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The Town of Morris will be operating on reduced emergency department hours at the Morris General Hospital due to a doctor shortage.

The reduction in hours came into effect on May 15 when Southern Health announced the closure.

“The hours were reduced as a result of some physician shortages we’re experiencing in the Morris-Emerson area,” said Mona Spencer, director of acute community hospitals with Southern Health.

“We currently have four physicians now in the area. We have one recently departed. We have a new physician that is joining the practice this fall and we will be at that time reviewing the hours for emergency service and hoping to be able to expand those hours.”

The Steinbach Arts Council is excited to announce that our Arts4Tots preschool registration is open for the 2023-2024 year. This is a great way to prepare your toddlers for kindergarten and get them excited about the arts. Immerse your children in music, theatre, arts, games. Introduce them to science, math, reading, and fine motor skills. Visit our website steinbacharts.ca for more information and to register.

Summer Arts Day Camp

The ever-popular Summer Arts Day Camps are back. Gain access to the most sought-after creative summer camps in Steinbach, and experience music, drama, dance, visual art, games, sports, field trips, swimming, and of course, new friends.

The Summer Arts Day Camps run weekly from July 4 to Aug. 18 and feature a variety of themes for age groups 5-8 and 9-12. For more information and to register, please visit us online at steinbacharts.ca. If you have any questions, please call 204-346-1077.

In my opinion banning books is always a bad idea!

Recently city councils in Winkler and Altona received formal requests from community members to take certain books off the shelves of the South Central Regional Library. The Brandon School Board has heard presentations from parents who want specific books removed from their city’s school libraries.

Something similar is happening in Winnipeg. During budget presentations to Winnipeg City Council two citizens claimed there were books in Winnipeg public libraries that were pornographic and violated the criminal code of Canada. They wanted the city to stop funding libraries till these materials were removed.

In my opinion banning books is always a bad idea! People have every right to decide what they and their children read but can’t be allowed to decide what other families read. What will be left on the shelves if every special interest group can have a say in what kind of books should be in libraries?

It took me nearly two weeks to write this column, because I burst into tears every time I attempted it. And while my eyes are still welling up as I sit at my keyboard today, I think my heart is finally ready to share.

People tell you that pets are just pets. That they don’t matter as much in the grand scheme of things as the people in our lives, and when they die, our grief for them should be measured accordingly. But this just isn’t true. When a creature has been part of the fabric of your days for nearly 18 years, their sudden absence leaves the same aching painful gap that any human would.

After fighting so hard to stay in this world, my Mozart, my warrior, my ageless wonder and the terror of every bird and squirrel in the neighbourhood has crossed the bridge into Heaven. His toys, his dishes, his favourite places to hide and to sleep are still and empty now, and I still find myself waiting to see him perched on my living room window ledge, letting me know he’s done with his outdoor adventures and wants to come in. I still look up, expecting to see his dark stare from on top of my cabinets. We think he must have learned to levitate to get up there.

There’s no rascal perched on my counter, waiting for handouts.

I came across the following article (author not given) on the internet the other day. The article was falsely accredited to the CEO of a major world bank, but while it’s doubtful this piece was written in anything but a satirical manner, it still makes a good point.

“The BIKE is the slow death of the planet.

Cyclists are a disaster for the country’s economy – They do not buy a car or take out a car loan. They don’t buy car insurance. They don’t buy fuel. They don’t send their car for maintenance and repairs. They do not use paid parking. They do not cause major accidents. They do not require multi-lane highways. They do not become obese…

Healthy people are not needed in the economy. They don’t buy medicine. They don’t go to hospitals and doctors. They add nothing to the country’s GDP. On the contrary, every new McDonald’s outlet creates at least 30 jobs – 10 cardiologists, 10 dentists, 10 weight loss experts apart from the people working in the McDonald’s outlet. Choose wisely: a cyclist or a McDonald’s? It’s worth thinking about.

A motorcyclist in Steinbach played a game of cat and mouse with local RCMP May 20, only to be the eventual loser left without his wheels and given a long list of charges.

RCMP said in a May 23 press release, that they were patrolling on Saturday night when they spotted the red Honda motorcycle “driving recklessly and making excessive noise”.

“Members tried to conduct a traffic stop on the motorcycle but (it) took off on multiple occasions but was eventually apprehended before trying to flee again,” they said.

Police arrested a 20-year-old male from Steinbach for two counts of flight from police. He was also served numerous Highway Traffic Act tickets relating to the chase. He also faces charges of making unnecessary noise, driving carelessly, driving disqualified, driving without insurance, and driving unregistered.

