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Brandon Police made a drug seizure during a traffic stop this week, and say it could be one of the biggest busts in Manitoba history.
At around 1:30 in the afternoon on July 28th, a Brandon Police Officer conducted a traffic stop on Highway 1 west of the City and got involved in an unlawful transportation of liquor in a motor vehicle investigation.
During the investigation, 76 kilograms of illicit drugs were discovered in the vehicle, valued at over 3 million dollars.
Two men, aged 41 and 43, both from Ontario, were taken into custody for possession for the purpose of trafficking.
After preliminary presumptive testing, the illicit substances are believed to be 50 Kilograms of MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy, and 26 Kilograms of a variation of substances combined with Fentanyl. The illicit drugs were packaged in 1 Kilogram quantities. These seizures are subject to further testing to confirm the identity of the substances.
While the wholesale value of the drugs is in excess of 3 million dollars, police say the street value might be up to 5 times that amount.
The two accused were in court Wednesday for a bail hearing and were subsequently remanded into custody.
Both have been charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking MDMA and Fentanyl, as well as two counts of trafficking MDMA and Fentanyl.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Wait times for non-urgent diagnostic tests have grown even longer in Manitoba as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The wait time for an ultrasound at the Dauphin Regional Health Centre right now is over a year — while back in January, that wait time was only three months, according to the province's latest wait time reports.
The increased wait times are being noted across all of Manitoba’s health regions — after the province cancelled non-urgent diagnostics for a six-week period to control the spread of the virus.
Prior to the pandemic, the province had been working to reduce wait times in a number of areas, however, the COVID situation appears to set back some of that progress.
A Shared Health spokesperson explains the effort to ramp up services in May has still not been able to return operations to 100% capacity.
The spokesperson added that the Prairie Mountain Health region experienced some staff turnover in recent months, which impacted ultrasound wait times at several locations, including Dauphin.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Manitoba’s Education Minister has confirmed that in-classroom learning will resume on September 8th for K—12 students across Manitoba.
In-classroom learning will be full time for students in kindergarten to grade 8 — and for special needs students of all grades — with five days of instruction per week.
For high school students in the province, some remote learning may be required, based on the ability of high schools to implement the necessary public health measures, such as physical distancing, and the use of smaller designated groups of students.
The Education Minister says the goal for high schools is to achieve 5 days a week school schedule if those schools can ensure health protocols, related to physical distancing and cohorting.
Goertzen says we can expect some variation between schools, with differences in physical space, equipment availability, and depth of substitute teaching rosters.
Going forward, Manitoba school divisions will digest these provincial guidelines, and are expected to finalize and share plans with students and parents by mid-August.
At this time, the province is not requiring students wear masks.
Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen says “Manitoba Education and Public Health are working with divisions and individual schools to ensure that as many students as possible return to classroom learning full-time.”
This announcement comes shortly after the province of Ontario also revealed their elementary students will be in the classroom five days a week — with the majority of high school students in class at least 50% of the time in the new school year.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Two new cases have been announced by Public Health officials today.
Manitoba now has a total of 409 cases – of those cases, 76 are active and 325 people have recovered.
Today’s new cases are two 30-year-old men in the Prairie Mountain Health region. There has been a total of 41 cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region.
Right now there are 6 people in the hospital with 4 in intensive care.
Manitoba’s number of COVID-related deaths remains at 8.
For more information, you can go to manitoba.ca/covid19.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
If you've had a push style lawnmower go missing on you, RCMP may have recovered it.
Dauphin RCMP recovered a mower near 4th Ave. SE on Thursday.
RCMP are asking the public to check their property for a missing lawnmower, and call the Dauphin RCMP Detachment at 204-622-5020 to provide a description.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
UPDATE | 10:32 a.m. RCMP have safely located the two men.
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RCMP are searching for two missing men in the Duck Bay area of Lake Winnipegosis.
At 6 a.m. Thursday morning, Winnipegosis RCMP received a report of overdue boaters, who set out around 2:50 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.
It was believed the boaters would be returning in a couple of hours, but they failed to return.
RCMP deployed a Hercules aircraft to assist in the search.
The investigation is ongoing.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
The Dauphin RCMP are increasing the number of officers on the road in and around the Dauphin area this August long weekend.
The increased patrols are focusing on drivers who don’t stop at stop signs, those not wearing seatbelts, and distracted drivers.
Corporal Kalvin Kristjanson with the Dauphin RCMP says the additional officers are to increase road safety in the area.
"We want everyone to get to their destinations safely, but we need the public to do their part. Make sure everyone is wearing seatbelts, stop at all stop signs, and never drive while impaired or distracted."
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to testify before the House of Commons finance committee tomorrow.
He’ll be asked about the events that led to his cabinet asking the WE Charity to oversee a $900 million student-volunteer program.
The federal Conservatives have called for the ethics watchdog to broaden their investigation into the We Charity scandal.
Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau are already being investigated by the ethics commissioner, for possible violations of the Conflict of Interest Act.
Members of Trudeau’s family were paid more than $500,000 in speaking fees at various WE Charity events.
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- Contributed by 730 CKDM
Manitoba RCMP is investigating a fatal vehicle collision, just outside of Brandon.
The initial investigation suggests that a vehicle going west on Highway 1 collided with a woman that was lying in the middle of the westbound lane of traffic.
Emergency services were called but the pedestrian, a 30-year-old woman from Brandon, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The 44-year-old male driver from Brandon was not injured.
RCMP continues to investigate.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
Three new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Wednesday's update from public health officials.
This brings the total number of confirmed and probable cases in Manitoba to 407.
Today's cases include two in the Interlake-Eastern health region; and one in the Winnipeg health region.
There are 74 active cases, and 325 individuals listed as recovered from COVID-19.
There are six current hospitalizations, with four individuals in intensive care. The number of deaths in Manitoba due to COVID-19 is eight.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Front-line workers in Manitoba can expect to see an additional $1,377 in their bank accounts this week.
The province has given an update on where they stand when it comes to the wage top-up for front-line workers.
Premier Brian Pallister made the announcement today, saying “we want to thank front-line workers and acknowledge the sacrifices they made during the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased risks they faced on the job to provide crucial services. We also appreciate Manitobans’ patience as we reviewed every application we received in order to determine final payment amounts.”
The province will divide $120 million equally among 78, 442 eligible Manitobans, which will equal out to $1,377 after taxes.
Eligible positions for the wage top-up included health care, social services, justice, security, transportation, food and beverage, hotels and essential retail.
For more information about the Risk Recognition Program, click here.
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
