Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation has elected a new chief.

Gary Roberts defeated incumbent Craig Alexander in elections held Saturday, March 18.

Senior election officer Burke Ratte confirmed the results.

Roberts garnered 235 votes to Alexander’s 111. Keith Henry (198), June Thomas (78), and Ken Henry Jr. (50) also ran in the five-way chief’s race.

The cost of inflation, minimum wage increases and waste collection is being passed on to Niverville residents for the 2023 tax year.

Niverville council passed its 2023 budget on Tuesday night, which is based on a four percent increase to the average resident, three percent lower than the national average rate of inflation last year.

Homes worth $319,600 will see a roughly $78 increase to their tax bill to account for inflation while the waste collection levy is increasing to $140 per household from $125, the first increase since 2020, to recover increasing costs for the service.

To account for roughly $500,000 in wage increases for over 100 workers the town employs, Mayor Myron Dyck said the town had to consider what projects to include in the budget and what to forego for another year.

Let’s talk about maintaining relationships when mental illness is present. We all know that committed relationship often brings a variety of stressors and rewards to those who embark on the journey. For people with mental illness, these stressors can be even greater. Yet committed relationships can benefit from interventions that help the couple improve, or at least stabilize, mental health symptoms. Couples therapy can help both partners improve communication and problem-solving skills and enhance their resiliency.

Some relationship and family therapists believe that education can effectively prepare people for marriage and similar relationships by teaching them basic skills they’ll have to use daily. Education topics include finances, healthy communication, dealing with conflict and planning for parenthood. Some organized religions require that couples take a premarital course if they want to be married in that church. Certainly most marital researchers and therapists agree that identifying what you want for yourself and your relationship is important for the health of the committed relationship and the individuals. This is true whether mental illness is present or not.

A healthy view of the couple relationship includes reasonable expectations of the rewards that commitment brings and also recognizing that it requires personal effort by both partners to make it work. There are many helpful strategies that partners can use to maintain a healthy relationship and avoid being overwhelmed and directed by mental illness.

Learn about the illness and its best treatment options. Mental illness can be confusing. You might think your spouse is being lazy, irritable, distant or distracted. But these “character flaws” might really be symptoms of a mental illness. If it is determined that a mental illness is present, make sure your partner receives effective treatment. Learn from a mental health professional how you can support the treatment plan. Not knowing how you can help could be very frustrating for you and your partner.

Dear Money Lady Readers: Why are so many Canadians still struggling with money when we have such a large banking industry that says it wants to help us?

Today Canada is dominated by five large banks, that now control 91 percent of the entire Canadian financial service industry, with approximately $4 trillion in assets. The Royal Bank’s recent purchase of HSBC only amplifies this fact. Many may think that there are larger industries in Canada, however as of 2021 the financial sector is now the largest industry in terms of employment in Canada. There now is so much information out there, it’s hard to know if someone is trying to truly help you or sell you something that is necessary for them to meet their sales quota. Because of this, I want to provide my readers with a basic financial plan strategy. One that every Canadian can fit into their life and we will break it into four stages. Use it as a guideline - something to work towards. Guaranteed, if done as presented, it will reduce the financial uncertainness that impact your life, and help you reach retirement debt free and wealthy.

Stage 1: In your 20’s you will have debt – either consumer and/or school debt. This is the time to begin saving and establishing good credit so that you can borrow from the banks in the future. You don’t want to pay higher lending rates simply because you continually overindulge or can’t pay your bills on time. Open a tax-free savings account (TFSA) and have 15 percent of your paycheque taken out of your bank account the same day that you get paid (setup automatically with your bank). Once the TFSA is maxed, open a RSP account and do the same. TIP: Invest in ETF’s (exchange traded funds) that follow an index such as the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq Composite. Don’t have too much invested domestically. Historically, the U.S. stock market has always outperformed all others.

