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The Manitoba government will be revealing Budget 2021 on Wednesday afternoon.
Nearly $1.2 billion will be included in the provincial budget to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finance Minister Scott Fielding says a significant amount of spending will go towards protecting Manitobans during and after the pandemic.
He says $100 million will be directed to the provincial vaccination program, which has faced some challenges working towards the goal of 20,000 immunizations per day.
A release from the province on Tuesday states the majority of the funding in the budget includes amounts for the healthcare system, the full-year cost of the vaccine program, support that may be required for the kindergarten to Grade 12 education system to respond to the pandemic, and additional personal protective equipment and related supplies.
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- Contributed by 730 CKDM
Today marks the third annual Green Shirt Day for organ donation.
April 7th is now known as Green Shirt Day after a surge of people started registering as organ donors following the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018.
After defenseman Logan Boulet died on April 7th 2018, six people received his organs. This inspired almost 150,000 people to register as organ donors in the following months, which is now known as the Logan Boulet Effect.
Dauphin local Beryl Brandson has been raising awareness about organ donation and participating in Green Shirt Day for the past two years.
“It’s very near and dear to my heart," says Brandson, "I’m a big supporter of organ and tissue donation.”
“I had a double lung transplant 5 years ago," added Brandson, "and ever since then I’ve been volunteering with Transplant Manitoba. I’ve been speaking with high school students, and any group who is interested in having a presentation on organ and tissue donation.”
Beryl says that it isn’t enough to sign a donor card, and those interested must register at signupforlife.ca, and let their families know of their wishes.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
A man is facing charges after police say he drove an off-road vehicle recklessly and damaged a police vehicle in Portage la Prairie.
On Friday, April 2nd, an RCMP officer on patrol noticed an off-road vehicle go through a stop sign and drive erratically on 4th Street NW in Portage la Prairie.
An RCMP press release states the officer conducted a traffic stop and the suspect fled, lost control, and spun out.
Police say the off-road vehicle began driving again and struck the police vehicle, causing damage and injuring the officer who was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
A short while later, RCMP officers received a report of a man who was trying to get an off-road vehicle started in a field north of Portage la Prairie.
RCMP arrived on scene and arrested the man without incident.
31-year-old Scott Taylor has been charged with Dangerous Operation of a Conveyance Causing Bodily Harm, Operation of a Conveyance while Impaired, Operation of a Conveyance with a blood alcohol content equal to or higher than 80 mg % Causing Bodily Harm, Failure to Stop at the Scene of a Collision, and Flight from a Peace Officer.
He was released on conditions and is scheduled to appear in court on May 18, 2021.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
A fire ban has been issued for the R.M. of Alonsa.
The ban will take effect immediately.
All burning within the municipality has been banned to prevent fires, including wildfires.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
On Tuesday health officials announced 62 new cases of COVID-19 and two deaths, a woman in her 80s and a woman in her 90s, both from the Winnipeg Health region.
The new COVID-19 cases are in the following health regions:
• one case in the Interlake–Eastern Health region
• 23 cases in the Northern Health region
• four cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• one case in the Southern Health–Santé Sud Health region
• 33 cases in the Winnipeg Health region
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 5.3 per cent provincially and 4.3 per cent in Winnipeg.
The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba is 34,549.
Public health officials are announcing that five new screened or sequenced cases of the B.1.1.7 variants of concern have been detected, all from the Winnipeg Health region.
The total number of confirmed variant of concern cases of B.1.1.7 is 240, the total number of variant of concern cases of B.1.351 is 20, and the total number of variant of concern cases that have not been categorized is 15, bringing the total number of confirmed variant of concern cases to 275.
There are 1,255 active cases and 32,352 people who have recovered from COVID-19.
There are 66 people in hospital with active COVID-19 and 74 people in hospital who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 140 hospitalizations.
There are 14 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 and 16 people who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 30 ICU patients.
The total number of deaths in Manitoba is 942.
According to the province’s data, there are active cases of COVID-19 in the following Parkland health districts: Dauphin (0), Riding Mountain (1), Duck Mountain (1), Porcupine Mountain (31), Asessippi (3). Brandon has 5 active cases.
In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has no active cases of COVID-19. The Fisher/Peguis health district has five active cases.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
A virtual tribute is planned for Tuesday to mark the third anniversary of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash.
Sixteen people died and 13 were injured when a semi-trailer ran a stop sign and into the path of the junior hockey team's bus near Tisdale, Sask., on April 6, 2018. Humboldt was on its way to play the Nipawin Hawks in an SJHL playoff game.
The service from St. Augustine Catholic Church is to be live-streamed on the city of Humboldt's Facebook page. It's to involve lighted candles and tolling church bells, followed by a moment of silence at 4:50 p.m., about the time the crash occurred.
The mayor has deemed Tuesday as '2017-18 Humboldt Broncos Day' and would like to see that continued every April 6.
Greg Rider put a song together to remember the 16 that died in that crash and Darnell Duff will chat with Rider at 7:10 on Tuesday morning.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
The Manitoba government recently announced $150,000 in funding for three community mobilization hubs, with some of that money making its way to Swan River.
The hubs -- Swan Valley Community Mobilization, Winkler’s Community Care Program, and Altona’s CommUNITY Support Teams will be receiving the funding.
Justice Minister Cameron Friesen says the hubs provide a proactive approach to helping people in communities.
“This approach focuses on bringing together the agencies, organizations and supports that otherwise work alone, improving community safety, ensuring better use of police resources and putting people first. Our government is proud to be expanding this innovative program to more communities across Manitoba.”
The province is now providing support to 12 community mobilization hubs across the province.
The Dauphin At-Risk Teen (DART) program started receiving the same type of provincial funding back in 2018.
Lori Bicklmeier, coordinator at DART, says "it’s really exciting that we get to expand in other parts of the province and support other programs to do the work they do. I think systems are often hard to navigate for an individual and when you can help, it’s that much better so it’s very exciting.”
Manitoba’s Policing and Public Safety Strategy identifies community mobilization as an effective way to build local partnerships, prevent crime and help keep individuals out of the criminal justice system. Since the release of the strategy in 2019, the province has increased investment in community mobilization efforts to $1-million.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
The number of Manitobans trying to book campground reservations this morning was much higher than the opening-day registration numbers one year ago.
Today — Monday, April 5th — was the first day of staggered campground bookings opening up in the province.
A post from Manitoba Parks on Facebook says by 7 a.m., the number of people signing on was 12,825 compared to 2,804 in 2020.
By 11 a.m. on Monday, Manitoba Parks had taken 10,668 reservations. In comparison, last year at the same time, they had taken 5,706 reservations.
During the online rush for site reservations on Monday morning, a technical issue was encountered but the parks authority says that was resolved quickly and processing returned to normal.
The next reservation launch is on Wednesday at 7 a.m. for Winnipeg Beach and Whiteshell campsites.
Online reservations can be made here.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Health officials announced 135 new cases of COVID-19 over a two-day span, as there was no update on the holiday Sunday.
Two deaths were announced, a woman in her 60s from the Prairie Mountain Health region, and a woman in her 70s from the Winnipeg health region.
The new COVID-19 cases are in the following health regions:
• three cases in the Interlake–Eastern Health region
• 43 cases in the Northern Health region
• 19 cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region
• seven cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud Health region
• 63 cases in the Winnipeg health region.
The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 5.1 per cent provincially and 4.3 per cent in Winnipeg.
The total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba is 34,487.
The total number of variant of concern cases remains at 270.
There are 1,280 active cases and 32,267 people who have recovered from COVID-19.
There are 66 people in hospital with active COVID-19 and 75 people in hospital who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 141 hospitalizations.
There are 13 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 and 16 people who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 29 ICU patients.
The total number of deaths in Manitoba is 940.
According to the province’s data, there are active cases of COVID-19 in the following Parkland health districts: Dauphin (0), Riding Mountain (1), Duck Mountain (1), Porcupine Mountain (34), Asessippi (2). Brandon has 6 active cases.
In the Interlake, the Eriksdale/Ashern health district has no active cases of COVID-19. The Fisher/Peguis health district has five active cases.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
Delivery delays for the Moderna vaccine are causing the province to postpone some pop-up COVID-19 vaccination appointments in Dauphin and other local communities.
All 24 pop-up clinics on the schedule from April 12 to 15 across the province will be postponed due to the supply issue.
The province says appointments will be rescheduled when the Moderna vaccine delivery schedule gets back on track — but no specific date has been mentioned yet.
The pop-up clinics that are affected by the postponement include:
• Steinbach (April 12, 13, 14 and 15)
• Pine Falls (April 13)
• Stonewall (April 13)
• Flin Flon (April 13, 14 and 15)
• Virden (April 13)
• Russell (April 13)
• Gladstone (April 13)
• Pinawa (April 14)
• Eriksdale (April 14)
• Teulon (April 14)
• The Pas (April 14)
• Swan River (April 14)
• Killarney (April 14)
• Portage la Prairie (April 14 and 15)
• Arborg (April 15)
• St. Laurent (April 15)
• Beausejour (April 15)
• Dauphin (April 15)
The province will be reaching out to affected people by phone, email and text to advise them of this change.
Appointments remain available at the super sites, since they primarily rely on the Pfizer vaccine.
The eligibility to be immunized at a super site or pop-up clinic is unchanged, and includes individuals aged 64 or older and First Nation people aged 44 or older.
Anyone who has been in Manitoba for one month or more can receive the vaccine at no cost if they meet provincial eligibility requirements.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
The Mountain View School Division (MVSD) will be hosting a virtual town hall on Tuesday, April 6th and are inviting the community to join, listen, and provide feedback.
The recently announced overhaul of Manitoba’s education system has sparked many discussions on how the proposed changes will impact students, staff, and communities.
Part of Bill 64 — the Education Modernization Act — would remove the role of school trustees, eliminating elected school boards in 37 school divisions and replacing them with one centralized board of appointees.
Floyd Martens, MVSD Board Chairperson, previously told CKDM the legislation (Bill 64) “has a host of issues that we’re just beginning to unravel.”
The town hall is set to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday night on Zoom. Click here for a link to the meeting.
The MVSD has also posted a number of links to more resources regarding the education overhaul laid out in Bill 64.
Education Minister Cliff Cullen says the proposed changes to the education system will introduce a "much-needed" strategy to improve classroom outcomes.
Cullen pointed out that Manitoba is one of the highest spending provinces on education and getting among the country's lowest student achievement results -- also noting that, per capita, Manitoba has the highest number of school divisions and elected trustees across all provinces.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
