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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
An increasing amount of Manitobans are filing for bankruptcy.
A news release from MNP LTD shows the number of Manitoba residents who filed for insolvency was up 15.5 percent in the second quarter of 2019 compared with the first quarter. The number is also an increase of 4.1 percent compared with the same time last year.
A survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf on MNP found that 27 percent of Canadian homeowners with a home equity line of credit, or a HELOC, have used the funds to pay off debts, and 36 percent used the money to do things that they wouldn’t normally be able to do, things like home repairs and renovations.
The survey also said that 14 percent of people used their HELOC funds to buy things like cars, and 9 percent invested in real estate.
Of the people who used their HELOCs for something else, only 14 percent regret it. The same percentage of people say they’re worried about paying off their HELOC’s.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
200,000 Bell Canada customers will be cut from a rural internet expansion program after a federal regulator lowered wholesale broadband prices that major telecom companies can charge to smaller internet providers.
Bell said Monday that the rates set by the CRTC will cost more than $100 million, with the bulk of the sum going to cover the retroactively lower rates.
As a response, the company said it will cut its rural internet program designed to provide wireless internet access to homes that are hard to reach by conventional fibre or cable access by 20 percent.
Rogers Communications said that it’s disappointed by the CTRC’s decision and it will be reviewing future investments in rural and remote communities in light of the $140-million charge expected by the decision.
The CRTC requires that large telecom companies sell access to their infrastructure to smaller internet providers as a way to lower prices and improve competition.
After review, the CRTC set final wholesale rates last week that are up to 77 percent lower than rates set in 2016.
Major telecom companies have threatened that infrastructure investments could be affected by lower broadband access rates.
Bell latest decision will result in the rural expansion program being cut back to one million houses, down from 1.2 million across Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
A middle-school addition in Neepawa that was supposed to open next month in time for school will not. The two-story school that will be attached to the Neepawa Collegiate and adds on to their current middle-school wing inside the high school, will include 10 new classrooms, a gym, music room, a conference room and much more.
The current middle-school wing features eight classrooms. That means there will now be 18 when it opens up. It will welcome kids from grade 5 to 8. Right now, it's just for grades 6 to 8.
"It won't be ready in September. Last May, we saw that it wouldn't be ready so we just pushed the date back," said Jason Young, Superintendent/CEO for the Beautiful Plains School Division. "Our hope is to get into the new building sometime in October."
The new addition has not only people in Neepawa excited but Young as well.
"It's going to be fantastic. We've heard great things from people outside of the school as well. We're looking forward to it, it's looking like the school now," said Young. "We needed more room and we're going to get that."
The Neepawa Collegiate/Middle-School has seen a significant bump in students over the years. Five years ago, there were approximately 760 students in the two buildings. Now there is more than 1200.
"This facility is going to really help us," he continued.
Young also feels more people will be coming to the school in the coming years.
To assist in childcare, there is also a 74-spot daycare being built on-site.
"That's much needed in our community as well. Our community has grown and there's a shortage in daycare space," Young concluded. "It's an exciting time for a lot of people in Neepawa."
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
A Thompson RCMP officer has been found not guilty of manslaughter in a 2015 on-duty shooting that killed a drunk driver and injured a passenger.
But 37-year-old Constable Abram Letkeman was found guilty of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
A trial in Thompson Monday heard how Letkeman fired a dozen shots into a Jeep, killing 39-year-old Steven Campbell. Campbell was hit at least nine and his girlfriend was injured in the shooting.
Crown prosecutors argued that Letkeman made a series of wrong and negligent choices resulting in the shooting. The defence lawyer said the officer thought his life was in danger because the Jeep was moving towards him.
The trial heard that Letkeman saw the Jeep being driven erratically immediately after bars closed and after a failed traffic stop, he pursued the vehicle but never relayed that information to his supervisors.
Letkeman testified that his goal was to end the chase by bumping the back of the Jeep with his police car. A use of force expert stated that the move was against protocol and training, and was extremely risky.
The Jeep ended up on an ATV trail, where it lost control and stopped, then was T-boned by Letkeman’s vehicle.
The officer stated that he didn’t wait for backup and walked in front of the Jeep to perform a high-risk takedown. Then, he said, the Jeep started moving towards him which forced him to fire.
A toxicology report on Campbell’s body showed his blood-alcohol level was almost 2 ½ times the legal limit to drive. It also showed a trace amount of cocaine.
The Crown argued during closing arguments in June that Letkeman stood in front of the Jeep and fired so it wouldn’t be able to drive away, not due to fear for his life.
The Prosecutor said none of Letkeman’s acts on the night of the shooting were reasonable.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Last week, the Manitoba First Nations Police were contacted by the Saskatchewan RCMP who advised them that a 30-year-old male victim had reported that he had been sexually assaulted by 2 males.
The incident happened at a party at a residence on the Waywayseecappo First Nation on July 6th, 2019.
The victim provided a statement to police regarding the circumstances of the Sexual Assault.
Two male suspects took part in the Sexual Assault on July 6th and one suspect 28-year-old Raymond Longclaws was located by MFNPS and arrested and charged. He is being held in custody and is expected to appear in court today.
The second suspect remains at large and police are actively searching for the suspect.
MFNPS are asking for the public’s assistance for anyone that may have information on the events that happened the night of July 6th. If you have any information, contact the Waywayseecappo Detachment at 204-859-5071.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Erin Knight from Gilbert Plains has been appointed to the Prime Minister’s youth council.
Knight is an advisor to the Prime Minister and Government of Canada. They attend 2 or 3 in-person meetings every year. Officials and communities come and discuss certain topics with them. The youth council then suggests directions for policies and how it’ll affect youth across the country.
It was quite the process for Knight to beat out over 1000 other applicants and get appointed.
“It starts with a written application where you go through your resume, and you go through some of the community endeavours that you’ve undertaken. From there, they select people to go onto a video interview, they post questions and you answer them in a virtual environment. From there, they review your video answers and ask you to submit your resume. From there, they then shortlist about 25 candidates. Then those 25 are reviewed by the Prime Minister and he chooses as many as he wants but he chose 8 this time.”
She recently had her first meeting in Iqaluit, Nunavut.
“It was incredible! It was the first time I’d been to the north. It’s just a really different environment. So for that first kind of experience being in the youth council, I think being so removed from my kind of normal everyday life was a way to plunge deep into it.”
In Iqaluit, the youth council talked about food insecurity, indigenous language revitalization, indigenous tourism, economies in the north, infrastructure, and oceans in the north. Justin Trudeau met up with their group, had lunch and spent half the day with them. They had breakout sessions and a round table discussion about policy issues with him.
Knight wants to emphasize her role on the council extends from her passion for rural development and rural Canada.
“When I speak to officials and when I speak to the PM, I’m speaking from that perspective. So, I’m always emphasizing consultations with rural people and I’m always emphasizing how it’s going to impact people in rural Canada, especially my home community and people in the Parkland. You’re always at the forefront of my mind when I’m talking about these issues.”
Knight thinks the consultation process she goes through on the youth council and public policymaking process are things she’s going to be able to take into her future.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
