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If you’re wondering what to do over the holidays or are looking for something to do in the New Year, Parks Canada recommends checking out Riding Mountain National Park.
Parks Canada thinks very highly of RMNP, saying the park is a gateway to nature and represents the very best that Canada has to offer Canadians.
During the winter months, RMNP has lots to offer visitors, such as winter accommodations, cross-country skiing on groomed trails, Fat Bike winter biking, snowshoeing, skating, ice fishing and tobogganing.
The winter accommodation includes winterized oTENTiks in the Wasagaming Campground.
The oTENTiks include a wood stove with electrical heat, electrical and USB outlets, a BBQ, and insulated cook shack.
New this winter, is the possibility to reserve overnight stays in the two winterized oTENTiks at the Moon Lake campground.
Over the holidays, you can also join a Parks Canada interpreter for a guided experience. Snowshoe under the starry skies, get in on the secrets behind what makes Species at Risk so special, or enjoy a walk through the forest and learn about how trees communicate.
In early February from the 7th to 9th, Clear Lake Country and Parks Canada are hosting the annual Winter Adventure Weekend. Included in the packed weekend of winter adventures are skiing, snowshoeing, and fat biking.
More info is to come as the date gets closer.
If you'd like to make a reservation for accommodations in Riding Mountain National Park you can do so by clicking here or by calling 1-877-737-3783.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
The province’s Auditor General says that safety in the commercial trucking industry is inadequate.
Norm Ricard flagged issues around the way the province performs inspections and Manitoba’s safety programs in a report over 70 pages long.
In the report, Ricard says that the staffing hours at weigh stations don’t always reflect the peak times that trucks are on the road.
He says that for three major weigh stations, Headingly, West Hawk, and Emerson, the audit found that almost half of all commercial truck traffic occurred when the facilities were closed. Ricard also said that both weigh station hours and mobile were too predictable.
“Too little coverage and too much predictability will allow operators to work around the department’s staffing patterns,” said Ricard.
The Auditor General went on to say that the department’s safety programs need to be more rigorous. He says as it stands right now, when the department issues a safety certificate to a driver, they don’t check the driver’s safety knowledge or practices.
Ricard added that a driver’s safety grade isn’t impacted by a failed inspection.
In his report, Ricard makes 17 recommendations.
The report also found heavy commercial vehicles make up ten percent of licensed vehicles in Manitoba but in a 4-year span between 2014 and 2018, commercial trucks were involved in 16 to 27 percent of fatal collisions.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The votes are in and the US House of Representatives has impeached President Donald Trump.
This is just the third time in history the house has voted to remove a president from office, Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson are the only others to be impeached.
The vote on the charge of abuse of power finished 230 to 197, while the second vote on obstruction of congress finished almost the same at 229-198.
Just because Trump has been impeached doesn't mean he's no longer president, Trump can stay in office pending a trial in the Senate.
A majority of two-thirds in the 100 person Senate is what's needed to remove Trump which experts say is unlikely to happen as the Senate is largely controlled by the Republican party.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Tim Hortons in Dauphin now has new ownership in Greg Crisanti and Rhonda Pardy.
The two franchisees took over operations of the Dauphin location on Monday. Crisanti is very excited to own the Dauphin Tim Hortons.
“It’s a great opportunity for us and we’ve met so many great faces already, of our guests as well as the new team members that we have on board with us. We’re really excited that we have the opportunity to purchase Dauphin and be up in the Dauphin market now.”
Crisanti says there will be slight changes.
“As far as our guests go, I don’t think they’ll be seeing too much of that. As far as new uniforms go, maybe purchasing a couple of new ovens, changes to our showcase as far as bringing in new items and just changing things up that way. Just to try things out and switch things up a little bit.”
He says they like to give back to the community wherever they do business.
“We’ll be banking locally, we’ll be doing as much shopping locally, hiring locally, you name it. We hope to become members of the Dauphin Chamber of Commerce and everything.”
