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One-third of Prairie Mountain Health Region emergency rooms were closed over the long weekend.

Staffing shortages have continued to force closures and reduced hours across the region, and Health Minister Audrey Gordon says the government is continuing its work to address the issue.

"Our government, since taking office, has been actively working towards increasing the number of staff that are in, not just the Winnipeg Health Region, but in the Prairie Mountain area, and we will continue to take those steps recognizing that not taking these steps will continue to lead to the staff shortages and some of the closures that we've seen."

Opposition leader Wab Kinew said the long-term retention of staff in rural communities would help improve the level of care. Minister Gordon also touched on the issue of retaining staff.

"I was, last week in Erikson, Hamiota, I was in Shoal Lake, Dauphin, and Swan River, and it really gave me an opportunity to talk to front-line healthcare workers, and what they said is they wanted to see us incentivize and encourage individuals who are currently living in the communities to enter the healthcare system."

Minister Gordon said she wanted to ensure people that nursing is still a rewarding, and sought-after career.

"It's just about ensuring that we increase the number of seats as we've done as a government. We are headed towards, as you know, 400 seats, we're up to 289. We have to get nurses through the system as quickly as possible, so that is being done. We have our undergraduate nurse educator program, which allows third and fourth-year nursing students to go into the system, and then our internationally educated nurses. Making it faster and more streamlined for them to gain licensure and go into the system."

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UPDATE: Manitoba Hydro has restored power to the area that saw an outage just before noon today.

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Manitoba Hydro has reported a number of outages affecting the Parkland right now. The Outages are all unplanned and started just before noon.

For details on each outage, go to the Manitoba Hydro Outage Map here.

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The Northwest Round Up and Exhibition returned to Swan River last weekend and it was really well attended.

Ag Society President Austen Anderson said that 11,389 people went through the gates — around 4,700 people on Saturday and over 3,000 the other two days.

He also said that even though they increased the admission price at the gates, nobody seems to have been deterred from attending.

"It was, like, better than normal. People were... euphoric [about] everything... It was crazy... The grandstand [was] packed three nights in a row for the chuckwagon show, just absolutely shoulder-to-shoulder people... The beer gardens [were] full, even [on] Sunday night... They were so excited to have something to do," he added.

Anderson also said that the food booths were very busy as well and that by Saturday at 9 p.m., they had already sold more beer at the beer gardens than they did during the entire 2019 rodeo.

"My aunt was one of the workers in the Stampeder booth. She worked from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and all she did for five hours straight was punch numbers on the cash register," he added.

He also wanted to thank the volunteers for all their hard work.

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Closures and reduced hours in healthcare Facilities continue to be an issue in the Prairie Mountain Health Region. Opposition Leader Wab Kinew says resolving staffing shortages needs to be a top priority for the government.

"I think everyone in the Parkland, and really everyone in the Prairie Mountain Region knows there are major issues with healthcare." "Let's make hiring nurses in the public system a priority. Agency Nurses as a stop-gap measure is one thing, but let's try and get these nurses on a permanent basis into communities so that they're there long term, they learn your name, they know your family, and they know your medical needs and they can build that relationship that improves that quality of care."

One recent example of these closures and limited hours is the Grandview Hospital limiting the hours of its emergency room. Kinew says it's an issue the provincial government has brought on themselves with some of their practices.

"The number one issue that we hear from nurses, is that the steps the PC's have taken with healthcare has left them feeling disrespected, burnt out, or that they just don't have much of a work-life balance." "All they want really is maybe just a little bit more consideration. That they not be forced to work back-to-back shifts, mandatory overtime, that they get some opportunity to see their kids, to see their families, and that there's some flexibility around scheduling shifts."

Prairie Mountain Health CEO Brian Schoonbaert recently commented on a survey about Manitobans being dissatisfied with their healthcare, and we have reached out to PMH for a response to Mr. Kinew's comments.

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It was an active Tuesday morning for the Dauphin Fire Department. Below is a summary from Fire Chief Cam Abrey of what occured:

In the early hours of Tuesday August 02, members of DFD responded to four separate incidents.

At midnight, the first call was received for a fire in a business on 3rd Avenue North East. As crews were wrapping up and putting the trucks back into service, shortly after 1:00 a.m., another call was received for a vehicle fire located behind a business on the 300 block of Main Street South.

During this vehicle fire, crews noticed smoke near the corner of 1st Avenue South West and Main Street. A fire was located behind 7-11 beside the dumpster.

Then shortly after 6:00 a.m., a fourth call was received for another vehicle fire at a business in the 500 block of Main Street South.

There was another attempted fire which was not reported to 911 as it had burned itself out at a business on 3rd Avenue North West.

Each one of the incidents is suspicious in nature. Should anyone have any information, please contact the RCMP at 204-622-5050.

This is in addition to a couple of businesses in Dauphin who posted on social media about broken windows at their shop.   

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UPDATE: As of 9:03 p.m., the remaining severe thunderstorm watches have ended.

The previous update follows:

As of 7:09 p.m., the severe thunderstorm watch that was in effect for many communities in the Swan River - Duck Mountain - Porcupine Provincial Forest area has ended.

The original article follows:

Environment Canada has issued multiple severe thunderstorm watches for Dauphin and surrounding areas.

They are currently in effect for many communities in the following areas:

According to Environment Canada, conditions are favourable for the development of dangerous thunderstorms that may be capable of producing damaging wind gusts, damaging hail and heavy rain.

