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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced yesterday morning, that the federal government will be giving the provinces and territories $2 billion to help reopen schools safely.
An extra $112 million will be doled out to First Nations communities for schools on reserves.
The money will be divided up based on student population per capita.
The base amount given out will be $2 million and the rest of the money will be based on the number of 4 to 18-year-olds in the province or territory.
Manitoba is getting the 5th most in the country, $85.4 million.
Half of the money is going out now and the other half will be in December after the provinces and territories tell the government what worked.
The money can be used to buy extra personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, or even improving air ventilation and adapting learning spaces.
On Monday, Manitoba announced the creation of the Safe Schools fund, which totals $100 million meant to ensure safe and healthy learning environments in the fall.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
The province is encouraging businesses to bring old and new employees back to work by enhancing its Back to Work program.
Businesses will be reimbursed 50 per-cent of wage costs up to $5,000 for every employee hired or re-hired between July 16th and October 31st.
The government announced they`re doubling the number of employees that are covered under the program, from 10 to 20. This boosts the maximum level of financial support available to employers from $50,000 to $100,000.
In order to be eligible, businesses can`t have funding from another government program. The application deadline is October 1st.
For more information about the Back to Work program, click here.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
The Member of Parliament for Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa says there’s an air of excitement in the Conservative Party of Canada following the election of new leader Erin O’Toole.
Dan Mazier tells CKDM he’d endorsed O’Toole throughout the leadership race “because he was, in my opinion, the best candidate.”
“I’ll have to admit that when Andrew Scheer stepped down, that sent our party into a particular direction that were kind of in purgatory until we had a leader. Having this done and put behind us in such a decisive vote, definitely sent us in a positive direction moving forward,” said Mazier.
Upwards of 175,000 Conservative party members cast a ballot in the election, in which O’Toole was announced as the winner in the early morning hours on Monday.
As the MP for the Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa riding, Mazier also serves as Deputy Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change, but says there could be some shuffles on the horizon with O’Toole starting to form his team around him in the leadership office.
“But he might leave a lot of us in the same positions too, so we don’t what the committees or shadow cabinet are going to look like. It’s a very exciting time, it’s like a whole new reset after an election.”
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
The City of Dauphin has postponed the Canada Day fireworks celebration again.
The City is citing the region's current situation for the postponement.
The fireworks would have been held on Sunday, September 6th, but the restricted level from the Pandemic Response System doesn’t allow for the celebration to proceed.
The City will continue to follow all provincial public health orders and guidelines and is looking forward to celebrating our national pride, history, and unity when it is safe to do so.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
The potential for tornadoes was there yesterday afternoon and into the early evening.
From about 4-8 pm yesterday tornado watches were issued across southwestern Manitoba.
A tornado watch was in effect for Dauphin, Gilbert Plains, Grandview, Winnipegosis, and Wasagaming for a couple of hours, but the real potential for danger was with a storm near Roblin.
At 6:21 and lasting a little over an hour, Environment Canada issued a tornado warning in the Roblin area.
The storm, however, only brought a torrential downpour and no tornadoes were reported.
For the rest of the week, the forecast isn’t calling for any thunderstorms, but we could see some rain.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Some First Nations leaders in Manitoba are hoping to see the reinstatement of travel restrictions to the province’s northern communities.
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) and Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) called for the province’s top health officials to reintroduce the travel restrictions that prevented Manitobans from travelling north of the 53rd parallel.
That travel restriction ended on June 26.
MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee says the call to reinstate the northern travel restriction is a proactive measure to minimize the spread of COVID-19, pointing out that northern communities’ access to primary health care “is not comparable to our neighbours in the south.”
The Fox Lake Cree Nation near Gillam went into lockdown following a positive COVID-19 test result in their community — making it the first positive test result in Northern Manitoba since April 6.
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- Contributed by 730 CKDM
UPDATE | At 6:41 p.m., the tornado warning for the Roblin area has been downgraded to a tornado watch.
A severe thunderstorm warning remains in effect for the area.
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UPDATE | At 6:21 p.m. Environment Canada issued a tornado warning for Roblin, including Makaroff Shortdale and Bield.
Meteorologists are tracking a severe thunderstorm that is possibly producing a tornado. Damaging winds, large hail and locally intense rainfall are also possible.
Doppler RADAR indicates rotation on a severe thunderstorm located 15 km southwest of Togo, SK, tracking to the southeast at 30 km/h.
The weather authority says this thunderstorm is possibly producing a tornado or may produce a tornado at any moment.
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4:05 p.m. | A tornado watch has been issued for the Virden and Souris area.
Environment Canada say scattered thunderstorms are expected to develop later this afternoon over southeastern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba. Some of these thunderstorms may produce a tornado.
There is also a tornado watch in effect for Yorkton.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
The Selo Marketfest held in October each year has been cancelled due to COVID-19.
Treasurer of the Ukrainian Fold Art Centre and Museum, Theresa Zabiaka, says that with safety top of mind, it will be too difficult to enforce public health measures.
