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The province is providing $658,000 in grant money to be shared between 12 groups towards walking, cross-country skiing and snowmobile trail repairs across Manitoba.

The funding was supported through an annual fee for registered off-road vehicles collected by Manitoba Public Insurance at the same time as annual registration.

Two local snowmobile groups are among those receiving funding.

 North Mountain Riders are receiving $100,000 to repair snowmobile trails north of Swan River, while the Ashern Snowmobile Club 2008 will get $78,000 for trail repair work in the Ashern area.

The provincial government has also declared that February 8th of next year will be Manitoba Winter Trails Day. 

The City of Dauphin has provided an update regarding snow removal.

It says full snow removal operations will resume tonight at 7 pm, after having to be delayed due to contractor availability.

That will include the removal of windrows from parts of the city.

Motorists are asked to avoid parking on streets during that time, in order to ensure the safe and efficient removal of snow.

City Public Works crews will continue to work on clearing snow on residential streets over the coming days. 

Meanwhile, the RM of Dauphin says snow plows will be out in Zones 1 to 5 and 7 today. 

UPDATE (December 18 - 12:20 p.m.)

53-year-old Cyril St. Paul remains in custody after he was formally charged.

St. Paul has been charged with Manslaughter in relation to the shooting on the Ebb & Flow First Nation over the weekend. 

The RCMP believes this was targeted and there's no threat to public safety. 


A 34-year-old man is dead and a 53-year-old man was arrested for Murder.

On December 15 at 7:45 a.m., Ste. Rose RCMP responded to a shooting on Highway 278, near the Ebb and Flow First Nation. The 34-year-old was spotted lying beside a truck, near the Ebb and Flow First Nation Arena. He was transported to the hospital in Dauphin where he later died.

A 53-year-old man was later arrested at a residence in the community and remains in custody. 

A 19-year-old from Lake St. Martin is facing 29 charges after a home was searched in the RM of Grahamdale.

On December 13, members of the National Weapons Support Enforcement Team, Manitoba East District Crime Reduction Enforcement Team and Manitoba's Emergency Response Team executed a search warrant for a residence in Lake St. Martin.

Cocaine, suppressors, and hard body armour were located within the residence as well. Keeni Ross, 19, faces a slew of charges.

• Uttering Threats Against a Person
• Possession of a Prohibited Weapon When Knowing Possession Unauthorized x4
• Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose
• Fail to Comply with Release Orderx2
• Using Firearm in the Commission of an Offence While Committing Offence
• Possession of Restricted Firearm/Prohibited Weapon with Ammo without Licence x8
• Possession of Firearm When Knowing Possession Unauthorized x3
• Unsafe Storage of Firearms x3
• Possession of Firearm with Tampered Serial Number
• Weapons Possession Contrary to Order and Failure to Surrender Authorization x3
• Possession of Property Obtained by Crime Less Than or Equal to $5000
• Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking
 
Robert Sinclair, 27 and Gerald Sinclair, 28, both of Lake St. Martin were also arrested and charged with Uttering Threats Against a Person. 

Dauphin has been ranked 10th for towns and rural areas on Culture Days National's 2024 top participating communities. 

Dauphin Culture Days committee member Jean-Louis Guillas says he and his fellow committee members are ecstatic with the news.

"It is just a real validation of what we have been doing for the past 14 years.  We had more kinds of programming this year, and the weather cooperated.  We had beautiful weather for Yard Fringe and other events.  So I think it was the variety and we had a few new people join us on the organizing committee, and they came up with new kinds of  activities." 

One other Parkland community made the ranking as Yorkton, Saskatchewan was 4th on that list, while two other Manitoba areas were also in the top 10, with Flin Flon at 5 and The Pas at 6th. 

Moving forward, Guillas says they will continue to look for groups not currently involved in Culture Days to see if they would like to join, while also finding ways to continue supporting existing organizations throughout the year. 

Manitoba is projected deficit has ballooned by half a billion dollars.

A financial update Monday now projects the province to have a $1.3 billion shortfall.

The main culprit is over-expenditure in health care, which is leading to an audit of regional health authorities.

