Seven candidates, their top three issues Crime, transit, roads, affordability top of mind in Elmwood-East Kildonan By: Joyanne Pursaga Posted: 5:46 PM CDT Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025

There is no lack of choice for voters in Elmwood-East Kildonan who will head to the polls Saturday.

Seven candidates are vying to become the city councillor for the ward, replacing Jason Schreyer, who died in April.

In advance of the byelection, the Free Press asked each contender to share the top three priorities they would tackle, if elected, and the steps they would take to do so.

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Braydon Mazurkiewich

A candidate who has repeatedly vowed to be a “loud” voice fighting for his ward says combating crime would be his top priority as city councillor.

Braydon Mazurkiewich, a 37-year-old automotive finance broker, said action must be taken to address safety risks he linked to “crime campers” who live in homeless encampments, whom he linked to squatting in derelict housing, drug use and fires.

“Crime is a huge, pressing issue here (with) the encampments on the riverbanks, the meth-head tweakers walking down the road,” said Mazurkiewich.

When asked about his choice of words for people who are homeless and/or dealing with addictions, the candidate said he sticks by that description.

Mazurkiewich noted one vacant home in the 700 block of Talbot Avenue caught fire twice last weekend.

“We need some action. I think the crime issue is the No. 1 issue ravaging this community,” he said.

The candidate said he would push the province to increase funding and outreach to homeless people, which he said the senior government should pay for, since housing falls under its jurisdiction.

He also called for the Winnipeg Police Service to reopen its east district police station to accept in-person crime reports, to ensure as many crimes as possible are counted.

His second key priority would be to “scrap” Winnipeg Transit’s new primary network, which was added in June, and revert back to its previous routes, while adding more and/or larger buses to increase capacity.

“I still hear every day from seniors, workers and students that the bus system’s broken, they can’t get home (at night),” said Mazurkiewich.

For his third priority, Mazurkiewich said he would do everything possible to ensure a new Louise Bridge is built, replacing the current plan to repair it.

“This bridge (has been) a symbol of neglect for this community from city hall for decades. It’s 115 years old,” he said.

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Emma Durand-Wood

Tackling poverty to prevent crime would be the top priority for Emma Durand-Wood, if she wins the byelection.

“The tools that I would like to support to reduce crime are really about reducing poverty. For me, that looks like doing whatever we can to increase housing … At minimum, people need a safe place to live,” said Durand-Wood, a 44-year-old community advocate and volunteer.

She believes ensuring people can afford and access grocery staples should be another key part of that effort.

Meanwhile, people are “crying out” for more investment to greatly boost the frequency of Winnipeg Transit service, her next priority.

Since its new network of central “spine” and remote “feeder” routes came in, more riders must transfer between buses to reach their destinations, she noted.

“The way we make transfers less painful is we increase the frequency on all routes so that you’re not having a transfer that means an extra half an hour,” said Durand-Wood.

Transit recently increased the maximum time limit to 90 minutes from 75 minutes for riders to board a subsequent bus without paying an additional charge, after some riders complained the previous cutoff left transfer limits too short to complete some trips.

Durand-Wood’s third pressing priority would be to push for more spending on “community and public services,” such as recreation programs.

“We need to make sure that we’re able to staff these places and facilities. We should be able to have swimming lessons for everybody,” she said.

Spots for swimming lessons at city pools often run out within minutes after registration opens, leaving many residents unable to sign up.

Durand-Wood said the city could seek out partnerships, such as with school divisions, to increase the number of spots available.

Cancelling some spending on megaprojects, such as expansions to Kenaston Boulevard/ Route 90 and the Chief Peguis Trail, could help pay for her priorities, she said.

“I think those are the sorts of things that really rob us of the ability to spend in other areas.”

The overhaul of Kenaston Boulevard is expected to cost $614 million, plus $143 million in interest, if funded solely through debt. The Chief Peguis Trail extension is expected to cost $755 million, plus $147 million in interest, if funded entirely by debt.

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Kyle Roche

Kyle Roche hopes to ensure the owners of “repeat nuisance” properties pay for the strain they create on city services, if he’s elected.

Roche, 34, said pushing for the city to crack down on vacant and derelict buildings that require an excessive number of city services would be his top initial priority, if he wins the race to represent Elmwood-East Kildonan.

“There are certain properties that are responsible for a disproportionate number of calls and use of city time. Many other municipalities have similar bylaws where property owners, after crossing a certain threshold, end up bein … fined and then charged for staff time,” said Roche.

He said such fees and penalties would charge property owners for non-emergency visits, such as to handle complaints about excessive noise and failing to board up empty buildings, after a set number of responses.

The number of incidents required to trigger penalties and exact fees in Winnipeg would require further study, he said.

“This has been used effectively in other municipalities to crack down on absentee landlords,” said Roche.

Enhancing transit service, especially by adding more buses at night and installing more shelters and benches at stops, is his second key priority.

“The spine-and-feeder system (where direct spines along major corridors connect to more remote feeder routes) is not good for people who require the feeder aspect, if (its) service hours end four hours earlier than the spine… The feeder routes need to be more frequent as well,” said Roche.

The candidate, who works as a City of Winnipeg planning, property and development clerk, said his third priority would be to push city council to devote more funding toward implementing key planning initiatives. Those include the Our Winnipeg 25-year development plan, city’s council’s strategic priorities action plan for 2023 to 2026 and the 25-year Winnipeg Transit master plan.

He fears implementation of all of the above is happening too slowly.

“They make these plans but then don’t fund executing them,” said Roche.

