Give us other options

Brandon could do with more mayoral candidates this election cycle. As of this writing, the choice is between current Mayor Jeff Fawcett and the guy who doesn’t know when to quit, Len Isleifson.

Isleifson has been on city council before. By the end of that stint, I recall him saying he couldn’t get anything done because, he repeated, everything’s provincial. So he ran for MLA in Brandon East and won in 2016. But what did he do?

In his candidate profile on the City of Brandon website, Isleifson writes that Brandon needs leadership that listens. When he was MLA, a family member tried to make an appointment with him to discuss mental health care. Isleifson was not available and his office said not to bother.

The second option, Fawcett, gave a presentation to the Public Utilities Board of Manitoba on Aug. 31, 2026, in which he expressed support for the $3-billion construction of a new gas turbine power plant in Brandon. His support for this project is based on a desire to satisfy the energy demands of large industries, stimulate growth, and create jobs. Same old slogans. It’s great for industries since it will be the ratepayers who foot the bill. But for $3 billion, worthwhile jobs can be created without the pollution and risks involved in gas powered energy and large industries.

We are facing a critical point in the history of the planet. Scientists are warning that seven of nine planetary boundaries have been breached. These represent areas crucial to the functioning of the Earth’s life systems. Meanwhile, Manitoba’s biggest polluter can be found in Brandon’s industrial zone, making synthetic fertilizers that kill soils and poison water. Another is making toilet paper bleach, which contains forever chemical and other toxins poisonous to humans and wildlife.

Another is making cooling tanks for data centres, those noisy, sprawling warehouses built on farmland and wildlife habitat that deplete freshwater sources and accelerate climate change. Data centres are an essential part of the infrastructure enabling artificial intelligence (AI) which has aided the rapid dissemination of disinformation, the production of child sexual abuse materials, the rotting of minds, young and old, the deployment of advanced weapons, and the concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands, and, industry experts say, may lead to the extinction of humanity as early as 2030.

Brandon can do better things with $3 billion than more of the above. That amount can pay the annual salaries of 44,284 teachers or 34,078 nurses. For much less than $3 billion, every homeless or struggling person in Brandon could get an apartment, enough food to eat and attend university or college, if they so choose.

As well, $3 billion could fund large ecological projects that focus on restoring wildlife habitat and take important steps toward repairing breached planetary boundaries at the local level. That amount of money could help transition industrial agriculture toward sustainable food production. Brandon would become a world leader, and worthwhile work would be done all along the way.

Perhaps that money is earmarked only for energy projects, but let it disturb you that a Crown corporation can materialize $3 billion when industries scream for more energy, and the mayor will travel to Winnipeg to advocate on their behalf, while more pressing issues go unaddressed. A wider public discussion should be taking place to determine the best way to spend $3 billion.

We have a choice between continuing this devastating path of endless expansion and a new way of undoing the damage by investing in an ecologically sound future. I believe we’re going to need different kinds of leaders for a shot at the second option. I hope the candidates prove me wrong, and for more options at the polling stations.

GRAHAM JANZ, MSc

Brandon resident living in Oldenburg, Germany