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An investigator found that Swan River MLA Rick Wowchuk breached the Manitoba Legislative Assembly’s respectful workplace policy a total of 5 times.

The internal investigation against Wowchuk, who is currently running for re-election, found he breached the policy after showing his former assistant a picture of naked women on his cellphone.

The investigation determined there were 4 other breaches including an incident where during a phone call with his assistant, Wowchuk mentioned he was in the bathtub and almost “Facetimed” the call. Another incident occurred when he commented about his assistant wearing a bikini.

In a June 11 letter from the legislative assembly, executive director Judy Wegner mentioned that even though the investigators proved the bikini comment was made, they weren’t certain of its intended “tone or meaning.”

Another incident was a text where Wowchuk used the term “sex code” to answer a question from his assistant about messages from a malfunctioning phone.

The former assistant has not been named. She worked for Wowchuk for two years.

She told the story of the picture incident, where, in 2016, her and Wowchuk were in his office when he asked her if he wanted to see a picture. By his description of the picture, she thought it would be a wildlife picture, only to realize that it was a picture of naked women.

She immediately told Wowchuk to never show her anything like that ever again.

In a statement made by Wowchuk, he acknowledges that the comments and the photo he showed his assistant “caused offence” and apologized.

“I am sincerely sorry this occurred and any offence it caused,” said Wowchuk. “I deeply regret doing so and I have taken full responsibility for my actions”

He also said he is confident in the government’s actions to strengthen the respectful workplace policies and that he will continue to work hard to represent his constituents in Swan River.

Following the actions of former NDP cabinet minister Stan Struthers, PC Leader Brian Pallister announced a “no wrong door” policy. The policy was intended to make reporting harassment easier, and would include political staff and employees of Crown corporations

In 2018-19, the civil service commission initiated 22 investigations involving sexual harassment, 116 involving harassment/bullying and 302 investigations that involved other forms of misconduct — including attempted fraud, conflict of interest or other inappropriate conduct.

Since Wowchuk’s assistant was a constituency assistant, and not a Manitoba government employee her complaint was not included in those numbers.

This is the second instance of sexual harassment made public in the PC’s first term. The first one included Emerson MLA Cliff Graydon, who had allegations against him, after he had asked staff members to sit on his lap.

Graydon was kicked out of the PC Caucus a few months later.

The investigation into Wowchuk’s actions took over 9 months to be completed.

Wowchuk’s former assistant, who resigned earlier this year, is asking for an apology from the PC Caucus and for Wowchuk to be expelled

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Wednesday was the start of a new daily feature leading up to the election called 730 CKDM’s MLA Q&A. Every day, we’ll feature the three MLA Candidates’ answers to issues facing Parkland residents. The question asked was, what work still needs to be done in the area of healthcare?

 

PC candidate Brad Michaleski gave us his answer.

“The biggest thing I noticed over the last 3 years is the amount of people that are leaving the region, having to go to Brandon or Winnipeg for services that are non-emergency. That process, mental health, people that are dealing with disabilities, people that are needing healthcare treatment that are non-emergency. There’s a lot of that, that’s going on that could be done in this region. That’s probably the biggest, I know when it comes down to it, there’s lots of non-emergency care that people in the region have to leave the region for. Again, we have a great healthcare system in this region. We have a lot of good people that are working in the healthcare system. We just need to find ways to keep people from having to travel outside the region.”

 

NDP candidate Darcy Scheller had this to say.

“Investments, definitely investments. The healthcare system in Manitoba is very perforated with all the healthcare cuts, and the callbacks in funding over the last 3 and a half years. I’ve talked with many nurses, support workers, and doctors and they are definitely feeling stretched. So, investing back in for better healthcare for all Manitobans.”

 

Finally, this was Liberal candidate Cathy Scofield-Singh’s answer.