Dear Money Lady, my concern is with my financial advisor and the volatility he has had me in for years. I am now 79 and wonder if this should be changed. My investments are mainly in equities: TFSA 83 percent, RRIF 72 percent, and US RRIF 99 percent. I have questioned him before and have done well over the years. I feel I need another opinion. Thanks, Sue

Dear Sue – you are right, it is too high for someone in their 70’s, it may even be too high for someone in their 50’s.

I agree with your advisor, to take advantage of market growth you must be invested in securities and equites, however I don’t agree that your advisor should have the above percentages in equities at your age. This is far too risky, especially now. The problems arise when we have downturn market swings, and you are still withdrawing funds from your portfolio. The cyclical trends that helped build your portfolio, now can cause severe damage when assets are cashed-in for retirement income. In fact, if the down turns are deep enough, it can cut your retirement portfolio in half. A retiree should expect to endure between 3 to 5 downward swings to the equity markets during a typical 25-year retirement. This is why most retirees trim down their exposure to the equity market as they age. If you are heavily invested in securities, you will need to have enough time to wait for the recovery without taking out funds when the market goes down. The question is: can you reframe from routine withdrawals when you have a depressed portfolio? Remember, you need all securities to stay in the portfolio to take advantage of the recovery. This is why it is better to use fewer volatile investments as you age and to lessen the exposure to securities. Here are five tips to consider when investing in retirement.

1. Set up withdrawals from money market funds only. Do not choose fluctuating investments such as equity funds, income trust funds, balanced funds or even bond funds.

More than $2.4 million for 45 projects will flow into the Southeast as a result of a provincial announcement.

On May 16, the province announced $25 million for 428 community projects across the province through the Building Sustainable Communities Program.

Southeast Manitoba’s share comes to 10.5 percent of all approved projects and 9.7 percent of the total funding.

The grants are available to projects of all sizes, maxing out at $300,000.

Potato production in Canada is scattered across the country. Prince Edward Island is the largest-producing province, followed by Manitoba and Alberta.

But a huge expansion project will soon change that. The Alberta government has been pouring money into expanding irrigation in southern Alberta in the area between Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. More than half a million acres is the potential size when everything is finished.

Water will start as snow or ice in the mountains of Western Alberta, melt into the rivers and head into the dry farmland of southern Alberta. Whatever water is not taken by Alberta farmers will cross the border into Saskatchewan and eventually northern Manitoba. There are regulations that govern how much water can be withdrawn by each province.

To prevent evaporation, a lot of the water storage and transport of the water will be underground. That in itself is one way to get more out of the water available. (The water entering the system and the water crossing the border both remain the same. But the underground storage and transportation of water that would normally be expected to lose a lot because of evaporation results in a lot more water that can be used by Alberta farmers.)

The province recently announced that it is partnering with a B.C.-based company to deliver virtual financial literacy programming in Manitoba classrooms. Starting next school year, Enriched Academy will provide lessons to about 1,500 Manitoba students on topics such as inflation, mortgages, and interest rates.

Enriched Academy has an impressive track record. Not only does this Canadian company work with major organizations such as the National Police Federation, but it also has active contracts with the governments of Alberta and P.E.I., along with several large school boards across the country. By all accounts, it looks like this partnership will be good for Manitoba students.

However, that didn’t stop the usual detractors from criticizing this announcement. For example, People for Public Education, a lobby group made up primarily of education professors and left-leaning teachers and trustees, posted on social media that the province should have “kept more curriculum consultants in the department of education” since these consultants could have developed “cheaper and long-term options.”

In other words, People for Public Education thinks that government workers could have done a better job of designing financial literacy lessons than a private company that specializes in providing these lessons to students and organizations across Canada. Their suggestion would be laughable if it weren’t for the fact that this group meant it to be taken seriously.

The RM of Reynold’s budget will remain relatively unchanged compared to previous years with no plans for large projects in the coming year.

Council passed the $2.2 million budget on May 10. The plan will raise mill rates by 0.14.

A large part of the budget could be taken up by the Prawda water project that could cost up to $600,000 said CAO Kim Furgala. The project aims to supply clean water to the Prawda Water Co-op.

Only half the cost will fall on the RM to cover. The other portion will be funded by the Manitoba Water Services Board. Furgala said only the residents living in the co-op area will have an additional cost to their taxes, not the entire population of the RM.

Carmen Hiebert is back in Manitoba.

The Lorette basketball player is transferring from Douglas College in B.C. to the University of Winnipeg, and will be suiting up for the Wesmen starting this fall. After two years out west, Hiebert has three years of eligibility left in collegiate athletics.

Hiebert said while she enjoyed travelling to play, especially after COVID-19 nearly wiped out her entire grade 11 and 12 basketball seasons, the potential to play at a high-level in front of friends and family was too good to pass up.

“It was time to go home,” she said.