Stage 2: Now in your 30’s you will most likely be working fulltime and it is imperative that you continue your savings regime as in Stage 1. Always take 15 percent off the top of your paycheque to be first put in your TFSA and then into your RSP. If you are lucky enough to hit your maximum RSP contribution limit, any other savings should go into a non-registered investment account. In this decade you want to get into the real estate market. You may need to buy a home with friends or family or even take in boarders to help make ends meet. I know it will be a stretch for most young Canadians, but it is an absolute necessity to give you more options for the future. You should have a Will + two Power of Attorney (medical direction + assets) and review your insurance needs at this stage.

Large capital projects took centre stage as Steinbach council approved the 2023 financial plan after a public hearing on Tuesday.

Council voted unanimously to accept the $30.4 million budget, representing a 5.6 percent increase from last year.

The mill rate will drop by 2.8 percent to 18.7 mills, but increased assessments will cause tax bills to rise.

In his presentation to council, Steinbach senior manager of finance Brian Hrehirchuk explained that an average dwelling with a market value of $217,000 can expect to pay $1,337.81 in municipal taxes this year. That’s up by $56.21 from last year for the average dwelling, representing a 4.4 percent increase.

Steinbach Regional Secondary School (SRSS) continues to impress when it comes to generating outstanding volleyball players. Not only did the school notch the AAAA boys provincial championship this season, graduate Jordy Heppner was named Canada West men’s rookie of the year.

The middle blocker put together a great season for the University of Manitoba Bisons, racking up over 100 kills this season. The first-year player also showed a veteran acumen, only recording 27 errors as he hit at a 0.336 rate this season.

Heppner said before the season started he had hoped to make the all-rookie team, but receiving rookie of the year honours was a complete surprise.

“I want to give a lot of credit to my coach, (Arnd ‘Lupo’ Ludwig), he improved me a lot through the year,” Heppner said after receiving news he won the award.

A four-time impaired driver will spend several weekends in jail after he was caught driving while prohibited, with the presiding judge saying he expects to see the man before him again in the future.

Rony Flores, 44, appeared before Judge Larry Allen in Steinbach provincial court last Thursday to plead guilty to driving while prohibited on Oct. 7 of last year.

Crown attorney Sarah Thiessen said Steinbach RCMP nabbed Flores while patrolling with an automatic licence plate scanner.

At the time, Flores was under a five-year driving ban after recording his fourth impaired driving conviction a few months earlier. Court records show the previous three convictions occurred in 2008, 2018, 2019.

The Steinbach Millers left no doubt that they were the best junior B hockey team in the province this weekend, when they skated to three straight tournament victories to claim the Manitoba Junior B championship.

Victories over Dauphin, Portage la Prairie and Pembina Valley in a four-team provincial tournament gave Steinbach its first ever provincial junior hockey championship, to add to the Manitoba Jr. B Hockey League title, they won last month.

The Millers junior team was formed last fall with players from Ste Anne, Lorette, St Malo, Randolph, Kleefeld, Grunthal and Steinbach, and coached by Ste Anne’s Jude Boulianne. The team competed in the newly formed MJBHL, including teams from Pembina Valley, Gimli, Selkirk and Portage la Prairie.

After finishing first in the league standings with a record of 19 wins, three losses and two ties, the Millers skated to easy victories over Selkirk and Portage in the playoffs to win the MJBHL championship and a berth in the four-team provincial finals, which they hosted for the first time.

A Steinbach group is hoping to inspire a change in how development occurs in the future.

Called Strong Towns Steinbach, the local chapter is hoping to encourage investment in the downtown, creating a walkable city that does not just cater to drivers.

They point out that after the Second World War, suburban sprawl began to be common in North America.

That enabled people to live the dream of owning their own home, have a lawn, and live away from the “city life” even if they were still attached to the city.

An unforeseen tender price resulted in significant changes to a planned project for Barkman Avenue and Penner Street which were slated to get asphalt overlays this year.

While a consultant estimated the project would cost just over $3.2 million, the lowest of two tenders submitted by Maple Leaf Construction totaled $3.75 million, 21 percent higher than expected.

A second tender from Accurate HD Ltd. came in at nearly $4.18 million.

