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As a result of Premier Pallister’s cabinet shuffle, there’s a new provincial Ag Minister.
Blaine Pedersen, the former minister of infrastructure, is the new head of the newly created Department of Agriculture and Resource Development.
The expanded department will now focus, on top of agriculture, on natural resources including, watershed districts, GROW programming, forestry, mining, fish, and wildlife management.
Minister Pedersen is excited about his new role.
“It’s a real honour for the Premier to tap me to do this; I’m looking forward to getting into the department and understanding what’s going on here, and it’s going to take a while to familiarize myself because we have an expanded role now,” said Pedersen. “It’s a really good fit for agriculture here.”
Pedersen adds that his farming background will help him in his new role, as well as the connections he made as the Infrastructure Minister and the Minister of Growth, Enterprise, and Trade.
Former provincial Ag Minister Ralph Eichler is now the Minister of Economic Development and Training.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Cleanup from the storm over the Thanksgiving Weekend has been costly for Manitoba Hydro, to the tune of 110 million dollars.
Damage was done to poles, transformers, cross arms and lines, and even nuts and bolts have had to be replaced in some situations.
Hydro wouldn’t say if customers should expect a rate increase to help with the costs.
There are under 1000 customers still without power.
The province has replaced 2826 hydro poles.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
The federal election was on Monday and Dan Mazier won the vote of the Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa riding for the Conservative Party, while the Liberal Party won a minority government. Kate Storey, the Green Party candidate here, expected that to happen.
“This is a very safe riding, so congratulations to Dan. Very proud of the campaign we ran as Greens, it was a clean campaign unlike many of the others and we probably suffered for that, but that’s what we have to do.”
Storey was also happy to see the Green vote go up.
“Climate change is our big issue, that’s not such an issue here in this riding, but it is elsewhere and we’re ready to hold the new government’s feet to the fire.”
Storey congratulates all the other candidates, adding she enjoyed talking to them and meeting people across the riding.
In the polls, she finished 4th with 2090 votes (5.4%) and the Green Party finished 5th with 3 seats in parliament.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
A house exploded in Brandon on Tuesday evening.
The front of the home was blown open with various items scattering out on to the lawn and neighbouring properties.
Manitoba Hydro says it was likely a gas explosion.
A 63-year-old woman is dead and a 63-year-old man is in critical condition from the blast, which happened around 8 o clock last night.
Nearby residents were evacuated briefly, and some said they could smell gas in the area.
Brandon Police and the office of the fire commissioner are investigating.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Brian Pallister has unveiled his new cabinet for his second term as Premier of Manitoba.
Along with some new faces, a few new departments have been created such as the department of Central Services, the department of Conservation and Climate, and the department of Economic Development and Training.
The new ministers brought in are Brandon West MLA Reg Helwer who will be in charge of Central Services, and Fort Richmond MLA Sarah Guillemard who will head up Conservation and Climate.
Some notable shuffles in Pallister's cabinet include Ralph Eichler moving from the Agriculture department to the Economic Development and Training department. Eichler is replaced by Midland MLA Blaine Pedersen. As well, Rochelle Squires was appointed Municipal Relations Minister, and Cathy Cox is the new minister for the Status of Women.
MLAs Heather Stefanson, Cameron Friesen, Cliff Cullen, Kelvin Goertzen, Eileen Clark, and Ron Schuler will stay on as ministers and keep the positions they held previously.
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- Contributed by Alec Woolston
Monday’s federal election saw the Liberal Party win a minority government.
Cathy Scofield-Singh, Liberal candidate for the Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa riding finished third in the voting but is still somewhat pleased with the result.
“Some of the communities have definitely shown that they are liberal and are very supportive of the plan of Justin Trudeau. I’m really excited with all the work the Northwest Metis Region has done, they reached out to all their community members and had done an awesome job.”
She wasn’t surprised by the result, adding this is a conservative area.
Scofield-Singh has a message for her team.
“I really want to thank the Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa Liberal Association, the team has been fantastic, Crawford Halliday and David Johnson who have helped me, Francis Chartrand and all the executives of the association have been wonderful to me and very supportive in the very short period that we ran. Considering that we really had less than three weeks to campaign in, I think we’ve actually done quite phenomenally.”
She finished with 5,103 votes or 13.2 %.
Scofield-Singh is ecstatic the Liberal Party is in government.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
The Government of Manitoba has named a list of winners for the 2018 Sustainability Awards.
After claiming the Sustainable Community of Manitoba award in 2017, the City of Dauphin was listed as an honourable mention for the 2018 awards.
The honourable mention was for the City’s effort in implementing new technologies and techniques to make the city greener.
Some of those initiatives include a large-scale rainwater catchment system to help reduce the amount of treated water used to water flower baskets and community baskets, the implementation of a way to recycle old mattresses, a way to recycle household appliances, and making repairs to reduce the amount of infiltration and inflow into the city’s sanitary system.
