Candidate vows to be particularly vocal if elected

The latest candidate to join the race to become the city councillor for Elmwood-East Kildonan promises to provide a “loud” voice to fight for investment in the ward.

Braydon Mazurkiewich, 37, announced in a news release Monday that he will run in the Oct. 25 byelection.

“The people of Elmwood-East Kildonan have been, frankly, ignored by city hall for decades… There’s a lot to fix,” he said.

The council seat became vacant when Jason Schreyer died in late April.

Mazurkiewich said Elmwood needs many investments, such as more police foot patrols and the full replacement of the Louise Bridge.

“The Louise Bridge was on the books (for decades), and the can keeps getting kicked down the road. Well, it’s been kicked so far that all summer we’ve been without a bridge,” he said.

The city closed the bridge for an inspection and maintenance on May 23. After problems were detected, it’s not expected to reopen until sometime next month.

If elected, Mazurkiewich said he would also call for major changes to the city’s new primary transit network, such as restoring eliminated bus stops so seniors don’t need to walk as far.

The political rookie owns Team MAZ automotive, which helps clients shop for and finance vehicles.

He has also volunteered and consulted for politicians in the past, supporting Glen Murray’s unsuccessful 2022 Winnipeg mayoral campaign and Conservative Colin Reynolds’ successful bid to become the MP for Elmwood-Transcona.

Mazurkiewich has triggered controversy in the past. In 2012, he complained online about a planned urban reserve at the former Kapyong barracks site.

He wrote that the land “was built for hardworking men and women of the military, not freeloading Indians,” the Free Press reported at the time. Mazurkiewich was forced to quit as president of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative party’s youth wing.

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He has since told the Free Press he no longer holds the same views and deems the comments “racist” and “harmful.”

“I think I’ve done a lot since then to rectify and apologize for the comments that I would never repeat today,” Mazurkiewich said Tuesday. “I’ve gone to Indigenous leaders, I’ve sought forgiveness. I put out a public apology… and I took some Indigenous (studies) courses.”

Child-care assistant Zekaria Selahadin, city planning property and development clerk Kyle Roche, Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500 vice-president Carmen Prefontaine, construction project manager Abel Gutierrez and community advocate Emma Durand-Wood have also registered to run in the byelection.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X: @joyanne_pursaga

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.