The Dauphin location is the 9th Tim Hortons that Crisanti and Pardy own, including all 5 Tim Hortons in Brandon, as well as the restaurants in Virden, Neepawa, and Moosomin.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
A judge in Manitoba says policies aimed at preventing suicide at correctional centres weren’t followed in the 2016 death of an inmate at the Dauphin Correction Centre.
On July 14th, 2016, Freeman Zong was found dead in a shower area of the jail.
In an inquest report into Zong’s death authored by Judge Christine Harapiak, it said that Zong was arrested three days before his death after his brother called 911 citing that Zong had fired a gun at his girlfriend and threatened to hurt himself.
Months before his death, Zong was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had told his assessor that he was abusing prescription drugs and alcohol to try and cope with his mother’s death.
After his arrest, he was taken to the hospital for a cut on his arm. During the visit, he denied feeling suicidal, but the admitting officer ranked him at medium risk of harming himself due to the information on the prosecutor’s info sheet about the incident that resulted in his arrest.
According to the inquest report, none of the officers who had direct contact with him on the day of his death felt that he was at risk of harming himself.
The report went on to say that after a number of “upsetting” phone calls made from the jail, Zong went into his cell, and hanged himself from a vent behind a blind corner in the washroom as the shower was running.
Harapiak found that while Manitoba Corrections had developed adequate policies to prevent inmate suicides. When it came to Zong’s death, there were “multiple gaps” in the implementation of the protocol with Zong.
The Manitoba Corrections suicide policy requires direct, personal observation of how the inmate is doing every once every half hour, and that corresponding records are to be made. On the day of Zong’s death, there was no one designated to complete these reports.
In her recommendations, Harapiak suggested developing a simple checklist with all the components of the suicide prevention policy so that they can be reviewed daily by all staff who interact with an at-risk inmate.
She also recommended changing the vents in the correctional centre to security grade vents, which has already been done according to the report. She also recommends having corrections staff communicate with phone contacts requested by an inmate who is at risk of suicide and other measures to ensure that suicide prevention policies are followed through.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
A Manitoba resident is garnering international attention after her artwork was shown on national television.
Mish Daniels, a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation, makes and sells beaded medallions at different powwows around the Selkirk area.
She recently sold one to a friend of hers named Connie Greyeyes, who lives in Fort St. John, B.C. She had ordered a jingle dress medallion to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Greyeyes was an organizer of a recent conference in Vancouver, where a chance encounter with Hollywood icon Whoopi Goldberg happened.
Goldberg was attending a separate conference at the same hotel as the conference that Greyeyes was attending, where she was drawn by the smell of a smudging ceremony.
When Goldberg and Greyeyes met, they talked about the MMIWG cause, which Goldberg is an advocate of in the U.S. During the conversation, Goldberg was fascinated by the medallion that Greyeyes was wearing, resulting in Greyeyes giving Whoopi the medallion.
Daniels says that in Ojibway culture if someone admires something you own a lot, you gift it to them.
Daniels said that upon receiving the medallion, Goldberg told Greyeyes that she would wear it every day.
Goldberg kept her word and wore it on The View on Monday, as well as yesterday morning.
Daniels says that she was blown away that a celebrity like that would wear her artwork.
“I can’t believe that’s my work, it’s like winning Lotto 649 or something,” exclaimed Daniels. “I recorded it, and watch it over and over, my eyes mist over. I just can’t believe beading did this, it’s crazy.”
Daniels added that her phone has been going off non-stop since the airing of the show, and orders are flying in.
The best part of the attention to Daniels is the fact that it is bringing awareness to the MMIWG cause.
“It doesn’t matter what colour you are, people go missing and are murdered everywhere in North America. It’s the families, and supporting each other as human beings,” said Daniels.
Daniels says that she is swamped with orders for medallions, but vows to fulfill every request.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The Government of Manitoba’s fight to cut the province’s deficit is getting an assist from the federal government.