“Right now, everything is being shifted to the bigger hubs. Dauphin definitely is one of the hubs, but we’re moving everything away from the rural areas. My concern is, if we move everything away from the rural areas, it makes it very difficult for seniors or people who don’t have access to vehicles to get to those areas. They live in those small towns, they want to be able to receive services in those towns, we need to keep our nurses and doctors in our small towns. When someone is ill and sick, they don’t want to be recovering in Winnipeg or Brandon. If your family lives in Alonsa or in Skownan, that’s a long drive to get to. We want people to be closer to their homes, to be able to access healthcare in their communities.”

 

Be sure to listen during the 7, 8, Noon, 4, and 5 o’clock newscasts for the candidates' answers leading up to election day.

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Keystone Agricultural Producers is welcoming the announcement by the PC Party of Manitoba, saying they will remove education tax from property taxes.

President Bill Campbell says it’s a positive step for Manitoba farmers, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of quality education training or unforeseen market variabilities.

KAP has outlined equitable education funding a key priority in lobbying effort for the provincial election campaign.

The PC Party of Manitoba has committed to removing the education tax from property taxes over ten years starting in 2022.

While KAP says this a positive step for producers, they pointed out that means farmers will continue to pay more than their fair share of education funding for up to 12 years. KAP adds that a ten-year shift in education funding could mean that a future provincial government could kibosh the decision, given the lengthy timeline and an unforeseen number of financial pressures that could be in play.

KAP argues that the current education funding rate in the province isn’t equitable. Local school boards are allowed to set the mill rate, which makes per-student funding vary due to differences in divisional property taxes. Campbell says that means students in divisions with higher property values have access to more funding and more opportunities than students in divisions with lower property values.

Manitoba is the last province to allow local school boards to set the local education tax rate.

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The third annual Pride Celebration is happening this weekend at Riding Mountain National Park.

Richard Dupuis says they're holding the celebration because Parks Canada belongs to all Canadians.

New to the celebration this year is a drag queen happy hour, as well as queer bingo, pride karaoke, live music, and the Riding Mountain Dance Party.

The point of the celebration is to create a welcoming space so everyone can enjoy Riding Mountain National Park.

Dupuis hopes everyone has fun during the Pride Celebration and is thankful many of the businesses are on board, supporting the event.

For the full schedule this weekend, click here.

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The RM of Mossey River has joined the growing number of municipalities declaring a State of Agricultural Disaster.

The declaration comes after a hot and dry summer has left beef producers struggling to find enough feed for their herds.

Mossey River joins 12 other RM's in the Parkland and Interlake regions who have declared states of disaster.

The collection of RMs hope that both the federal and provincial governments will act quickly to enact AgriRecovery protocol.

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Today is the start of the 2019-20 school year.

New Superintendent CEO, Dan Ward says they have a similar number of teachers compared to last year.

“For this upcoming school year, we hired 22 new teachers. A good number of them are new graduates from university. A number of teachers have been hired both from local communities and from outside the school division.”

They had 9 teachers, including Donna Davidson, retire at the last school year, as well as teachers resigning or going on maternity leave.

Ward says they have a projected number of 3167 students.

“Compared to last year, if those numbers stay firm, and all indications are that it will or be close to, we will be up over 60 students from last year.”

Every year the amount of funding the school division receives is impacted by the number of students.

Ward says there’s a sense of optimism and positivity heading into the school year, he’s also looking forward to a couple of things.

“Learning from the schools, visiting the schools. Of course, I’m coming into this role having spent 4 years as assistant superintendent where I learned a great deal about each school’s culture and programming. I hope to learn more from each of our schools and support our principals in the programs and initiatives that are being delivered.”

Ward would also like to wish all staff and students a great school year.

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Both the NDP and the Liberals are promising to increase the minimum wage in Manitoba to $15/hour.

While the idea is something that is talked about nationwide, there always seems to be pushback on actually raising the current minimum wage.

The minimum wage in Manitoba is set to increase to $11.65/hour on October 1st, but what would an increase to $15/hour actually look like?

Fletcher Baragar, an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Manitoba, says there wouldn’t actually be significant negative effects on employment if the wage hike was implemented.

