Andrea Geary

Juneberry offers brunch… and maybe more

Juneberry, at 531 St. Mary’s Rd., opened in July 2020 — likely the worst time to launch a new restaurant in recent memory.

Owner Dana Cherski said it was an uphill battle to start a new business just when the pandemic was resulting in government-ordered closures and people were mainly stayinghome.

Cherski said Juneberry’s patio was what got the business through the first few months.

“It definitely helped us through the pandemic.”

Supporting women entrepreneurs

Since I began writing this column almost three years ago, I’ve interviewed many local women who run their own businesses – everything from a day spa to online nutritional counselling. Southeast Winnipeg is home to a broad variety of businesses owned by women. Getting a business up and running is a huge feat, and hundreds of business owners in urban, rural and northern Manitoba have been helped by the Women’s Enterprise Centre of Manitoba for over 28 years.

Introducing Filipino food to the ’burbs

Jackie Wild and her father, Augustin Doming, are introducing traditional and fusion Filipino food and culture to south St. Vital residents as well as people from other parts of the city and rural Manitoba.

Achieving a personal goal

St. Vital resident Shannon Savory recently crossed an item off her bucket list of lifetime goals when she self-published her first children’s book, We’ll Always Share the Moon.

Helping clients look their best

When regular clients come into Investment Pieces (IP) Boutique to shop, the staff already know their colour preferences, the brands they favour, and their clothing size.

A new place to get inked

Tattoo artist Emilie Saindon is willing to follow a client’s desires but she draws the line when it comes to inking certain parts of the body.

Brewing up a successful business

Tucked into a corner of the strip mall at 1500 Dakota St. in south St. Vital is a shop filled with many ways to meet our comfort needs.

Dancers walk above the rest

Photo by Simon Fuller

Toasting a new business

Weddings, barbecues, family reunions, and other special occasions fill calendars at this time of year, and wine, beer and liquor are usually part of the celebrations. This focus on alcohol can make it very tough for anyone who’s avoiding alcohol consumption. What do you pour in your glass to toast the newlyweds or guests of honour?

A stitch in time

People’s desire to try something new during our enforced isolation of the pandemic has benefited a St. Vital business.

Barbara Best, owner of Lizzy B’s Needle Art and Custom Picture Framing, said existing and new customers ordered cross stitch, embroidery and needlepoint kits and supplies online during the past two years when her physical shop was closed.

“People were inspired to take stitching up. We already had most of our inventory on our website.”

Best credits her husband with photographing the hundreds of colours of embroidery floss and tapestry yarn she keeps in stock. This allowed customers to easily order by number using the business’ website.

Food for real-life families

Family members are seated around the table with plates filled with the correct portions of vegetables, meat or another protein, and a carbohydrate. Everyone is chatting and relaxing after a day at work and school.

This traditional scenario isn’t the norm for the majority of today’s families. Both or one parent might be working outside the home and rushing to put something — anything — on the table for hungry children. Coupled with this is the time crunch caused by children’s activities such as soccer, piano lessons or dance classes.

Janine LaForte, mother of three teens, registered dietitian and owner of Real Life Nutrition has been there and done that.

“Just having the experience in my own life helps me understand my audience better and know what they’re going through,” she said.

New location for longstanding St. Vital business

Mother Sandy and daughter Jenny Borowski are excited about opening the new location of their family business at 394 St. Anne’s Rd.

Borowski’s Health Shop & Day Spa, formerly situated at 437 St. Anne’s, has been a fixture in the St. Vital business scene for many years. Originally established in 1977 as Borowski’s Health Foods by Sandy’s father Joe, who was also an NDP MLA and cabinet minister, Sandy and Jenny are planning a 45th anniversary celebration in May.

Over a year ago, the mother-daughter team decided to downsize and concentrate on offering ionic foot detox and reflexology service to their clients.

“We’re both certified reflexology therapists,” Jenny said.

All creatures great and small

For Dr. Carolyn Eichkorn, owner of Winrose Animal Hospital, variety is indeed the spice of life. “There’s never a dull moment,” she said.Eichkorn assumed ownership of the hospital at 534 St. Anne’s Rd. in 2007 but the business has operated for about 30 years, serving the needs of pet owners. Eichkorn and veterinarians Amanda Malboeuf, Ingrid Sproll and Heather McDonald, treat creatures ranging from dogs and cats to hamsters to parrots and even reptiles such as iguanas, geckos and bearded dragons.Winrose’s current veterinarians are all women and Eichkorn said that’s mainly due to the fact that between 80 and 90 per cent of veterinary sciences graduates are now women. This has changed greatly from when she attended the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, when men and women were more evenly represented.Eichkorn estimates that dogs make up to 50 per cent of their animal patients, 30 per cent are cats and the rest are comprised of smaller animals and exotics.“It’s never the same thing twice. All of our vets see exotics,” Eichkorn said.She said there isn’t as much information available on treating more unusual pets as there is on dogs and cats, so the vets must extrapolate from what they know about animals in general. She pointed out that some pets such as turtles and parrots can live up to 30 and 65 years respectively. “Veterinary medicine adapts to fads,” Eichkorn said, mentioning that there are fewer ferrets and pygmy hedgehogs around now than there were 10 years ago. She added that rabbits seem to be quite popular now.However some of the currently popular dog breeds, such as the doodles and short-nosed and flat-faced breeds are prone to ailments such as allergies and skin problems.Over the 30 years in which she’s practised, Eichkorn said she’s seen feline obesity become more common as cats are kept indoors.Another trend that has affected veterinarians, and not necessarily in a positive manner, is the public’s general reliance on ‘Dr. Google’ for diagnosis and treatment of animal illnesses. Eichkorn said this can result in sicker animals being brought in and owners who are skeptical of a veterinarian’s assessment.“They can get some bad advice on the internet,” Eichkorn said.She said adapting to the pandemic protocol of keeping pet owners out of the animal hospital was tough. “In general, curbside medicine was hard. It was stressful for pets and owners,” she said.She said having to communicate the findings of a pet’s examination by phone is time-consuming, as each appointment usually involves multiple calls.Eichkorn said the pandemic pet trend is real and has resulted in an uptick in Winrose’s business by between 15 and 20 per cent. “Every day we’re seeing new puppies and kittens,” she said.While a new pet can offer companionship and bring joy to people staying at home much more than they did pre-pandemic, problems can crop up particularly for dogs. They can experience separation anxiety when their owners start heading back to the office or going out more. Eichkorn said medication can sometimes help, along with recommended training.Veterinarians are health-care professionals and like many others working in this field, are sometimes overwhelmed by changes wrought by the pandemic. Eichkorn asks that pet owners remember this and be kind and patient.Andrea Geary is a community correspondent for St. Vital. Email her at ageary@mymts.net

For Dr. Carolyn Eichkorn, owner of Winrose Animal Hospital, variety is indeed the spice of life. 

“There’s never a dull moment,” she said.

Eichkorn assumed ownership of the hospital at 534 St. Anne’s Rd. in 2007 but the business has operated for about 30 years, serving the needs of pet owners. Eichkorn and veterinarians Amanda Malboeuf, Ingrid Sproll and Heather McDonald, treat creatures ranging from dogs and cats to hamsters to parrots and even reptiles such as iguanas, geckos and bearded dragons.

Support local businesses this holiday season

Holiday shopping is in full swing for many Winnipeggers. Instead of signing on to one of the popular online retailers, consider checking out locally owned businesses and keeping your dollars circulating within our community.

The Preferred Perch, owned by St, Vital resident Sherry Versluis, has operated at 1604 St. Mary’s Rd. for 26 years.

“It’s in the heart of St. Vital,” Versluis said, adding that it is one of many small independent businesses in the area.

The store name reflects Versluis’ initial concept — to cater to bird watchers by selling bird houses, feeders and feed — but as the years passed, she has diversified her inventory. Now her store is also filled with many unique gift items such as home and garden decorations, art puzzles, and stones, crystals and carvings from Brazil, Peru, India and Africa, among other countries.

Passion for natural beauty fires creativity

The icy sparkle of a diamond and brilliant colours found in other precious and semi-precious stones inspire St. Vital jewelry designer and gemologist Christopher Redd.

Redd, who owns and operates Redd Line Jewellery with wife Lori, said his passion for gemstones dates back about 25 years.

“I had a great love of rocks and minerals.”

Mainly a self-taught designer, he took training in stone carving, cutting and polishing in order to showcase stones’ natural beauty in gold and silver rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets.

Caring for four-legged companions

Shawn, Nadeen and Celeste Bennett really love dogs and work to provide a safe environment for the dogs (and cats) left in their care.

The Bennetts own and operate Happy Tails Pet Resort & Spa, with locations at 596 St. Anne’s Rd. in St. Vital and 141 Samborski Dr. in Whyte Ridge. Shawn said plans are in place to open a third location next year in East Kildonan.

“I have been showing and breeding English setters since I was about age 10,” he said. He is a licensed Canadian Kennel Club dog judge and founder and publisher of Canadian Dog Fancier magazine.

While he and wife Nadeen have operated their own businesses for years, they decided to follow their passion for dogs after discussion with their daughter, Celeste.

Food bank devoted to feeding community

If you can lift and carry 20- to 40-pound boxes and have some free time on Wednesdays, there’s a volunteer opportunity open for you.

“We’re always on the lookout for volunteers who are strong,” said Paulette Côté, lead volunteer co-ordinator for St. Mary’s Road United Church’s food bank at 613 St. Mary’s Rd.

The food bank which, Côté says, now serves approximately 240 families or a total of between 500 and 750 people each month, has been run by volunteers for over 25 years. It has always operated as an outreach project for the church’s congregation but has the support of many others as well as local businesses. Food supplies also come from Harvest Manitoba, Second Harvest and Leftovers Foundation. Fresh produce arrives from church members’ gardens as well as a community garden run by church volunteers including Côté’s husband Peter.

Food bank donations can be dropped off on Wednesdays between 9:30 and 11 a.m.

Ball gets rolling again at Dakota Lanes

The sound of balls rolling down alleys and pins falling are once again heard at Dakota Lanes.

The third-generation, family-operated business, located upstairs at 1085 St. Mary’s Rd., is welcoming back bowlers of all ages.

Owner Chad Van Dale gradually took over the almost 60-year-old business from his father Donald about five years ago. Van Dale’s sons Tyler and Austin now work with him, and Donald continues to be an active league bowler.

“I started working here when I was 11,” Van Dale said. “I would empty ashtrays, change towels and reset pins.”

ED brings new energy to Old St. Vital BIZ

Old St. Vital Business Improvement Zone executive director Regina Teplitsky is eager for pandemic restrictions to end so she can organize some fun events designed to highlight local businesses.

Teplitsky recently assumed the executive director position with the organization first formed in 1996. Old St. Vital BIZ represents approximately 150 business owners/members in the area running from Carriere Avenue down St. Mary’s Road to Hull Avenue, and to Niakwa Road in the east.

I asked her to answer a few questions as a way of introducing herself to Lance readers.

• What do you hope to accomplish as the Old St. Vital Biz Association’s new ED?

Another fruitful season begins for local market

St. Vital and St. Boniface residents can tell when spring arrives - it’s when Jardins St-Léon Gardens at 419 St. Mary’s Rd. opens for the season.

Established by Lise Mulaire and Denis Rémillard in the early 1990s,the business has been run by their children Janelle, Luc and Colin, along with cousin Daniel Rémillard, for the past five years, gradually expanding their products and services each year.

Colin looks after marketing and public relations. Interviewed on a hot, sunny afternoon while staff unloaded bags of soil and customers lined up to enter the market, he was pleased to talk about the business’ most recent growth. The partners now own the entire building that shares their parking lot. Colin said it contains their office, storage space, a large cooler and can be used for staff meetings.

“We decided to paint the building barn red because we want to have a barn on the property,” he joked.

Offering tasty meals for one or more

The exterior sign at 996 St. Mary’s Rd. might read ‘CJL Specialty Catering’, but it has been home base for Les Filles Cuisine for the past few years.

Les Filles Cuisine is a full-service catering company run by co-owners Denys Curle and Michelle Walker, both of whom grew up in St. Vital. Curle is a Red Seal chef who provides the culinary expertise while Walker has a background in finance so looks after that side of the business. The women have worked together for the past six years after meeting on a movie set.

Walker said her husband Corey works in Manitoba’s film industry. After she left her job as a financial planner in 2005, she began offering food service on movie sets. When she met Curle, she asked her why she wasn’t operating a catering business, and soon Les Filles Cuisine was launched.

Curle said she hadn’t originally intended to become a chef. In fact, she was pursuing a master’s degree in geology when she decided to change her career path and train at Stratford Chefs School in Ontario.

Plenty of sweet treats at Double D’s

Even in a pandemic, many people crave a sweet dessert. This yearning has helped to keep a family-owned St. Vital business open despite very challenging business conditions.

Angela Song, who co-owns Double D’s Cheesecake & Coffee House at 18-200 Meadowood Dr., with her father, Larry Song, said their decision to sign on with Skip the Dishes and Door Dash a few months prior to the pandemic’s start early last year was a wise one. Coupled with effective social media campaigns, deliveries have saved the business after they had to close their doors to walk-in customers to follow provincial orders.

“We went from 15 to 20 walk-in customers a day to zero,” she said. “Our Skip orders tripled or quadrupled.”

She also credited their decision last summer to work with a marketing company to improve their social media presence with helping them stay in touch with loyal customers and attract new ones.

Something’s fishy in St. Vital

Watching the arms of a live sea anemone wave gently as colourful fish swim past can help ease your COVID-19-induced stress. At least that’s what twin brothers Derrick and Lyndon Jameson are suggesting to their customers.

The brothers, age 30, are co-owners of Into the Blue, a saltwater and freshwater ecosystem supplier. Local drivers, cyclists and pedestrians have likely spotted the business’ bright blue lighted sign at 156 St. Anne’s Rd.

Inside, customers can browse through open tanks of colourful sea creatures including living coral, starfish, invertebrates, and a multitude of saltwater and freshwater fish. A pond near the front holds two stingrays while another at the back is filled with orange, cream, white and black koi. Children are able to buy a handful of fish food for a quarter and feed the friendly koi.

Into the Blue also stocks various sizes of tanks and equipment and supplies. Customers are welcome to come in for some expert advice on caring for their aquariums and the Jamesons keep busy servicing aquariums in Winnipeg businesses and homes. Their biggest contract to-date was to design the filtration system for Assiniboine Zoo’s stingray exhibition that opened in May 2019.

Business offers underwater adventure

Wayne Kolomi, who co-owns Diver City Scuba with wife Jacqui Dufault, attributes his initial interest in scuba diving to French explorer and scientist Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

Cousteau’s popular TV show, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, aired when Kolomi was a youngster. He said he was fascinated by the world Cousteau revealed.

Meaghan Noakes, an instructor at Diver City Scuba, said her passion for diving was sparked by vacations with an aunt who lived in the Caribbean.

“You get the bug,” Noakes said.

Updog Boutique sales tick up during pandemic

Shoplifters at Leslie Watson’s business usually have four legs and run away carrying their stolen goods in their mouths.

“We’ve had a few puppy shoplifters,” she said.

Watson, a St. Vital resident, opened Updog Boutique in June 2019 after she and her father renovated a 14-foot trailer to create a mobile shop. The trailer, with a ramp to allow canine customers to walk up, was open for business at Winnipeg dog parks, pop-up markets, Winnipeg Beach’s Boardwalk Days and a charity event in Morden throughout that summer. Little did she know that what she thought would be a seasonal business would become her main employment focus due to the pandemic.

“This (Updog Boutique) was supposed to be my side hustle,” Watson said.

Mainly because of the chicken fingers

Asked what food item is her store’s top seller, and Sandi Boulanger doesn’t hesitate in answering.

“It’s our chicken fingers,” she said. Boulanger added that a bride and groom ordered some for their wedding reception dinner and former Winnipeggers who come back to the city to visit have made a point of asking that the fingers be served.

Chicken fingers are one of a multitude of frozen, ready to heat and serve items that Boulanger sells at Hoffmann’s Fine Foods, located at 9-1504 St. Mary’s Rd. in St. Vital. Other products include lasagna, meatballs, ribs, veal, hamburgers, appetizers and cookies. Sandi said all are made locally from ingredients that are sourced within the province.

“They are real foods with no extra preservatives or additives.”

People are saying it with flowers

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted people to look for ways to show their affection for loved ones from a distance — one way of doing this is by sending a beautiful floral bouquet.

Lakewood Florist & Gifts co-owner Jonathan Halldorsson said that, despite government restrictions on Winnipeg retailers, his shop at 310 St. Anne’s Rd. is doing more business now than a year ago.

“Last year was a very bad year for florists right across the city of Winnipeg. Business was way down everywhere.”

He said that a combination of online orders through the Lakewood Florist & Gifts’ website and in-person orders since the store reopened to the public on May 1 have helped turn 2020 into a more profitable year to-date.

A touch of Thailand in St. Vital

You might not have a chance to explore Thailand’s natural beauty and exotic culture any time soon, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic,

However, with the recent opening of Erawan Thai Shop at 6-741 St. Mary’s Rd., you can find a small piece of traditional handmade home decor, jewelry or clothing to add a touch of Thailand to your home and wardrobe.

Erawan Thai Shop owner Kawalee Namwicha is happy to welcome customers and show them the variety of imported goods in stock.

“Everything is imported from Thailand,” she said, adding that a family connection to a Thai export company helps her source her wares.

Enviromentally friendly weddings

Dressing for weddings, graduations and special occasions can be a costly venture, especially when brides and grads will wear their gorgeous dress just once.

Appealing to customers’ desire to save money while looking stunning is one of Pearl & Birch’s main draws. Located at 539 St. Mary’s Rd., owner Amanda Murdock says Pearl & Birch is Manitoba’s only full-service bridal and formal wear consignment shop. Decorated in a welcoming manner and featuring lovely antique furniture and fixtures, the shop appears small when viewed from the front, but extends a long way back to include a separate room for graduation dresses and a comfortable area for wedding party members to help their bride choose a dress.

“We’ve made it beautiful and bridal using recycled and upcycled decor,” Murdock said.

Pearl & Birch also sells shoes and jewelry, including handmade creations by Winnipeg’s Luna & Stone, veils and purses. Murdock said she offers reasonably priced dry-cleaning and handwashing service for bridal and formal wear and she employs a seamstress who does alterations.

St. Mark’s Yoga fosters community

Drivers heading south on St. Mary’s Road in St. Vital may notice a wooden sign advertising yoga situated at the St. Mark’s Place corner.

Sharing space in St. Mark’s Anglican Church’s hall (15 St. St. Mark’s Pl.) with Little Saints Learning Centre, Yoga at St. Mark’s has been a community touchstone for over 20 years. Instructor Corey Lakusiak said she believes the group’s focus on looking for meaningful community and a path for health and wellness holds a deep appeal for its loyal students.

Lakusiak’s mother Lynn founded the group in 1998. She was an aerobics teacher who began to study and practise yoga to deal with a health concern.

“We still have some of the original students who come,” Lakusiak said. “We’re a simple place.”Lynn and Corey now share teaching duties with Kathy Baudic and Kathleen Tomy, and they all follow the Anusara practise, a modern form of Hatha yoga. Anusara is said to blend the art of the human spirit with the science of biomechanics for a transformative and spiritually uplifting experience. Lynn was certified as one of Canada’s first Anusara instructors in 2010.

Staying creative in a pandemic

Sharon Reimer shows her creativity in the scrapbooks, keepsakes and cards she designs, as well as in the nimble way she runs her business, The Scrapbook Cottage.

Reimer opened the doors of her new location at 1063 St. Mary’s Rd. in early February, only to have to close to the public about a month later.

“We couldn’t even plan a grand opening,” she said.

However, thanks to the goodwill and loyalty shown by customers who patronize her Winnipeg and Steinbach (363 Main St.) locations, Reimer has been able to overcome challenges inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Creating a different beat in SFX

Juno Award-winning drummer Tyson Unrau began offering online drumming lessons well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

For the past eight years, 31-year-old Unrau has taught students from ages four to 70 who live across Manitoba, using Skype regularly with the occasional in-person lesson.

“My students live all over Manitoba,” he said. “I used to have Skype lessons myself.”

Unrau, his wife and two young children moved to St. Francois Xavier from Winnipeg last fall. He grew up in MacGregor, Man. and said his wife also grew up in a rural area, so they decided toleave the city for a quieter community to raise their five- and two-year-old children.

Greening up the Trans-Canada

People who often drive on the Trans-Canada Highway between Elie and St. Francois Xavier will notice a change.

The rows of trees that line the north side of the busy highway are being replaced with a variety of new trees and shrubs to form an eco-buffer, thanks to provincial funding.

