Brandon Sun – Breaking News, Sports, Manitoba, Canada

A pair of yearlings prick their ears up at the sound of a camera shutter while tied to a holding pen at the Keystone Centre on Monday. A waiting row of trucks and trailers lined the north parking lot on Monday afternoon, in advance of the Manitoba Ag Ex cattle show, which begins on Wednesday. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun)

Two for the show

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Mayoral race reaches zero hour

By Alex Lambert 5 minute read Preview

Mayoral race reaches zero hour

By Alex Lambert 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 10:01 PM CDT

Brandon’s two mayoral candidates continued to make their final pushes on Tuesday as voters head to the polls today to elect the next mayor and council.

Incumbent Mayor Jeff Fawcett said he and his team have been to nearly every doorstep across the city, while challenger Len Isleifson said he has covered most parts of Brandon and was on a second round in some areas.

“I’m working my tail off to try to make sure that people do get out to vote, and the people I speak to, I feel fairly optimistic,” said Fawcett, who is running for his second term. “But people have to vote.”

The Sun joined both Fawcett and Isleifson as they went door-knocking on the eve of the election.

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Updated: Yesterday at 10:01 PM CDT

Local

Brandon City Hall. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun files)

Advance voting sets new Brandon record

2 minute read Preview

Advance voting sets new Brandon record

2 minute read Yesterday at 9:59 PM CDT

Advance voting in Brandon reached an all-time high this month, shattering past municipal election records.

A total of 2,386 ballots were cast in advance polls for mayor, ward councillor and school board trustees on Oct. 14, 17 and 22, senior election official Heather Ewasiuk confirmed Tuesday.

The total, which also included a senior housing mobile advance poll, is 920 more than the previous record of 1,466 ballots cast in 2014.

It also represents a sharp increase from the 376 advance votes recorded in 2022.

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Yesterday at 9:59 PM CDT

Local

Peter Sawatzky’s sculpture The Seal River Crossing is one of the many attractions at the Riverbank Discovery Centre. A new tourism strategy for the City of Brandon will promote the Riverbank as a major destination point for visitors. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun files)

Riverbank to be ‘central hub’ in tourism plan

By Rylee Gerrard 3 minute read Preview

Riverbank to be ‘central hub’ in tourism plan

By Rylee Gerrard 3 minute read Yesterday at 9:58 PM CDT

Brandonites were given a sneak peek into the future of tourism in the city during last week’s council meeting.

In a slideshow presented to council on Oct. 19, staff from UpHouse — a Winnipeg-based marketing agency — gave a first look into a new tourism strategy that will make the Riverbank Discovery Centre a central hub for visitors.

According to UpHouse senior strategist Carley English, more than one million people visit the Keystone Centre for events annually.

“What we’re going to do is we’re going to take those event visitors, those one million plus people who are coming here anyways … and we’re going to turn them into city visitors,” English said.

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Yesterday at 9:58 PM CDT

Local

Stabbing outside downtown bar nets two-year sentence

By Tessa Adamski 5 minute read Preview

Stabbing outside downtown bar nets two-year sentence

By Tessa Adamski 5 minute read Yesterday at 9:55 PM CDT

A Manitoba judge sentenced a Waywayseecappo First Nation man to two years behind bars for stabbing a woman in downtown Brandon, acknowledging he was likely repeating behaviour modelled to him at a young age.

The typical sentencing range for offenders in a similar circumstance as 21-year-old David Medicine is between two and four years in custody, and provincial court Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta opted for the low end after factoring in Medicine’s history of being stabbed and witnessing at least one fatal stabbing in his lifetime.

“It’s not an excuse for behaving badly, but it does help us to understand how you might be so angry and so quick to lash out,” Hewitt-Michta said in court on Tuesday. “But it’s your responsibility to do something about that and to get the help that you need so that you can manage these issues.”

Medicine pleaded guilty this summer to aggravated assault in the Feb. 13 incident when he got into a fight while intoxicated outside the City Centre Hotel bar and stabbed a stranger in the chest, Crown attorney Yaso Mathu said.

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Yesterday at 9:55 PM CDT

Local

BDO Canada LLP manager Jarett Kowaluk presents an audit of the Brandon School Division's financial statements to the school board on Monday evening. (Abiola Odutola/The Brandon Sun)

Brandon School Division ended last fiscal year with $400K surplus

By Abiola Odutola 3 minute read Preview

Brandon School Division ended last fiscal year with $400K surplus

By Abiola Odutola 3 minute read Yesterday at 9:54 PM CDT

The Brandon School Division ended the 2025-26 fiscal year with an operating surplus of about $400,000, BDO Canada LLP reported during the board of trustees’ last general meeting on Monday.

The division’s expenses increased by about $6 million from the previous year, but were $2 million below budget, BDO manager Jarett Kowaluk told the board.

