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Employees who work for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries will either have to provide proof of full vaccination or take part in rapid testing early next year.

The Crown corporation made the announcement and the policy will come into effect on January 10, 2022.

This follows an announcement from the Manitoba government back at the end of August that stated certain designated provincial employees would be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo regular testing.

Rotary Radio Week wraps up today with featured member Clayton Swanton.

Swanton, who has been a member for over a decade, says being a part of the Rotary Club is all about doing good for the community while surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals.

Swanton touched on the rotary club's involvement with active living,

"We had made a decision to support active living initiatives in Dauphin and just changed the culture a little bit about the way active living is perceived and how it's funded. A group of Rotarians had started what was the Manitoba Mud Run a number of years ago, made some decisions at that time that funds raised from that would be earmarked specifically for active living projects in Dauphin. And it really snowballed from there, and from the mud run, we also created a number of other events, and it ended up becoming what's now called Race RMNP and just a number of active living events that are hosted around Riding Mountain National Park. We have a 50 km trail run, an adventure race, a snowshoe run and now just this last year we took over the Riding Mountain half marathon."

Swanton further explained about the Rotary's involvement with active living,

"All the money raised from that goes back to the Rotary Club, and the Rotary Club dictates what active living projects its supports with those funds."

This concludes the Rotary Radio Week interviews with Rotarians, CKDM thanks everyone who made these features such a success.

October 18th to 24th is being recognized as National Teen Driver Safety Week.

MPI says since 2011, teen drivers have been involved in 10 percent of fatal collisions.

Media Relations Coordinator for MPI, Brian Smiley, says some teen drivers need to look in the mirror and reflect on the changes they need to make to keep our roads safe,

"This week has been the launch of national teen safety driving week, and we certainly can recognize the importance of our young drivers having a safe driving foundation. But having said that, it's important that all teen drivers out there, especially in the Dauphin and Parkland region, just self-evaluate your driving. If you tend to be speeding and tailgating, not using your seatbelt, those are high-risk driving behaviours that you need to adjust." 

According to Manitoba collision statistics, teen drivers are:

  • 3.4 times more likely to follow too closely than drivers aged 45 and older.
  • 4.3 times more likely to speed than drivers aged 45 and older.
  • 5.2 times more likely to lose control/drive off-road than drivers aged 45 and older.
  • 6.8 times more likely to experience extreme fatigue or fall asleep behind the wheel than drivers aged 45 and older.
  • 4.2 times more likely to drive impaired than drivers aged 45 and older.

Parachute Canada organizes National Teen Driver Safety Week; they say it's a good time for all teen drivers in the province to evaluate their driving behaviours and help reduce collisions. 

Lundar RCMP continue to investigate after they responded to a report of an armed robbery at a gas station located on Highway 6 in St. Laurent.

Two males and one female entered the store on October 18 at about 10:50 a.m., grabbed several bottles of liquor and pointed a firearm at the employee as they walked out. The suspects were then seen a short time later walking towards the school where they were picked up in a vehicle.

Shortly after at 11:40 a.m., the suspect vehicle was spotted at the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 101 and the vehicle was stopped by officers from the Emergency Response Team who were coming from St. Laurent to provide assistance.

A search of the vehicle led to the seizure of the firearm, which was identified as an airsoft gun, as well as several knives, a machete and the stolen liquor.

A 40-year-old female passenger, who was found in an unconscious state in the vehicle, was taken to hospital where she remains in stable condition.

RCMP have charged the following individuals in relation to this incident with Robbery and numerous weapons-related offences;

1)    Wendy Cook, 42-years of age from Winnipeg, was remanded into custody.

2)    Nathan Sumner, 24-years of age from Little Saskatchewan, was remanded into custody.

3)    Mark Holden, 24-years-of age from Lundar, was released from custody. He will be appearing in court in Lundar on December 16, 2021.

4)    Vanessa McKenzie, 34-years of age from Lake St Martin, was released from custody. She will be appearing in court in Lundar on December 16, 2021.

The state of emergency that the province has been under for over a year expired yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday, the news came down in a press release from premier Kelvin Goertzen and Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler.

Goertzen said that while the state of emergency is coming to an end, that doesn't mean Manitobans should stop following suggested public health guidelines,

“Nineteen months ago we declared a state of emergency to help protect the physical and financial health and safety of all Manitobans and reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our hospitals and in our communities. As we continue to move toward a post-pandemic Manitoba, we want to remind everyone, although the state of emergency is expiring, COVID-19 is still here. With vaccination rates among the highest in the country with over 82 percent of eligible Manitobans fully vaccinated, we can help control COVID, but it’s important that all Manitobans continue to follow the fundamentals that help us limit our risks"

The state of emergency was first declared on March 20, 2020, by the powers of the Emergency Measures Act.

