Council watcher takes on Cameron in Ward 4

Brandon Ward 4 incumbent Coun. Shaun Cameron is facing a longtime council observer in the Oct. 28 election.

James Epp, who regularly attends council meetings and occasionally speaks during the community feedback portion, is challenging Cameron’s bid for a third term in office.

Cameron, 47, said the most important issue facing Ward 4 is congestion on McDonald and Pacific avenues, and he wants the city to expand Pacific all the way to the street’s underpass loop near 18th Street as a solution.

“I think that would alleviate a lot of the traffic concerns on McDonald Avenue,” he said, adding that McDonald has been a busy street since it was connected to 34th Street.

“The neighbourhood changed significantly, and it also changed a lot of the traffic flow.”

He said he would be hopeful that the city can accomplish that over the next term, as it has already been on the municipality’s radar.

Cameron, who lives in the ward and works as a communications specialist at Assiniboine College, was first elected in 2018 with 63 per cent of the vote in what was then called the University Ward. He was acclaimed in 2022.

Ward 4 includes land between 18th and 34th streets, and lies south of the Assiniboine River. The southern part of the ward follows the CN rail line between 34th and 26th Street. Between 26th and 18th streets, the ward follows Victoria Avenue.

Epp, who declined an interview and doesn’t live in the ward, gave a short statement in a phone call on Friday.

“In a perfect world, someone who lives in the ward and cares about the ward would have ran against Shaun Cameron and given a real contest,” Epp said. “In lieu of that, I’m unfortunately the best thing we got at this point, and I know that that’s imperfect. And I’m doing the best I can with the limited resources I have.”

Epp previously told the Sun he was running simply to prevent an acclamation in Ward 4.

“I just want there to be an election and ballots cast, so that we can measure turnout, we can measure support for, in this case, the incumbent,” Epp, who works as an infrastructure specialist at Fusion Credit Union, said early last month.

He had also declined to participate in the councillor debate for the ward slated for next Wednesday. But, in an email Friday, he said that after more consideration, he will take part in the debate.

“Voters of ward 4 deserve to see a debate as much as any other ward,” he said in the email. “Whether they’ll see a quality one remains to be seen (and will be up to them). I’m a political amateur so I can’t promise a grand vision or anything remarkable, but I’ll do my best.”

Cameron, in an interview Tuesday, also confirmed he will take part in the evening debate at Brandon University.

During the interview, Cameron outlined several other priorities he has for the ward, including overland flooding mitigation and more bylaw enforcement around Vincent Massey High School.

He said there’s a lot of dangerous traffic around the school while students are crossing the street. There are often people speeding in the area as well.

The flooding during heavy rain has caused a lot of issues in residents’ basements and backups, especially in the northern part of the ward.

“As we’re kind of on the leeward side of the hill, heading towards the river, a lot of the water that’s coming from the west end eventually ends up coming through the ward,” Cameron said.

He wants the city, as it replaces piping or builds out the neighbourhood, to right-size equipment to make sure people’s homes are protected.

The heavy rainstorm in Brandon at the end of June was one example of basements flooding and residents having issues with insurance.

“It’s just making sure that we’re doing all we can to mitigate that, and also that we’re doing the right things when we’re redoing roads to ensure that there’s right capacity for what rainstorm looks like now versus what we were seeing 40, 50, 60 years ago when those pipes went in the ground,” Cameron said.

He also wants the city to look at its strategy when it comes to flooding on the river and the entire Assiniboine River Basin.

“Brandon does face a challenge as we are at the low point as far as the river and don’t have the luxury of being able to divert the water,” he said.

The city needs to play an active role when it comes to partnering with post-secondary institutions, he said when asked what role the city plays in addressing Brandon University’s aging infrastructure. The university is located in Ward 4.

“One of the things the city can do is be in support of the university in looking at that work, be in support of any of their asks to other levels of government and help champion that, and then ultimately ensure that the pathway is clear as far as any redevelopment work that needs to occur there,” he said, citing improvements needed at the Brodie Science Centre.

“I don’t know that the city directly plays a part in funding it, but I think the city plays a big part in supporting it.”

Both post-secondary institutions bring a lot of benefit to the city, he said.

On the topic of the once-proposed 26th Street bike lane, Cameron said he thinks council made the right decision in not pursuing it, after having heard from residents and the Brandon School Division.

He added that he is a “big proponent” of bike infrastructure, and the city needs to look at more connectivity, especially north-south.

“I think we need to look at not just a street at a time or a neighbourhood at a time. I think the big thing there is we need to look at a much bigger picture. We need to look at the whole city and what that connectivity might look like,” Cameron said.

“Down the road, we need to ensure that we’re planning out properly, even as we’re building new infrastructure, new areas in the city that we look to what multimodal transport would look like there.”

When it comes to Epp’s unusual campaign, Cameron said what his opponent is doing doesn’t change his focus on getting out and talking with residents.

Advance polls will be open today between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the Pioneer Lounge at the Keystone Centre at 1175 18th St. and next Thursday at the same times at city hall, located at 410 Ninth St.

» alambert@brandonsun.com