“In today’s economic environment, that’s quite impressive,” Kowaluk said.

The result, he said, produced a surplus of about $2.4 million before $2 million was transferred to fund items such as capital asset purchases and debt repayment.

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Yesterday at 9:54 PM CDT

Local

The Brandon Police Service station at 10th Street and Victoria Avenue. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

Beating in hotel room; domestic assault charge

2 minute read Preview

Beating in hotel room; domestic assault charge

2 minute read Yesterday at 9:52 PM CDT

Hotel beating

A 43-year-old woman was taken by ambulance to the Brandon hospital for injuries that resulted from a fight with her girlfriend on Monday evening.

Around 10:25 p.m., police were called to a hotel room on the 1100 block of 18th Street for a report of a physical altercation between two individuals, police said in a news release Tuesday.

During the fight, the victim was punched multiple times in the face and received black eyes and a bloody nose. She was taken to the Brandon Regional Health Centre for medical treatment and the extent of her injuries remains unknown, police said.

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Yesterday at 9:52 PM CDT

Local

The water tower in Rideau Park overlooks the park and Brandon's east end. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun files)

Council votes to set aside $250K for Rideau Park

By Alex Lambert 2 minute read Preview

Council votes to set aside $250K for Rideau Park

By Alex Lambert 2 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:51 PM CDT

An outgoing Brandon councillor has asked the city to set aside $250,000 in next year’s budget to enhance Rideau Park.

Coun. Glen Parker at his final meeting last week used artificial intelligence to generate images depicting the type of attraction he would like to see at the east-end park, with a lighted water tower and a photo area.

The motion was approved 9-2.

“This is a really popular area — Rideau Park (is) annually voted best park in the city, and in the winter, it’s become a really, really popular toboggan hill,” the Ward 9 councillor said.

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Updated: Yesterday at 9:51 PM CDT

Local

FILE - A B1 bomber prepares to take off as police officers guard a checkpoint near RAF Fairford air base, in Fairford, England, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

2 men charged with UK national security offenses over incident at US-run military base in England

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

2 men charged with UK national security offenses over incident at US-run military base in England

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 12:55 PM CDT

LONDON (AP) — Two men appeared in a London court on Tuesday on national security charges over what prosecutors say was an Iran-backed plot against a U.S.-run military air base in England.

British nationals Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim and Nouman Essghir, both aged 24 and from London, were charged under the National Security Act, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Abdulkarim is charged with assisting Iran's intelligence service and Essghir with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the U.K.

RAF Fairford, in western England, has been used to strike Iran during this year’s war. The U.S. pulled its bombers from the base after a major security scare last month when five men were detained near the perimeter of the base late at night.

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Updated: Yesterday at 12:55 PM CDT

Lifestyles

A healthcare worker in protective clothing is disinfected by a colleague inside a treatment center for Ebola patients in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)

Congo’s Ebola outbreak tops 10,000 cases as authorities race to slow the spread in African countries

Chinedu Asadu And Constant Same Bagalwa, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Congo’s Ebola outbreak tops 10,000 cases as authorities race to slow the spread in African countries

Chinedu Asadu And Constant Same Bagalwa, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:40 AM CDT

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — The fast-moving Ebola outbreak in Congo has reached 10,000 confirmed cases, government data showed Tuesday, as health authorities race to slow the spread of the disease in multiple African countries.

It is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history and nearly half of the 10,060 confirmed to have the virus have died, according to data from Congo’s Ministry of Health. That also makes it the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the country’s history.

The outbreak declared in May is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment. Response teams are battling armed conflict, poor roads and violence from residents fueled by mistrust and misinformation. Those obstacles compound the challenge of persuading people to report symptoms and accept care in communities that have endured years of violence and repeated epidemics.

Compared to the West Africa Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016 – history’s largest and deadliest with more than 28,000 cases, including over 11,000 deaths – this has had at least three times the number of cases and number of deaths in the time since it was declared.

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Updated: Yesterday at 8:40 AM CDT

Lifestyles

A guided tour for people with dementia at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Dementia doctors, provinces differ on question of advance consent in MAID

Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Preview

Dementia doctors, provinces differ on question of advance consent in MAID

Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 3:41 PM CDT

TORONTO - While proposed new federal legislation would allow advance requests for medical assistance in dying, the stark difference in opinion between two provinces highlights an ongoing debate about what constitutes true consent among people who have dementia.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser introduced a bill on Tuesday to decriminalize providing MAID to people with dementia and other conditions that take away the capacity to consent if they ask for it in advance while they're still mentally capable.

Bill C-41 states that "a person would have to be experiencing intolerable suffering at the time MAID is provided, even if all the conditions in their advance request have been met."

It's up to provincial governments to decide whether — and how — to allow people to make advance requests and have those wishes fulfilled in the future.

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Updated: Yesterday at 3:41 PM CDT