“Any negative employment effects seem to be fairly specific to a particular market, and seem to be rather mild or modest,” said Baragar. “That used to be the big argument against raising minimum wages or even having minimum wages was that it was a job killer, and the evidence there doesn’t really seem to very strong”

Baragar adds that if the minimum wage is increased, it should be done slowly to allow the people in the market who would be affected by the increase, to have some time to make necessary adjustments.

The professor also says that raising the minimum wage to $15/hour won’t really help minimum wage workers get above the poverty line.

“This isn’t a single solution, but it is part of a broader solution. So it’s a step in the right direction, it's not gonna solve the problems, but it does help to ameliorate some, and it will make a real difference for some workers, for sure.”

The only province that has a $15/hour minimum wage is Alberta. B.C. plans to raise theirs to at least $15.20/hour in 2021.

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New trucking regulations are now in effect in Manitoba.

Mandatory entry-level training for commercial truck drivers is now required. The requirements include 121.5 hours or the equivalent of three weeks of training.

Earlier this year, the province said that anyone who already held a class 1 licence would be grandfathered in.

Manitoba joins three other provinces in making entry-level training for commercial truck drivers mandatory. The others are Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario.

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At 10:30 Friday morning, Lac du Bonnet RCMP responded to a call of a missing boater.

After investigation, it was determined that a 49-year-old male was harvesting wild rice in an airboat on the Whiteshell River, approximately 5 km north of Jessica lake, when he failed to return to his camp.

Another harvester in a second boat, set out to find the missing male when he found the submerged airboat in about 15 feet of water. He searched the immediate area but could not find the 49-year-old male. He immediately called the RCMP for assistance.

Upon arrival, Lac du Bonnet RCMP and Sustainable Development along with private boats searched the surrounding area but could not locate the missing male.

On Saturday morning, Police returned to the location with boats and drones to search the water and shoreline. The Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team (HEART) also arrived to help find the missing boater.

At around 10:30 am HEART located the deceased male in the water with an underwater camera. His body has since been recovered by RCMP.

The investigation is ongoing

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At around 6:50 Friday morning, Carberry RCMP responded to the Brandon Hospital for a report of a 45-year-old male who was admitted with gunshot wounds.

Police are on the lookout for a suspect by the name of Nicholas Peters in relation to the shooting. He has been charged with the unauthorized possession of a firearm, careless use of a firearm, and discharge of the firearm with intent.

36-year-old Nicholas Peters is described as 6’ tall, 250 pounds, with brown hair, and hazel eyes. He is from Brandon.

He may be driving a white Dodge pick-up truck with a Manitoba licence plate number of KDX 716.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Nicholas Peters is asked to call the Carberry RCMP at 204-834-2131.

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With school starting up, should school zones be implemented in Dauphin?

Deputy City Manager, Renee St. Goddard, says to her knowledge there have never been school zones in Dauphin.

She says city council has previously discussed the idea of school zones.

“When legislation came out that allowed for reduced speed zones near schools, the city spoke with MVSD. The school division has not had any incidents or near misses to report to the city for 14 years at minimum. We continue to partner with the school division to provide safe traffic and pedestrian movement around schools.”

St. Goddard adds, they’ve received inquiries from the public about school zones but there haven’t been any complaints.

She says the city looks at all safety issues.

“We look at all safety issues to address safety around the schools such as stop signs, crosswalks, solid fences, no parking around schools so buses have better visibility, and ease of turning for parking lots and entrances to allow for easier bus and parent pick-ups and drop-offs. So that increases the safety around school zones.”

St. Goddard believes the city is working well with MVSD to make sure the appropriate levels of safety are being considered.

St. Goddard doesn’t know if one area needs school zones more than the other, but she did point out the higher number of schools on Mountain.

“We did do a speed study this summer on both sides of Mountain Road, but we haven’t received the data yet to analyze. I don’t know if one area needs one more than the other but that comes to mind as a frequent area that often sees an increase in traffic once school starts.”

St. Goddard wants to remind drivers to be cautious as students head back to school.

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