“Our first concern is of course safety, and just recently with the outbreak of COVID-19, we know we made the right decision. It’s just so hard to keep the distance between the vendors and the visitors. We’d also have to limit the number of people coming in and it’s just an inconvenience for everybody.”
Looking ahead, she says it’s unclear when the organizations regular events will resume.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
UPDATE | At 5:46 p.m. Environment Canada issued a tornado watch for Dauphin and the surrounding area.
Conditions are favourable for the development of severe thunderstorms which may produce tornadoes.
The watch is in effect for the following areas:
- Gilbert Plains Mun. incl. Ashville
- Grandview Mun. incl. Valley River Res.
- Mossey River Mun. incl. Winnipegosis and Fork River
- Mun. of Ethelbert incl. Garland
- Mun. of Roblin incl. Makaroff Shortdale and Bield
- Mun. of Russell-Binscarth incl. Gambler Res.
- R.M. of Dauphin incl. Sifton and Valley River
- R.M. of Lakeshore incl. Ochre River and Makinak
- R.M. of Lakeshore incl. Rorketon and Toutes Aides
- R.M. of Riding Mountain West incl. Asessippi Prov. Park
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A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for the Parkland.
A low-pressure system may trigger severe thunderstorms later this afternoon and evening.
The advisory is in effect for the following areas:
- Gilbert Plains Mun. incl. Ashville
- Grandview Mun. incl. Valley River Res.
- Mossey River Mun. incl. Winnipegosis and Fork River
- Mun. of Ethelbert incl. Garland
- Mun. of Roblin incl. Makaroff Shortdale and Bield
- Mun. of Russell-Binscarth incl. Gambler Res.
- R.M. of Dauphin incl. Sifton and Valley River
- R.M. of Lakeshore incl. Ochre River and Makinak
- R.M. of Lakeshore incl. Rorketon and Toutes Aides
- R.M. of Riding Mountain West incl. Asessippi Prov. Park
People in the area should be on the lookout for adverse weather conditions such as strong wind and heavy rain.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
There were 25 new cases of COVID-19 announced public health officials on Tuesday, and another death in Manitoba related to the virus.
Manitoba’s 13th COVID-related death is a woman in her 90’s from the Steinbach health district. Officials say the death is related to a known outbreak at Bethesda Place personal care home.
Of today’s 25 new cases, 10 are in the Prairie Mountain Health region. None are in the Dauphin health district, where there’s been 7 total cases — none of which are considered active.
To view a geographical breakdown of where COVID-19 cases are located, organized on health district, click here.
The province is encouraging Manitobans to return to the fundamentals to help stop the spread of COVID-19. This means not going out while you feel ill, practicing proper hand hygiene, covering your cough and physical distancing when you are with people outside your household. If you can’t physical distance, wear a mask.
Unless recommended by public health, only individuals experiencing COVID-19 symptoms should go for testing. Individuals with symptoms are asked to seek testing as soon as possible once symptoms are present.
For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, click here.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
During yesterday’s COVID update, Dr Brent Roussin clarified what code orange means for us in the Prairie Mountain Health region, but it still left some questions about what the impact on schools would be.
Mountain View School Division superintendent Dan Ward says government officials told them on Friday that at this point, the level orange restrictions don’t apply to schools in the health region.
“That being said, things could change at any time and if our chief public health officer deemed that this restricted level applied to schools, we have to be prepared for that. So, we’re certainly preparing for that possibility, but at this point in time it’s not having any direct impact on our reopening plans for September.”
Ward acknowledges there’d be a significant impact on students and staff if schools were moved into level orange and remote learning would have to take place.
“There is constant communication with government officials around that possibility and whether or not the orders, if we went into orange for school, would actually result in remote learning for 9-12. But that’s a distinct possibility as stated in the pandemic response document and so we do have contingency plans to essentially go into remote learning for grades 9-12 if we were required to by public health.”
Ward adds that they’d try to provide as much in-class learning as possible for kindergarten to grade 8 students, but they’d have to look at increased social distancing measures and changes to the cohort practices.
On the topic of Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen’s Safe Schools fund announcement yesterday, Ward says they were happy to hear of the additional funding. The superintendent says they’re spending more than they typically would this time of year, to prepare for the school year.
“Everything from additional cleaning supplies to additional PPE, although the province is supplying the masks, but we do have some additional needs for student services areas and other areas within our school system. We’re also looking at staffing and staffing levels, so the additional dollars will help. We’re still waiting for more details from the government in terms of how that will roll out but we’re certainly happy to hear.”
The first shipment of 70,000 disposable masks is on route to MVSD and they should be arriving in the coming days. Ward anticipates them to be an adequate amount for September. MVSD will be receiving cloth masks as well, but that amount hasn’t been determined yet.
Ward also clarified how school divisions will be able to use the government’s Safe Schools fund.
“Schools divisions will be required to spend down the original $48 million prior to accessing the additional $52 million. For MVSD, our COVID-19 savings from spring was approximately $1 million. We anticipate with additional expenditures in staffing and cleaning supplies, will expend that amount and will likely be accessing the additional dollars announced by government yesterday.”
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