The provincial government designated $2.5 million for the Trans-Canada Shelterbelt Renewal Project to work with Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation to restore 16 kilometres of shelterbelt from St. Francois Xavier to Elie and west of the PTH 430 intersection.

Approximately 20,000 new trees and shrubs sourced from Manitoba nurseries will be planted over the next two years. Shelmerdine Nursery of Headingley is the main contractor for the project.

Exploring an untold history

Prison guards typically want to remain incognito and former prisoners usually don’t advertise their incarceration, but both groups have stories to tell.

These stories and the artifacts that illustrate Manitoba’s history of provincial jails for adults and correctional youth facilities are now being collected for a new Corrections Museum.

Peter Korzeniowski, who works at Headingley Correctional Centre, is the curator/historian for the fledgling museum.

“I’ve always been involved with the Police Museum (now at 245 Smith St. in Winnipeg Police headquarters),” he said. “Nobody’s tried anything to establish a Corrections Museum.”

Goodbye for now; hope to see you again

All good things must come to an end, as the saying goes, and this is my goodbye to all Headliner readers.

I am leaving Canstar Community News after almost eight years of reporting for The Headliner to work full-time in recreation at a long-term personal care centre. I’ve been working in that field part-time for five years.

While a job switch is one thing, a career switch is another. It will be strange to not earn my primary living from writing in one form or another after 35 years, but I’m hoping that this will leave me free to explore my creativity.

Here are a few of the events and activities from my time as Headliner reporter that will stick with me:

New site, same great food

Fans of the Headingley Grill have begun to discover the long-time local dining spot’s new location.

Owner Al Chan, who runs the restaurant with his wife Brenda, said the grand opening that the couple had dreamed of never happened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We had more of a soft opening,” he said. “It wasn’t the opening we’d hoped for.”

The Chans relocated the Headingley Grill from rented space at 180 Bridge Road south to 166 Bridge Road in what was the original site of Headingley Sports. The building later became a car dealership and was empty when the Chans bought it in April 2019.

A cautious start to season

Verna and Roy McGuckin are pinning their hopes on good weather to boost their 2020 season.

“When the weather warms up, it’ll get busier,” Verna said.

The McGuckins have owned and operated Thunder Rapids Amusement Park at 5058 Portage Ave. in Headingley for 23 years. Verna said construction started on the go-kart racetrack in 1997. They gradually added features including an 18-hole miniature golf course, bumper boats, batting cage, jungle gym, indoor concession and arcade.

This season, the McGuckins opened Thunder Rapids on May 8, a few weeks later than normal.

Berry picking still a go

Fans of locally grown juicy strawberries, raspberries and saskatoon berries will be able to pick their own fruit but will have to follow rules.

Melanie Moran, of Mayfair Farms at 310B Brandon Ave. in Portage la Prairie, said she and the other owners are in the process of figuring out how they can operate and keep customers and staff safe when strawberry picking starts in the first week of July and raspberries in the third week of July.

This means asking U-pick customers to monitor their health and stay away if they have any COVID-19 symptoms. They will have to sanitize their hands before and after picking and not eat any berries during the process.

“We hope that everyone follows the rules,” she said.

A different sort of celebration

Quiet but safe is the key theme of this year’s Sanford Collegiate graduation.

No large crowd of relatives and friends seated inside the Church of the Holy Rock. No photo flashes going off as the line of graduates follows the piper to their seats. No handshakes from scholarship, bursary and award presenters. No chance for the entire graduating class to throw their caps up in the air at the ceremony’s end. This year’s graduation will be one for the record books, as COVID-19 restrictions put a stop to most of these annual traditions for the 78 members of the Class of 2020.

Tammy Hodgins, Sanford Collegiate’s guidance counsellor, serves on the staff committee for graduation along with vice-principal Ryan Ogilvie and teacher Carissa Burjan. Hodgins explained the procedure for this year’s graduation that is being held over three days — June 24, 25 and 26.

Since Manitoba schools were closed on March 23, the question of whether or not high schools could hold graduation ceremonies was up in the air. Hodgins said, with the provincial government gradually easing restrictions on social gatherings, Sanford Collegiate staff and students decided to go ahead with a modified celebration.

Feeding soil microbes

Tim Dyck left the seed industry in 2013 but is putting his years of agricultural knowledge to work in his new venture at Canadian Agronomics.

The company’s head office and blending facility is located in the former Isoboard Enterprises plant in Elie. After a busy spring seeding period, things have eased up a bit for Dyck, Canadian Agronomics president.

His former involvement in the Canadian seed industry allowed the Headingley resident to travel internationally and see how crops are propagated and grown in other countries. He decided to use what he saw elsewhere, along with his insight into western Canadian farmers’ needs, to offer a new line of products designed to increase soil’s nutrient content to boost plant growth.

“I saw great potential in carbon-based fertilizer,” he said. “I thought I would try something a bit unique.”

Be a hometown tourist

A glass case contains a menacing array of shining steel instruments used by doctors and dentists in bygone years.

“We ask members of school groups to pick out the scariest-looking one,” Chase Yanke, Fort la Reine Museum tour guide, said.

Yanke and fellow guide Jacy Ross took The Headliner on the museum’s Pioneers and Trailblazers tour on June 2.

Madison Connolly, Fort la Reine Museum executive director, said the museum (2652 Saskatchewan Ave. E) in Portage la Prairie opened for the season on June 1 with safety guidelines in place. These include one entrance through the main building, credit or debit payment for entry fees, hand sanitizer for guests, frequent bathroom cleaning, and most importantly, social distancing.

Portage businesses, facilities reopening

The mayor of the City of Portage la Prairie is hoping that the federal and provincial governments will help stimulate the local economy by funding infrastructure projects.

“This is the time to be doing infrastructure,” Irvine Ferris said, speaking to The Headliner on June 1. “We don’t think this is the time to be curtailing spending.”

Like all Manitoba communities, Portage la Prairie’s economy has slowed over the past two-and-a-half months, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some businesses closed, while others faced challenging restrictions. However, Ferris said, things are gradually beginning to return to normal.

“Our businesses and city residents have done a great job of flattening the curve. We’re seeing that reflected in the community.”

Gearing up for success

A broken bike abandoned at the Brady Road Landfill may look like a piece of junk, but it could make a big difference in at least one person’s life.

Sheryl Reid-Corrales, Headingley Correctional Centre’s Winding River Community unit manager, said that bike could become one of the 2,000 bikes repaired by inmates and donated to The WRENCH (Winnipeg Repair Education and Cycling Hub) to distribute to community groups serving immigrant and other Winnipeg residents in need.

“We go and get the bikes from the Brady Road Landfill,” Reid-Corrales said.

By repairing bikes, inmates learn valuable job skills as part of an addiction program offered at the special unit, which houses up to 150 men.

Community centres open doors slowly

Local community centres are slowly reopening to the public after being closed since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Caisse Community Centre (80 PR 247E) in La Salle is allowing its fitness centre members to return. They must use online booking to set up a workout time. A maximum of six people are permitted in the centre at one time. Users are required to sanitize the equipment, bring their own water, and stay six feet apart unless they are from the same household.

When contacted on June 1, the first day that Manitoba gyms, pools and other recreational facilities were permitted by the provincial government to reopen, facility manager Dee Romijn said she wasn’t sure when the centre would hold indoor fitness classes and other programs once again.

The centre is offering online pre-registration for summer day camp.

Room to spare in the chair

Customers enjoying a strawberry cone at Headingley Foods can take a seat in the enormous white chair.

The oversized Adirondack-style chair placed in the store’s green space at 8515 Roblin Blvd. in Headingley was donated by Matt Krentz and Jeff Krishka of KrenKa Construction. It serves as a seat and a great place to take photos while savouring sweet treats purchased at Valerie and Greg Connolly’s grocery store and ice cream parlour.

Krishka said the chair was originally built as a promotional item for an airline before being placed in his backyard where it sat for a few years. Upon urging from his wife, Lisa, Krishka decided to approach the Connollys to see if they wanted it.

“It’s perfect for people to use in photos,” Krishka said.

Pandemic prompts business change

When Winnipeg restaurants abruptly closed their doors in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, chefs stopped ordering Zinn Farms’ free-range meat and poultry.

Andreas Zinn, who operates Zinn Farms near Springstein with his mother, Monika, said about two-thirds of their total sales disappeared.

“Of course, March came and one after another, they (restaurants) closed their doors,” he said.Over the past 10 years, the Zinns had gradually built up a good client base among Winnipeg restaurants looking to serve locally produced foods. The Zinns offer meat and eggs from free-range chickens, and meat from Berkshire pigs, rabbits and goats raised in a sustainable manner with farm-milled feed that contains no genetically-modified ingredients.

Zinn said he’d expanded the family’s customer base by cold-calling local chefs identified by a friend. Their meat products were primarily featured at higher-end dining establishments in the city, as the way they raise their animals leads to higher costs and sales price.

A naturally sweet move

The cookies, muffins, brownies and cinnamon rolls that Anna May Van Dyke makes lack the typical ingredients of wheat flour and sugar, but they are still sweet treats.

Van Dyke, who launched her business Keto Treats Bakery about two years ago, said she’s able to swap out these two high-carbohydrate items with almond and coconut flour and stevia, a naturally occurring sweetener.

Headingley residents will soon be able to pick up low carbohydrate sweet treats at Keto Treats Bakery’s new location at 15 Dodds Road after Van Dyke moves her retail and online business from its current location at 664 King Edward St. in Winnipeg.

Van Dyke said she hopes to offer in-store sales to customers within the next few months.As her business’ name indicates, all of her baked goods, including breads, buns and pizzas, contain ingredients compliant with a keto diet. The keto or ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that, in medicine, is used mainly to treat hard-to-control epilepsy in children. The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates.

Warning against mosquito-borne disease

Headingley resident Tim Dyck has two messages for local residents — stop feeding deer and use mosquito repellent.

Late last August, Dyck, 60, was mowing his lawn and was attacked by hungry mosquitos. “They were the small kind that really bite,” he recalled.

About five days later, he started feeling sick with a severe headache, muscle pain and abnormal sweating. He thought it must be a flu so he self-medicated with Advil; however, his symptoms worsened and he eventually went to the emergency department at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg where he was admitted and remained for five days.

Medical staff weren’t able to offer a firm diagnosis and his symptoms eased gradually. About eight weeks later, he finally received a diagnosis of Jamestown Canyon Disease.

Keeping the lights on: Legion launches fundraiser

Roy Switzer is hoping that members of the Royal Canadian Legion Sanford Branch #171 will be able to invite the community to celebrate the branch’s 75th anniversary later this year.

However, first the branch members must raise the money needed to pay utility and insurance bills for their hall at 54 Railway Ave. in Sanford.

“We had to shut everything down,” Switzer, branch president, said, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We don’t have a bar or pool tables. We’re a small Legion (branch).”

He said there are now around 27 active members.

Healing through growing: Second year of farm project for Yazidi refugees

Five men crouching in a field to plant onions on May 12 were the first Yazidi volunteers working at this year’s Healing Farm Project in St. Francois Xavier.

Bo Wohlers, owner of the land upon which the farm project is situated, was supervising the planting of onions and potatoes that day — two of the largest crops being grown through Project Ezra’s Healing Farm Project. He had used the land near the Assiniboine River for Shelmerdine Garden Centre’s tree nursery until the land was badly flooded in 2011.

The onion bulbs and seed potatoes being planted on May 12 were donated by the Netley Hutterite Colony near Petersfield, Man.

Wohlers said this year’s plots will include more beans, along with peas, carrots, corn and the tomatoes, peppers, Swiss chard, okra and eggplants that he has started growing as seedlings at Shelmerdine Garden Centre in Headingley. Three more vegetable plots are ready for seeding this spring, expanding the overall farm area from eight to nine acres.

La Salle family farm offering CSA

The Cenerini family has grown and sold fresh produce for 30 years, generating a loyal customer base.

Now they are hoping some of their regular buyers will sign up for their new business venture: Community Shared Agriculture (CSA).

Rhéal and Carol, whose four-acre market garden is located close to La Salle, made the decision to switch from selling at farmers’ markets to offering shares partly because the Red River Exhibition Association closed its long-running weekly farmers’ market this year. The Cenerinis and their four children had a booth at that market on Saturdays from July to early October for the past 10 years, and also sold on Wednesdays at St. Norbert Farmers’ Market.

Like other vendors, the Cenerinis are uncertain about the possible impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on customer numbers and how restrictions will affect their ability to sell their produce directly.

Fixing bridges, road paving in Cartier’s plans

Cartier reeve Dale Fossay said council had two main goals when working on the 2020-21 financial plan: to keep tax rates about the same for homeowners and to budget for two main projects.

“We accomplished that,” he said.

Most homeowners in Cartier’s village of Elie will see a decrease when they open their 2020 tax bills and compare them to the 2019 bills.

For an Elie home assessed at $339,800, the municipal tax and education tax levied by Prairie Rose School Division are both lower for an overall reduction of $211.

Teeing off a new season

Cries of “fore” are ringing out again at local golf courses as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted by the province as of May 4, allowing golfers to get back out on the links.

The move to open Manitoba’s golf courses came as a relief to Breezy Bend Golf & Country Club’s general manager Cory Johnson. While the facility’s restaurant at 7620 Roblin Blvd. in Headingley has been offering pick-up and delivery service to local residents for the past few weeks, he’s happy to see golfers teeing off again.

“Everyone was smiling,” Johnson said, referring to golfers who played on the May 4 opening day.

Golfers visiting Breezy Bend and other courses will find that strict rules are in place to ensure social distancing and proper sanitization of carts and equipment.

Students make art for seniors

Some La Salle seniors have a new, colourful view in their windows thanks to the creativity of local students.

Donna Cain’s Grade 5 and 6 students at La Salle School recently completed an assignment to draw and colour pieces of art to be placed on the outside of local seniors’ windows, including the five occupied suites at La Salle Manor.

Stacey Perreira, whose daughter Grace was one of 23 students participating in the exercise, volunteered to collect the addresses of older people living in the community and enlisted the help of Macdonald Services to Seniors resource coordinator Leanne Wilson.

“I wanted to make sure that it would be well-received,” Perreira said. She also purchased clear vinyl sleeves to cover and protect the artwork placed on the exterior of windows.

Annual run still a go

While there won’t be a starting gun or a crowd of runners and walkers setting off from the Headingley firehall this year, the annual Run for Wishes is still on.

“It seemed a shame to forget about it this year,” race director Glenn Reimer said, noting that this year is the 20th for the Headingley Fire Department’s fundraiser.

Reimer said between 300 and 400 participants in the five-kilometre run and three-kilometre walk typically raise about $20,000, with funds going to the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation, Canadian Mental Health Association and individuals in need.

“It’s not a huge amount, but it makes a big difference,” he said.

Up close action on the farm

Watching a peacock show off his colourful tail feathers and entice two male turkeys to chase him gives viewers of A Day at the Farm an inside scoop on real-life animal antics.

“It seems like they like bugging each other, like brothers in the same house,” John Van Massenhoven said.

The weekly video series is filmed and narrated by Van Massenhoven, featuring the wooly, furred and feathered creatures he, wife Jane and his family have on their farm in the RM of Headingley. The videos are posted to Facebook, Instagram TV and YouTube through the Macdonald-Headingley Recreation District (MHRD). Each video has a trivia component and participants can answer questions based on information from each video, then share through #MHRDStaysHome.

Van Massenhoven, who is a Headingley councillor, said he was approached by MHRD recreation director Susanne Moore about filming the weekly series. The family has opened its farm to the public in the past, staging a Back to the Manger: Living Nativity performance to benefit St. Charles-Headingley United Church in 2014.

A different sort of museum season

Fort la Reine Museum executive director Madison Connolly is busy planning this year’s season but it won’t be the same as usual.

She is pleased the Province lifted the mandatory closure of all Manitoba museums due to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing them to reopen as of May 4 as long as they are able to follow social distancing and safety guidelines for staff and guests.

“It was definitely a relief to hear that news,” she said on May 5. However, she added, she is now scrambling to hire staff and figure out ways to accommodate all who work at and visit the museum at 2652 Saskatchewan Ave. E in Portage la Prairie.

She said, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum was scheduled to start its 2020 season on May 10, but those plans were shelved. She’s now aiming to open to the public by the beginning of June, offering a modified experience.

CentrePort development fuels Rosser’s finances

Rosser council is set to pass a 2020-21 financial plan with a budget of approximately $9.44 million on May 12.

This total is more than $3 million above the 2019-20 budget of $5.69 million, which resulted in a $32,725 surplus.

The main factor for the budget increase is $2.75 million passing through the municipal capital levy reserve due to an 80-acre development within CentrePort Canada that will form the second phase of BrookPort Business Park north of Farmer Road and west of Phase 1 of BrookPort.Chief administrative officer Larry Wandowich said capital lot levies are based on major development agreements being completed with developers and are charged by the acre on a one-time only basis.

Property owners will see a municipal mill rate of 5.83 mills, but debentures will raise this to 6.86, with another 1.883 mills added on for property within Local Improvement District 2. This compares to 7.508 for 2019-20.

Navigating a new reality

A handful of gardening enthusiasts were waiting to enter Shelmerdine Garden Centre when the doors opened at 10 a.m. on April 29.

This was the start of the third day of a new way of serving retail customers for the 83-year-old business at 7800 Roblin Blvd. in Headingley.

Nicole Bent operates Shelmerdine Garden Centre with business partner Chad Labbe. Bent said she, Labbe and all their employees have worked hard for the past two-and-a-half weeks to devise a way for customers to safely shop for the current gardening season while also protecting themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It helps that I have an interior design degree,” Bent joked as she led the way along pathways wide enough for a shopping cart and lined with tropical plants.

T & T Seeds back in action

A combination of factors took T & T Seeds offline temporarily from April 17 to 24.

However, owner Jarrett Davidson isn’t complaining as the main factor is an incredible jump in sales for the longtime Headingley business at 7724 Roblin Blvd.

He said the company, which is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its annual seed catalogue, experienced a sales boost of over 250 per cent above normal volume from mid-March to mid-April.

“Everybody is clamouring to plant gardens and grow their own food,” he said.

Offering one-stop site for COVID-19 information

Magnifind.Health was about to launch its public site when COVID-19 disrupted the company’s plans, according to Nicole Harris, co-founder and vice-president of marketing and communications.

“We were about to open pre-COVID,” Harris, who lives in Headingley, said.

The former reporter and TV anchor, who ran her own public relations company, had joined forces about three years ago with Adir Iakya and Lisa Lester to form Magnifind.Health, a digital engagement platform where users can access information provided by health-care professionals. In turn, the health-care providers pay a fee to connect with potential clients.

“Basically, it is your hub for health,” Harris said.

Looking forward in uncertain times

There is no way of knowing when a team of three Manitoba Riding for the Disabled Association volunteers will once again be able to help a disabled child ride a horse, but hope exists that it will be in the coming months.

That is why MRDA recently launched its Promise a Program fundraising campaign.

Based at West Wind Stables in Oak Bluff, MRDA provides accessible horseback riding to children age five to 15 who have autism, attention deficit disorder or fetal alcohol syndrome disorder, impaired mobility, cerebral palsy and other special needs.

Executive director Kristy McFee said the 10-week spring session, that would have included about 22 children, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but she hopes a fall session can go ahead.

No lessons offered at local stables

Riding instruction is not deemed to be an essential service under federal and provincial COVID-19 regulations, but caring for horses is and this is causing financial hardship for some Manitoba stable owners.

John Savard, Manitoba Horse Council executive director, said maintaining horses’ health is essential so stable owners are able to keep staff working but must follow safety precautions such as social distancing.

Chis Dolinski, co-owner and operator of West Wind Stables in Oak Bluff said, six staff members are now caring for the stable’s approximately 46 horses. With over 20 boarders having horses there, she said it would be difficult to keep the stable sanitized and maintain a safe distance if they were allowed to come in to look after their horses.

“Our first concern has to be for our staff,” she said.

Macdonald passes 2020-21 financial plan

Residents of communities within the RM of Macdonald can expect to see more paved pedestrian and cycling pathways.

Money to extend active transportation networks in La Salle, Oak Bluff, Sanford and Starbuck was approved by council on April 21 as part of the municipality’s 2020-21 financial plan.

The active transportation system is part of Macdonald’s recreation infrastructure, Reeve Brad Erb said. He hopes that public hearings on a recreation master plan can go ahead later this year. A $60,000 price tag for the plan is included in the 2020-21 budget.

“We are looking ahead to what the communities are looking for in recreation needs,” Erb said.

Finding a permanent home

It took the Oak Bluff Bible Church’s building committee almost five years to find a suitable location, but now work is underway to create a permanent home for the church’s members.