Council approved a modified plan presented by administration that reduced the total cost of the project, delayed other projects and saw more money released from reserves.

"We see it as anti-teacher.” That’s what Manitoba Teachers’ Society President Nathan Martindale had to say when asked for his thoughts on Bill 35.

Calling a bill “anti-teacher” is a serious accusation. One might think that Bill 35 closes schools, abolishes tenure, or cuts teachers’ salaries. These are the kind of actions that might reasonably be considered anti-teacher.

However, Bill 35 does none of these things. Rather, Bill 35 establishes an online teacher registry and independent discipline process for teacher misconduct. In other words, as already happens in other professions such as medicine and law, the public will be informed when teachers are found guilty of misconduct.

Holding misbehaving teachers accountable hardly sounds anti-teacher. Since the vast majority of teachers are ethical people who genuinely wish to help students, they have nothing to fear from an open and transparent disciplinary process.

If there was a moment to sum up the Steinbach Huskies season, it came in the final moments of the Hanover-Tache Junior Hockey League (HTJHL) championship series. Up big over the Red River Mudbugs and heading for a finals sweep, the players were frustrated on the bench. Frustrated they had allowed the Mudbugs to score a third goal while en-route to a 9-3 victory.

“That’s just what our group was like this year,” Steinbach coach Benjamin Plett said after the game.

“They never wanted to get scored on, they never wanted to have teams even have a chance in games. We wanted to dominate every single night and that’s what we did again tonight.”

The Huskies, playing their final season inside the Centennial Arena before the Southeast Event Centre is built, won the championship on the road in St Jean, defeating the Mudbugs convincingly in game four March 21. Steinbach outscored Red River 26-9 in the series, and cruised to victory after a tight one-goal win in game one.

Final performance of the 2022-2023 concert season

The Steinbach Arts Council presents Manitoba Theatre for Young People’s award-winning “FROZEN RIVER.” Scheduled to perform at the Pat Porter Active Living Centre on Saturday, March 25; this play is perfect for the whole family!

It’s an opportunity to shine the light on reconciliation and connection, and to create openness and understanding through a professional touring theatre production. Don’t miss the final performance in the Steinbach Arts Council’s series, rounding out a strong concert season for the community!

Show Details:

In recent weeks, Canadians have heard a lot about alleged Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections, and about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s possible complicity in covering it up.

While no one is questioning the overall election results (nationally), Conservatives are focused on combating any future election interference and strengthening election integrity for all Canadians. The first step is to find out what Justin Trudeau knew and when he knew it?

A fully independent public inquiry is the only way to credibly investigate Beijing’s interference in our democracy and to uncover what and when the Trudeau Liberals knew about this foreign interference.

Justin Trudeau continues to try to distract, divide and cover-up his failure to protect Canadians from foreign interference.

A new controlled intersection recommended by successive annual Steinbach traffic studies will not be constructed this year, according to City Manager Troy Warkentin.

He made the comments while walking council through the 40 page report summarizing 2022 traffic counts made Oct. 20-21 and Oct. 27-28 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Additional counts at five locations were performed from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

For the last two years the traffic count has resulted in a recommendation to install controlled signals at Giesbrecht Street and Highway 52.

The study determined that 1,865 vehicles pass through that intersection on an hourly basis during peak traffic volumes, a 3.6 percent increase from last year. While not significantly higher than Bush Farm Road which totals 1,840, or Keating Road which totals 1,815, that intersection stands out because of the higher number of vehicles travelling north or south through the intersection at 235. Bush Farm Road has only 75 travelling north or south and Keating Road totals 125.

Park Road West will be paved to Industrial Road this year after council approved the $1.97 million tender submitted by Friesen Hauling Inc.

The additional construction will complete the final 260 metres, left after the paving is completed for the Pennco subdivision.

Friesen Hauling submitted the lowest tender for the project. Five tenders were submitted with all but one falling below the amount budgeted.

In fact, the winning bid is 22.4 percent lower than the budgeted funding amount of $2.54 million.