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Six political candidates fighting for seats in the Manitoba legislature disclosed past convictions, just days before the deadline for disclosure forms required by new provincial law.
4 NDP candidates and 2 Green Party candidates acknowledged previous convictions in statements provided to Elections Manitoba. The convictions range from impaired driving and assault to shoplifting dating back decades.
One of the candidates who disclosed a criminal conviction is NDP member Wayne Chacun, who is running in Riding Mountain. He wrote that he had an impaired driving conviction from 1987 and a shoplifting conviction from 1986.
The statements of disclosure are required under a new law passed by the provincial government requiring candidates seeking provincial office to disclose convictions under Canada's Criminal Code.
So far, Elections Manitiba has recieved 186 statements of disclosure. The remaining 23 candidates have until 1 pm today to do so.
The three candidates for the Dauphin riding have submitted their statements of disclosure.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The Liberals have announced Cathy Scofield-Singh as the MLA candidate in the Dauphin constituency. She’s been living in Ste Rose du Lac since 2001 and she shares what she loves about being in the Parkland.
“I love the vast spaceness of the area, I love the friendliness of the people that live in Ste Rose du Lac and in the Dauphin area, that when you need help there’s always someone around that you can potentially get help from.”
Scofield Singh is a primary care nurse practitioner at the primary health care centre in Ste Rose. In her off time, she likes to watch tv, read books, go for walks with her friends and spend time at Riding Mountain.
There are many issues Scofield Singh would like to address.
“The reality is, they’re all intertwined. Health care access is intertwined with access to mental health, which is intertwined with addictions, and with a rise in addictions comes a rise in crime, which affects all Manitobans.”
She wants better education, proper housing, employment opportunities and fewer cutbacks.
She decided to run after she was asked by Dr John Gerrard.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Reeve of the RM of Dauphin, Ron Ryz, hopes when election time comes in a few weeks there’s a bigger turnout than in the past.
A major priority Ryz hopes to be addressed is rural water funding because it costs 20 thousand dollars to bring treated water to the RM and in the past, they’ve received provincial and federal funding for it, so Ryz hopes that continues.
Other issues Ryz hopes are addressed are, government support for the rural area, helping with road maintenance, cell service, health care and wait times.
Ryz expects the elected government to listen to rural areas.
With the lack of rain this summer, the trade war with the US and China, and lower yields and prices, Ryz says the government can play a role in helping the affected farmers in the area.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Dauphin Co-op employees are expected to vote on a new collective agreement after months of negotiations. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 832 has scheduled the vote for August 25th, 2019.
General Manager Lorne Eiffert says the Co-op has provided an offer that they believe is fair to the employees, including retroactive wage increases and other enhancements to the collective agreement.
The Co-op and the Union have met for 10 days of bargaining since March to negotiate changes to the collective agreement that expired June 30th of last year. On July 7th of this year, Union members voted 75 percent in favour of a strike mandate.
Eiffert is confident an agreement can be reached without a labour disruption.
The Co-op is encouraging employees to take time and vote on Sunday.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
PC Leader Brian Pallister made a stop in Dauphin yesterday to pay a visit to local businesses.
After stops in Thompson and Flin Flon earlier in the day, Pallister took his campaign to the City of Sunshine.
His first stop was at Reit-Syd Equipment where he went for a tour of the building and held an informal meet and greet.
After touring Reit-Syd he made his way to Ritz Machine works for another meet and greet and tour.
He made no formal announcement while in Dauphin.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
It’s been a month since the new emergency department (ED) opened up at the Dauphin Hospital.
Blaine Kraushaar, a communications coordinator for PMH, says there have been some learning curves.
“But there have been no significant challenges that have impacted our ability to provide 24/7 emergency services within our emergency department and special care unit, as well as transport from ambulance services. We have a dedicated project team that’s been working not only on the capital construction aspects of the redevelopment but the clinical care aspects and we continue to meet and review opportunities for improvement as we get accustomed to the new ED.”
Kraushaar says the improvements have put the Dauphin region in a better position to provide timely emergency and critical care.
The improvements include a new way to enter the emergency department. Patients need to be swiped in through locked-down doors, making it more secure. There are more security cameras to assist the security staff. Kraushaar made it clear Staff, patient, client, and visitor safety is very important to them.
Another improvement pointed out is the size increase. The new ED is about 3 times the size of the old, allowing for enhanced treatment and observation rooms. The additional space allows for better workflow coordination for their staff and better traffic flow within patient care areas. There is better access for patients to triage and assessment as well as direct visibility to the waiting room area, which was a direct recommendation from the Brian Sinclair Inquest Report.