“The committee worked to secure a permanent location for the past four to five years,” Ken Zacharias, building committee member, said. “We felt there was a need right here in Oak Bluff to be located here.”

A number of available properties in the area were considered over the years, but cost and location were two factors to consider.

“We are a small church with a relatively small budget,” he said.

Adapting to distance teaching

Anndrea O’Connor is working from her Winnipeg home but managing to stay in touch with her students in Oak Bluff, Sanford and Starbuck.

“We’ve been doing the full online learning,” she said.

O’Connor teaches Grade 11 and 12 biology and Grade 9 English courses at Sanford Collegiate. When interviewed on April 15, it had been close to a month since she had seen some of her students in-person. While the mandated closure of Manitoba public schools took effect the week of March 23, about half of her students stopped attending classes during the week of March 16 as concern over COVID-19 grew.

O’Connor and the other Sanford Collegiate teachers worked hard to quickly switch their lessons from in-class delivery to online, with printed material as a back-up.

Portage non-profits filling gaps

Challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic are straining social services for Portage la Prairie residents in need.

Victoria Espey, Portage la Prairie Community Revitalization Corporation executive director, said she and her staff are working from their homes, trying to fill in gaps in local social services.

“My team is busier now than we have ever been,” Espey said on April 14.

The main problems emerging in the City of Portage la Prairie are food insecurity and housing issues.

Furry friends can lower stress

Portage Animal Welfare Society chair Taylor Lilley said people’s self-isolation and social distancing has increased the number of dog and cat adoptions recently.

“With more people at home, they think it’s a really good time to adopt a pet,” she said.

As of April 7, PAWS had 22 cats in its adoption centre at 121 12th St. NE and four dogs being fostered in local homes.

While the adoption centre is temporarily closed to the public, volunteers are able to meet with prospective adopters while following social distancing and personal safety guidelines.

Pulling together while staying apart

Headingley mayor John Mauseth said he stayed off the Headingley Families Facebook page until recently because of his elected position.

But with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting local residents, he joined the group and said he’s in awe of the caring and support Headingley residents show to their neighbours.

“I’m so honoured to be part of Headingley. I see how great our community is at supporting each other,” Mauseth said. “People get looked after.”

Like all levels of government, Headingley council has had to adapt and make policies to deal with the pandemic.

RRC Portage still teaching

Like other Manitoba schools, colleges and universities, Red River College’s Portage la Prairie campus is now empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic but that doesn’t mean students aren’t still learning.

Regional campus manager Guy Moffat said the initial move from in-class to online instruction had a few minor glitches but now, about three weeks in, things are running fairly smoothly.

“It’s been going really well. Any problems we had have been resolved,” he said.

Moffat said instructors began adapting their programs during the college’s study break in mid-March, when RRC announced that classes at all its campuses were temporarily suspended.

Seasonal farm workers delayed

Strawberry picking and harvesting carrots are months away, but Manitoba fruit and vegetable growers need more workers.

The arrival of seasonal workers, known as temporary foreign workers, who come mainly from Mexico and Caribbean countries to work in Manitoba agri-businesses has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions.

Beth Connery, who operates Connery’s Riverdale Farms and Connery’s Berries near Portage la Prairie, said usually about 50 to 60 temporary foreign workers are hired annually for many jobs in her family’s businesses. They normally begin work transplanting seedlings and harvesting asparagus in late April to early May.

Connery, a Peak of the Market director, said between 200 and 300 temporary foreign workers are annually hired to work on Manitoba farms. With commercial airlines cancelling flights and borders closed in many countries, it’s hard to say if or when the workers will arrive.

Taking recreation online

Headingley and Macdonald residents aren’t able to attend Macdonald-Headingley Recreation District programs and classes this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic but the organization is offering some classes online.

MHRD director Susanne Moore said a few instructors are holding live yoga and exercise classes on the MHRD Facebook page.

She added that the MHRD has plans to provide online tutorials for children and parents on ways to explore the outdoors and learn through play.

MHRD has collaborated with Headingley Seniors’ Services Inc. and Macdonald Service for Seniors to develop a handbook of simple exercises for older adults that don’t require any fitness equipment. The handbook contains pictorial and written descriptions of each exercise along with information on completing a 30-minute routine with warm-up, cardiovascular, muscular strength and endurance, balance, and flexibility exercises.

Virus precautions impact local businesses

With home bakers eager to try new recipes, Prairie Flour Mill in Elie is working to keep up with the higher demand for flour.

“We’re very active,” Clayton Manness, Prairie Flour Mill’s CEO and president, said on March 30.“We just came out of the big Easter production. We’re out of bags.”

Manness said home bakers are primarily looking for all-purpose unbleached flour sold in 2.5- and five-kilogram bags.

“They’re (home bakers are) dusting off their bread makers,” he said, adding that this means a demand for flour, yeast and sugar.

Local church, residents support ministry

Headingley residents might be staying close to home, but their compassion is widespread.St. Charles Headingley United Church is accepting donated non-perishable food items left in buckets on the church steps at 110 Bridge Rd.

Congregation member John Van Massenhoven said items are being collected for St. Matthews Maryland Community Ministry in Winnipeg. The first load was scheduled to be dropped off at the ministry (365 McGee St.) on Thursday along with a $500 donation from St. Charles Headingley Church and $300 from the church women’s group.

“We’ve had a decades-long relationship with St. Matthews Maryland Community Ministry,” Van

Massenhoven said, with St. Charles Headingley church members volunteering and making donations.

Making the outdoors attractive

You’d be surprised what can be done to enhance even a small yard, according to Jeff Vermette, owner of Lawn ‘N’ Order Custom Landscapes.

“You can have your own oasis,” Vermette said.

The Headingley resident runs Lawn ‘N’ Order with business partner and operations manager Brian McGee. The business was located in Headingley from 2000 to 2008, then the pair purchased the Ditchfield Soils property at 2929 Sturgeon Rd. in 2009.

Vermette, who grew up in Charleswood, was a young entrepreneur.

Headingley residents want to have fun

If your Headingley neighbours were sitting on a lawn chair wearing shorts and sunglasses on April 1, they weren’t playing an April’s Fools Day prank.

Instead, they were on day one of the Phoenix Recreation Association’s 19 Day Survival Challenge and enjoying a day at the beach in hopes of winning a gift card from Headingley Foods.

Association special events co-ordinator Marian Templeton said the challenge is a way for Headingley families to stay active and have some fun as they remain close to home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I thought it might be a nice challenge for people to do,” she said. “I’m trying to keep it a fun thing.”

Garden centres prepare for spring

This is the start of the peak season for Manitoba nurseries and garden centres as seedlings are flourishing in greenhouses.

But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, local greenhouse operations have had to adapt their normal operations while preparing for the coming growing season.

Nicole Bent, who runs Shelmerdine Garden Centre with business partner Chad Labbe, said they are still getting ready for the Mother’s Day and Victoria Day weekends in May which are typically the busiest of the year and mark the start of Manitoba’s growing season.

“I feel fortunate that we’re in Manitoba because we still have time before spring arrives,” Bent said, adding that garden centres in B.C., where the growing season begins earlier, are really feeling the impact of COVID-19 restrictions.

More shopping at local grocers

Restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have brought more shoppers into their local grocery stores.

“People we don’t even know have been coming in to avoid going to the big stores. It’s been busy,” Greg Connolly, who owns and operates Headingley Foods with wife Valerie, said on March 23.

The couple are keeping their business at 8515 Roblin Blvd., which is also a Canada Post outlet, open regular hours, but Connolly said they are taking steps to enforce social distancing and have increased sanitation measures.

“We have to make a living,” he said.

Looking forward to 2021

Manitoba’s male athlete of the year, triathlete Tyler Mislawchuk is training for a spot on the Olympic podium but his medal dream has been postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 22, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee were the first national  organizations in the world to announce that their country’s athletes would not compete in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. On March 24, the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo Organising Committee announced the Games postponement to 2021.

At 25, the Oak Bluff resident, is reaching his peak as an athlete.

“I’m coming into my best years,” he said, from his current home in Winnipeg.

Table tennis ump is Manitoba’s top official

One of the highlights of Darek Makita’s lengthy career as a table tennis umpire came when he was one of two male officials selected from an international pool to officiate at the World Grand Tour finals in Zhengzhou, China last December.

“This was definitely a pinnacle of my achievements,” Makita said.

The 61-year-old Headingley resident was recently honoured by Sport Manitoba as official of the year at the organization’s annual awards. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Night of Champions awards ceremony was cancelled and the award winners were announced online on March 21.

Makita has served as president of the Manitoba Table Tennis Association for 15 years. As an elite-level international umpire, he’s also had the chance to travel around the world to officiate at international competitions including Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic Games. He said that being part of the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens was special, since that’s where Olympic competition began.

New face at Prairie Fusion

Prairie Fusion Arts & Entertainment’s new executive director is an example of the success experienced by youth who take dance and art lessons at the Portage la Prairie centre, formerly named the Portage & District Arts Centre.

Stefanie McKim, who was recently hired as ED, grew up in Portage and took dance lessons at the centre (11-2nd St. NE) when she was four years old. Her passion for dance and musical theatre continued and took her to New York City and Toronto to study.

“That’s my passion — the arts,” McKim said.

Four years ago, McKim and husband Travis moved back to Portage with their family of two young daughters. McKim said they wanted to be close to family and raise their children in a good community.

Local restaurants respond to COVID-19

Take-out and delivery are the methods that local restaurants are using to keep some money coming in during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With government regulations mandating against gatherings of more than 50 people and instruction to social distance in a two-metre range, restaurants have been forced to close their dining areas, leaving pick-up or delivery as the only service options.

The Gates on Roblin general manager and vice-president Ray Louie said he’s looking at his operations on a day-to-day basis. As of March 25, the restaurant (6945 Roblin Blvd.) was still offering pick-up service and Louie was delivering some local orders as food delivery services such as Skip the Dishes and Door Dash don’t operate outside City of Winnipeg limits.

The Gates is a popular wedding and special event venue and Louie said clients have cancelled or postponed upcoming bookings because of COVID-19.

Portage Bear Clan ends patrols, drop-offs

Portage la Prairie Bear Clan coordinator Manon Timshel said it was a very tough decision to make but the organization is ending its weekly community patrol and care package drop-offs temporarily due to COVID-19 concerns.

“The Portage la Prairie Bear Clan have made the difficult decision to suspend all Bear Clan activities for the time being to comply with the public health orders set in place. While we are aware that other Bear Clan patrols are continuing on, it is important to remember our community and volunteer base are unique from those of Winnipeg or Brandon. We feel that this decision is in the best interest of our community and we must lead by example, this situation is unique and one that can be helped, but only by adhering to the guidelines set in place,” Amber Beaulieu, Indigenous Women’s Council chair said, in a statement. The council oversees Portage Bear Clan operations.

While the last Friday evening street patrol was held on March 13, on March 20 volunteers prepared and dropped off 20 care packages outside local homes, Timshel said.

She said volunteers made sure to sanitize the packages and took steps to protect themselves and the package recipients. They also stocked the community pantry beside Red River College (32 5th St. SE) last week and are now suspending that as well.

Modest tax increase in St. James-Assiniboia

Property owners in St. James-Assiniboia School Division will see a small hike in the education portion of their 2020 tax bill.

Division trustees approved the 2020-21 budget on March 10 that includes expenditures of approximately $110.3 million, slightly less than one per cent more than the current year’s expenditures of about $109.4 million.

This year, for an average home within the division assessed at $282,000, the education tax bill will be $1,667. The same home was assessed at $275,100 in 2019 and the owner paid $1,662 in education tax.

With provincial funding to the division dropping by 6.9 per cent since 2016-17, including a recent two per cent decrease, trustees voted to trim overall costs by $671,800. Divisional administration spending will drop by $160,000, benefits by $140,000, a water testing and replacement program by $100,000, and savings of $100,000 realized through the salary disparity between retiring teachers and new hires; and savings of $67,000 from gas and utility costs as energy efficient furnaces, LED lighting and better insulation are installed in schools.

Modest tax increase in St. James-Assiniboia

Property owners in St. James-Assiniboia School Division will see a small hike in the education portion of their 2020 tax bill.

Division trustees approved the 2020-21 budget on March 10 that includes expenditures of approximately $110.3 million, slightly less than one per cent more than the current year’s expenditures of about $109.4 million.

This year, for an average home within the division assessed at $282,000, the education tax bill will be $1,667. The same home was assessed at $275,100 in 2019 and the owner paid $1,662 in education tax.

With provincial funding to the division dropping by 6.9 per cent since 2016-17, including a recent two per cent decrease, trustees voted to trim overall costs by $671,800. Divisional administration spending will drop by $160,000, benefits by $140,000, a water testing and replacement program by $100,000, and savings of $100,000 realized through the salary disparity between retiring teachers and new hires; and savings of $67,000 from gas and utility costs as energy efficient furnaces, LED lighting and better insulation are installed in schools.

Community groups rally, adapt

Local seniors-serving organizations are stepping up to offer social contact and help for older residents who might need it during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t want anyone to become isolated,” Chris Dumont, Herman Prior Activity Centre executive director, said.

The centre at 40 Royal Rd. N in Portage la Prairie closed its doors as of March 15 with classes, events and congregate lunch program suspended. Dumont said staff are contacting some of the centre’s approximately 500 members by phone to check on them and are looking for volunteers to help with that.

“With senior isolation being a very real thing, we would like to set up a buddy phone system so that those who may not be in close contact with others, or that need checking up on, will be regularly contacted,” she said in a news release.

Keep on truckin’ in Rosser

Bigger, brighter, energy-efficient and customer-friendly. Those are words that can be used to describe Freightliner Manitoba’s new heavy-duty truck dealership at 45 Bergen Cutoff Rd. in the RM of Rosser.

Interviewed on March 9, Freightliner Manitoba’s fleet operations manager Mike Palmer said the facility was due to open on March 16 with over 100 employees. Construction started on the 78,000 square-foot building in spring 2019.

“We outgrew our facility at 2058 Logan eight years ago,” Palmer said. The company, which is a division of Daimler Trucks North America, was started in 1991. Ken Talbot is the current president.

The new facility occupies 14 acres in the CentrePort Canada section of Rosser and is connected to Cartier Water Co-operative water system and the City of Winnipeg wastewater system.

RRVSD trustees approve deficit budget

Red River Valley School Division trustees passed the 2020-21 budget containing a $240,000 deficit that superintendent Brad Curtis calls intentional.

He believes that the division’s growing enrolment will help balance future budgets. RRVSD’s 2020-21 budget is approximately $32.9 million with provincial funding accounting for just over 46 per cent of the total. This compares to the 2019-20 budget of $32.6 million with almost 48 per cent being provided through provincial funding.

The owner of a residential property located within RRVSD and assessed at $200,000 will see a $90 decrease in education tax compared to the 2019 rate. Education tax on a quarter section of farmland assessed at $100,000 will decrease by $39 this year.  

Curtis said preparing the 2020-21 budget was fairly easy because no programs are being cut. There is enough revenue coming in thanks to higher property values, despite a two per cent decrease in provincial funding and a two per cent cap on the maximum increase to the special levy.

Growing prairie-hardy plants

Snow covers the ground outside the greenhouses at Jeffries Nurseries, but inside seedlings show bursts of green.

On March 4, staff were busy gradually warming up more greenhouse space, mixing potting material and preparing nursery stock for planting, including some plants that were overwintered in cold storage at Jeffries Nurseries and others that were imported.

It was also company president Wilbert Ronald’s birthday. Ronald, a trained horticulturalist, runs the business with his wife Sharon, their daughter Shawna Bell, and sons Andrew and Philip. They produce a full line of nursery stock for garden centres, landscapers and urban tree requirements.

Ronald was working as a research scientist at Agriculture Canada’s Morden Research and Development Centre when he was approached by Jeffries Nurseries owner Ernie Jeffries in 1981. Due to health concerns, Jeffries was looking to sell the business he’d established in 1978 located next to the Trans-Canada Highway about 10 kilometres east of Portage la Prairie.Ronald said he uprooted his young family to move to the Portage area in 1982 after buying the business.

PAWS wins with grant pitch

Portage Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) is benefiting from the generosity of 150 local women.

The Community Foundation of Portage & District hosted its second annual 150 Women Who Care event on Feb. 27. The women each donated $100. Representatives from PAWS, the Herman Prior Activity Centre, Portage Daycare TLC, Eagle’s Wing Flight School, and Community Food Matters were invited to give a pitch on a specific project in hopes of receiving a $10,000 grant. PAWS was selected as the winner.

PAWS board chair Taylor Lilley said the grant will be used for Phase 1 of the organization’s building project. Fundraising is underway for a new shelter at the organization’s current location (121-12th St. NE) in Portage la Prairie.

“We’re lucky to have a nice big piece of property,” Lilley said.

Requesting a CentrePost address

Pinpointing a delivery address for some CentrePort Canada businesses located within the RM of Rosser is tricky since they have two postal codes.

One of the postal codes, R0H 1E0, is shared throughout the RM of Rosser, but the other is that of Canada Post’s main Winnipeg location.

Groupe Touchette, Canada’s largest Canadian-owned tire distributor, opened a new 100,000-square-foot distribution centre at 20 Harvest Dr. in Brookside Industrial Park Phase lll within the RM of Rosser at the end of January.

Dan Pouliot, the company’s national director for logistics, said they encountered a problem.

Keeping a balance in Macdonald

Oak Bluff has changed greatly since Macdonald reeve Brad Erb’s grandfather and great-uncle moved into the area to farm in the mid-1930s.

At that time, Oak Bluff’s economy was entirely based on agriculture and the boundaries of the City of Winnipeg were far away.

Erb, who has served on the municipal council for the past 18 years, still operates the family farm.

“We have a very strong agricultural base and it is still is important,” he said.

A smooth surface

Paul Brault is a self-confessed “tinkerer” and he’s using his latest creation to help his Deer Pointe neighbours.

When Brault and his wife Catherine Moltzan decided to build a home in Headingley’s Deere Point Park development, one of the attractions of the site was the large retention pond behind their property. Brault said they enjoy watching the waterfowl, deer and other animals that are drawn to the pond in the spring, summer and fall. In the winter, Brault and neighbours clear snow off the frozen pond to create a rink for skating and playing hockey.

“But we always had sort of a rough surface,” Brault said, and this problem awakened his inner inventor.

Using his John Deere riding lawn mower as a base, Brault added a front-end plow to clear snow. Looking through the clearance bins at a Winnipeg automotive parts store, he found most of the pieces he needed to modify the tractor’s rear and create a mini ice-clearing machine.

An artistic, musical look back at farm life

Farm life in the Red River Valley from the 1920s to 1950s is the inspiration behind James Culleton’s Vanished Days exhibition.

The exhibition is on display in Prairie Fusion Arts & Entertainment’s main gallery in the William Glesby Centre (11-2nd St. NE) in Portage la Prairie until March 28.

Vanished Days features Culleton’s drawings, paintings, sculptures and video primarily created over a three-year period while the Winnipeg-based artist attended an artist-in-residence program at the North Dakota Museum of Art. During the residency, he studied family life and farming that took place in McCanna, N.D. and created a series of drawings, watercolours, sculptures, and music with accompanying videos highlighting the history of farming life in the Red River Valley at the turn of the century.

After reading a series of letters, he was also inspired to have Winnipeg puppeteer Curtis Wiebe create a full-sized puppet named Charles McCanna. The letters were written by McCanna and his niece and Culleton stayed in McCanna’s former farmhouse during his residency at the museum.

Province contributes to wastewater plant upgrade

The provincial government is providing more than $61 million to upgrade the City of Portage la Prairie’s Water Pollution Control Facility.

The announcement was made by Premier Brian Pallister on Feb. 18.

The City of Portage la Prairie owns and operates the Water Pollution Control Facility, a wastewater treatment plant that provides treatment for municipal and industrial waste water before it is discharged into the Assiniboine River. The facility also serves the region’s agri-business industry, which includes pea processing plants Nutri-Pea Ltd. and Roquette, that is due to open later this year, and a McCain Foods potato processing plant.

Provincial funding for the facility expansion is being provided through the Investing in Canada Plan. Other partners in the project include the federal government and City of Portage la Prairie, which are providing more than $60 million and $59 million respectively.

Hofer’s homecoming

During the excitement of Team Canada’s battle to win gold at the 2020 World Junior Hockey championship in the Czech Republic, goalie Joel Hofer was always identified as being from Winnipeg.

However, many folks in Headingley knew better. In fact, Hofer grew up in Headingley, the oldest of Steve and Elaine’s four children. His hockey roots can be traced back to the outdoor rink at Headingley’s Phoenix Community Centre. Through the municipality and Phoenix Recreation Association’s efforts, his Team Canada jersey is getting a place of honour in the centre’s Hockey Hutch to serve as an inspiration to the youngsters who lace up their skates there.

Hofer, whose netminding ability played a large part in Team Canada’s 4-3 win in its final game against Team Russia, was also recognized at a community event at the Headingley Community Centre on Feb. 10.

The 19-year-old now plays on the Portland Winterhawks in the Western Hockey League. His goals against average for the current WHL season is 2.34. A series of team and individual photos showed Hofer’s hockey progress through the years.

Gourmet cooking made easy

Home cooks wanting to step up their culinary game without investing in an array of spices and other pricey ingredients can turn to Fat Iguana Chefs Kitchen’s at-home meal solutions.

Red Seal chef Steve Hunt-Lesage has taken his knowledge gained through years of experience working at top kitchens in Banff and Lake Louise, at Larters at St. Andrews and Winnipeg’s Rossmere Golf & Country Club, and running his own restaurants in Kelowna, B.C. and Winnipeg to develop the Fat Iguana line of five packaged entrees, including maple dill farfalle, Louisiana jambalaya and Jamaican jerk rasta pasta.

He promises that these entrees, which list the types and amounts of fresh ingredients required to be added, can be prepared quickly and will feed from four to six people.

“All the meals are ready in under 25 minutes,” he said.

Local actor taking the stage in Monologues

Joanna Hawkins, of St. Francois Xavier, is one of the actors featured in Sarasvàti Productions’ Cabaret of Monologues held annually to celebrate International Women’s Week.

Winnipeg theatre company Sarasvàti Productions launched this production in 2003. Over the years it has featured over a hundred monologues showcasing a range of voices, issues and styles. This year’s performances will occur from March 2 to 8, with full performances set for Sat., March 7 at 4 and 8 p.m. at the University of Winnipeg’s Asper Centre for Theatre and Film (400 Colony St.).

Hawkins, who has called SFX home for three years, will perform as a solo mime. She said this marks her second time performing in the cabaret.

She is relatively new to theatre, but has aspired to act for years.

Manitoba farmland values holding ground

Compared to farmland in B.C.’s Fraser Valley selling for $100,000 an acre, agricultural land in Manitoba is a bargain.

However, land values across the province vary from a high of about $5,000 per acre in the Pembina Valley/ Central Region to less than half of that in the Parkland Region.

The good news, according to Farm Credit Corporation vice-president and chief agricultural economist J.P. Gervais, is that Manitoba farmland is likely to hold its value in the coming year.“Long-term, there’s a lot of positives there,” he said during a presentation at the Keystone Agricultural Producers’ annual general meeting on Feb. 5.

Gervais said data from the first half of 2019 shows that the average increase of 3.5 per cent for Manitoba farmland posted in 2018 has slowed.

First steps towards a new hospital

Portage District General Hospital Foundation called on municipalities to give written support for a new regional health centre in Portage la Prairie.

In an email to Headingley council dated Feb. 4, foundation executive director Tara Pettinger asked council to consider writing a letter to help in reaching the foundation’s goal of having a new health centre built to replace the existing Portage District General Hospital.Headingley chief administrative officer Chris Fulsher said council agreed to support the foundation’s initiative.

Pettinger said she and the foundation’s board know that Headingley residents might find it more convenient to drive into the City of Winnipeg for health care service, but the municipality is part of Southern Health-Santé Sud, as is Portage la Prairie. Local residents are able to access health care at Portage medical facilities if they choose to do so.

Requesting municipal support is part of the foundation’s campaign for a new facility to meet current and future health needs in Portage and area. Pettinger said the current 88-bed hospital can’t be renovated or expanded efficiently.

Remembering a shining light

A bare light bulb atop a pole light — known in theatre as a ghost light — was featured in Prairie Theatre Exchange’s recent production of Ghost Light.

This lone light was also a tribute to Matthew Lagacé, whose promising theatrical career was switched off on June 30, 2019 when he died of pancreatic cancer at age 30.

Lagacé, who was born and raised in La Salle, was a bright light in the lives of many including his family, friends and the people he worked with as he made his way in Winnipeg’s arts community and in theatres across Canada.

Ghost Light’s program contains a page devoted to Lagacé and features a selfie that he took while working on a show at PTE. He’s wearing a headset, sporting a wide grin and giving a thumbs up — his trademark look for selfies. His last job at PTE was as assistant stage manager for What to Do with Albert? produced last April.

Using words to deal with grief

Erin Miller has turned her deep sorrow and personal turmoil over her son’s untimely death into a book designed to help others coping with a variety of life-changing events.

In Miller Strong: Rewrite Your Story. Take A Stand. Turn Your Past Into Your Superpower, Miller recounts how proud she was of her son, Chad. As a single parent she raised Chad in Portage la Prairie where he developed his hockey skills playing on local minor league teams and for the Portage Collegiate Trojans. Chad was recruited to play university-level hockey in Bottineau, N.D.

“He was one of those great guys,” Miller said. “He was a leader on and off the ice.”

While attending and playing hockey at Robert Morse University Illinois in Chicago, Chad suffered a separated shoulder. Miller said the vicodin prescribed as a painkiller eventually led to his drug addiction, and drug overdose that caused his death on Nov. 30, 2014.

More room to learn and play

Rows of students sat on the polished floor of La Salle School’s new gymnasium watching as a red ribbon was cut on Jan. 28 to officially mark the school’s expansion.

The festivities started with Grade 1 and 2 students singing Flying Free. They are benefiting from the new 5,300-square-foot gymnasium with change rooms and 10,500 square-feet of extra room in six classrooms, two meeting rooms and two bathrooms housed in a two-storey addition that was completed before the end of 2019.

The $11-million addition and renovation at La Salle School (43 Beaudry St.), a kindergarten to Grade 8 English school, includes a new standalone 3,600-square-foot child care centre with 40 child care spaces situated next to the school. The centre is operated by La Salle KIDZ Daycare Inc.

Education minister Kelvin Goertzen attended the opening to cut the ribbon.

Pitura Seeds part of major deal

Pitura Seeds of Domain will soon begin supplying western Canadian growers with peas and canola seed to grow crops that could eventually end up in meat and dairy alternative products made by Nestlé, the world’s largest food manufacturer.

Pitura, the largest family-owned pedigreed seed processing operation in western Canada, is part of a $19-million project to develop high-quality pea and canola proteins. Protein Industries Canada is investing half of the money with the other half coming from a consortium including Pitura Seeds, and Winnipeg-based companies Merit Functional Foods and The Winning Combination, a natural health product manufacturer. The three businesses will work together to develop non-genetically modified canola and pea proteins for use in plant protein-based food and beverage products.

“Pitura Seeds is proud to partner in this new project, which will bring significant value to Western Canadian farmers,” said Tom Greaves, Pitura Seeds president and general manager.

“Our role is on the supply chain and research and development,” said Greaves.

Business does more than clean cars

Portage la Prairie business owner Nick Hourie believes in the social aspects of operating a business.

“I’m a huge believer in being part of the community,” Hourie said.

The owner of Nick Hourie’s ProClean Automotive Detailing was recognized for his professional skills and community efforts by the Portage la Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce that presented him with the Outstanding New Entrepreneur award in November 2019.

“That was a huge shock,” Hourie said, adding that the other businesses competing for the same award are all very worthy.

Southport’s Hangar 5 officially opens

Hangar 5’s smooth concrete flooring gleams under bright lights, ready to serve as a public-use hangar at Southport Aerospace Centre.

Southport chief executive officer Peggy May was smiling as she met guests at the hangar’s official opening on Jan. 22. The 13,600-square-foot facility is a new business venture for the not-for-profit property management and development company, and a partnership with international agri-business J. R. Simplot, the hangar’s anchor tenant.

J. R. Simplot is headquartered in Boise, Idaho with a recently expanded potato processing facility in the RM of Portage la Prairie.

“Our marketing team was looking for possible tenants. We are very excited to have Simplot,” May said.

Help with tracing a lost road

A map dating back to 1875 hanging on the wall of the Charleswood Museum (5006 Roblin Blvd.) shows the river lots that lined both sides of the Assiniboine River in what is now Winnipeg’s River Heights, Charleswood and St. James and the RM of Headingley.

A line running along the south side of the river marks what was then the Baie St. Paul Road, an important transportation route from St. Boniface to settlements on the western prairies.

Charleswood Historical Society members Gwen Jamieson and Dan Furlan are hoping to trace the road’s route west of Charleswood and are enlisting the help of the Headingley and St. Francois Xavier Historical Societies as well as local residents living along the Assiniboine.

Furlan said he has found what appear to be Red River cart tracks to the west of The Passage at what is now the northeastern end of Berkley St. N, a spot where a ferry took people across the Assiniboine from Charleswood and St. Charles. The St. Charles ferry ran until 1959.

Sanford’s Webb signs with Dakota College

Sanford Collegiate Grade 12 student Brielle Webb recently signed a volleyball scholarship agreement with Dakota College at Bottineau, N.D.

Webb, 17, has played volleyball with Sanford Collegiate for the past three seasons, starting as a setter and moving to an outside hitter while in Grade 10. She ended the 2019 season as a graduating all-star.

She has also played club volleyball since she was 12, and had a place on the provincial team in 2016. She currently plays on the Bandits U18 team.

Webb is excited about her future at Dakota College.

75 years and growing strong

While online shopping is gaining popularity, a few T & T Seeds customers still mail in their annual seed orders along with money orders to pay.

T & T Seeds general manager Kevin Twomey said the catalogue, which is celebrating its 75th edition, has loyal longtime customers across western Canada, with some as far west as Vancouver Island and as far east as Newfoundland.

“There’s also about 1,000 customers in La Crete in northern Alberta close to the Yukon border,” he said, adding that the farming community, originally settled by Mennonite families from Manitoba, only has a population of approximately 4,000.

Twomey hopes to visit there on one of his annual summer road trips during which he visits gardens to see and photograph fruit, vegetables and flowers. He also tries out new varieties at his own home in Winnipeg’s West End.

Warming up winter in Headingley

Marian Templeton is hoping that more than 300 people of all ages will come out to the Phoenix Community Centre (153 Seekings St.) in Headingley at 1 p.m. on Sun., Feb. 2 to make history.

“It’s to start off our community’s Manitoba 150 celebration,” said Templeton, special events co-ordinator with the Phoenix Recreation Association.

The number ‘150’ will be painted on the ice on one of the centre’s outdoor rinks and Templeton wants to fill the numbers with children standing together. Adults will be lining the outside of the rink and local photographer Robert Wilson will be lifted on a hoist to capture it all on film.

Templeton added if there are enough people on hand, it might be possible to beat the Guinness World Record for the greatest number of people standing on an outdoor hockey rink at one time.

Raising children for less

All parents know that raising a child is an expensive proposition, and it’s wise to save money when possible. That’s where Childcycle, a locally operated children’s consignment business, can help.

“Our motto is ‘From tummy to teens and everything in between’,” said Headingley resident Chelsea Clapham who runs Childcycle with her business partner Kelly Donaires, who lives in Winnipeg’s River Park South.

Clapham said the two met and became friends after their sons were born in 2008.

Clapham credits Donaires with coming up with their business concept after she went to a few Winnipeg consignment stores with some baby items. Donaires felt that the stores weren’t offering sellers a fair percentage of sales.

Warming up to winter at FortWhyte Alive

Learning to love winter is a hard sell for some Manitobans, but FortWhyte Alive is ready to help everyone embrace the season.

“Rain (snow) or shine — we’re out there,” said Carolyn Townend, FortWhyte Alive’s communications and brand manager.

As the cold weather sets in, Townend said, the environmental education facility located at 1961 McCreary Rd. just of McGillivray Boulevard, is offering a wide variety of outdoor and some indoor programs and events over the next few months.

Townend said there are opportunities for people to explore the outdoors on their own, with family and friends or as part of a group. Every Saturday morning, a guided snowshoe hike offers people the chance to try snowshoeing while learning about the wildlife and ecosystems on the grounds. Snowshoes, binoculars and other equipment can be rented.

More food, homes and jobs on horizon

While the economic forecast might be gloomy for some parts of Canada, Portage la Prairie & District Chamber president Guy Moffat is happy to say that Portage and area is bucking that trend.

“I don’t foresee things slowing down here at all,” he said, mentioning the upcoming opening of the Roquette pea processing plant and current residential and commercial growth that began in 2019 and continues.

“We are extremely excited and optimistic about 2020.”

Moffat said new apartments and single-family houses are boosting the local real estate market and giving tenants and buyers more choice. Some homeowners are downsizing and remaining in the community while real estate demand is also being generated by newcomers to Portage and to Canada.

Overcoming the stigma of dementia

When grocery shopping, Bonni Houle has seen people purposely avoid speaking to her mother, who has dementia.

“It hurts my heart when that happens,” said Houle.

The Portage la Prairie resident regularly takes her mother, 84, and father, 85, grocery shopping at local stores they have patronized for many years. Her mother’s ability to converse has been affected by her dementia as well as by her impaired vision and hearing loss. Houle isn’t sure why some people are reluctant to speak to her mother, but she guesses they are likely uncomfortable and unsure of what to say.

“If you don’t experience things in your own family, you don’t understand,” she said.

Last donor clinic scheduled in SFX

Local residents wishing to donate blood will have to travel farther after Jan. 16.

Problems getting reliable internet service in the St. Francois Xavier Community Club (982 Hwy. 26) have resulted in Canadian Blood Services deciding to hold its last donor clinic in the hall on Thurs., Jan. 16.

“We require a strong, consistent signal for our internet service,” said Canadian Blood Services territory manager Steve Raizen.

He said all donor clinics now use a live online system to register donors and process donations. If the internet service isn’t consistent, that’s a problem.

Offering a hand to those in need

Lisa Graham’s one-year-old daughter, Mila, and Melissa Davis’ seven-year-old son, Lincoln, were among the Portage la Prairie residents who recently travelled to Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana.

Graham, a naturopathic doctor who operates Heartland Family Wellness Centre in Portage, led the travel group which included two other clinic staff and a long-time friend. They made the trip as part of the Love Has No Color program. Food hampers were distributed to families in need and 7,000 gifts were handed out to children in four different communities.

Graham said this is one of two trips she makes to Fort Peck each year and has been doing so since she was first introduced to Love Has No Color by her older sister, Tara.

“I fell in love with the program,” Graham said.

Portage mayor looks ahead

Portage la Prairie is set for another year of economic growth according to mayor Irvine Ferris.

“We’ve seen unprecedented growth in 2019,” Ferris said, citing Simplot’s newly completed expansion and ongoing construction of the Roquette pea processing plant as two of the main projects underway last year.

He said new single-family and multi-unit residential developments were also built last year or will be finished this year.

This new commercial and residential growth has resulted in the need for the City of Portage to expand and upgrade its wastewater treatment plant, a project expected to cost approximately $100 million.

Screening service set for Headingley

CancerCare Manitoba’s mobile BreastCheck Mammogram Clinic is stopping in Headingley from Jan. 13 to 17.

The mobile clinic will park at the Headingley Community Centre, 5353 Portage Ave. Appointments are available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Women between the ages of 50 and 74 are encouraged to have a mammogram once every two years, said CancerCare Manitoba health educator Lesley Baldry. Transgender men and women may need regular mammograms.

“We try and serve as many communities as we can with the mobile clinic,” she said. “We want to make the screening service as accessible as possible.”

Local communities continue to grow, prosper

Over the past year, I’ve written about many events and developments taking place in the communities that The Headliner covers. As in previous years, I can see how each community is growing, due in large part to dedicated residents who volunteer their time to make their community a great place.

While residential development in Headingley follows a steady municipal standard, Taylor Farm subdivision is attracting new families. This is benefiting local businesses as is evident through the Headingley Grill’s upcoming move into larger quarters and the launch of a new restaurant, Indian Garam Masala.

La Salle’s Prairie View Lakes development on the southeastern edge of town is gradually expanding. New residents can take advantage of the Caisse Community Centre’s recreation programs, more daycare spaces through La Salle Kidz, and a major expansion of La Salle School.

Domain Hall and the newly renovated hockey rink are focal points for local residents. The Domain Players are once again offering a lively dinner theatre production on Jan. 25, 26, Feb. 1 and 2, 2020.

New business offers pain, skin treatments

Nickie Lovat was inspired to open her new business, Kitsune Restorative Aesthetics, after seeing how her friend’s pain was lessened following a dysport injection.

Lovat’s friend, Lindsay Maryniuk, is a licensed practical nurse in Portage la Prairie, who has suffered from temporomandibular joint pain for years following two childhood accidents.

Maryniuk joined Lovat, a general practitioner, in Vancouver last summer for a course at which Lovat learned about treating TMJ and other chronic pain conditions such as migraines with neurotoxin injections called dysport that are more commonly used in cosmetic skin treatments.“Lindsay’s injection had a dramatic impact and she was able to go off pain medication,” Lovat said. “I thought, ‘We should have this in Manitoba. We’re going to bring this to Manitoba’”.

Lovat said the injections work to paralyze the muscles causing the pain and reduce muscle contractions, which ease the triggers activating the person’s brain to register pain.

Comedy is on the menu

The New Year is bringing the chance to have some laughs along with good food at the upcoming Domain Players’ production of Virgil’s Wedding.

Director Janice Harrison, who lives in La Salle, says the comic show is based on the premise of a New York wedding planning company that tries to organize a wedding in a somewhat backwards rural community. The cast consists of 15 actors and four or five audience members will be recruited to come onstage at each show.

Experience has shown that weekends are best for show times, Harrison said, so performances are set for Sat., Jan. 25 and Feb. 1, 2020 with dinner at 6:30 p.m.  and matinees on Sun., Jan. 26 and Feb. 2, 2020 with lunch served at 1:30 p.m. The meals are provided  by King Cole Catering.

“We’re hoping for 140 people times four,” Harrison said. Groups from Carman, Morden and Winnipeg usually attend.

Playing in memory of a friend

Kelly Kabernick’s friends are determined to have his memory live on.

Kabernick, a local farmer and father of five, was killed in a single-vehicle accident in October 2017. He grew up and lived near Sanford with his wife Christine and their children Kate, Lauren, Mackenzie, Carson and Julia. He’d been active in the local sports community all his life as a participant and volunteer coach. Shortly before his death, he had started coaching the Sanford Collegiate girls’ hockey team on which his twin daughters, Kate and Lauren still play.

Trevor Richardson counts himself as one of Kelly’s friends, and is one of the organizers of an annual invitational hockey tournament named the Kabby Cup, in Kelly’s honour.

“We’re trying to help keep his memory alive,” Richardson said.

Rink gets revamp thanks to volunteers

The last time the Domain rink saw major renovations was in 2011 when NHL-great Ken Dryden brought the Stanley Cup to the community.

“There were about 600 people here,” Gavin Harrison, of Domain, recalled. ”Ken Dryden has family connections to Domain.”

About a third of the rink’s boards were replaced. New lighting had been installed about three years prior. However, over time one corner of the rink surface was sinking and, Harrison said, when some of the boards were removed along the north side, the wood beneath was rotten.The Domain Recreation Centre building dates back to 1975 when it was constructed to replace the community’s outdoor rink. Along with Domain Hall, situated directly across the street, the arena is one of the small community’s major gathering places. As Harrison points out, the Domain arena also serves the growing community of La Salle, eight kilometres north, as it lacks an indoor rink.

“This is their (La Salle’s) rink as much as ours (Domain’s),” Harrison said. “Some people from La Salle don’t know how convenient it is.”

Design study nears completion

Public comment on the final phase of the South Perimeter Highway Design Study was gathered from Dec. 10 to 12 at three open houses in St. Vital, south Winnipeg and Oak Bluff.

Study consultant WSP and Manitoba Infrastructure staff showed a series of display boards detailing what the south Perimeter Highway from Portage to Fermor Avenues might look like in the future. The plans include a new diamond interchange located to the north of the current Perimeter Highway and PTH 3/McGillivray Boulevard intersection in Oak Bluff, and east of the current intersection of the Perimeter and PR 330, as well as the preliminary design of a bypass on the west side of St. Norbert moving traffic from the Perimeter to connect with PTH 75 south of St. Norbert.

Provincial capital projects manager Don McRitchie said the design study’s intent is to provide a framework for turning the south section of the Perimeter into a six-lane freeway with no intersections or level crossings.

“This is the last round of the design study process,” he said.

AMM gives support for snopass lobby

Many people will soon enjoy the thrill of riding their snowmobile through a snowy Manitoba landscape, but some are essentially getting a free ride on groomed trails.

Association of Manitoba Municipalities delegates recently voted to support Snowmobilers of Manitoba (Snoman’s) push to make buying a snopass mandatory instead of optional when registering a snowmobile in the province.

