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Health care cuts and spending still remains a hot topic amongst many Manitobans.

One source of spending that’s has been hidden and is now really being questioned, is the cost of agency nursing and locum doctors.

Dr. Jon Gerrard, Liberal MLA and Health Critic, heard this in several communities and brought it up at Question Period.

“I asked Minister Goertzen why so much money was being spent on agency nurses and locum doctors when they should be using people who are trained locally, particularly for nurses. I also included a reference to the fact that when I was in Grandview, I heard of (agency) nurses being given taxi fare all the way from Winnipeg to Grandview in order to come out and fill spots.”

He also heard that they were being paid lucrative amounts for accommodations, mileage and meals.

Gerrard gave a number of what he heard one health region spent in 2016 on agency nurses, locum doctors and overtime staff.

“You know I wasn’t able to get any specific numbers but what I do know is that it’s a considerable amount. I was given a number when I was in Grandview of $7.26 million dollars for the Prairie Mountain Health Region alone.  I know from the discussions we had in other communities, particularly northern Manitoba, that there is a very large amount of use of agency nurses and locum doctors.”

Gerrard feels this would have been the first place to cut back on.

The City of Dauphin passed a resolution to close a local road, pending approval of the RM of Dauphin.

On Monday, some residents and a business asked to have Range Road 144N barricaded and closed to through traffic.

City of Dauphin Assistant CAO, Sharla Griffiths, spoke to us about what council decided to do about the road that connects to the Dauphin bypass.

“The city definitely heard the concerns of the residents and property owners along 144 North. It is council’s opinion that they agree it is not an integral part of the road network, considering there is the bypass just a half mile to the south. Council did pass that resolution where they agreed to barricade the road to through traffic and our administration will be approaching the RM of Dauphin to hopefully get their agreement to do so.”

The final decision on putting a barricade on the road will depend on what the RM of Dauphin decides at their next meeting, which is scheduled for June 12th.

Some of the issues brought forward to city council included an increase in the number of traffic and a large amount of dust disturbing the people who live along the road and Reit-Syd Equipment.

Plans to redevelop Gartmore Park are underway from the City of Dauphin.

The City of Dauphin plans to place a statue celebrating the first farmer in the park.

City of Dauphin Assistant CAO, Sharla Griffiths shares some of the redevelopment plans for the park to go along with the city’s next statue.

“We are wanting to revamp that area with some plants that may have been grown by those first farmers 100 plus years ago. So you might see some new plants but they are heritage or older style or things that farmers may have brought with them to plant in their yards.”

Griffiths expects the park to be finished with their redevelopments by this fall when the statue is complete.

The park is at the corner of Main Street S. and 6th Avenue S.W.

In retaliation, to U.S. President Donald Trump announcing no more steel and aluminium tariff exemptions for Canada today, Canada is now firing back by imposing dollar for dollar tariffs against the U.S.

The United States is looking at tariffs of 25% on imported steel and 10% on imported aluminium from Canada.

Canada will impose their tariffs on U.S. imports as of July 1.

The Canadian tariffs will be in place until the U.S. eliminates theirs.

The fire ban in Grandview has been lifted effective today.

The municipality still wants to remind residents that they need a permit to burn any stubble, brush or grass.

You can get a permit by going to the municipal office and by calling them at 546-5250.

As of today, the United States has decided to end steel and aluminum tariff exemptions for Canada.

The reason for ending the exemption is because U.S. President Trump feels his country has been treated badly in trade relations.

The U.S. also launched a security investigation into auto imports on the same basis Trump used for steel and aluminum.

On Tuesday, RCMP received a report of a theft of a tandem axel gravel truck and a tilt deck trailer with a compact excavator on it was taken from a Dauphin business.

It's believed that the theft occurred this past weekend.

The stolen equipment was found yesterday during a plane ride.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Dauphin RCMP detachment at 622-5020 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Gardening is becoming more and more popular in Dauphin.

A Community Gardening Workshop is being offered by the Dauphin Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation on Monday.

Allison Moss, Community Liaison, has seen gardening growing in the community.

“I think we’ve seen an uptake in the last couple of years in terms of interest in the community garden network. This spring, we have seen just a ton of enthusiasm around it and the network is expanding in Dauphin.  So Parkland Crossing recently put in four additional raised garden beds near the food bank entrance and that has seemed to generate an interest, in addition to the garden beds behind the facility.  Whitmore School is putting in four garden beds for students and community members in that neighbourhood.  Echo Housing has garden beds.  They’ve just put in an addition four so that’s five in the back yard.  With that and when we are seeing infrastructure being created, there’s always an opportunity to get together and learn from one another.”

The workshop starts at 5:30 p.m. at Birss Greenhouse, located on 4th Avenue N.E., across from the Co-op.

Participants should bring a lawn chair and a donation for the foodbank.

The workshop is free and to register call Moss at 622-3164.

22-year-old, Ryan Stevenson of Dauphin made another court appearance for a fatal single rollover with a stolen vehicle.

Last summer, RCMP responded to an accident just 15 kilometers west of Camperville on Highway 20.

Pronounced dead at the scene was a passenger, a 23-year-old Dauphin man.

Stevenson is to appear in court in Dauphin on June 12.

A new court date has been set for July 3 in Dauphin for the death of a 37-year-old Camperville man.

Spencer Sumner, 25-years-old from Fairford, faces Manslaughter charges

Back in January of this year, RCMP responded to a call in Camperville about a disturbance and found the victim deceased.

Sumner will appear in court in Dauphin on July 3.

A tentative deal has been reached between CP Rail and the union representing the engineers on strike.

Details of the agreement will be presented to the employees for approval.

If ratified, operations could resume by tomorrow morning.