Morden residents will choose new mayor Dec. 20

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This article was published 16/10/2023 (959 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Morden is holding a mayoral byelection Dec. 20.

The byelection will fill the spot left open when Brandon Burley resigned earlier this month after being asked to join NDP premier-designate Wab Kinew’s transition advisory team.

Prospective mayoral candidates must register with the senior election official between Nov. 8 and Nov. 14.

Candidates must be registered before they can accept contributions, incur expenses, raise funds or borrow money for their campaigns, senior election official Ted Fransen said in a social media post.

A separate byelection to fill a council vacancy will be held at a later date, Morden’s city manager said in a letter to residents Monday.

“By conducting the mayor election first, residents will have the opportunity to select a leader who aligns with their values and vision for our city,” Nicole Reidle told residents of the city, 130 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

“This choice can provide essential direction and inspiration for those considering running for city council positions, thereby promoting a more cohesive and unified vision for our community’s future,” Reidle wrote in the letter.

Burley, who served as Morden’s mayor since 2018, was re-elected by acclamation one year ago. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the vaccination proponent became a target of threats and outrage in the Southern Health region, which had among the lowest vaccine uptake rates in Manitoba.

In the summer of 2021, during extreme drought conditions, he and the City of Morden announced the rationing of available water. The municipality’s residents and commercial operators were asked to scale back on water use, and mandatory restrictions were imposed on industrial operators to reduce water consumption overall by more than 30 per cent, in alignment with the city’s drought-response plan.

On Oct. 5, Burley announced he was resigning as Morden’s mayor, the day before the incoming NDP government announced he was on its 11-member transition advisory team that included a cross-section of Manitobans.

Burley said at the time that he jumped at the chance to advocate for the people who run the province’s municipalities, saying they’d not been trusted by the former Progressive Conservative government and were treated like babies in diapers.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca