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Premier Brian Pallister announced new cabinet ministers on Thursday.
Pallister made the announcement at the swearing-in ceremony at 10 a.m. at the Manitoba Legislative Building.
- Alan Lagimodiere enters cabinet as the minister of Indigenous reconciliation and northern relations;
- Jon Reyes enters cabinet as economic and jobs minister; and
- Ralph Eichler was sworn in as minister of agriculture and resource development.
Pallister also thanked former ministers, Eileen Clarke and Blaine Pedersen, for their service to Manitobans as members of the cabinet since 2016.
The following ministers' portfolio responsibilities have not changed:
- Kelvin Goertzen, deputy premier, minister of legislative and public affairs.
- Heather Stefanson, minister of health and seniors care.
- Cameron Friesen, minister of justice and attorney general.
- Ron Schuler, minister of infrastructure.
- Cliff Cullen, minister of education.
- Scott Fielding, minister of finance.
- Cathy Cox, minister of sport, culture and heritage, minister responsible for the status of women.
- Rochelle Squires, minister of families, minister responsible for francophone affairs.
- Jeff Wharton, minister of Crown services.
- Reg Helwer, minister of central services.
- Sarah Guillemard, minister of conservation and climate.
- Derek Johnson, minister of municipal relations.
- Audrey Gordon, minister of mental health, wellness and recovery.
- Wayne Ewasko, minister of advanced education, skills and immigration.
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Another heat warning has been issued by Environment Canada for most of Southern Manitoba.
The heat warning covers many areas including, Dauphin, Russell, Roblin, Winnipegosis, Brandon, and Swan River.
We could see a high of 32 C with a humidex of 34 C today, and tomorrow a high of 33 C with a humidex of 39 C.
A cold front is expected to push south through the Prairies this weekend, bringing a return to more seasonal temperatures, but another heatwave is expected to develop next week.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
Manitobans will soon be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in the great outdoors.
Officials from the province’s vaccine task force say pop-up vaccine clinics will start offering shots at select provincial park campgrounds in the coming weeks.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine will be available at the first pop-up clinics set to open this weekend.
Clinics will be open at Childs Lake in Duck Mountain Provincial Park and Asessippi Provincial Park starting Friday. Teams will also be at Spruce Woods Provincial Park Saturday morning.
As of Wednesday, 76.7 percent of eligible Manitobans have received one shot of vaccine and 58.5 percent have received two doses.
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Premier Brian Pallister alongside Manitoba’s Chief Provincial Public Health Officer, Dr. Brent Roussin announced the province's next phase in Manitoba’s 4-3-2-One Great Summer reopening plan this afternoon.
Premier Brian Pallister spoke of today as, “A good news day, towards a reopened Manitoba.”
“Last week Manitobans met and surpassed vaccinations goals we had set out for our second reopening milestone. This I should note was almost a full month ahead of schedule. So good for Manitobans, thanks for doing that.”
Some of the changes that the officials announced today include:
-Indoor gatherings at private residences are permitted to a maximum of 5 people in addition to household.
-Fully vaccinated Manitobans will now have the chance to go see a movie theatre or visit a museum.
-Gym and fitness centres will now be able to have 50% capacity, masks must be worn at all times and social distancing rules are still in effect.
-Sports and recreation can now have groups of 5 indoors and groups of 25 outdoors with no tournaments allowed.
-Faith based and cultural gatherings are up to 50% or 150 people and drive-in services continue to be permitted without restriction.
-The August 5th Winnipeg Blue Bomber game has been approved to have 100% capacity with full vaccinated fans in the stands.
The province's third and final goal in the reopening plan is to have 80 percent of eligible Manitobans with at least one vaccine dose and 75 percent with two doses by Sept. 6.
All changes will go into effect at 12:01 A.M. on Saturday, July 17.
If you want a list of all of the changes that were made, click here.
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Manitobans will get more information on the second phase of reopening today.
Premier Brian Pallister and Chief Provincial Public Health Officer, Dr. Brent Roussin are set to make an announcement on Manitoba’s 4-3-2-One Great Summer reopening plan, at a conference at 2 p.m. today.
The conference comes after the province met the vaccination target needed for phase two last week.
Under the reopening plan, if 75 percent of eligible Manitobans receive their first dose and 50 percent receive their second dose by the August long weekend, the province can enter the next phase of reopening, which could see businesses open at 50 percent capacity or more.
Right now, 76.5 percent of eligible Manitobans are at least partially vaccinated, and 57.8 percent are fully vaccinated.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
Today is walk-in Wednesday at all supersites in the province.
This means the supersite in Dauphin is open for walk-ins with 350 Pfizer doses for everyone over the age of 12.
Youth will be given the priority, but adults are encouraged to line up at any time.
215 Moderna doses will also be available for adults today.
Walk-ins start at 11:00 a.m., and will go until 6 p.m.
Dauphin's Supersite is located at the Ukrainian Orthodox Hall at 304 Whitmore Avenue east.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
Things will be looking closer to normal this coming fall at Brandon University as the school looks to phase back in more on-campus learning into their students' everyday routines.
BU Media Director, Grant Hamilton says it will be a fuller campus but it won't be quite back to normal just yet.
"We are really looking forward to with vaccination rates climbing, and case counts declining that we can get back to a full normal sooner rather than later."
Hamilton laid out the university's plan for a return to on-campus learning this fall.
"Currently, what we are planning for is classes of 25 students or fewer. With physical distancing, mask-wearing in place. All the things you'd be used to if you were going to a grocery store or department store."
While Hamilton talked about how vital social interaction is to the learning experience, he also shared an optimistic message for education moving forward entirely past the pandemic,
"Hopefully, we can apply some of the lessons that we were forced to learn through COVID-19 and go forward and make that part and parcel of the new way of learning and the new way of teaching. We all learned to bake sourdough, and we also learned a bit about zoom, and maybe we can apply some of those lessons to make the future not just exactly what we did before but in some ways better."
There has not been a full campus at Brandon University since March 2020, but the school is hopeful that will change sometime soon. In the meantime, they are more than happy to welcome back as many students and staff as possible.
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- Contributed by Noah Fuchs
The Manitoba government is implementing more travel and fire restrictions across the province on Wednesday due to the continued high to extreme risk and danger of fires.
The latest restrictions come as the province sees a continued stretch of dry and hot weather, with temperatures across Manitoba forecast in the mid-20s to 30s for the foreseeable future and little chance of rain in the forecast for most regions.
Level 3 fire and travel restrictions will be in place for several areas in the province, including all of eastern Manitoba.
That means campfires are not allowed and all backcountry travel without a permit is prohibited.
Camping will be restricted to developed campgrounds only and travel permits will be required for remote cottages.
To view a full map of restricted areas, click here.
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Manitoba RCMP are asking citizens to keep an eye out for a wanted person near Dauphin.
RCMP near Dauphin attempted a traffic stop Tuesday morning when the vehicle fled. The occupants abandoned the vehicle a short while later at a remote location near Provincial Road 142 North and Provincial Road 124 West. One of the occupants was arrested, but the other occupant, Jimmy Pruden, 29, fled the scene. He is now wanted by police.
Pruden may be armed and police are concerned he could try to hitchhike or attend to a farm residence to find another mode of transportation.
Pruden is described as 5’5” tall, 172 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He has tattoos on his neck and may now have facial tattoos.
If seen, DO NOT approach Pruden – call police immediately at 911 or your local emergency number.
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Manitobans who have chosen to get vaccinated will have the chance to win one of the cash prizes listed below:
-Six $100,000 prizes for the Winnipeg Region.
-Eight $100,000 prizes for the Southern Health–Santé-Sud, Prairie Mountain Health, Interlake-Eastern and Northern health regions.
-20 $25,000 scholarships for youth aged 12 to 17.
This will not be the only vaccine lottery the province is rolling out to incentivize Manitobans to get the jab, as the province also announced that citizens who have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine on or before September 6th would be entered to win the vaccine lottery that will be taking place in the fall.
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- Contributed by Noah Fuchs
The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba has launched another fundraiser during preparations for Ag Ex, which is their first in-person event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The exhibition is teaming up with C&C Rental & Recreation in Brandon to hold a lottery.
The main prize is a Polaris Ranger XP 1000 Premium all-terrain vehicle, and the secondary prize is a Husqvarna Automower.
Dallas Johnston, member of the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba Board of Directors, and Co-chair of Ag Ex says this is just another way to raise money to keep their head above water.
“We’ve done meat packages, we recently had a steak and lobster supper, we’re pretty much doing whatever we can think of to keep raising money to keep the doors open.”
Johnston says the information can be found on the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba website.
“Tickets are $20 each, and the draw will be at noon on Saturday, October 30th at the event (Ag Ex).”
Ag Ex is taking place from October 27th to the 30th.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
