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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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."

Daycare

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