Snoman executive director Yvonne Rideout said of the approximately 35,000 machines registered with Manitoba Public Insurance in 2018-19, the owners of about 19,000 opted to add the $150 snopass charge to their bill. Of the $150, $132.86 goes to Snoman.

The snopass consists of an orange plate that is fastened to a snow machine.

Planning for future development in Lido Page

As part of the process to develop a secondary plan and low-pressure sewer system in the Lido Plage area within the RM of Cartier, residents recently attended a public open house held by Landmark Planning & Design.

The municipal council hired Landmark as a consultant and representatives from the Manitoba Water Services Board and Stantec Consulting were also at the Nov. 27 open house.

If it’s adopted by Cartier council, the secondary plan will govern future residential and business development within the Lido Plage area, reeve Dale Fossay said.

“The plan, which is basically a map, defines areas where different types of housing may occur. The area is currently by far two-acre lots, the plan allows for some area of smaller lots, for example, one-acre. There is also an area set aside for more condensed housing of some sort i.e. condos, townhouses etc.,” Fossay said in an email.

The track is home for Weiss

A Headingley man is making inroads in the U.S. dirt track racing world.

Rick Weiss, 31, was recently named World of Outlaws dirt track racing rookie of the year, making him the first Canadian to earn this honour.

Nicknamed the Manitoba Missile, Weiss, his crew chief Shawn Gage, and Weiss’ girlfriend Dayna Fossay are gaining recognition in the dirt track racing world as they travel to tracks across the country. The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series features more than 50 races in the United States and Canada from January to the end of November.

“Now they know what we’ve done and what we can do,” Weiss said, interviewed in his family’s Headingley home while on a break.

Hooked on triathlon

There might be something special in Oak Bluff’s water as another local resident has taken up triathlon.

Newbie Nicholas Pasieczka greatly admires Olympic triathlete and fellow Oak Bluff resident Tyler Mislawchuk. Pasieczka recently completed his first triathlon in the Ironman Arizona event in Tempe, Ariz. on Nov. 24.

The 19-year-old finished about halfway in the pack of approximately 2,600 competitors with a final time of close to 13 hours and 54 minutes for the 3.8-kilometre swim, 180-km bike ride and 42.2-km run.

What’s most surprising about Pasieczka’s result is that he just started training as a triathlete in July after his aunt offered him a free registration for the Arizona competition.

Being social brings vigour

Research shows that simply meeting for coffee and a chat holds positive health benefits for seniors, and Headingley Seniors Services Inc. gives that opportunity to local seniors.

Seniors resource co-ordinator with HSSI Kristie Todd organizes and runs a variety of social events and programs at Headingley Community Centre (5353 Portage Ave.) for local residents in the 55-plus age group.

These include a twice-monthly lunch program on the first and third Tuesdays. A healthy lunch for $10 is served at both sessions. One session offers participants the chance to play board games while the other features speakers in a lunch and learn activity.

“We really have a good line-up of speakers,” Todd said. A pharmacist will speak about medication issues on Jan. 7, with a physiotherapist offering advice on balance and falls prevention in February.

Mailbox trouble in Headingley

Headingley residents are concerned over repeated vandalism of community mailboxes and potential theft of cheques, holiday gifts and personal information.

The front panels of community mailboxes within the municipality have been pried open leaving the interior mail boxes accessible.

“We can confirm that incidents of vandalism have occurred at community mailbox sites in Headingley. All necessary repairs have been completed, and residents who required new mailbox keys have been notified. If they have any questions, they may contact Customer Service at 1-800-267-1177. Customers who believe they have not received a specific piece of mail should contact the sender,” said Canada Post media relations contact Hayley Magermans in an email message.

Headingley resident Kelli Mandzuik recently took a photo of the community mailbox on Wescana Street near Hatfield Avenue on Nov. 20 after its doors had been forced open and posted a photo on the community Facebook page to warn other residents.

Pilot program to focus on career options

Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Portage la Prairie is in need of students, mentors and speakers to launch a pilot project promoting future career options.

Executive director Dawn Froese said the non-profit organization is starting a new program in January called Fuse Futures Unlimited to explore post-secondary education and career readiness for local students age 14 to 22.

Froese said the thought of selecting a career is overwhelming for many youth and they aren’t aware of the training and educational opportunities available within Portage and in Winnipeg.

“We want to open up opportunities to students,” she said.

Helping bee, butterfly populations

Farmers growing oats within an area that includes Rosser and Portage la Prairie can sign up for a pollinator conservation project.

Through the Cheerios-Xerces Pollinator Habitat Program farmers can establish or improve pollinator habitat. The program covers the cost of forage, native wildflower and native grass seed mixes along with technical support. The goals are to conserve wild bees and butterflies and boost pollination and yields of crops including canola, dry edible beans, buckwheat, sunflower, alfalfa seed and soybeans on 60,000 acres within oat-growing regions in Canada and the U.S.

“The scope is to establish 3,300 acres of pollinator habitat across General Mills sourcing regions for oats. This includes parts of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. This program is part of General Mills’ broader sustainable sourcing, recognizing the importance of biodiverse and healthy, functioning ecosystems for farms, food production and farmers,” Xerces Society agronomist and native plant specialist for the U.S. and Canada Stephanie Frischie said, in an email message.

She said interested farmers submit an application or complete an intake interview. Participation is determined based on fit with location within the sourcing region, a commitment to pollinator conservation and sustainable farming, protecting the habitat from pesticides, and willingness to share their experience through short reports, photos and updates.

Lilyfield Quarry plans temporarily crushed

RM of Rosser council voted 3-1 on Nov. 19 against granting a conditional use permit that would allow the Lilyfield Quarry project to proceed.

The application was put forward by Colleen Munro, president of 6901124 Manitoba and Lilyfield Quarry Inc. to establish a limestone aggregate quarry on a three-quarter section of land the company owns on municipal road 68 N (Lilyfield Church Road).

Councillors Angela Emms, Lee Garfinkel and Kelvin Stewart voted against granting the conditional use permit, while Ken Mulligan voted in favour after requesting that a second vote be held. Reeve Frances Smee didn’t participate in the discussion or either vote due to a declared conflict of interest.

The councillors declined to comment on the reasons for their voting decisions.

Headingley council starts LIP

In an effort to help Caron Road property owners and businesses access the Perimeter Highway, Headingley council is taking the first steps to set up a local improvement plan to pay for a new road.

Council approved first reading of the bylaw, to borrow the money needed to pay for a new local improvement plan to construct Rockall Road, at its Nov. 12 meeting. The project is estimated to cost $5 million with $2.5 million coming from the province, $1.25 million from the municipal reserve fund and S1.25 million borrowed over 10 years.

Initial plans for Rockall Road show it following the existing Caron Road off Roblin Boulevard to a point where Caron turns east. The new road would continue in a straight line south across the Grand Trunk Trail and then bend westward to connect with La Fleche Road. A new CN rail crossing would be needed for the road to intersect with Wilkes Avenue.

Headingley mayor John Mauseth said the project is in the early stages and hinges on the province contributing half of the cost.

Recognizing a worthy alumnus

When he drives under the railway underpass on Winnipeg’s Kenaston Boulevard, Jack Meseyton smiles.

The underpass, that has greatly eases traffic flow along this busy thoroughfare, and the passenger terminal at Richardson International Airport are two of the major excavation projects that stand out for the Portage la Prairie resident and vice-president of E.F. Moon Construction.Meseyton, 55, was recently recognized for his career accomplishments with a Red River College Distinguished Graduate award. He completed the college’s civil engineering technology program in 2005, earning a diploma in municipal engineering technology. Since that time, he’s also earned his civil engineering technologist designation and gold seal certificate in project management.

“I am very humbled, excited and proud to be receiving this award,” said Meseyton, in a news release issued by Red River College. “I am a very strong believer in higher education and learning — our company has several RRC grads working with us. So, I am proud to have attended the college, proud to have RRC grads and alumni working for me, and very, very proud of this award.”

Meseyton comes by his passion for construction work honestly as his father Jim founded Meseyton Construction, a Portage-based company that Jack’s brother Paul now runs.That was where Jack got his start in the industry, working for his father. He said workplace standards were much less stringent then and he basically learned to operate vehicles and equipment on the job. After working for about 15 years, he decided to advance his career by returning to school to earn a professional title.

Helping to strengthen Chambers

La Salle resident and owner/operator of MCM Consulting Michael McMullen was recently honoured by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

McMullen, 65, was presented with the Canadian Chamber’s Emeritus Leaders Circle Award during its annual general meeting in Saint John, N.B. on Sept. 23.

The award was established in 2018 to recognize the outstanding contributions of past directors who exemplify the vision, mission and operational goals of the Canadian Chamber. McMullen is a governor of the Canadian Chamber and served as its chair from 2014 to 2015.

“Nominated and voted upon by the executive committee of the Canadian Chamber’s board of directors, the award recognizes McMullen’s demonstrated ability to lead, build teams and accelerate performance,” stated a news release issued by the Canadian Chamber. He is credited with initiating the organization’s chief operating officer position. He volunteered to step in as COO for one year to allow the Canadian Chamber to conduct a thorough hiring search.

Little Mountain Park washrooms upgraded

Little Mountain Park dog walkers, hikers and picnickers will be able to use fully accessible, upgraded washrooms with potable water beginning next spring.

The 160-acre park is owned by the City of Winnipeg but located within the RM of Rosser.

The City of Winnipeg is taking advantage of the recent water system development within the CentrePort Canada section of the RM of Rosser to hook up the washroom building located at the Farmer Road park entrance. Rosser council approved this project. The City will pay Rosser for water used.

City parks capital projects manager Jason Bell said the washroom upgrade was needed as the building was constructed in the 1970s and isn’t wheelchair-accessible. It contains two stalls in each of the men’s and women’s washrooms with toilets and sinks. Well water is used in the building along with a septic holding tank. The holding tank will remain.

Brewing up social change in a cup

Shoppers at St. Norbert Farmers Market (3514 Pembina Hwy.) can enjoy a hot breakfast with a warm crepe cooked and served by Ker Breizh, chased down with a steaming cup of a Jacked Up Jill Coffee blend.

The two booths are located next to each other under the canopy that shields market vendors and shoppers from the elements. It’s a perfect match according to Jacked Up Jill owner Louanne Vermette.

“It doesn’t matter how much we brew, we can’t keep up,” Vermette said as she and her niece Annike Everhardus were giving out small samples of her company’s coffee blends as well as selling cups of coffee and bags of beans and ground coffee at the market on Nov. 9.

Vermette, a Headingley resident who works as a school guidance counsellor, said she and partner Jenette Heinrichs established their business about two years ago. Part of Vermette’s motivation came from wanting to get a firsthand sense of being a female business owner — an option that she discusses with the young women she counsels. As well, she saw it as a way to financially support women’s shelters and resource centres in Winnipeg.

Improving palliative care in Portage

Sunset Palliative Care executive director Aldene Moroz is very excited about the new state of the art beds that will be placed in Portage District General Hospital’s palliative care rooms in 2020.

“They call these the Cadillac of palliative care beds,” she said.

The beds extend to seven and a half feet in width and can hold about 1,000 pounds so that they can accommodate another person sitting or lying next to the patient. Moroz said they come with pressure-treated mattresses and make it much easier for nursing staff to turn patients  — both of which help to prevent painful bed sores. The beds are easily adjustable for comfort.

She said she first saw one of the beds displayed at a palliative care conference and knew they would make a huge positive difference in the two palliative care rooms that Sunset now operates within the Portage hospital. However, with a price tag of over $26,000 each, the beds are expensive.

Music made by family

The Sharpe Sisters recently released their second recording, Three Hearts, which reflects the love they hold for one another.

The CD itself bears the depiction of six hearts each bearing the initials of one of the six sisters in Kathy and Colleen Bryce and Carolyn Whitfield’s family.

The Portage la Prairie trio released Three Hearts on Nov. 16 as they co-hosted the 13th annual Voices of the Prairie concert. It follows their first recording, Lookin’ Back, released in 2016.Colleen designed the CD art and along with Carolyn, wrote most of the songs on Three Hearts.

Kathy, who acts as the trio’s manager, said the only song she wrote is about the man who drove the school bus that took the 10 Sharpe siblings to school.

A honey of a wine

The faint aroma of honey is in the air inside the newly built workroom that houses Bee Boyzz Meadery.

The fledgling craft meadery operation is a labour of love for owners Kon and Julia Paseschnikoff, who also operate Bee Boyzz Honey from their property at 4742 McGillivray Blvd. in Oak Bluff. They have about 175 hives in Sanford, Oak Bluff, Winnipeg and the Assiniboine and Pembina Valleys.

Mead is a fermented alcoholic drink with a history going back centuries. Any ancient people who harvested honey were likely to use some to make mead. Julia said the main ingredients are honey, water and yeast with fruits or spices added for flavouring. The trick is to identify when to stop the fermentation process.

Kon and Julia have full-time jobs as well as being regular vendors at the St. Norbert and Downtown BIZ Farmers Markets, so their commitment to getting their meadery off the ground has consumed what little spare time they had for the past two years.

Farmers are seeking support

An extremely dry summer, record rainfall in September, and an early winter storm in mid-October have resulted in an unusually stressful situation for Manitoba farmers as they struggle to get remaining crops out of the fields.

Keystone Agriculture Producers vice-president Jill Verwey farms with her family near Portage la Prairie. She said while the weather conditions have been terrible, international trade disputes and what is perceived as a lack of support coming from the federal government are making a bad situation worse.

“Mental stress is first and foremost in a lot of minds,” she said, after listening to KAP members speak at a recent advisory committee meeting in Brandon.

“We think of farmers as being resilient, but we are being faced with issues that are out of our control,” Verwey said.

Paull named to Baseball Manitoba HOF

Kalam Paull of La Salle is one of the individuals being inducted into Baseball Manitoba’s Hall of Fame in 2020.

The induction ceremony will take place on Sat., June 6, 2020 at the Morden Event Access Centre where the HOF is located.

This will be Paull’s second induction as he was a member of the Brandon Marlins team that was inducted in 2018, but he’s thrilled about being recognized as an individual player.

“I’m excited and honoured to go in as an individual. I’m tremendously honoured.”

Study of Métis communities includes SFX

St. Francois Xavier has historical significance in Métis history as prominent Métis leader Cuthbert Grant is considered to be the community’s founder.

That’s why University of Winnipeg assistant professor Chantal Fiola included SFX in her recent study, Ceremony as Healing in Métis Communities.

Fiola, who teaches in the Native Studies department, recently presented her findings during a public talk in SFX. Similar events were held in the other communities she studied — Ste. Anne, Duck Bay, Camperville, St. Laurent and Lorette.

In each community she and her research associates interviewed six Métis people who still live in the community, had familial roots there or whose families hold scrip issued by the federal government in exchange for their land rights.

Wilf Taillieu Clinic opens at HSC

Headingley mayor and business owner Wilf Taillieu died in June 2016, but a legacy that bears his name will save lives and ease suffering in countless others.

The Wilf Taillieu Thoracic Surgery Clinic and Endoscopy Unit at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre officially opened on Nov. 5 thanks primarily to the fundraising efforts of Wilf’s wife Mavis Taillieu and others who knew and loved Wilf.

The fundraising campaign that Taillieu headed raised $3.2 million within 11 months — what HSC Foundation board chair Tina Jones described at the opening ceremony as being an amazingly fast rate. With the provincial government’s support to cover operating costs, the clinic, headed by Dr. Larry Tan, began seeing patients in July.

Taillieu detailed her husband’s personal story in a heartfelt speech at the opening, describing the progression of the esophageal cancer that killed him.

Sharing their passion for farm life

Sisters Taralea Simpson and Tracy Wood are in business in part to pass on their love of agriculture and rural living to others.

The pair own and operate Farm Away Retreat located south of Portage la Prairie at 39066 PR 64 North.. They offer bed and breakfast accommodations, as well as a site for family gatherings such as wedding and reunions, and business meetings and team-building events.

“You meet so many people who are removed from agriculture,” said Simpson, who works as an agronomist at a Portage agri-business. She tells a story about a young girl who was visiting the farm’s animals and asked which of the sheep was the mother of a calf.

Simpson has volunteered as a Manitoba Agriculture in the Classroom speaker at local schools. She said about 90 per cent of the students she’s met are among the second generation with no direct contact with a farm.

Attracting new rural doctors

About 40 University of Manitoba first- and second-year medical students spent most of Nov. 2 in Portage la Prairie.

Through the Rural Interest Group program, the students’ tour took them to the Portage District General Hospital and Portage Clinic where they were able to try casting a volunteer’s limb, taking an ultrasound of one another, and suturing a dead pig’s belly, among other activities. The day was hosted by the Portage Clinic and Southern Health-Santé Sud.

Head of the Portage Clinic’s residency training program Dr. Mike Omichinski said the main point of the day-long program is to introduce the students to rural medical facilities and hopefully foster the idea of practising medicine in Portage or another rural community after they graduate.

“This makes students aware of what rural medicine is like,” he said.

Honouring veterans with song

Just in time for Remembrance Day, Oak Bluff musician Barbara Joy has a song she wrote and recorded in memory of war veterans.

Simply titled, Remembrance Day, the song features Barbara Joy’s vocals and piano mixed with guitar. The lyrics include the line, “We will remember you, remember you on this day.”

“It’s really reflective of Remembrance Day,” Barbara Joy said.

She first started thinking about writing this type of song about a year ago, but said she wanted to take her time to come up with a simple song that captures the spirit of honouring war veterans.“The main thing is that it had to be said correctly.”

Making space for local products

You can pick up a lovely initial necklace, a bag of locally roasted coffee or a decorative wreath for your door along with your groceries at Headingley Foods.

The store at 8515 Roblin Blvd. has been owned and operated by Valerie and Greg Connolly since 1998. “It’s been a labour of love,” Valerie said. “I feel like we’ve grown a lot.”

Over the years, she has shown her passion for supporting her local community and its residents by giving space to display the work of local crafters, artists and producers. Shelf space within a store equals money so the Connollys are serious about their commitment to helping local makers.

“It brings a uniqueness to the store. People really enjoy having their stuff here,” Valerie said. “It makes it feel homey.”

Blues skating on Oak Bluff ice

Hockey fans in the Oak Bluff area have a new team to cheer for as the Winnipeg Blues are now based at The Rink Training Centre (57 South Landing Dr.).

The team, which plays in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, was formerly headquartered at the Bell MTS Iceplex, but relocated earlier this season as part of the 50 Below Sports and Entertainment deal which also brought the former Kootenay Ice to Winnipeg.

Blues head coach Gordon Burnett also recently made the move from Cranbrook, B.C. to Winnipeg. The 38-year-old grew up in Regina, Sask., where he played junior hockey before moving on to the college and then the minor league professional level. He has worked as an assistant coach with the Kootenay Ice, at the University of Notre Dame and with the former Arizona Sundogs. What attracted him to Winnipeg was the chance to step into the head coach role, he said.

“We have the youngest team in the league by far,” Burnett said. There are just three returning players from the Blues’ 2018-19 team, and this season’s team includes one 16-year-old, five 17-year-old players and the captain is 18.

Morantz steps into MP role

New MP-elect for Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley Marty Morantz is in great shape to head to Ottawa thanks to all his recent exercise on the campaign trail.

The 55-year-old lawyer and one-term city councillor said he knocked on almost 40,000 doors as he made his way through the riding over the past two months. He wore out two pairs of runners and a pair of boots.

According to Elections Canada’s unofficial vote tally, Morantz received 18,530 votes compared to incumbent and runner-up Liberal Party candidate Doug Eyolfson’s tally of 16,133 votes.

When Morantz entered his campaign headquarters at 3244 Portage Ave. in the late evening on Oct. 21, he was greeted by a large group of cheering supporters and stepped onto a platform following an introduction by provincial Progressive Conservative MLA Heather Stefanson.

Portage-Lisgar returns Bergen to Ottawa

Candice Bergen was one of the first Manitoba candidates declared as elected after the polls closed at 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 21.

Bergen, 55, has held the Portage-Lisgar riding for the Conservative Party of Canada since 2008 and will serve her fourth term as MP. She received an unofficial tally of 31,403 votes, or 71 per cent of the total votes cast in the riding.

“I’m very grateful for the support I received from the people of Portage-Lisgar,” Bergen said.“We have some pretty big challenges facing us,” Bergen said.

Bergen said that with the Bloc Québécois taking 32 seats in Quebec and no Liberal candidate elected in Saskatchewan and Alberta, the country is divided.

Volunteers needed for championships

The Portage Terriers are hosting the national Junior A hockey championships from May 9 to 17 in Portage la Prairie’s Stride Place and volunteers are needed.

Dave Patsack, who co-chairs the event’s organizing committee with Dale Deschouwer, said about 150 people signed up at an initial volunteer registration session, but about another 130 are needed.

