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Gas prices have continued to rise after the carbon tax came into effect.
Ernie Sirski is a producer west of Dauphin and he says the biggest thing that happens is an increased cost in their inputs and exports because they are exempt from the carbon tax.
“That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to be affected on the transportation of fuel, fertilizer, and exporting of their products. So it will have an impact, it remains to be seen how severe it’ll be, but there’s no doubt there will be some impact.”
Don Tarrant, general manager of Reit Syd Equipment says gas prices are a small part of the whole picture for producers.
“An increase in fuel certainly impacts the bottom line. Unfortunately, the bottom lines are pretty slim so any increase does hurt the net of the producer.”
Sirski says he doesn’t make cuts in his production to combat gas prices.
“Let’s face it, as a price taker when it comes to fuel, we, in all honesty, have to suck it up and deal with it, especially with oil prices.”
Tarrant says companies are working to make farm equipment more fuel efficient like cars.
“New equipment in the last 5 or 10 years has become more fuel efficient. The equipment will do more work per acre with a lot less fuel. As well, the fuel burn is a lot cleaner than it’s ever been.”
Sirski says he keeps an eye on the pumps more than he does on his own production.
He adds that he’s been a minimum till farmer for about 20 years and there isn’t much he can do to make the gas price impact less on him.
“The reality is that fuel is the cost of doing business. I don’t know what else we can do on our own farm to actually reduce fuel usage. We think we’re fairly efficient as it is so other than what we are doing there isn’t much else we can do.”
Overall farmers aren’t pleased with gas prices. Tarrant says the rising gas prices and declining canola, wheat, and soybean prices are causing problems.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Today is the 39th Annual International yellow T-Shirt Day!
“Some friends and I started it in High School for a bit of fun, and we kept promoting it year after year by sending out press releases. Our peak year was 1984, when over 1200 radio stations around the world were running interviews with me, as well as newspapers and daytime television talk shows. It was pretty crazy!”
René Hübener, known as the Parkland Poet, says he and his friends have kept it alive by still doing annual interviews with a few media outlets, but plan on doing a much bigger push next year when Yellow T-Shirt Day turns 40.
How do you celebrate?
“It’s easy…. Just wear something Yellow! And if you like, you can post a picture of yourself at International Yellow T-Shirt Day on Facebook!”
You can find out more by clicking here.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Dauphin Kinsmen Business Expo is sold out this year which means there's lots for visitors to see.
Dan Pylypchuk says they had to divide the bigger booths into smaller spaces to let everyone who wanted a spot in.
“A lot of smaller companies are coming on board and just wanting to showcase at our expo,” said Dan.
This year many businesses are coming back after taking a hiatus for a few years.
“We did reach out to businesses that we wouldn’t think would go in this year, and there are actually some that weren’t in for the last few years that went in this year,” said Dustin Pylypchuk.
The entertainment this year is also worth checking out. “We’ve got a full stage this year,” said Dan. On the lineup they have magic shows and princess parties ready to entertain.
Dustin recommends trying out the Plinko board as they have a lot of great prizes. They also have the favourite meat draw. “The freezer is a seven cubic freezer, apartment size and it’s being donated by Ruffs. Then we’re doing a 600 dollar gift card to Showdra's because who knows if people want to have steaks, bacon, or jerky and all that.”
The expo is taking up the entire Dauphin Rec Centre this Saturday and Sunday.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The City of Dauphin's insurance policy is going up by 12 per cent.
That might seem like a lot, but that's after premiums were negotiated down from 50 per cent.
The insurance underwriters wanted increases because they saw greater chances of municipalities needing to file claims.
“They noted that we are at a greater risk and one of the bigger reasons is climate change. Larger climate events that are happening and we own a lot of infrastructure and they wanted to increase our premiums to be able to cover that risk,” said City Manager Sharla Griffiths.
The AMM agreed to contribute more money to the loss pool as a way they were able to lessen the increase.
In the city manager report Griffiths explains how the system works.
“It is a unique program that combines a traditional insurance policy concept with a “loss pool” concept. Basically, from the premiums invoiced to municipalities, some money is deposited into the loss pool (administered by Western Financial Group) and some money contributes to the traditional insurance policy. A set amount of money in the loss pool is dedicated to be used for claims each year; if there are more claims than funds available then the traditional insurance policy is utilized, but if there are less claims than funds available then the participating municipalities get rebates.”
The insurance premium runs around 350 thousand dollars for the city. Griffiths says over the entire budget that's a comparatively small amount.
“So a 12 per cent increase in that amount did not have to result in a tax increase to cover that.”
Griffiths says that 12 per cent is still a big number considering that most of their increases are one to two per cent.
The city's insurance policy covers everything they own. That includes city hall, the shop, the water treatment plant. It also includes anything run through the rec services like parks or the rec centre.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The RM of Dauphin’s 2019 financial plan has been released.
Nicole Chychota, CAO for the RM of Dauphin, says not a lot changed from last year’s budget.
“For the most part, the budget we have this year is very status quo.”
The tax rate increase is up to a mill of 22.408 which is an increase of 2.28%.
