Chance to serve on Kinew advisory team, advocate for municipalities behind Morden mayor’s sudden departure

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This article was published 06/10/2023 (729 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon Burley is thrilled to be sitting at the adult table.

The Morden resident got a call following Tuesday’s election from Manitoba’s new premier-designate, who asked him to join his transition advisory team. Burley thanked Wab Kinew and promptly resigned as mayor of the southeastern city, jumping at the chance to advocate for the people who run the province’s municipalities.

The Progressive Conservatives had, for some time, been treating municipalities like babies in diapers who need to be bottle fed, rather than responsible grown-up governments that can help drive the economy, said the former Federation of Canadian Municipalities board member, first elected to Morden’s highest office in 2018.

“During my tenure as mayor, I was able to see the lack of trust. That’s the best way I can describe it,” Burley told the Free Press Friday, adding the province hadn’t sought municipal input in recent years.

“The one level of government didn’t trust the other level of government to be competent enough to deliver on the programs that had to be delivered. You saw different institutions and things brought in to ensure that municipalities would operate in ways that the province saw fit and met their specific agenda. I’m energized to know that southern Manitoba and municipalities have an open ear.

“I know from first-hand experience that municipalities do want growth. They do want to see transformation and I think empowered municipalities will be incredible partners to Mr. Kinew and his government going forward.”

Burley was one of 11 people announced Friday as members of Kinew’s transition advisory team that also includes:

• Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress
• Joy Cramer, CEO of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization
• Dr. Eric Jacobsohn, a professor in the department of anesthesiology, pain and perioperative medicine at the University of Manitoba and former medical director of research at Health Sciences Centre
• Ash Modha, CEO of Mondetta Clothing
• Carmen Nedohin, Winnipeg chapter president of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, former chair of the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission (now Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries) and a former Manitoba Hydro board member
• Jennefer Nepinak, vice-president of strategic partnerships and reconciliation at Legacy Bowes and former associate VP for Indigenous Engagement at the University of Winnipeg
• Tanya Palson, executive director of Manitoba Building Trades
• Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour
• Shahina Siddiqui, co-founder and executive director of the Islamic Social Services Association
• Mike Spence, Mayor of Churchill

“I am proud to be surrounded by a team of experts in several sectors,” Kinew said in a prepared statement. “It is with this broad range of experience, from different parts of the province, that our new government will begin to move forward on implementing our platform and making good on the promises we made to Manitobans.

The campaign focused, in large part, on improving health care and front-line services.

The roster is a far cry from the one assembled seven years ago by Brian Pallister after the massive majority victory that ended 17 years of NDP government in the province. Pallister’s advisory panel, focused to fiscal performance, included a former Saskatchewan finance minister, chamber of commerce president and several private consultants.

The NDP and the Tories often differ significantly in the makeup of such teams, University of Winnipeg political science assistant Prof. Félix Mathieu said.

“Typically, in Manitoba and in other Canadian provinces, the NDP likes to bring in people from unions, who supported them during the election. It is unusual, however, that nobody from the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce has been appointed.”

Regardless of which party is about to form government, however, advisers tend to have limited influence Mathieu said.

“This time, what we are observing, is that they made sure to include many Indigenous perspectives, a (former) mayor from the south of the province and people from within the health-care system. This echoes some of the most pressing concerns for Wab Kinew’s government.”

For his part, Burley said his experience as mayor and background as a real estate appraiser may help facilitate housing development in various municipalities.

“I also bring a southern Manitoba perspective around the rurals, and how to effectively engage the local layer of government,” he said, adding he and his family are staying put in Morden.

“We love this community.”

— with files from Tyler Searle

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca