was doing such a poor job that they wanted to run against me to try and get me out.”

In total, 27 candidates are nominated for the election.

Incumbent Mayor Jeff Fawcett faces former Brandon East MLA Len Isleifson for the city’s top job. The councillor candidates are:

• Ward 1: Heather Karrouze (incumbent) and Ron Shaluk

• Ward 2: Sunday Frangi, Buchi Onuke, Deveryn Ross and Sonikile Tembo

• Ward 3: Kevin Chambers, Quentin Derhak, Enver Naidoo and Craig Shanks

• Ward 4: Shaun Cameron (incumbent) and James Epp

• Ward 5: Greg Hildebrand (incumbent) and Bhavesh Patel

• Ward 6: Bruce Luebke (incumbent, acclaimed)

• Ward 7: Shawn Berry (incumbent) and Quentin Robinson

• Ward 8: Jason Splett (incumbent), Dhara Patel and Ketan Patel

• Ward 9: Scott Pedlow, Keith Waterfield and Norah Woychyshyn

• Ward 10: Tyson Tame (incumbent) and Mitesh Patel

In Ward 4, Epp said that he doesn’t want to receive any votes, as he is running simply to block another acclamation.

Also, Dale and Ann Bates, who had registered as candidates in Ward 2, both failed to hand in completed nomination papers before the Tuesday deadline.

» alambert@brandonsun.com