RM residents shouldn’t worry about any cuts.
She says it’s hard to say if the budget is up or down because some parts of the budget have been reduced whereas others have had increases.
Chychota says the province has made a change that RM residents should be aware of.
“There are changes to the education property tax credit. So the province eliminated the ability for residents to use any unused portion of that credit against their municipal taxes owing. So, residents that pay less than 700 dollars in school tax will see a bit of a larger increase to their tax bill than others, just because of that provincial change.”
Chychota believes everything is moving in the right direction and they are focusing on getting to the point where they don’t need to rely on the reserves as much for expenditures.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Yesterday evening, Fisher Branch RCMP responded to a fatal vehicle-pedestrian collision on Peguis First Nation.
The investigation determined a truck being driven by a 46-year-old woman struck a 42-year-old female walking on the highway. Both are from Peguis.
The driver stopped and stayed at the scene.
Fisher Branch RCMP and a forensic collision reconstructionist continue the investigation.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
The City of Dauphin will be shortening the height of the green markers along the Safe Schools Bike Lane Route.
Mayor Dowhan says they were advised to shorten the markers, which will allow oncoming bikers to pass each other.
Dowhan and the rest of the council are unanimously in favour of continuing with the Safe Schools Bike Lane Route.
“We feel, for the safety of our children, we should continue on with the project this year up to Mountain Road. There are no operational issues with the bike lanes. It’s strictly a safety project.”
Dowhan adds that it seems like people are forgetting that the bike lanes are for young people. Lines will be painted in the intersection for the bike lanes so drivers and bikers know where they need to be on the road.
Dowhan says it’s time to move forward in the community.
“We’re moving on with the project, and we will, over time, expand it. We want the safe school route bike lanes to all schools in our community.”
Dowhan says the bike lanes will be a part of Dauphin’s sustainable, safe community.
The RCMP received a report of mischief to the bike lane markers. Some were bent or completely removed from the concrete. The Dauphin RCMP is investigating.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Police responded to gunshots in Dauphin last night.
Around 9:45 last night the Dauphin RCMP responded to a complaint of shots being fired on the 100 block of 4th Ave SE.
Officers noticed multiple bullet holes in the front of the house.
Two adults were in the home at the time but were not injured.
Dauphin RCMP along with Forensic Identification Services are continuing the investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call Dauphin RCMP at 204-622-5020.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Soil conditions in the Parkland are continuing to improve.
Nicole Clouson, the Farm Production Extension Specialist with Manitoba agriculture in Swan River, says warm weather and drying winds are helping.
“The majority of the snow melt is done. Fields are drying up including the low spots and soil temperatures are warming up.”
If we get a large amount of rain or snow in the next week, she says it might slow things down, but she expects things to pick up as conditions allow.
“So things are starting to fall into place to get the 2019 seeding started. However, there is some field catch up work to get done that wasn’t done last fall due to the late harvest we had.”
This weekend is supposed to see temperatures reaching highs of 6 and 8. Clouson says in general soil temperatures are warming up, so a couple of days of colder weather should not set things back too far.
“Seeding into cooler soil temperatures may result in delayed germination, poor emergence, longer emergence, and therefore reduce protection of your seed treatment against pests.”
On the positive side getting the crop in early has the potential for higher yields, it can have better weed competition, and can potentially avoid pest and disease damage.
MASC does have some data that says that the first and the second week of May seems to be the most ideal in terms of crop yield in response to seeding date. Clouson says after the third week in May data shows that there may be a decline in near yield.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Swan River's MLA is calling on the federal government not to impose its carbon tax on Manitoba.
Rick Wowchuk proposed a private member's resolution calling for the federal government to also respect the Progressive Conservative government's Climate and Green Plan.
He said the tax is not in the national interest and is unfair to Manitobans.
In the Legislative Assembly, Wowchuk urged the federal government to respect the investments made in the province. He pointed to the province's Climate and Green Plan as an example of Manitoba's tradition of investing in renewable energy while encouraging reductions in energy consumption.
He noted that Manitoba has the best green record in the country as well as the new Conservation Trust to protect natural infrastructure.
“The federal government has a patchwork quilt of ad hoc environmental agreements with several provinces, creating different standards in each one,” said Wowchuk. “Our PC government is going to court to challenge Ottawa’s carbon tax, because the federal government can’t impose a carbon tax on a province that has a credible greenhouse gas reduction plan of its own.”
The resolution didn't pass because the opposition used their speaking time to run out the clock and prevent it from going to a vote.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Sunrise Credit Union celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2018.
With 19 branches and about 30 thousand members, Sunrise has grown 81.1%
In 2018, Sunrise reported a net income of 4.6 million dollars, loan growth of 18%, deposit growth of 12%, and total equity of 7.07%.
In addition, total asset growth was 13.6% at just over 137 million dollars.
Sunrise’s total assets have reached 1.15 billion dollars.
They focus on being in the community, their staff volunteered over 7000 hours of their time and corporate contributions passed 300 thousand dollars to various events and organizations in the communities.
Sunrise Credit Union held their AGM yesterday in Grandview.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