Finally, the ED has a fully enclosed, climate-controlled ambulance bay, making transport for patients and staff better.
The cul-de-sac and access ramp at the back of the hospital have improved accessibility to the hospital.
He adds they’ve been very fortunate with receiving donations to cover costs for smaller equipment needs. The donation at the forefront of his mind was recently when the Shrine Club donated money to bring a pediatric emergency cart to the hospital.
At the beginning of September, lasting until early October, the front entrance area of the hospital will be worked on and could cause challenges and changes within the hospital. Kraushaar adds there’ll be signs pointing where to go and to ask the staff if you need help.
More work at the hospital is in future sights. The area the temporary emergency department was in is now empty but there haven’t been any plans finalized for what’s going to fill the space.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
With the Manitoba general election just a few weeks away, Dauphin Mayor Allen Dowhan outlined what he wants from the next government regardless of who gets elected.
One thing the mayor emphasized was the need for more provincial focus on economic development and maintaining or possibly even growing the population of the Parkland. One way he believes this could be done is through access to the Tax Incentives Program or TIPS.
Dowhan hopes that the steps being taken to improve the medical facilities in the area continue under the next government. He added that the city is happy with the steps taken so far to bring more doctors and better service to the area.
He added that the city will be advocating for a regional airline passenger service. The service would make it easier for Parkland residents to access airports as well as make it easier for prospective entrepreneurs to consider the Parkland as a place to set up shop.
The Manitoba general election will happen on September 10th.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The next provincial election is coming up in less than 3 weeks
Stephen Chychota and the Dauphin and District Chamber of Commerce is hoping for a good relationship with the elected MLA and government.
“We want to make sure things are progressing and just have a well-working relationship with the office, having information back and forth and opportunities for provincial money to be spent in this area so we can all benefit and it’s not just a capital or Winnipeg region kind of system. We want to make sure we’re getting our fair share and there’s investment being followed through and happening out here for the residents and business community as a whole.”
Having a good relationship with the MLA can benefit everyone in many ways. Communication is a major priority. Chychota wants to make sure the government knows about any problems they have, and any concerns or questions from the government are relayed to the chamber quickly.
The other main priority from the Chamber is seeing the growth in the business community continue.
“You know, there’s momentum that’s happening. It’s kind of that snowball effect that we’ve been seeing over a few years, maybe we can keep that ball growing. We want to see that the region as a whole is being well looked after. Everybody within the Parkland has their own assets and benefits, so we want to make sure those are utilized in the best way possible and we want to make sure things are being invested in properly and represented.”
Chychota is looking forward to seeing the election results and continuing some progress.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Today is Burgers To Beat MS Day at A & W.
The goal of the day is to raise money to help out Canadians living with Multiple Sclerosis.
On average, 11 Canadians are diagnosed with MS every day. Canada also has one of the highest rates of the disease in the world.
As part of the day,, $2 from every purchase of a Teen Burger will be donated to MS research and support programs.
If you can't make it down to A & W today, they will be accepting donations until the end of the month.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
On Sunday, August 18th at around 1:00 am, Manitoba First Nations Police responded to an incident where a 27-year-old man had been shot in the leg.
Two male suspects, who were known to the victim, fled the scene. They were later found the same day.
23-year-old Salita Beaulieu and 19-year-old Jamie Desmarais were arrested at a Sandy Bay residence and were taken into custody.
They are both facing several charges including Attempted Murder. They are scheduled to appear in a Portage Provincial Court on August 26th.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The Dauphin Co-op has been without a contract since June of 2018.
Jeff Traeger, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 832, says they had bargaining scheduled but was delayed until March of this year because of the long Co-op strike in Saskatoon.
“It has been fairly rough. We did have an offer the company made that was turned down earlier this summer by a vast majority of the members and at that time the members gave our committee a strike mandate. We’ve been back to the bargaining table with the assistance of a conciliation officer, and really no progress from the previous offer was made. So at the last time, the two parties were together, the company made us a final offer, which our committee cannot recommend.”
That offer turned down earlier in the summer was turned down by 92% and the membership then voted 75% in favour of giving the bargaining committee a strike mandate.
Traeger says the members are primarily looking at a wage increase for an acceptable deal.
He adds, the two sides have had the same or similar contracts for many years, but this time they are being offered significantly less and are offering less than the cost of living for their members.
Traeger says the two parties are far enough apart that the members will be recommended to turn down the offer. The company will then have a week to decide whether they’re going to strike or go back to the bargaining table and get a deal done.
The final offer will be voted on, on Sunday. If the membership turns it down, there’s a strike deadline of September 3rd.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