He suggested council could cancel any immediate plans to widen Kenaston Boulevard and extend Chief Peguis Trail to free up funding for other priorities.

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Carmen Prefontaine

Fixing core infrastructure is a pressing need in the ward, according to Carmen Prefontaine.

The 52-year-old Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500 vice-president said her top priority, if elected, would be to better maintain existing infrastructure, such as streets, back lanes and sidewalks.

“It’s about dealing with our core infrastructure. We don’t need to have big new projects when our streets are crumbling,” said Prefontaine.

She stressed new investments should not come at the cost of keeping existing assets in good repair.

Secondly, she’d like to see a focus on affordability by ensuring tax dollars proactively support front-line services and avoid unintended costs later.

For example, she noted the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg union has asked the city to hire dozens of new full-time firefighters to reduce its reliance on overtime.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service exceeded its overtime budget by $7 million in 2024.

“Pension, benefits, salary, (workers compensation board) costs are through the roof, sick time is through the roof. (The current strategy is) not maintainable for anybody and it’s costing us a whole bunch of extra money,” said Prefontaine.

She listed improving community safety and reducing crime as her third most pressing priority for the ward.

The changes required are unique to each neighbourhood in the ward, from better safety lighting at some sites to partnering with the province to address encampments at others, she said.

“There is so much crime and poverty and we need to actually deal with that at its root causes… We need to work with the province on things like homelessness, mental health and the opioid crisis,” said Prefontaine.

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Chris Sweryda

Expanding food security programs throughout Elmwood-East Kildonan would be at the top of Chris Sweryda’s agenda, if he wins the seat.

Sweryda, a 38-year-old road safety researcher, has acted as purchaser for the Elmwood-East Kildonan grocery access program, buying the lowest-priced grocery staples he could find to resell to residents at “break-even” prices.

“From door-knocking, I’ve realized (that program is) very popular and the need is through the whole ward,” he said.

He hopes to find a second in-person pickup location for the program. (Its initial site was at Morse Place Community Centre on Munroe Avenue, though it is slated to move to St. Gerard School next week.)

For his second key change, he would try to ensure the Louise Bridge is replaced with a new structure, not just repaired.

“If we don’t replace this bridge, we’re going to end up with an Arlington Bridge situation, it’s just going to be suddenly closed one day,” said Sweryda.

Last year, city council approved a $40-million preliminary design that aims to extend the Louise Bridge’s life by at least 30 years, which called for construction no later than 2030. However, many residents and politicians have opposed the plan, arguing it leaves a vital artery at risk of closure.

The Arlington Bridge, which opened in 1912, closed suddenly on Nov. 21, 2023, due to structural concerns.

Addressing encampments and crime would be Sweryda’s third key priority.

He would seek advice on providing key services at designated encampment sites from homeless outreach groups and other experts.

“I stand by my position that you can’t just drive a bulldozer through encampments and expect them to just disappear or just go in there and give them all tickets for camping in a park,” he said.

Sweryda said he’d also like to push for police to take proactive efforts to combat crime, such as using “bait” bikes to thwart bicycle theft.

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Abel Gutierrez

Reducing crime, along with the number of vacant and derelict homes, would top the agenda, if Abel Gutierrez is chosen to represent the ward.

“We need timely demolition or repairs to those properties (for) the ones that can be repaired… We need to get rid of those boarded-up homes,” said Gutierrez, a 41-year-old construction project manager.

He said repeated break-ins and fires at such properties become riskier in later months of the year, when people are more likely to break in to the properties to warm up.

He’d also call for improved lighting, community patrols and closed-circuit television cameras to combat additional crimes.

A second key priority would be to seek more quality “neighbourhood” investments for the ward, such as supports to add sports and other recreation programming at local community centres, said Gutierrez.

“They have minimal programming in there and most of it is not geared towards youth… Those used to be hubs in the community, where kids used to go and be involved in sports or some type of programming. We need to bring that back,” he said.

Gutierrez, who is vice-president of the East Side Eagles Football Club, said such programs are key to ensuring youth are active and engaged with their neighbourhoods.

Thirdly, he would create an office within the ward and host monthly town hall meetings to ensure he is readily available to residents.

“It’s important for people to have access to their city councillor,” he said.

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Zekaria Selahadin

Making food easier to access and afford would be key for Zekaria Selahadin, if he is elected.

Selahadin, a 25-year-old child-care assistant, said food security is his top priority for change. He would seek tax breaks to entice grocery stores to move into the area.

“I… want to help bring in smaller grocery stores or even larger grocery stores to Elmwood, especially parts of Elmwood that don’t have (them),” he said.

Existing programs that help people access staple grocery products should also be expanded, ideally to ensure people can walk or bike to get affordable food, he said.

Another key priority would aim to tackle crime and heighten public safety. Selahadin said he would try to work with community centres, schools and community safety officers — staff who patrol Winnipeg Transit buses and stops — on a broad safety plan for the area.

He said preventative resources for youth, such as access to mental health supports and jobs, are key to preventing crime.

Rounding out his top three priorities, Selahadin said he’d push for resources that ensure aging roads and other infrastructure in the ward get repaired.

For example, he said the drainage system can be overtaxed in rainstorms, leading water to build up in some areas of Elmwood.

“In a lot of instances, the (water) doesn’t actually (quickly drain) to sewers, it stays within certain sections of the road… that can cause a lot of cracks underneath the roadside, seeping into the lower layers, which can cause a lot of potholes and damage,” he said.

Selahadin said he would also seek more green infrastructure to better absorb water and reduce the strain on the road drainage system.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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