Longtime St. Vital councillor cites difficulty working with mayor among reasons he won’t seek re-election

St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes will not run to keep his city hall seat after nearly 15 years in the role, opting to seek a school trustee position instead.

During an emotional news conference at St. Vital Park Monday, the councillor announced he’s decided to leave city hall.

“This has been a dream job in many ways and a very difficult final term,” he said, his voice at times breaking with emotion.

Mayes said his key accomplishments included securing $11 million of improvements at St. Vital Park and helping expedite the city’s target date — from the 2090s to 2045 — to complete a master plan to reduce combined sewer overflows.

“We’re going to be done (the CSO reduction plan) by (2045). That’s fantastic,” he said.

He said recent difficulties arose from challenges in working with Mayor Scott Gillingham and others.

“It just didn’t work out with the mayor and I will always wonder why,” he said. “It will probably be the great regret of my career that it didn’t work out. Four years ago, I planned to do eight more years and then retire after that. That is not the right thing for me (now).”

He stressed his decision involved multiple factors, noting he sometimes struggled to cope with battles lost on the city council floor.

“This is about me today, it’s not about the mayor,” he said.

Mayes said he will seek election to become a school trustee in the Louis Riel School Division but did not announce the specific ward.

He also plans to endorse a candidate to succeed him in St. Vital on Tuesday.

Mayes was first elected in a 2011 byelection and reclaimed the seat in the following three general elections.

He served on the executive policy committee for 11 years under three different mayors, a post that includes leading a standing policy committee. He was chairman of the water, waste and environment committee for several of those years.

Gillingham removed Mayes from EPC in July 2024, after the councillor raised concerns about sweeping zoning changes that aimed to attract more housing.

Mayes previously served as a Brandon school trustee from 2006 to 2010.

He did not rule out other political races in the future.

“I’ve still got energy left. I’ve still got things to offer, so why don’t I try to do this in some other way?” he said. “I kind of like this idea of the full circle, going back to being a trustee,” said Mayes.

He said he would consider the option, if asked to run in the next provincial election.

“(I would) think about it … We’ll leave the door open to that,” said Mayes.

The councillor ran up to reporters to announce his political plans Monday, noting he was proud to work with school divisions to add running tracks, basketball courts and other spaces during his time as a city councillor.

After a separate news conference, the mayor said he agreed with Mayes on many issues but the two did not always “see eye-to-eye.”

“It’s democracy at city hall. We shouldn’t always agree. And a lot of times we did agree, we worked really well together. And even when we didn’t agree, I thought we worked well together. It’s part of democracy that we’re not (always) going to see eye-to-eye. Some of his priorities were different than my priorities. But that’s not really the focus. He had 15 years on council. We worked together for most of that time and accomplished a lot together,” said Gillingham.

The mayor said Mayes’ work to reduce the pollution that flows into Winnipeg through combined sewer overflows will be a key part of his legacy. Those overflows dumped 8.8 billion litres of diluted untreated sewage into Winnipeg rivers last year.

“Coun. Mayes understood the importance of making sure that we don’t have raw, diluted sewage flowing into our rivers. So, he pushed really hard … to get more funding into the combined sewer overflow (reduction) program. And, so, we’ve increased funding by tens of millions of dollars to get that program expedited and get that work completed more quickly,” said Gillingham.

Mayes is the third longtime city councillor to announce they will not seek re-election in recent days. Coun. John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) announced he won’t seek another term on June 19, while Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) confirmed on Wednesday this term will also be her last.

Gillingham linked the trio of decisions to the nature of politics.

“It comes a point in a person’s life, and time in a political career, when the decision is to step down or move on or retire. These roles are not forever … Coun. Mayes, Coun. Orlikow, Coun. Lukes get to go out on their own terms after making significant contributions for the people of Winnipeg,” said Gillingham.

Candidates for city councillor and school trustee positions can begin registering to compete for those jobs on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. The registration deadline is Sept. 22 at 4:30 p.m.

Winnipeg’s election is scheduled for Oct. 28.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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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.

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