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The trial of a Brandon man for the second-degree murder of his wife has come to a close and the jury found Robert Hughes guilty.

In October of 2019, Hughes killed his wife, Betty, before tampering with the natural gas lines of their house causing an explosion. A sentencing date has not been set at this time, but the penalty for second-degree murder is life in prison, with parole eligibility ranging from ten to 25 years.

The provincial government says a second deer infected with chronic wasting disease has been detected in Manitoba. It says the case was discovered as part of routine surveillance just north of the U-S. border.

The first case found in the province was near Lake of the Prairies in October. They will start a cull on Monday of the deer population in the area to help reduce the spread. The Province says they have contacted landowners in the containment area to get permission to access their properties.

The province will report cull numbers once it is complete. They will try to save as much meat from healthy animals as possible and will distribute it on a priority basis to indigenous communities, beginning with those communities affected by hunting closures in the region.

Premier Stefanson was in Dauphin this morning at the Dauphin Regional Health Center for an announcement and our Eric Fawx was in attendance.

The Premier announced a five million dollar investment to renovate and expand services at the Dauphin Regional Medical Center.  

The funding will be used to relocate all endoscopy procedures out of the operating rooms and into their own dedicated unit which will allow up to 300 additional endoscopies to be performed in the Parkland. This move will free up valuable space for more surgical procedures to be done in Dauphin in the future.

She announced the relocation of other units to new dedicated spaces including the chemotherapy department to a more modern space.

Construction is expected to begin next year and be completed in 2023.

Former Progressive Conservative Party leadership candidate Shelly Glover is going to court today to try and convince a Manitoba judge that the party should throw out the results of October's leadership election.

Glovers lawyers are claiming there are irregularities surrounding the vote and question the security of some of the ballots cast.

Party officials say that only ballots counted on election day were approved and verified by trusted scrutineers appointed by each of the candidates.

While the judge does not have the authority to remove Premier Heather Stefanson from office, they will be determining if there were any breaches to the Party's constitution or rules and procedures established for the election.

Despite his government not setting a new deadline, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he remains committed to ending all long-term drinking water advisories on First Nations.

Speaking to a virtual gathering of chiefs with the Assembly of First Nations, Trudeau agreed it is unacceptable that some communities are still waiting for clean water.

He says there is a project team working to bring an end to each of the remaining advisories. Before becoming prime minister in 2015, Trudeau had promised to end all long-term drinking water advisories by March 2021, which didn't happen.

Thompson MLA Danielle Adams died in a car crash near her community on Thursday afternoon. She's being remembered as a kind, genuine woman who loved her family and fought for northern Manitoba communities.

Adams was a strong advocate for the child-care sector, as well as for equal access to quality healthcare, education, and jobs. Adams was in her first term as NDP MLA.

 

 

Premier Heather Stefanson will be in Dauphin tomorrow morning for a press conference regarding a Clinical and Preventative Services Plan Investment.

She'll be joined by Health and Seniors Care Minister Audrey Gordon, CEO of Prairie Mountain Health, Brian Schoonbaert, and site medical lead at Dauphin Regional Health Centre, Dr. Trina Mathison.

The Premier will then head to Neepawa for an announcement in the afternoon.

730 CKDM will be on site for both announcements, and will keep you updated on everything you need to know throughout the day, on 730 CKDM Radio, and right here on 730ckdm.com.

Manitoba is falling behind when it comes to the needs of its youngest residents according to the province's advocate for children and youth.

In her annual report today, Ainsley Krone said that only four of the 51 recommendations made from 2018 to 2020 have actually been implemented.

Krone has been asking the province to address and prioritize, preventable infant deaths, as well as child and youth mental health issues.

Krone said in her report that "the children and youth must become a higher priority in our province."

In this year's Canada Food Price report, they are predicting a five to seven percent jump in average food price. 

This year's report predicts that food prices are expected to rise even higher than they did in 2021 after supply chain issues caused by the pandemic, and weather problems.

In the report, they predict dairy prices to jump by as much as six to eight percent, bakery items and vegetables to jump by five to seven percent, and fruit prices to jump by three to five percent.

About 1,900 fewer surgeries were completed per month in Manitoba during the first 16 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison with 2019.

April 2020 saw the largest decrease, with about a 68 per cent decrease in total surgeries completed compared with the previous year. 

This includes about 36 per cent fewer cardiac surgeries, 26 per cent fewer cancer surgeries and 82 per cent fewer high-volume surgeries such as hip and knee replacements.

The numbers were recently released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. And as of Wednesday, it's estimated that the backlog of expected surgeries has surpassed 152,000 cases. 

Officials have also said in recent days that more surgeries may be cancelled as the strain on hospitals in the province continues to increase. 

In a press conference this afternoon at 1:30 pm, the Government of Manitoba announced that they have established a task force with the current diagnostic and surgical backlogs as their top priority.

The Diagnostic and Surgical Recovery Task Force will address the current wait-lists and all related services that have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The work the task force will be doing will include identifying the priority needs of all patients and implementing local and out-of-province services in order to offer the safest and most timely healthcare solutions.

The task force will include highly respected local healthcare professionals who will be working with experts from across Canada. The work has already begun to identify and implement short and long-term solutions to deal with all the backlogs.

Some of the solutions will include: 

  • Creating a centralized information management system for healthcare providers that will include surgical and diagnostic waitlist information to streamline when and where surgeries and tests can be done;
  •  Ensuring healthcare professionals are working to the full scope of their practice;
  •  Providing monthly updates to ensure Manitobans receive timely, consistent, and transparent information;
  •  Negotiating agreements with specialized healthcare providers both inside and outside of the province who can increase the number of surgeries and services performed
  • Finding patients who are ready for their procedures and can travel to other jurisdictions where it could be performed sooner.

A report can be expected in the new year that will set out an analysis of the situation, a summary of the progress so far, and how success will be measured in the near future.