Working in conjunction with Hockey Canada, the local committee will soon hold another volunteer blitz.

Patsack hopes that the volunteer and sponsor enthusiasm shown when the city hosted the RBC Cup (now called the Centennial Cup) hockey championships in 2015 will be duplicated in 2020.Volunteers are required to have a valid criminal record check, which Patsack said will be paid for, and must commit to working a minimum of three or four shifts.

Bergen wins fourth term

Conservative Party candidate Candice Bergen is returning to Ottawa for a fourth term representing residents of Portage-Lisgar.

Bergen easily beat her second-place opponent Liberal Party candidate and Portage la Prairie resident Ken Werbiski with an unofficial count of 30,062 votes compared to Werbiski’s 4,488 with 221 of 229 polls reporting.

Bergen, 55, who now lives in Oak Bluff, was originally elected in 2008. She first served in Stephen Harper’s government, then in Opposition since the 2015 election. She was the PC House leader in her last term.

 At press time, Bergen could not be reached for comment.

Morantz scores win over Eyolfson

Conservative Party candidate Marty Morantz was able to unseat Liberal Doug Eyolfson to take the Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley riding on Oct. 21.

A lawyer and former City of Winnipeg councillor, Morantz, 57, received an unofficial total of 17,891 votes compared to Eyolfson's 15,569, with 175 of 181 polls reporting. People’s Party of Canada candidate Steven Fletcher, 47, who representing the area in the House of Commons from 2004 to 2015, garnered 1,870 votes placing him fifth in the race.

Entering his campaign office at 3244 Portage Ave. about 10:30 p.m. soon after being officially declared the MP-elect for the riding, Morantz was met by a crowd of cheering supporters who had watched the votes tallied from each poll over the past two hours.

Morantz said he was overwhelmed by the result.

An equine opportunity

Helping students develop the skills and confidence needed to groom, lead and ride a horse is rewarding, according to Urban Stable volunteer Lana Stevenson.

Stevenson is a regular volunteer with the accredited therapeutic riding organization that operates at Camp Assiniboia (2220 Lido Plage Rd.) in the RM of Cartier. For the past four years, she’s assisted students with special needs in their individual journeys of becoming familiar with and comfortable around horses.

Urban Stable executive director Wendy MacDonald said the program has involved students diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, autism and some who are facing family and personal issues. By learning how to care for and ride horses, the students can increase their social skills.

“The program works for all kids, but in different ways,” Stevenson said. For example, she watched a young man who was quite withdrawn when he first came to the stable, gradually display his increased confidence through his physical posture and willingness to speak with Stevenson about his passion for movies.

Portage baseball players honoured

Portage la Prairie’s reputation for fostering baseball talent is bolstered by the selection of two locals for this year’s Baseball Manitoba awards.

Joey Moffat is named as the top U18 player while Kevin Lelievre will receive the umpire award of merit at the awards dinner on Nov. 2 in Brandon.

Moffat, 17, is a pitcher and shortstop who began playing baseball about 10 years ago, in part because of his father’s role as a coach.

The Portage Collegiate Institute graduate had a busy spring and summer playing on four teams — the Pembina Hills AAA Midget team, PCI Trojans, Portage Pirates AA team, and the Portage Padres in the men’s Santa Clara League. He said he also experienced a highlight in his sporting career when he went to Baseball Canada’s national U18 championships in August and placed fifth — a good showing for a Manitoba team.

Stitching up new relationships

Floral print and brightly coloured fabric sewn into skirts bordered with strips of ribbon have become a symbol of friendship and respect between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women.

Portage la Prairie resident Angela Roulette, who is an Anishinaabe teacher  and founder of the Women of Mother Earth Network, said, when she wrote a letter launching her Ribbon Skirt Project about a year ago, she never dreamt that it would take the shape it has since then.

“It’s opened my eyes so much as a woman, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother,” she said. “These skirts were meant to wake us up.”

Her original intent was to collect 500 ribbon skirts that would be given out at an Indigenous elders’ gathering this fall. Neither of these goals has materialized, but instead the project has taken her and others involved in another direction — one of learning and sharing.

Bringing people together to talk

Providing the chance for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to meet and talk in a respectful manner is at the core of the Circles For Reconciliation project.

“The heart of what we’re trying to do is establish relationships,” said Circles of Reconciliation project co-ordinator Raymond Currie.

A Winnipeg resident and former University of Manitoba sociology professor, Currie took the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s interim report recommendations, and subsequent 94 Calls to Action, as personal inspiration and motivation to start what would become Circles for Reconciliation.

“The idea came in June 2015 when the interim report came out,” he said. After reading the report, he spent nine months consulting with Indigenous people on what steps to take.

Friesen on the ballot for NDP

Cindy Friesen is having a busy fall — first running as NDP candidate for Midland in the recent provincial election and now standing for the NDP in Portage-Lisgar.

“I’ve always been a voice for people,” said Friesen, 58, who lives in Winnipeg.

Friesen placed third in the Midland election, but said she is game to try again in the federal arena. She’s been active in unions for many years, now serving as vice-president with the Canadian Office and Professional Employees (COPE) Union Local 342, and previously sitting on the Manitoba Federation of Labour executive team.

She said she’s motivated in part by personal circumstances and experience with family members’ health care and home care needs. “I want to fight for the rights of the elderly.”

Werbiski is Liberal candidate in Portage-Lisgar

Ken Werbiski is looking to score an upset victory in the federal election.

The 53-year-old, who is the client services manager at Lions Prairie Manor in Portage la Prairie and a Portage resident, is representing the Liberal Party in the Portage-Lisgar election. He also ran for the Liberals in the 2015 federal election where he was defeated by Conservative incumbent Candice Bergen.

“I was encouraged by my results in 2015,” Werbiski said. “And I was encouraged to run again.”“The people of Portage-Lisgar are looking for an MP who will rise above all of the negativity and American-style politics. They want an MP who will take our issues to Ottawa and bring less of Ottawa here,” he said.

Since the 2015 election, Werbiski said he has stayed involved within the local Liberal Party association, served on the Portage Habitat for Humanity board, and staffed information booths for the party at local annual events such as the Morden Corn and Apple Festival and Portage’s Parade of Lights.

Eert representing Green Party of Canada

Beverley Eert has been a Green Party of Canada member since 1987, and first represented the party in an election in 1988.

She’s running in Portage-Lisgar — her second campaign in the riding — and feels more confident than ever.

“My position hasn’t changed,” said Eert. “We’ve been trying to wake people up for decades now.”

The 68-year-old lives with her husband in a house that they designed and constructed near Treherne that’s self-sufficient in terms of being powered and heated by the sun and protected by the earth, as its built into the side of a hill. She drives an electric vehicle while campaigning.Eert has degrees in music and fine arts from the University of Manitoba, and a mid-life degree in architecture from the University of British Columbia. She previously owned and operated a private music studio, and later a design-build company producing energy-efficient timber-framed homes.

Archer representing People’s Party of Canada

Aaron Archer, 35, is running as the People’s Party of Canada’s candidate in Portage-Lisgar.

The journeyman Red Seal welder is currently living in Okotoks, Alta. but says he has family members living in the Portage la Prairie area. If elected, he would consider spending part of his time in the riding.

Asked what he feels he offers Portage-Lisgar voters, he said, “The ability to listen and to have an open ear.”

He sees the elimination of the current federal carbon tax program as being an important issue.“We need to ask if this is the best method to address climate change.”

Bergen running for re-election

This isn’t Conservative candidate Candice Bergen’s first rodeo.

The 55-year-old, who grew up in Morden and now lives in Oak Bluff, is in the midst of her fourth election campaign in a bid to retain her Portage-Lisgar seat. Originally elected in 2008, Bergen first served in Stephen Harper’s government, then in Opposition since the 2015 election. She was the PC House leader in her last term.

She said her most important duty as MP is to represent her constituents.

“It’s so important to our country that the government puts the needs of people before the needs of government.”

Dondo carrying Christian Heritage banner

Portage-Lisgar voters might recognize Christian Heritage party candidate Jerome Dondo’s name on their ballot as he previously ran in the 2015 federal election.

The 48-year-old certified general accountant operates offices in St. Claude and Rathwell. Through his work, he has noticed what he deems to be unfairness in Canada’s federal pension plan and employment insurance programs. He said the Christian Heritage Party advocates for Canadians’ ability to select their own personal retirement and other long-term savings plans that can be used to generate retirement and unemployment income.

Dondo said he’s clearly heard that Portage-Lisgar residents want to see a change in the federal government’s leadership.

Health care provision is another important issue. He said his family has experienced the consequences of the current nursing shortage. To free up money for essential services, Dondo said, he would ask that what he calls “not medically necessary” services such as abortions and plastic surgery be paid for by users. He also wants regulations to be changed allowing investors to construct medical facilities where government-funded services can be offered to help people access medical help more quickly.

Learning in the great outdoors

The first step toward establishing an outdoor classroom at Phoenix School in Headingley was taken when Community Futures White Horse Plains awarded a $5,000 grant for the project on Sept. 24.

Project committee chair Sally Guarino said the idea for the outdoor classroom came from staff members who spoke to the school’s parent advisory council about a year ago.

“Students can benefit physically and socially from being outdoors,” Guarino said.

A committee that includes a representative from Headingley’s Bright Beginnings Educare that uses space in Phoenix School, teachers and other parents was formed.

Top curlers competing in Portage

Local curling fans can get their season off to a strong start with three World Curling Tour events set for the Portage Curling Club this month and next.

The Canad Inns Men’s Classic runs from Oct. 11 to 14, followed by the Canad Inns Women’s Classic from Oct. 17 to 20, and then the Canad Inns Mixed Doubles Classic from Nov. 15 to 17. They will all be played at Portage Curling Club in the Canad Inn Destination Centre (2401 Saskatchewan Ave. W).

Canad Inns vice-president of corporate identity and community relations Cindy Carswell said the mens’ classic goes back 10 years, starting soon after the company took over the Portage hotel complex that includes the Portage Curling Club. The women’s classic is in its sixth year, and this will be the fifth year for the mixed doubles championship.

“We wanted to get involved in the community,” she said.

Getting goosebumps, cold shivers

If you love a good fright, then plan on venturing out to the RM of Macdonald this month to take in Heebie Jeebies.

Owner and operator Tim Muys is quick to reassure folks who don’t want to be pursued through a corn maze by an axe-wielding scarecrow that there is a less spooky “scaredy cat” zone but you might have to put up with the smell of charred corpses, a thick layer of fog and the occasional wandering zombie.

“Smell can really trigger emotions,” said Muys.

Heebie Jeebies is a family affair for Muys and his wife Michelle as some of their four children also don costumes to help terrify their guests.

Artist inspired by her grandmother

Winnipeg artist and owner of cre8ery gallery (125 Adelaide St.), Jordan Miller is thrilled that 62 of her pieces are hanging in the Portage la Prairie gallery that her late grandmother supported.

Miller said her grandmother, Virginia Miller, who died in August 2018, was active in Portage la Prairie arts, church and community groups. She served on the board of the Portage & District Arts Centre, now called Prairie Fusion Arts & Entertainment. It is at the Prairie Fusion gallery (11-2nd St. NE) where Miller’s To Build: To Simplify solo exhibition is being shown until Nov. 2.Miller also credits her grandmother with fostering her love for the arts and desire to become a visual artist.

“She used to take us to the WSO (Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra) and Rainbow Stage. She also introduced us to the visual arts.”

“She supported local artists. Their (Virginia and Clive Miller’s) house was full of art.”

Eyolfson aiming to be re-elected

Liberal party incumbent Doug Eyolfson believes his record of working in Parliament over the past four years puts him in good stead.

The 56-year-old former emergency room doctor was elected as MP for Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley in 2015. He defeated then-PC candidate Steven Fletcher, who’s now running as the People’s Party of Canada’s candidate, to take the riding that covers much of Winnipeg’s western section and the RM of Headingley.

Eyolfson said he considers his work on the issues of providing aid for homeless service veterans, developing policies to deal with violence against health care workers, and work to introduce a national pharmacare program as being the highlights of his time on Parliament Hill.He said the national pharmacare program could be rolled out in 2022.

“Pharmacare would represent a tremendous improvement for most people,” he said.

Morantz hopes to regain seat for Conservatives

Conservative Party candidate Marty Morantz estimates he has knocked on more than 25,000 doors so far in his bid for election in Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley.

“I’m on my second pair of shoes,” he joked. “We’re trying to meet as many people as we can.”

Morantz, 57, grew up in River Heights, graduating from Grant Park Collegiate and earning a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Manitoba. He attended Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, but after receiving his law degree, he returned to Winnipeg where he worked for a downtown law firm, eventually becoming a partner.

Morantz was elected as city councillor for Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge in 2014. During his time at City Hall, he was an executive policy committee member, and chaired the finance and infrastructure committees each for two years.

St. George running for NDP

Community health worker Ken St. George might be fairly new to politics but he’s committed to helping Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley residents become healthier and wealthier.St. George, 46, is running as the New Democrtic Party’s candidate in the upcoming federal election on Oct. 21.

He grew up in East and West Kildonan, but has lived in Westdale with his family since 2006. He and wife Christine have a blended family of four children.

After graduating from River East Collegiate in 1991, St. George attended the University of Manitoba, but found what he calls his true vocation about 10 years later when he graduated with a nursing degree from Assiniboine Community College. He has worked in community health in Winnipeg’s core area since 2007.

He ran unsuccessfully in the 2018 civic election in the Charleswood-Tuxedo ward.

Fletcher trying to regain Commons seat

Steven Fletcher, 47, wants to head back to Ottawa to represent Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley in the House of Commons.

The Headingley resident was MP for the riding from 2004 until 2015, when Liberal Party candidate Doug Eyolfson won it in the last federal election.

Following that, Fletcher ran successfully in provincial politics and was elected as  the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba’s candidate in what was then the Assiniboia constituency in April 2016. PC Party leader and premier Brian Pallister removed Fletcher from the PC caucus in June 2017, and Fletcher finished his term in office as a Manitoba Party representative.

“The people of the riding have been very enthusiastic in encouraging me to run at the federal level. People were particularly pleased that I stood up to Brian Pallister as an MLA. Putting people before party or premier is very rare in politics,” Fletcher said in an email.

More space for learning

The new addition to La Salle School is exciting for students and staff, according to principal Robert Bouchard.

“It’s been a welcome change,” Bouchard said.

Construction work is still ongoing inside and outside the school at 43 Beaudry St. as part of the building project with a total cost of $10.5 million. This cost includes construction of a standalone building that’s dedicated for daycare use.

“Now we can all be in the same building instead of going into four huts,” Bouchard said.

Local wrestler going ‘Big’ in CWE

Growing up in Oak Bluff, Bobby Schink played many sports but his true interest lay in watching the moves of professional wrestlers.

“I started watching when I was 11 or 12,” the 27-year-old said, adding that his passion for wrestling grew as he completed high school at Sanford Collegiate. But it wasn’t until he was 23 that he decided to make a move into wrestling.

“Wrestling was a thing for me to try and I had to give it a go.”

Schink packed his bags, loaded up his car and drove to Calgary where he completed a three-month program at a wrestling school run by Lance Storm, a trainer who’s respected within the North American wrestling community. There he learned the physical part of professional wrestling as well as how to entertain the crowd.

Ag students taking to the road

Portage la Prairie and Starbuck residents will soon see a strange vehicle on local streets.

About 50 University of Manitoba agriculture students will be running through the two communities pushing a rickety metal bed in what has become an annual tradition and a worthwhile fundraiser for a selected charity.

Students Camella Boyachek and Willem Boersma, both from Portage la Prairie, are this year’s charity representatives for the U of M’s Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences’ Aggie Bedpush that is taking place in Portage on Fri., Sept. 27 and in Starbuck on Sat., Sept. 28.

“This year we chose STARS Air Ambulance as our charity,” Boyachek said.

New programs for local residents

Macdonald-Headingley Recreation District is offering a wide variety of recreational options for the fall and winter, including some new programs for all ages.

“The Fall Program and Community Resource Guide provides a wide variety of programs and activities promoting healthy active lifestyles within the RMs of Macdonald and Headingley. We work to build on the success of popular programs, are responsive to requests from the community and always try to introduce new opportunities to engage everyone,” said MHRD director Susanne Moore.

Stacey Boss is leading the new Jump and Jiggle program geared towards preschool-aged kids with activities based around the physical literacy model and their age.

“Each week we will be focusing on many different aspects of a young growing child that sets them up for success. They will be working on gross and fine motor skills, balance, locomotion and object manipulation. They will work on these different skills through a variety of different games and activities,” Boss said in an email message.

Grief brings families together

The Compassionate Friends is an international non-denominational peer support group with a chapter in the Portage la Prairie area.

The Compassionate Friends, established in 1969, has its origins in the story of a young chaplainin England, Simon Stephens, who knew five parents who had all recently lost a young child. He brought them together, and they took comfort in talking about their grief. This informal sharing resulted in the organization’s formation.

The Portage Plains chapter was incorporated in 1985 by local residents Sandra Wallace and Melba Morrey, and it continues today. Its mandate is to provide emotional support to parents who are grieving a child’s death.

“This can be a death at any age and from any cause,” Portage Plains chapter leader Brenda Brand said, adding that some could be grieving a miscarriage.

PC incumbents voted back in

Progressive Conservative incumbent candidates Ralph Eichler for Lakeside, Blaine Pedersen for Midland, and Ian Wishart for Portage la Prairie all celebrated easy wins on Sept. 10.

One of the first candidates to be declared a winner on election night, Eichler is beginning his fifth term as MLA. Eichler won with 6,394 votes, well ahead of his closest competitor, Dan Rugg (NDP) who received 2.054 votes.

Eichler, 69, served as agriculture minister in the last provincial government. While Premier Brian Pallister hasn’t appointed his cabinet yet, Eichler said he’s keen to continue working to generate more investment in Manitoba’s agriculture industry.

He thanks his supporters and said the election results show that Manitobans are behind the changes the government made during its last term.

Driedger returned to office

The day after she was re-elected as MLA for Roblin, Progressive Conservative candidate Myrna Driedger’s voice was a bit worn out, but she is pleased to be serving her seventh term.

“I am going to continue to do what I do within my constituency — meet with people,” she said.

According to Elections Manitoba’s unofficial results, Driedger received 6,075 votes, easily defeating second-place New Democratic Party candidate Sophie Brandt-Murenzi, who garnered 1,886 votes, and Liberal candidate Michael Bazak with 1,728, and Green Party candidate Kevin Nichols with 1,209. Voter turnout in Roblin was 62 per cent.

With the provincial constituencies’ boundary realignment, this was the first time that Roblin included the RM of Headingley, which was formerly situated in the Morris constituency. Driedger said, while she definitely walked more than in previous campaigns, she received a strong response from Headingley residents.

Celebrating a long history

Portage la Prairie, Manitoba and Canada were all very different places when the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 65 was established in 1929.

It was a time between the World Wars, the Depression hadn’t yet hit, and veterans of the First World War wanted a meeting place where they could socialize. Portage la Prairie Legion president Bob Oldford said the mandate of the Legion at 275 Duke Ave. remains the same — offering a community gathering place where members can get together and enjoy themselves.

The Portage Legion’s membership is stable at about 490. Oldford said an ongoing membership campaign aims to add a total of 90 new members to recognize the landmark anniversary. So far, about 55 have joined.

“If you want to keep your doors open, you have to reinvent yourself,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of redecorating and revamping.”

Driedger returned to office

The day after she was re-elected as MLA for Roblin, Progressive Conservative candidate Myrna Driedger’s voice was a bit worn out but she is pleased to be serving her seventh term.

“I am going to continue to do what I do within my constituency — meet with people,” she said.

According to Elections Manitoba’s unofficial results, Driedger received 6,075 votes, easily defeating second-place New Democratic Party candidate Sophie Brandt-Murenzi, who garnered 1,886 votes, and Liberal candidate Michael Bazak with 1,728, and Green Party candidate Kevin Nichols with 1,209. Voter turnout in Roblin was 62 per cent.

With the provincial constituencies’ boundary realignment, this was the first time that Roblin included the RM of Headingley, which was formerly situated in the Morris constituency. Driedger said, while she definitely walked more than in previous campaigns, she received a strong response from Headingley residents.

Driedger returned to office

The day after she was re-elected as MLA for Roblin, Progressive Conservative candidate Myrna Driedger’s voice was a bit worn out but she is pleased to be serving her seventh term.

“I am going to continue to do what I do within my constituency — meet with people,” she said.

According to Elections Manitoba’s unofficial results, Driedger received 6,075 votes, easily defeating second-place New Democratic Party candidate Sophie Brandt-Murenzi, who garnered 1,886 votes, and Liberal candidate Michael Bazak with 1,728, and Green Party candidate Kevin Nichols with 1,209. Voter turnout in Roblin was 62 per cent.