They also said that scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop later this afternoon and move eastwards through the evening hours as a low-pressure system and trailing cold front move through the area and that some of these thunderstorms may be severe with primary threats of damaging hail and damaging wind gusts.

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Prairie Mountain Health will be running a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Dauphin tomorrow, August 3rd, at the Ukrainian Orthodox Hall at 304 Whitmore Ave. from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

This clinic will include children aged six months to four years if they meet the eligibility requirements.

First, second, third and fourth doses will be available for anyone who is eligible.

The Dauphin clinic will be a combination of walk-in and booked appointments.

Anyone interested can book an appointment online or by calling 1-844-626-8222.

They must also bring with them a completed consent form, which can be downloaded here.

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There was a vehicle fire behind the Steiner Plumbing & Heating Ltd. building last night. According to the company's Facebook page, someone set fire to one of their work trucks, which had freon tanks in the back.

The Dauphin Fire Department was on the scene to put out the fire before it was able to reach the tanks. One of Steiner's employees, who is a firefighter, was able to move the neighboring vehicle out of the way safely.

The Dauphin Fire Department is expected to be giving more information about the fire at some point today.

Steiner Facebook 2

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Winnipegosis Pride is getting ready to host their very first event this Saturday, August 6th. The day will be full of events, including a parade and a drag show. Cyndie Blythe, the President of Winnipegosis Pride says it's such an important event, and the community has really come together to support it.

"I can't even tell you how proud I am of this community, and the businesses here," said Blythe, "in this little teeny village, at what I like to call the south edge of nowhere, to support these LGBT folk and these kids who deserve to have some confidence and happiness."

Blythe said they'll have pamphlets with information about Pride, as well as people there to answer any questions people have.

"There are still people who struggle with their identity around sexual orientation and gender, and some of these people are kids." Said Blythe, "I'm here to tell you that I spent 45 years feeling like there was something wrong with me, and I would do anything to keep anybody's kids from having that experience of growing up not understanding that it's ok, it's ok to be who you are."

All of the events during the day are free to attend, while tickets to the Dinner, Drag Show, and DJ at the Mossey River Inn are just $35. If you have any questions or want tickets to the event, you can reach out to Winnipegosis Pride on Facebook.

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The Federal Government is proposing a cut to emissions that would affect the amount of fertilizer Canadian farmers would be able to use. Keystone Agricultural Producers President, Bill Campbell says this would drastically lower Canadian producers' outputs, at a time when the world food supply can't afford the hit.

"We need to ensure that there is food security, and food affordability in this nation, as well as in the world." "If we are impacted by some of the restrictions of our tools that we can use, I think those particular issues are in jeopardy."

Campbell says the changes don't take into account the previous practices that are in place, and is just a total cut of 30 percent.

"When you consider the last century where agriculture has been, and some of the practices with regard to the dirty 30s. Farmers realize that is their livelihood, and we have seen a tremendous shift in towards land stewardship, and looking after the land which provides them their livelihood and their income."

Campbell went on to say the practices of the Canadian Fertilizer Industry are world-renowned for their greenhouse gas footprint. Farmers are a part of that productivity, and they ensure that every pound purchased and put into the ground is used as efficiently as possible to enhance production.

"Our understanding is that there is a 12 month investigation period in regards to this, and the hope of the industry is that there will be in-depth consultations with regards to this conversation because it is of great concern to the agricultural community about the impact that these reductions may cause"

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Today is Terry Fox Day in Manitoba.

Terry Fox — who was born in Manitoba — was best known for his Marathon of Hope. After having lost his leg to cancer in 1980, Fox embarked on the east-to-west cross-Canada marathon with the goal of raising money and awareness for cancer research. He started in St. John's, N.L. and travelled 5,373 kilometres on foot over the course of 143 days. However, Terry Fox was forced to end his run outside Thunder Bay, Ont. after his cancer had returned and spread to his lungs, making it difficult for him to breathe.

Fox was able to raise $1.7 million — equivalent to $5.92 million in today's money — from his cross-country journey and today, millions of people across Canada and 59 other countries participate in annual Terry Fox Runs in his honour. The first annual Terry Fox Run was held in 1981 and Terry Fox Runs have now become the largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research in the world with over $800 million being raised in his name to date.

The Terry Fox Run is set to return to Dauphin's Vermillion Park this fall and Stephen Roznowsky has been organizing Dauphin's Terry Fox Runs for the past 15 years after losing his father to lung cancer.

"Raising money for cancer has always been a passion of mine... Any kind of research or any kind of [breakthrough] in cancer is a godsend because we all know or all have a person or persons that are close to us that have either had cancer... suffered through cancer, [or] have survived cancer... That's what we want, being able to survive a terrible disease," he added. 

Roznowsky also said that he believes that if his father was diagnosed with cancer today, he would have had a much better chance of surviving lung cancer and that he's hopeful for the future of cancer care.

"In terms of the leaps and bounds [by which] cancer care [has improved]... and all the steps that have been researched and developed [over the years], I think... [we have gotten to the point where] a person who is actually diagnosed with cancer... [which used to be a death sentence] 20 [or] 30 years ago... can beat it... It also gives people... [the] hope of having a chance to see another day," he added.

Anyone interested in donating money to the Terry Fox Foundation can do so on their website.

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