The province noted in the release that they still retain the right to declare a new state of emergency if required in the future.

Public health orders are still in effect and can continue to be issued through the Public Health Act without a provincewide state of emergency.

As of Saturday, October 23rd, the CRB (Canada Recovery Benefit) will expire.

It will be replaced by the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit which will provide $300 a week to workers who have been affected by lockdowns due to COVID-19. The new benefit will also extend to those ineligible for Employment Insurance benefits.

Other benefit programs that will come to an end as of Saturday are the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS).

The Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) have been extended to May 2022. 

So far, more than 27 billion dollars has been paid out in income support for Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of vacant positions at the Dauphin Regional Health Centre has taken somewhat of a dramatic spike over the past two years.

Two years ago, the vacancy for nurses was at about 20 percent. Today, the vacancy is at about 33 percent. During the same period, the vacancy for healthcare aides has gone from 20 percent to 33 percent. 

Brian Schoonbaert, CEO of Prairie Mountain Health says this is a concern and that they, at times, have had to limit the number of beds they use for patients.

"We have had issues in Dauphin recruiting and really throughout the PMH region," said Schoonbaert. "With that said, we also know Winnipeg is having the same problem with a vacancy rate of about 20 percent."

The province is taking a proactive approach to try and improve the numbers by adding hundreds of seats to nursing courses in the province. This means that if you have an interest in becoming a nurse or health care aide, now could be a good time to get more information about it. 

The second-largest facility in the PMH region, Schoonbaert says Dauphin has had many nurses and health care aides working overtime and they also use agency workers because it's needed at times to provide the best possible care for patients. He also says Dauphin has a very stable physician workforce. 

"We expect these numbers to improve over the next couple of months, there's no doubt about that," said Schoonbaert. "We must do everything we can to make sure that all the services that need to be delivered can be delivered."

Brian also says communities should be doing a better job of attracting local workers. In Dauphin at Assiniboine Community College, practical nursing is a course that is offered. A comprehensive health care aide course is also offered. 

It’s day four of Rotary Radio Week at 730 CKDM, and we were able to talk with the Rotary Club’s President, Mark Kohan.

Mark Kohan joined the Rotary club in nearly three years ago, and this is his first year as president.

“I looked to get involved basically because of their activity within the community itself."

Mark talked about some of the club’s activities.  

“A lot of things have been popular like the wine tasting, the book sale is always popular, we have a lot of active living type of projects like the mud run and snow shoe run.”

Mark shared what he likes most about the Rotary Club.

“The favorite thing for me is just basically always for a way to get involved and help people out whether it’s Meals on Wheels or different types of programs like that. ”

Tomorrow is the last Day of Rotary Radio week, and we will be featuring Clayton Swanton.

UPDATE:

Wesley Wadien has been arrested. 

His arrest comes more than a day after RCMP began searching for him. 

He was wanted for allegedly uttering threats and pointing a gun. 

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An emergency alert has been sent out as Manitoba RCMP search for an armed and dangerous man.

Wesley Wadien is suspected to be an immediate threat to the public and was last seen in the Interlake at 3:53 p.m. on Wednesday. 

The RCMP believes he's still in in the Interlake or in Selkirk or Winnipeg. 

Wadien was last seen driving a white Dodge Ram with the license plate of KRC 820.

If you have any information, call 911. Additionally, if you spot him, do not approach and call the authorities. 

UPDATE--- A collision occurred at the corner of 1st St. NW and 2nd Ave NW in Dauphin around 5 pm yesterday.

According to the RCMP, a vehicle had come to a stop sign on 1st St NW; the driver then proceeded through the stop sign and struck an eastbound vehicle on 2nd Ave NW.

No one in the vehicle that was hit was wearing seatbelts, and all three occupants received minor physical injuries.

The investigation is continuing.

The Manitoba RCMP is warning about two recent frauds in Southwestern Manitoba.

Two people have been defrauded of over $34,000.

In one instance the victim was called by a person claiming to work for the Canada Border Services Agency. The caller claimed that they intercepted a package addressed to the victim that contained drugs, money, and fraudulent documents. The victim had recently placed some Amazon orders, which made it believable and concerning.

More calls were made to the victim from someone impersonating a police officer, and the Canada Revenue Agency. The victim was told to send money to settle the issue, which the victim did. In the days following, the victim continued to receive phone calls requesting more money and realized it was a scam and reported it to the police.

In the second instance, a victim was called by someone impersonating a police officer, claiming that a family member of the victim had been involved in a collision and was now at a police station.

The caller requested that the victim send money in order for the family member to be released from police custody. After the money was sent, the victim talked with another family member and realized it was a scam, and called the police.

The RCMP is advising Manitobans that no police agency or government agency will ask for money by mail, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, or QR codes.

Suspicious phone calls can be reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.