With the provincial constituencies’ boundary realignment, this was the first time that Roblin included the RM of Headingley, which was formerly situated in the Morris constituency. Driedger said, while she definitely walked more than in previous campaigns, she received a strong response from Headingley residents.

Martin ekes out a win in McPhillips

It was a see-saw battle as votes were counted in McPhillips, but Progressive Conservative candidate Shannon Martin narrowly defeated New Democrate Greg McFarlane with an unofficial total of 3,307 votes against McFarlane’s 3,202 in the closest race of the Manitoba election.

“It’s a bit overwhelming,” Martin said shortly after the final poll results were tallied. “But I was optimistic that my team did everything we could. It’s one for the ‘win’ column.”

The two frontrunners were followed by Liberal John Cacayuran with 1,476 votes, Green Party candidate Jason Smith with 406 votes and Manitoba First’s Dave Wheeler with 237.

Martin, 48, was first elected in a 2014 byelection, then was re-elected in 2016 as MLA for the former Morris constituency. He will now represent the new constituency of McPhillips created from areas that were formerly in the St. Paul and Kildonan constituencies.

Wishart re-elected in Portage la Prairie

Portage la Prairie voters have returned Ian Wishart to office for a third term.

NDP candidate Andrew Podolecki and Liberal Party candidate Charles Huband proved to be no contest for Wishart, 65.

Wishart captured 3,791 votes, with Podolecki a distant second with 1,342, with 42 out of 46 polls reporting on election night.

“Certainly I’m very honoured to be elected to represent Portage for the coming term,” Wishart said adding that he feels there is more work to be done by the government.

Pedersen holds onto Midland

Blaine Pedersen will be returning to the Manitoba legislature as MLA for Midland for a fifth term.

“It’s an honour and a privilege to serve the constituents of Midland again,” Pedersen said.

First elected in 2007, the Elm Creek resident, 65, easily defeated second-place NDP candidate Cindy Friesen and Manitoba Liberal candidate Julia Sisler with more poll results to come.

Pedersen said this campaign was a bit more challenging as Midland’s boundaries changed to include Domain, La Salle, Oak Bluff, Brunkild, Sanford and Starbuck, all of which were previously located within Morris constituency.

Eichler wins in Lakeside

Progressive Conservative Party candidate Ralph Eichler easily won re-election in the Lakeside constituency.

The Teulon resident defeated NDP candidate Dan Rugg, of Elie, and Ilsa Regelsky, representing the Manitoba Liberal Party.

“I’m feeling very positive. I couldn’t have done it without the support of my constituents,” Eichler said on election night.

Eichler, 69, is beginning his fifth term in provincial office. In the last provincial government, he served as agriculture minister.

Meeting local training needs

Portage la Prairie is a growing city and more economic development generates the need for training.

Red River College’s Portage campus at 32-5th St. E offers a wide variety of full-time and part-time programs to increase students’ employment skills and for personal enjoyment.

The regional campus is housed in a former elementary school built in 1916, with a newer east wing and gymnasium added. Regional campus manager Guy Moffat said the college bought the buildings in 2011, but RRC had a presence in the community for about 20 years before that.

“We’ve had a number of different locations within Portage before coming to our current one,” he said.

Getting to know about Manitoba agriculture

The public is invited to get an insight into agriculture during Manitoba Open Farm Day on Sun., Sept. 15.

Open Farm Day is held in Manitoba on the third Sunday of September and involves farms across the province. Farmers and those who work in the agri-business and agri-tourism industries will host tours and activities at their sites. You can learn about food production, environmental stewardship and agricultural history.

Host sites are situated within seven regions that include local sites in the Portage la Prairie and Central Regions.

The City of Portage sites are Shur-Gro Farm Service Ltd., (38173 Hwy. 1 West) a company that sells seeds, crop protection supplies and fertilizer, and the Food Development Centre, (810 Phillips St.) a provincial facility that assists in developing, testing and marketing new food products.

Local players suit up for Rifles

Three local players are part of this year’s Winnipeg Rifles team in the Prairie Football Conference.

Eric McCutchin. 18, and Shawn McMillan, 19, of Portage la Prairie, and Barrett Mueller, 20, from La Salle, are on the team’s roster.

McCutchin is a linebacker who started playing peewee football in Dauphin, Man. before moving to Portage. He credits the coaching he received during the three years he spent as a Portage Collegiate Institute Trojan with helping him to develop his skills.

“I definitely learned a lot from Donald Burrell and the other coaches,” McCutchin said.

Driving laps for research, support

Vern Barrett isn’t a racecar driver but he is the driving force behind an annual fundraiser for Huntington’s disease services and research.

Barrett, who lives in The Maples, has organized the Huntington Indy Go-Kart Challenge each September for 23 years at Thunder Rapids Amusement Park (5058 Portage Ave.) in Headingley.

“Last year we had 33 teams and raised over $20,000 to support Huntington disease services and research. It was a great success!” Barrett said.

This year’s event is set for Sun., Sept. 8 with races at 9 to 11 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.The Indy Go-Kart Challenge involves teams of up to six drivers with each driver steering their kart around the track for about 20 minutes. There are double karts that can accommodate a driver and a youngster. The cost per team is $360.

Access CU to relocate Oak Bluff branch

Access Credit Union recently announced the closure of its Oak Bluff branch as of Dec. 31, 2019.

“We have decided we will relocate to Sanford,” said president and chief executive officer Larry Davey. The closure will impact about 2,500 Oak Bluff branch members.

The Oak Bluff and Sanford branches operated under Sanford Credit Union until an amalgamation with Access CU in Jan. 1, 2013.

Two factors are determining the closure of the Oak Bluff branch, according Davey.

Offering a season of music, theatre

Prairie Fusion Arts & Entertainment is kicking off its first season with an entertainment lineup that includes something for all tastes.

“I think that it’s going to be an exciting season’ said Prairie Fusion executive director Margaret Bernhardt-Lowdon.

Located in the William Glesby Centre at 11-2nd Street NE in Portage la Prairie, Prairie Fusion Arts & Entertainment’s 2019-20 season opener is Woody Hollar and his Orchestra performing western swing, jazz and blues on Sept. 28. On Oct. 19 the classical cello duo VC2 will perform. The Manitoba Hydro Holiday Tour with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra will be a special performance set for Dec. 11.

The season resumes on Jan. 25 with two Manitoban emerging artists, Kenzie Jane and Victoria Turko playing contemporary music and rhythm and blues.

Camp is becoming bigger, better

Camp Manitou is posed for a major expansion in the coming year with 11 additional acres and a new lodge building in the works.

One sign of growth is the brand-new Welcome Centre nestled in the trees at the camp’s entrance.

“We felt it is important to have a presence at the beginning of the property,” said True North Foundation executive director Dwayne Green.

The camp, located on 29 acres at the eastern edge of the RM of Headingley, is operated by the True North Foundation. Since the foundation took over running the camp in 2014, many improvements have been made. Twelve cabins that can accommodate 120 youth and counsellors were constructed along with an outdoor rink with an adjacent change room/washroom building, an outdoor climbing wall, and repairs made to the camp’s outdoor pool.

Celebrating 25 years of service

About 250 people came out to Portage la Prairie’s Island Park on Aug. 18 to join in celebrating Sunset Palliative Care’s 25th anniversary with free entertainment and food.

“We wanted to give back to the community after 25 years,” said executive director Aldene Moroz. “They’ve supported us for so long.”

Local musicians Johnny Dietrich and the Sharpe Sisters took the stage. Moroz said the celebration included cake and prizes. “It was just a great afternoon.”

The event also gave Sunset Palliative Care the chance to highlight one of its major projects, the Memory Garden that is located in Island Park. It was recently improved at a cost of over $15,000, thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of Portage and District.

Huband joins Portage race

Longtime lawyer and community activist Charles Huband recently declared his intention to carry the Manitoba Liberal Party banner in the Portage la Prairie constituency election.

Huband, 87, lives in Winnipeg but says he decided to step up for the Liberals to ensure Portage voters have a choice on Sept. 10.

“The decision was made as no one else sought the candidacy in Portage la Prairie,” Huband said.Huband held public office from 1964 to 1968 on the Metropolitan Council of Greater Winnipeg.

Most recently, Huband served as civil litigation counsel with Winnipeg law firm Taylor McCaffrey LLP from 2006 until earlier this year.  He was appointed to the Manitoba Court of Appeal in 1978 and served in that capacity for 27 years until mandatory retirement from the bench in 2006. He was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Law Society of Manitoba in 1996.

NDP candidate vies for Portage seat

Even though New Democratic Party candidate Andrew Podolecki doesn’t live in Portage la Prairie, he’s not letting that stop him from trying to unseat incumbent Ian Wishart.

Podolecki, 27, grew up and still lives in Winnipeg where he works in the hospitality industry while working towards a bachelor degree in Political Science and Economics at the University of Winnipeg.

Asked by The Headliner why he decided to run for election in Portage, Podolecki said, “because it’s Brian Pallister’s old seat”.

He added that he feels that the Manitoba premier has neglected his former constituents.Podolecki said he has friends in Portage and is familiar with the city. He plans to make the drive out to start campaigning in-person soon.

Stepping into the political arena

Michael Bazak, Manitoba Liberal Party candidate for Roblin, is a newbie when it comes to politics, but that doesn’t discourage him.

The 41-year-old, who works as a certified accountant, said he wasn’t planning on running for office until recently but has always had a strong interest in politics.

“I thought, ‘This is an opportunity,’” he said, referring to having heard about the need for more Liberal Party candidates earlier this month.

Bazak and his wife now live in Whyte Ridge, but he grew up in Garden City, and also lived in the Crestview area for six years.

Nichols representing Green Party

Many Charleswood voters will be familiar with Kevin Nichols, Green Party candidate in Roblin, as he’s previously run in federal, provincial and municipal elections.

“This is my fifth campaign,” said the 55-year-old safety technician who has lived in Charleswood for about 25 years.

Asked why he keeps trying to get elected to political office as a Green Party candidate, Nichols said, “People need a different option to choose from.”

He’s concerned about what he terms as the Manitoba Conservatives’ “gutting of the health care system”, adding that the recent changes to emergency rooms in Winnipeg hospitals leave people not knowing where to go for medical treatment.

Driedger seeking re-election

Myrna Driedger, Progressive Conservative candidate for Roblin, is a political veteran with this being her seventh election campaign.

“I’m now the most senior MLA,” Driedger, a long-time Charleswood resident, said.

She and her husband have two adult sons and an infant grand-daughter.

Growing up in Benito, near Swan River, Driedger’s father was an elevator agent, her mother a hair stylist. She graduated from high school in Swan River, then trained as a nurse at Winnipeg General Hospital.

St. Anne’s remains strong in spirit

Church warden Monica Griffiths can imagine how St. Anne’s Church and the surrounding community of Poplar Point looked 160 years ago.

“I saw an aerial photo taken somehow that shows the church and surrounding buildings,” she said.

Construction of the church, which is a provincially designated historical site, began in 1862. It was built to serve a bustling community that then included a small school and some businesses. St. Anne’s was located on the outskirts of a main road that connected the settlement to the nearby Assiniboine River where paddlewheel boats once transported people and goods up and down the river.

The church rectory or parsonage was built a few years after the church was completed in 1864, adjacent to the churchyard and cemetery. It once served as the church minister’s home as well as an office with a classroom for Sunday school students. Griffiths believes it was disassembled about 50 years ago. A second rectory was purchased in Poplar Point but was sold about 15 years ago after the last minister left the community.

Folk Festival promises diversity

Offering something for everyone is what Whoop & Hollar Folk Festival organizers are aiming to accomplish at their seventh annual event.

Whether it’s the chance to hear talented musicians, try belly dancing, relax in peaceful surroundings or follow a brass band along a trail – it’s on this year’s festival’s program. The festival will take place at Linda and Mitchell Omichinski’s Cottonwood Acres property on PR 331 near Portage la Prairie on Sat., Aug. 24 and at Island Park in Portage on Sun., Aug. 25.

“They’re getting a lot of diversity,” said festival president and co-founder Linda Omichinski. “We are a folk fest, and folk is an all-encompassing musical style.”

Artistic director and co-founder Josh Wright agrees, listing some of the groups scheduled to perform as being bluegrass, francophone, world music, folk punk, and ethno-rock, among other genres.

Offering survivors a sympathetic ear

After having a stroke, you will get medical treatment while in hospital, and possibly some rehabilitation work depending on your insurance coverage — but what happens afterwards?

The Stroke Recovery Association of Manitoba offers recreational and therapeutic programs at its head office (247-B Provencher Blvd.) in Winnipeg, as well as peer support groups for stroke survivors and caregivers. There are also support groups that meet in St. James and Transcona. West of Winnipeg, survivors can get together and lend each other support at the Portage & District Stroke Survivors Group.

“Once you get stabilized after you have a stroke, you’re kind of on your own,” said Charlie Clifford, an executive member of the Portage group.

He said he received excellent treatment while he was a patient at Winnipeg’s Riverview Health Centre following his stroke, and made good progress in recovery. However, not all people who have strokes are able to access follow-up treatment to help them regain some of the physical and cognitive functioning that was impaired by their stroke.

Elie resident enters race

New Democratic Party candidate Dan Rugg, 40, said concern over the future of Manitoba’s health care and education systems prompted him to enter the race for election in Lakeside.

The longtime Elie resident, who served on the Local Urban District of Elie council from 2015 to 18, said he wants to make Manitoba a better place to live for his three young children.

“I’ve always been interested in provincial politics,” Rugg added.

He works as a machine operator for Winnipeg manufacturer Winpak and volunteers as a union executive member.

Stepping into the political arena

Michael Bazak, Manitoba Liberal Party candidate for Roblin, is a newbie when it comes to politics, but that doesn’t discourage him.

The 41-year-old, who works as a certified accountant, said he wasn’t planning on running for office until recently but has always had a strong interest in politics.

“I thought, ‘This is an opportunity,’” he said, referring to having heard about the need for more Liberal Party candidates earlier this month.

Bazak and his wife now live in Whyte Ridge, but he grew up in Garden City, and also lived in the Crestview area for six years.

Offering comfort for furry clients

Not all pet owners want to place their feline or canine companions in a commercial kennel when they are on holiday, and Maria Mathews provides an alternative.

La Salle resident Mathews started her Pet Staycations service last September. She offers dog walking and pet sitting services. She will stay in the pet owner’s home for as much time as is required to adequately look after the pet.

“It really is unique to the client and family,” Mathews said.

A long-time fitness instructor with experience working for the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba, Mathews was inspired to start her business because of the personal dilemma she faced about a year ago when she and husband Mike Ford were travelling to Europe. They didn’t want to place their two basset hounds Olive and Odie in a kennel while they were away.

A second career in politics for Pedersen

Blaine Pedersen says he was looking for a career change from the cattle and grain farming he’d done for 30 years when he decided to run for election as the Progressive Conservative candidate in Midland in 2007.

“I was looking for a change in careers,” the 65-year-old Elm Creek resident said. “I had sold the farm and always had an interest in politics.”

During his years spent farming, Pedersen had also served on federal and provincial-led boards which he feels added to his knowledge of agricultural and other issues.

When first elected, he was a member of the opposition, and was named Minister of Infrastructure after PC leader Brian Pallister became premier in 2016. About two years ago, Pedersen switched portfolios and became Minister of Growth, Enterprise and Trade.

Price is walking the walk for Green Party

Dylan Price said he’s running as Green Party candidate in Midland partly because he wants to demonstrate his personal commitment to environmental change to his daughters, age nine and seven.

“It’s my first time running for office,” said Price, 41, who lives near Sanford with his family.

A social worker with an agency in Winnipeg, Price grew up in Abbotsford, B.C. He moved to Winnipeg to attend Bible college, then earned a degree in social work from the University of Manitoba.

He said he’d initially contacted the Green Party of Manitoba to offer to volunteer for the party’s local candidate, but instead, he agreed to serve as the Green candidate in Midland.

Driedger seeking re-election

Myrna Driedger, Progressive Conservative candidate for Roblin, is a political veteran with this being her seventh election campaign.

“I’m now the most senior MLA,” Driedger, a long-time Charleswood resident, said. She and her husband have two adult sons and an infant grand-daughter.

Growing up in Benito, near Swan River, Driedger’s father was an elevator agent, her mother a hair stylist. She graduated from high school in Swan River, then trained as a nurse at Winnipeg General Hospital.

Driedger said she worked as a nurse for 23 years in a number of health care settings, but mainly at Health Sciences Centre. She believes that this experience gives her an understanding of health care issues, community assessment policy evaluation and critical thinking skills.She then spent 12 years heading Child Find Manitoba, the precursor to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. There, she dealt with social issues involving children such as child exploitation, abuse and violence, and interacted with government, legal and law enforcement officials.Asked by The Headliner why she wants to remain in politics, Driedger replied, “I just love this job. I still have lots of energy, enthusiasm.”

Nichols representing Green Party

Many Charleswood voters will be familiar with Kevin Nichols, Green Party candidate in Roblin, as he’s previously run in federal, provincial and municipal elections.

“This is my fifth campaign,” said the 55-year-old safety technician who has lived in Charleswood for about 25 years.

Asked why he keeps trying to get elected to political office as a Green Party candidate, Nichols said, “People need a different option to choose from.”

He’s concerned about what he terms as the Manitoba Conservatives’ “gutting of the health care system”, adding that the recent changes to emergency rooms in Winnipeg hospitals leave people not knowing where to go for medical treatment.

Eichler going for fifth term

Progressive Conservative candidate Ralph Eichler, 69, is entering his fifth election campaign after first being elected as Lakeside MLA in 2003.

“I was going to be a two-term MLA,” he said, adding that he continues to be engaged politically to work on improving Manitoba’s economy, and specifically creating more jobs in agriculture and improving market access for Manitoba farmers. These goals relate to his work as agriculture minister in the government led by Brian Pallister.

“I’m not close to being done,” Eichler joked. He pointed out that Lakeside has only had three MLAs since 1922 – Douglas Campbell, Harry Enns and himself.

Lakeside constituency’s boundaries have changed and it now includes Elie, St. Eustache, Poplar Point, St. François Xavier and Springstein, as well as Rosser. Eichler said he’s met with the Cartier and SFX municipal councils.

Wishart aiming for return to office

Ian Wishart, 65, is running in his third election to represent Portage la Prairie as MLA.

Wishart was first elected in the spring of 2011 — right at the height of the flood that severely impacted farm and pasture land in the Portage area.

“It was an interesting year for this area. We had tons of flood claims,” he said, adding that a few claims were still coming in four years later.

Wishart was born in Winnipeg, but grew up on his family’s farm near Portage. He attended country school and graduated from Portage Collegiate Institute. He earned a degree in agriculture from the University of Manitoba.

Harvesting more than vegetables

Grasshoppers fly into the air ahead of vehicles travelling along a dirt path to the Operation Ezra community farming project’s donated land next to the Assiniboine River in the RM of St. François Xavier.

While this summer’s been dry, the vegetable, fruit and herb seeds and seedlings planted on about seven acres in May are growing well, with lettuce, beans, peas and mint already being picked earlier in the month by the Yazidi families who also did the planting, weeding and watering.

“They’re harvesting already and there’s going to be more and more,” said Operation Ezra volunteer coordinator Michel Aziza.

The farming project is a partnership between Operation Ezra and Charleswood United Church (4820 Roblin Blvd.) to help feed 54 government-sponsored newcomer families. The land is donated by Charleswood United Church members Gloria and Bo Wohlers and was formerly Shelmerdine’s tree nursery until severe flooding in 2011 destroyed most trees on the site. Operation Ezra is a Jewish-led coalition of multi-faith organizations that has sponsored Yazidi refugees to come to Winnipeg since 2015. The Yazidi people predominantly come from the Mosul region in northern Iraq and have faced centuries of persecution. Beginning in August 2014, the Yazidis were violently targeted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Class 1 licence changes affect farmers

After Aug. 31, anyone seeking a Manitoba Class 1 driver’s licence to drive a farm vehicle will have a year in which to complete 121.5 hours of new mandatory entry level training.

Manitoba Public Insurance representative Dean Zarillo spoke to Keystone Agricultural Producers members about the upcoming changes at KAP’s advisory council meeting in Portage la Prairie on July 30.

The mandatory entry-level training will take effect for new drivers of all other Class 1 vehicles starting Sept. 1, but MPI is giving those who drive vehicles with farm plates an extra year.

Zarillo said the training is standardized and will provide Manitoba semi-trailer drivers with the same level of training as their counterparts in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta, provinces that have also introduced mandatory training for new drivers. He expects other provinces to follow later this year.

Kicking for Team Manitoba

Two local soccer players will take to the field for Team Manitoba at the Western Canada Summer Games.