The previous forecast was $796 million.

The healthcare overruns came in at $438 million, with $230 million of that coming from RHAs.

The findings from the audits are expected to be shared in the new year with suggestions on how to save money.

Despite the increased numbers, provincial finance minister Adrian Sala said the fiscal update is still good news, as it's a drop from last year's deficit, and Manitoba has 21,000 more jobs compared to this time last year.

The Dauphin RIDE program is the latest group from the Parkland region to receive recognition in the Manitoba Legislature.

Dauphin MLA Ron Kostyshyn got up during the recently completed sitting in the legislature, delivering a member's statement to recognize the RIDE program.

He paid particular tribute to Ron Marlin and the late John Shuttleworth who founded the program locally 32 years ago, as well as John's daughter Sho-Sho, who coordinates the program today.

A framed copy of the speech was recently presented to members of the Dauphin RIDE program.

The RIDE program operates every Friday and Saturday during the month of December, as well as New Year's Eve, making sure both partygoers and their vehicle get home safely.   

The Swan Valley Credit Union Aquatic Centre is closed until further notice due to repeated failures with the sealant for the pool.

A new, less expensive and locally purchased sealant was used on the pool during fall maintenance but had to be removed when it was found to be too sticky. 

The rec department went back to a sealant brand that they had used before but again had to postpone the reopening of the facility on December 11th when that sealant started to fail as well. 

This latest closure has impacted the start date for public and private swimming lessons, as well as facility rentals and school and regular programming.

The rec department is consulting with manufacturers and pool specialists to determine why the sealants are failing, as well as to determine the best course of action for repairs. 

Doug Kendall of Selkirk was the big winner of $100,000 as the Dauphin Kings Tractor Lotto has come to a close for another year.

Winners included Todd Brinkman, Ted Rea, Mike Gaber, Dustin Rushinka, and Tyson Gillis, to name a few. You can see a full list of winners here

Christian Laughland is the Director of Business Operations for the Kings and he wants to thank everyone who purchased a ticket for their support.

"You circle in on areas in the Parkland and see all of the support," said Laughland. "It's great to give back after all of the support from inside and outside of the community."

The deadline for tickets was this past Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and while the lotto didn't entirely sell out, Laughland was pleased with the turnout.

"This year will be a lot better than last year, an overall solid year," offered Laughland. "The team always budgets for a net profit of $100,000 and I believe we will be a good chunk over that. It was a successful lottery this year and we can't thank the public enough."

Then the volunteers. Dozens of community members came together to help the Kings ensure this year's success and Laughland appreciates every second of your help.

"They give up their time to sort tickets, sell tickets and the vendors as well, we can't thank them enough," ended Laughland. "We can't thank our volunteers and vendors enough, the Tractor Lotto would not be a success without you."

Students interested in registering for the Practical Nursing Diploma program at Assiniboine College's Parkland Campus are encouraged to attend a special information session Tomorrow night.

Parkland Campus Director Carol Stewart says while the course is not slated to start until September, potential students need to start getting prepared for it now.

"A September start may seem like a long time from now but because nursing is one of the most dynamic and impactful professions, those who apply for the practical nursing program need to meet certain requirements.  And so there are a few important steps that people have to take before they are ready to submit their application.  And so we are trying something new to help guide potential students through the application process so that they can submit successfully." 

Stewart adds they will also provide details about the program itself, as well as funding and resources.

The info session begins at 6 pm Tuesday night at Parkland Campus. 

The college is also holding a number of workshops throughout the month of January to help prospective students with the application process and to make sure they have the necessary requirements for the course. 

Canada Post workers are set to resume work on Tuesday, December 17.

Canada Post has reached an agreement with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to apply a five percent wage increase, retroactive to the day following the expiration of the collective agreements.

On Friday, Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to order the 55,000 Canada Post employees back to work if a deal wasn't reached by the end of the year. 

Workers will resume work at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday. Due to the backlog, Canada Post will not receive or pick up any new products until Thursday. Terms of the existing collective agreements will be extended until May 22, 2025, and provisions for striking workers will be paid out before the new year.