The federal Finance Department’s new figures show that Manitoba can expect a $255-million boost in equalization payments next year.
2020 will be the third consecutive year that equalization payments to Manitoba have increased by more than 10 percent.
Equalization is a program that is federally funded program that gives money to the poorer provinces so that they can offer the same services as the richer ones.
Manitoba’s PC government has promised to balance the budget before the next election and recently announced that they are predicting a $350 million deficit for the current fiscal year.
Provincial Finance Minister Scott Fielding says that the federal funding boost will help, but the province has also controlled spending increases in an effort to getting closer to balancing the budget.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Last week CKDM reported that work on the Edwards Creek Bridge in the RM of Dauphin would begin yesterday.
That work will now begin in the new year, still with the goal of being completed in September 2020.
In August, the RM of Dauphin council disagreed with the proposed detour from Manitoba Infrastructure.
The detour that has been chosen is the one the RM of Dauphin proposed, it takes residents down Road 146 N.
For information on the detour on Highway 20 click here.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Entrepreneurs and businesses will have an opportunity to compete in the first-ever Manitoba Protein Challenge next spring.
Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pedersen said that the Challenge will showcase the innovative products that local entrepreneurs and businesses are creating with animal and plant protein products.
“This event will also help connect processors with retailers, food service, and industry experts to introduce their products, learn about current protein industry trends and accelerate the commercialization of their products.”
The Challenge is expected to bring together approximately 100 agriculture and food stakeholders, including key retailers and distributors in Western Canada, who will sample and vote for the favourite protein products. The competition will include plant-based and animal-based protein.
The Challenge will also provide entrepreneurs with an opportunity to fast track their products to commercialization through the competition, feedback and connections with key industry contacts.
People wishing to participate must submit an application form that describes their new protein product and market potential.
The deadline for applications is February 7th, 2020, and the competition is scheduled to be held on March 17th, in Winnipeg on Agriculture Awareness Day in Manitoba.
The Manitoba Protein Challenge is part of the government's Manitoba Protein Advantage, a strategy aimed to sustainably grow the plant and animal protein industry in Manitoba.
For more information or to apply for the Challenge, click here.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
While only slightly, the federal government has lowered the amount that families in Manitoba will receive in carbon tax rebates next year.
A family of four will be able to receive $486 instead of $499. Below is a breakdown of how the rebate will be calculated for Manitoba for 2020:
A single adult or first adult in a couple gets $243.
A second adult in a couple or first child of a single parent gets $121.
Every child under 18 gets $61.
This sets the baseline total for a family of four at $486.
The carbon tax rebates were also lowered in Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Alberta. Those provinces, along with Manitoba, either didn't adopt a carbon pricing model that meets federal requirements or repealed theirs all together. In Manitoba, the provincial government favours the Manitoba Climate and Green Plan.
The rebates are meant to offset the extra costs to the consumer as a result of the carbon tax scheme which is set to go up to $30 a tonne in 2021.
Remember to claim the carbon tax rebates come tax time next spring.
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- Contributed by Alec Woolston
The Government of Manitoba wants to cut the amount of money paid to investment managers who handle public sector pensions, by merging management services.
Premier Pallister stated that public servant pensions are operating in silos that result in lower returns for investors. He is challenging the managers of those pensions to work together to lower the fees being paid.
“It’s an enormous amount of money every year, and pension plan managers will appreciate having a better and more consistent degree of transparency,” said Pallister.
Pallister estimates that the proposed move could mean $200 million more in annual returns that will ensure that the funds remain strong.
The Premier swore that the move wasn’t trying to force everyone to have the same pension plan. He said it was about respecting the different divisions among pension plans and having public pension funds becoming “better and smarter shoppers” when they invest.
He went on to say that the government will be meeting with pension fund managers soon. The managers have been told to report back to the province with a joint recommendation by March.
Alberta, B.C., Ontario, and Nova Scotia have merged aspects of their public sector pension plans
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