Lauren Chabot, 16, of Headingley and Rosser’s Paris Grosselle, 14, have both been named to Manitoba’s U16 girls’ team. The provincial girls’ and boys’ soccer teams will compete at the Games in Swift Current, Sask. from Aug. 9 to 13.

Chabot plays midfield for Bonivital Soccer Club in Winnipeg and is confident that she and her teammates will represent the province well at the Games. She recently competed with her team in the Manitoba Soccer Association Cup finals, where they lost a close 1-0 game to FC Northwest. She also played in a U.S.A. Cup event in July in which her team placed second.

Chabot started playing soccer in Elie when she was five, joined the Portage Trails U9 developmental program and began playing  in the premier division when she was 13. She joined Bonivital this past season and also plays for École secondaire Oak Park High School’s varsity soccer team and Valour FC Elite, a pre-university showcase team.

La Salle swimmer to carry flag

All eyes will be on Quinlan Roberts as she carries the Manitoba flag at the Western Canada Summer Games’ opening ceremony on Aug. 9.

La Salle swimmer and past Games alumni Roberts, 19, was recently announced as Team Manitoba’s flag bearer. The Summer Games are being held from Aug. 9 to 18 in Swift Current, Sask. Team Manitoba is sending over 300 athletes, 44 coaches, 14 managers, four tech support, and 21 mission staff to participate in 19 sports over the duration of the 2019 WCSG.  

“Quinlan’s leadership, hard work and dedication to her sport solidified her as an excellent representative for Team Manitoba at the 2019 Western Canada Summer Games’ Opening Ceremonies,” said Team Manitoba’s Chef de Mission, Patrick Kirby.

Roberts will be competing in five events at the Western Canada Summer Games but she’s no novice when it comes to national competition. She won gold and silver in the Special Olympics competition that was part of the 2017 Canada Summer Games held in Winnipeg. She’s also competed provincially and nationally in Special Olympics championships and most recently won three silver, a gold and bronze medals at the Canada Games in Antigonish, N.S. last summer.

Slowing down in Lido Plage

It is likely that a request to drop the speed limit on Lido Plage Road will be the first time the Cartier council uses its newly granted municipal power to change speed limits on municipal roads.

The provincial government gave Manitoba municipalities the ability to set speed limits on municipal roads without having to get provincial approval through the Traffic and Transportation Modernization Act that came into force on March 1, 2019. The province retains authority for all provincial roads.

Cartier council received a petition signed by members of 25 households located along Lido Plage Road asking for the current speed zone of 80 kilometres/hour to be reduced to 50. Denis Morin, who lives at 3331 Lido Plage Rd., circulated the petition, and said there are also a few residents who are in favour of reducing the speed limit but have suggested that it be 60, rather than 50 km/h.

“We want 50,” Morin said, adding that the road has curves that make it hard for drivers to see pedestrians, cyclists or wildlife ahead on the road.

Mann to join Bisons track team

Dawson Mann, 18, of Sanford is one of five recent Manitoba high school graduates announced as prize recruits of the University of Manitoba Bisons track and field team.

“It’s definitely exciting,” Mann said.

“We are very pleased to have another strong group of young athletes join the Bison track and field and cross-country programs,” said Bison track and field coach Claude Berube.“They all come well-prepared to compete at both the Canada West and U Sports level with provincial, national, and even international competition experience. They will all be key members of the Bisons program moving forward.”

When interviewed on July 22, Mann was preparing to travel to the national track and field championships in Montreal from July 25 to 28. He will also run for Team Manitoba at the Western Canada Summer Games in Swift Current, Sask from Aug. 9 to18., where he will compete in the 800-metre event.

Portage residents stepping up

Portage la Prairie residents are taking the first steps toward what will likely be a community patrol modelled along the lines of Winnipeg and Brandon’s Bear Clan or Winnipeg’s Mama Bear Clan patrols.

“Whatever it is, it needs to fit Portage,” said Portage la Prairie Community Revitalization Corporation community facilitator Vienna Lopez.

“We have large-city issues, but small-city resources,” Lopez said.

The PCRC started the ball rolling on the initiative, designed to improve community safety and offer help to those in need, by holding a public safety community engagement session on June 12. She said 230 people attended and heard presentations by Winnipeg Bear Clan and Brandon Bear Clan/Women’s Council members.

ROK livens up summer for local youth

About 60 Portage la Prairie youngsters will spend part of their summer having fun, learning new sports, and trying a variety of activities thanks to Recreation Opportunities for Kids Central Inc.’s free summer camp at the BDO Centre.

The camp opened on July 2 with seven camp leaders guiding the children. ROK executive director Lynne Parker said staffing costs are paid for through federal and provincial summer employment funding and the Portage la Prairie Community Revitalization Corporation. Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart program has allowed ROK to purchase sporting equipment, and Sobeys donates healthy snacks for the campers.

Throughout the summer, various sports groups such as Lacrosse Manitoba, Softball Manitoba, and the Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Council send representatives to teach campers new skills. Parker said this summer they will learn about ultimate frisbee.

Parents of children who attended last summer’s camp began contacting ROK in January to ask about registering for this summer’s camp.

Training future rural health care providers

Having a summer job close to home can be a bonus for post-secondary students but Southern Health-Santé Sud’s Home for the Summer program holds benefits for students and their employers.

Regional director of recruitment and Indigenous employment Holly Leost said the health authority has run the Home for the Summer program since 2009. Also offered by other Manitoba regional health authorities, the program aims to give students studying for a career in health care the opportunity to return to their home areas and gain relevant work experience at local health care facilities. In return, it is more likely that graduates will return to Southern Health/Santé Sud to begin their careers.

“That’s been a real bonus of this program. They can gain knowledge of a workplace,” Leost said.

While the emphasis is placed on recruiting students from rural communities to go back to their home areas, Leost said some students who grew up in Winnipeg and Brandon have also participated in the program.

Portage Recycling turns waste material into profit

Don’t leave a dribble of milk in the carton or a bit of Cheese Whiz stuck to the inside of the jar when you put it in your recycling box.

While many of us are a bit lackadaisical about washing out the bottles, cans and plastic food containers we leave for recycling, Portage & District Recycling’s general manager Christine Major will set you straight.

“We don’t want our staff getting sick,” she said, adding that the summer heat can quickly sour milk left in a carton or jug.

Watching a line of workers sort out the various types of recyclable material passing by on a conveyer belt, Major’s comment makes sense. The recyclable material not only loses value if it’s contaminated with food waste but it can also be quite toxic to those sorting.

Tickling the ivories pays off

Music is part of the Kaluzny household’s everyday environment as Tristen, 16, and Ashley, 10, spend hours practising at the upright piano in the office.

The pair, who live in Starbuck, were winners at this year’s Meridian Arts Festival in Starbuck and went on to the Provincial Music & Arts Festival held at Winnipeg’s St. John’s Ravenscourt School on May 25 and 26. Ashley won the J.S. Bach award in the preliminary piano class, while Tristen earned third place in the intermediate piano division.

Tristen, who will be entering Grade 12 at Sanford Collegiate this fall, said, while he doesn’t get nervous about performing in public, having to play on the competition baby grand piano for the first time is tricky. Each competitor plays two pieces and he said the piano’s tone matched his second number very well.

“I couldn’t have played that piece any better than I did,” he said, adding that he is pleased to have received third place honours, as it’s the first time he’s placed in the top three.

Indigenous knowledge brought to museum

Brewing up a cup of tea using a variety of herbs and grasses is part of what Fort la Reine Museum visitors can experience this summer.

A tea-making workshop is planned on Wed., July 3 at 6:30 p.m. at the Portage la Prairie museum (2652 Saskatchewan Ave. E). It is being held by Women of Mother Earth Network and is the first of six Anishinaabe cultural workshops led by local elders.

As well, a station featuring dried blueberries, licorice root, stinging nettle, sage, burdock root and other plants is part of the museum’s Miijim: Traditional Foods of the Anishinaabeg exhibit now on display. Visitors can fill tea bags with the plants and learn about their healing qualities. The exhibit, created by Lake of the Woods Museum, Iskatewizaagegan First Nation, and University of Manitoba Natural Resources Institute, contains information on how First Nation people in eastern Manitoba and northwestern Ontario sought traditional animal and plant food sources, how food was prepared, and medicinal uses of some foods.

“It’s a hands-on experience,” said museum executive director Madison Connolly.

Headingley wins in ParticipACTION Challenge

All the 1.25 million steps, skips and jumps that Headingley residents of all ages recorded from May 31 to June 16 have paid off with a $20,000 regional prize.

“We are super excited,” said Lisa Krishka, board member on the Phoenix Recreation Association, the group that organized that local challenge.

The ParticipACTION Community Better Challenge is a new annual physical activity challenge with the purpose of bringing communities together through physical activity and sport participation. Challenge participants tracked their minutes for the community total.

Headingley was declared the Central Region winner, with Enderby, B.C. winning the $150,000 national prize.

A summer job up north

Dani Nowosad, of Headingley, is spending her summer in Canada’s Arctic identifying invertebrate species found in ponds and lakes.

She is a research assistant with Polar Knowledge Canada and recently arrived in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

Nowosad, 24, who grew up in Headingley, attended Headingley’s Phoenix School and graduated from Winnipeg’s Westwood Collegiate in 2012. She then attended the University of Winnipeg for her undergraduate degree and recently completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours, majoring in physical geography. The work she’s doing this summer will form the foundation of her master of science program in the University of Guelph’s Integrative Biology Department beginning in September.

“On our team, I’m going to be the “aquatic invertebrates person,” meaning I’ll be taking samples from lakes and ponds and bringing them back to the lab so I can identify which species are present — it’s sometimes hard to tell with the naked eye, so I’ll be needing a microscope — and relatively how many of each species are present. In addition, I will be shipping specimens to Guelph where I’ll be responsible for doing some DNA barcoding work, in order to create a genetic catalogue of species found around Cambridge Bay,” Nowosad said in an email message.

Putting a value on farmland

A Manitoba century farm holds tremendous sentimental value for the family that’s owned the land for generations, but what is its true market value if the time comes to sell?

La Salle resident Debbie Pieterse, who owns and operates Prairie Sky Appraisal and Consulting Services, is in the business of assessing land and calculating its value. She said, among other factors, she looks at municipal records, recent sales of land in the surrounding area, and evaluation of the soil quality for farmland. For example, prime soil in the Portage la Prairie area would be rated as a one in the Canadian Land Inventory, while most of Manitoba’s arable land is rated at two or three. Pasture land could be four or five, and land unsuitable for any type of farming would be six or seven.

“It depends on the area,” she said, adding that the higher heat units typically experienced in the Red River Valley push the land’s value up to between $4,000 and $5,000 an acre, while farmland in other parts of the province would more likely be priced at approximately $2,500 an acre.

Of course land closer to a metropolitan centre fetches a higher price because of its development potential. “The closer you are to Winnipeg, Brandon or Morden/Winkler, the higher the price,” Pieterse said, adding supply and demand influences value.

Ringing the final school bell

While the building will remain open, the last students and teachers will leave Domain School on June 28, marking the end of 81  years of serving the community.

Red River Valley School Division announced in March that the two-classroom school, which now has nine students and one full-time and one half-time teacher, is closing at the end of this school year. Superintendent Brad Curtis said the kindergarten to Grade 8 school’s enrolment has been steadily decreasing — down from 18 in 2015-16 — and with limited financial resources, the division had to make this decision.

“It’s just not feasible to continue,” he said, referring to budgetary considerations. “Every dollar counts.”

He previously told The Headliner that closing the school will save the division approximately $200,000 in 2019-20. At a community meeting held on Oct. 30, 2018 to discuss the school’s future, the division presented figures showing the cost of education per student is now $19,963, compared to approximately $7,880 per student attending J.A. Cuddy School in Sanford.

Assisted living project gets huge boost

Portage Assisted Living Corporation was the local charity selected to receive a $250,000 impact grant from the Community Foundation of Portage and District.

The grant announcement was made on June 20 at the foundation’s 25th anniversary lunch. The money will be used for the Assisted Living group’s Dufferin Villa project that will see a three-storey 53-room facility being constructed close to the Portage Clinic (140 9th St. SE) on 3.5 acres donated by the City of Portage.

Assisted Living Corporation chair Al Braun said the project started in 2012 to meet the need for more assisted living housing in Portage. Although construction isn’t expected to begin until this fall, Braun said they have already received 165 applications from prospective tenants.

“There’s lots of pent-up anticipation.”

Portage pair having Giant season

Jayson Brooks, 20, and Chance Dickinson, 19, have played baseball together for many years on Portage la Prairie boys’ teams and are still together midway through their second season with the Elmwood Giants.

“They’re a fun group to play with,” Dickinson said.

“They’re great guys,” Brooks said. “I had fun last year with the team and I want to go to nationals.”

Dickinson, who plays at first base and pitches, and Brooks, an outfielder, were part of the Giants team that won the Manitoba Junior Baseball League championship last year. As of June 13, the team was in first place in the league following a 6-3 win on June 12 over their main competitor the Altona Bisons. They had won eight of their nine games with a win percentage of .889.

Making a busy intersection safer

The thousands of motorists who drive through the intersection at Highway 3/McGillivray Boulevard and the Perimeter Highway will soon be travelling on a safer route.

Excavation and surfacing work is now underway next to the Oak Bluff interchange with a finish date of mid-August.

Manitoba Infrastructure’s director of regional operations Doug Struthers explained that much of the work is being done to lengthen the left and right turn lanes for traffic heading south on the Perimeter Highway and wanting to turn left onto McGillivray or right onto Highway 3.

The right-hand turning lane off McGillivray for traffic heading north on the Perimeter Highway will also be lengthened.

Trail continues to surprise

Native wildflowers are popping up and birds are nesting along the Headingley Grand Trunk Trail.

Headingley Grand Trunk Trail Association member Les McCann recently opened one of 20 small bird boxes installed five years ago next to the trail that runs for 10 kilometres through the southern edge of Headingley. He counted seven swallow eggs and said that swallows, wrens and even a pair of bluebirds are among the bird species using the boxes for nests this spring.

“We never know what’s going to show up. There are even some woodpeckers attracted to them, but they just cause damage,” he said.

McCann was also out on June 5 to see how native flowers, grasses and shrubs are regenerating after the trail members and Prairie Habitats conducted a controlled burn on April 17. They wanted to mimic the natural cycle of fire and regrowth that once occurred on the Prairies.McCann and the other HGTTA members are working to preserve an approximately 12-acre section of land adjacent to the trail from the train tracks west to Rodney Street that contains pristine natural tall grass prairie growth. It was land set aside by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, along whose rail bed the trail now lies, and which was never developed.

Taking aim at local violence

Christa Whitford believes there’s strength in numbers and invites others to join her in a Stop the Violence March planned for Sat., June 29 in Portage la Prairie.

Marchers will meet at Island Park at 1 p.m., walk to City Hall (97 Saskatchewan Ave. E) and the Portage RCMP detachment (340 Lorne Ave. E). Whitford said a ceremony and feast will follow in Island Park’s picnic area.

Whitford and march co-organizer Ashleigh Laperle believe that recent violent episodes and an increase in petty theft in Portage are linked to drug use.

“There’s really no help for users here,” Whitford said. She had to leave the community to get treatment for her own addiction five years ago.

Headingley out to win top prize

All Headingley residents are encouraged to get active and help the municipality win $150,000.Phoenix Recreation Association is spearheading the community’s involvement in the Canada-wide ParticipACTION Community Better Challenge that ends on June 16.

“We really jumped on this,” said association member Marian Templeton.

The community that logs the highest number of active minutes will be named Canada’s Most Active Community and receive the top prize of $150,000. As well, finalists from all regions will be awarded $20,000.

The ParticipACTION Community Better Challenge is a new annual physical activity challenge with the purpose of bringing communities together through physical activity and sport participation. Challenge participants can download the ParticipACTION app to track their minutes. To track minutes as a family or group, an account can be set up online. Headingley residents should use their RM of Headingley postal code when logging minutes to make sure they are added to the community’s total.

Fibre optics plan made public

St. Francois Xavier reeve Rick Van Wyk explained council’s plan to establish a fibre optic system throughout the municipality at a public meeting on May 29.

About 90 people attended the meeting, and judging by the applause, most seemed to support council’s vision that involves borrowing about $3 million with a 25-year term to set up and run the system. Van Wyk said all households and businesses now situated in the municipality will receive free hook-up to the network.

“It will provide fibre optics to every home, business and farm,” he said.

The system will initially be capable of providing internet service at a speed of 100 megabits per second — a rate that the councillors have determined will meet the needs of most residents. It is possible that the speed could be increased in the future.

Tire distribution centre rises in Rosser

One of the construction sites now being worked on in CentrePort Canada’s Brookside Industrial Park Phase III belongs to Groupe Touchette, Canada’s largest Canadian-owned tire distributor.

The approximately six-acre site on Harvest Drive will house a 100,000-square-foot building with 32-foot high ceilings to accommodate industrial needs. The company is currently located in a 57,000-square-foot leased space in Inkster Industrial Park.

Groupe Touchette founder André Touchette was on hand for the May 29 announcement. He spoke about starting the business from his home 40 years ago and his excitement over the new distribution centre.

“Our new location at CentrePort is perfect for us. Trucks can leave the warehouse and be moving at highway speeds in under two minutes. The new building will be state of the art, and allow us to more than double our capacity, as we are building not only out, but up,” said Touchette.

Growing together in their new home

Rows of tiny seedlings recently planted in the RM of St. Francois Xavier represent more than food for Yazidi refugees.

As these plants take root and grow, so too will the hopes and dreams of the recent newcomers to Winnipeg from Iraq.

The community farming project is a partnership between Operation Ezra and Charleswood United Church (4820 Roblin Blvd.) to help feed 54 government-sponsored newcomer families. Operation Ezra is a Jewish-led coalition of multi-faith organizations that has sponsored Yazidi refugees to come to Winnipeg since 2015. The Yazidi people predominantly come from the Mosul region in northern Iraq and have faced centuries of persecution. Beginning in August 2014, the Yazidis were violently targeted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

“They want to be productive and provide for themselves and their families,” said Operation Ezra volunteer co-ordinator Michel Aziza, who estimates that about 250 people will be helped directly through this farming project.

Sweet, fruity and made by hand

Joyce and Doug Livingston are following in Paulette and Sam Crampton’s footsteps while entering their first year as owners and operators of Crampton’s Manitoba Maid.

The Livingstons, who live close to Starbuck, purchased the 30-year-old jam, jelly, marmalade, fruit syrup and topping business from the Cramptons last September. Joyce was newly retired from a career in health care specializing in rehabilitation for stroke patients, and Doug faced a health issue that somewhat compromised his ability to keep farming as he’d done all his life.

“We rented out our land this year,” Doug said. “I’ve gone from greasy hands to freshly washed, squeaky clean hands.”

He admits that he misses the regular annual cycle of grain farming, but figures he can help other family members and friends at harvest time.

SFX increases mill rate slightly

Taxpayers in St. Francois Xavier will see a small rise in their municipal tax rate for 2019.

Council voted on May 7 to accept the 2019-20 financial plan that contains a one per cent increase in the municipal mill rate to 9.302. The 2019 budget is approximately $1.64 million compared to about $1.56 million for 2018 with an increase of approximately $82,000.

The total municipal assessment increased by $742,000 over the past year.

For a residential property assessed at $200,000 and located within the Prairie Rose School Division, the 2019 tax bill will total $1,854, with an approximately $14 increase in school tax and $9 more in municipal tax from the 2018 bill. The owner of a house assessed at the same value and located within the Portage la Prairie School Division will receive a bill totalling $2,086, with about $13 more in school tax and $8 in municipal tax compared to 2018.

Museum working with local community

Witchcraft, traditional Indigenous foods, cinnamon buns and a new heritage festival are some of the activities on the Fort la Reine Museum’s calendar for this season.

Museum executive director Madison Connolly is excited about working with community members on many of these programs and events such as Pioneer Buns for Bikes on Sun., May 26. Part of Portage la Prairie Active Transportation’s Bike Week, anyone who bikes to the museum site at 2652 Saskatchewan Ave. E between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. will receive a freshly made cinnamon bun and free admission to the museum.

For those interested in the history of witchcraft in North America, an exhibition entitled Witchcraft Explored is showing until the season’s close on Nov. 15. Guests will follow a tour to read informational panels inside the museum’s Trapper’s Cabin, Paul House and Trading Post.

“Not many people know that (witch hunts) were part of our Canadian history,” Connolly said, adding that most events date back to Canada’s early establishment as New France.

Space to play at The Rink

The Rink Training Centre’s president, Ryan Cyr, said every inch of the new location at 57 South Landing Dr. was planned perfectly.