Another thing the city has done to help make the city more environmentally friendly is the building of bike lanes, and starting an active transportation plan.
“We’re on the right track, we’ve been working really hard at growing our community around green initiatives, and making our contribution to a clean environment,” said Dauphin’s community energy manager Steve Sobering. “It’s pretty satisfying to be recognized outside of the community.
Sobering adds that the city isn’t done when it comes to making Dauphin greener and more efficient. Part of the plan going forward is to slowly make the city’s fleet electric, by buying electric garbage trucks, street sweepers, and Zambonis, as well as replacing the city’s old HVAC systems with more energy-efficient ones.
The city is also installing Level 3 rapid chargers for electric vehicles.
Sobering is hoping that by seeing what a small city like Dauphin can do for sustainability, bigger cities will catch on and make their communities more sustainable.
The winner of the Sustainable Community for 2018 was the Fisher River Cree Nation.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The Royal Canadian Mint has issued a new coin featuring an important figure in Manitoba’s history.
In honour of his 175th birthday, the new coin will feature a portrait of Metis leader, Louis Riel.
The coin is also the first coin to be engraved with Michif, the language of the Metis Nation.
Louis Riel led the Red River Rebellion to help assert Indigenous rights, and stop the Canadian takeover of Metis land.
After several fierce battles, including the Northwest Rebellion, Riel was arrested and charged with high treason. He was later hanged in Regina.
The portrait on the coin features Riel wearing a fur-trimmed buckskin jacket covered with floral beadwork. He is also encircled by a traditional Coventry sash in the shape of an infinity sign, which is the symbol of the Metis Nation.
Manitoba Metis Federation President David Chartrand, said the Mint collaborated with the Metis Federation to help commemorate Riel’s birthday.
Metis artist David Garneau designed the coin that also features an engraving of Riel’s signature.
Only 15,000 coins will be produced, and the coin will cost $59.95, and it will be available in November.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The results are in from the Federal Election.
Dan Mazier has been elected MP of the Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa riding and the Liberal Party won a minority government.
Mazier is satisfied with the win.
"It's overwhelming and quite humbling to have that much support out there."
One of Mazier's priorities, when he gets to Ottawa, is connectivity.
Mazier was pleased with how the other candidates ran their campaigns, saying they were very respectful and talked about their own policies.
In the polls, Mazier finished with 24,942 votes (64.5%), Laverne Lewycky, from the NDP, finished with 5,404 votes (14%), Cathy Scofield Singh, with the Liberal Party, finished with 5,103 votes (13.2 %), Kate Storey, with the Green Party, finished with 2,090 votes (5.4%), Frank Godon, with the PPC, finished with 700 votes (1.8%), and Jenni Johnson, with the Christian Heritage Party, finished with 447 votes (1.2%).
Federally, the Liberals finished with 156 seats, the Conservatives have 121, Bloc Quebecois has 32, the NDP has 25, the Greens have 3 and there's 1 independent MP.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
9:00 Update:
The Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa riding has been called, Dan Mazier has been elected MP.
He has 63.9 per cent of the vote, which is 1164 votes. Scofield-Singh sits second, followed by Lewycky, Storey, Godon, and Johnson.
8:45 Update:
Dan Mazier and the Conservatives have jumped out to an early lead in the Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa riding.
Mazier has 119 votes in first, Storey is in second with 21, Lewycky in third with 20 votes, Scofield-Singh is in fourth with 13, Godon is in fifth with 3 and Johnson is last without a single vote.
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8:30 Update:
Polls in the Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa and the rest of Manitoba have closed.
Darnell Duff is down at the Dauphin Returning Office so we'll have up to date results here and live on 730 CKDM.
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730 CKDM is live with up to the minute election coverage of the federal election with James Blake and Alec Woolston. Check back to this story for updates as they happen throughout the evening.
The candidates in the Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa riding are,
Frank Godon - People's Party of Canada
Jenni Johnson - Christian Heritage Party of Canada
Laverne Lewycky - New Democratic Party of Canada
Dan Mazier - Conservative Party of Canada
Cathy Scofield-Singh - Liberal Party of Canada
Kate Storey - Green Party of Canada
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Due to an act of vandalism over the weekend, the Dauphin Multi-Purpose Senior Centre is without phone or Internet service.
Sometime over the weekend, someone went and pried the conduit pipe at the back of the building open and proceeded to cut the phone line.
There are no estimates as to how long the Senior Centre will be without service or the cost of the damage.
In the meantime, unfortunately, anyone who needs the services of the Senior Centre will have to stop by and see the staff in person.
Anyone who has any information on the act of vandalism over the weekend is asked to call the Dauphin RCMP.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
