The Pas has been fortunate to have donors give back to the community on various different levels to keep projects going in the community. One donor in particular has given back tremendously over the years to a variety of different charities and notable projects that have greatly benefitted the lives of citizens in the tri-community area.
“I was born and raised in The Pas,” said Evans Premachuk. “In 1963, my wife, Mardene and I left Lynn Lake to move back to my home community to set up my law practice. Eventually we went into owning an apartment complex in The Pas after the pulp mill was built. This led to us slowly getting into some more real estate development.

The Manitoba government is recognizing Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) citizenship cards as a primary form of identification to purchase liquor, cannabis and gaming products in Manitoba, Premier Heather Stefanson announced.
“The Manitoba government is continuing to advance reconciliation and honour the vital contributions of the Red River Métis in shaping Manitoba’s history and culture,” said Stefanson. “These changes will remove barriers for Indigenous Peoples to access products and services such as those regulated by the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba (LGCA).”

Swan River McDonald’s celebrated their grand opening with family, friends and invited guests last Thursday (Feb. 2) before opening to the public the following day. Franchise owner Mihir Patel along with honourary guests Corporal Juanita Bettesworth and Town of Swan River Mayor Lance Jacobson cut the ribbon to signify the official opening of the restaurant. 

The Dauphin Kings are alone in first place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division after a split in a home-and-home with the expansion Niverville Nighthawks over the weekend.

Niverville surprised the Kings, Friday night in Dauphin, scoring a 5-2 victory in the first-ever meeting between the two clubs.

Ethan Whillans and Luke Schaefer staked the Nighthawks to a 2-0 lead after the opening frame and they increased their lead to 4-1 after 40 minutes, with Desmond Johnson and Brett Tataryn giving the visitors a 4-0 lead before Jayden Harris put the homeside on the board with his 12th of the season.

The teams traded goals in the third period.

Owen Wareham’s power-play goal midway through the frame, his third of the campaign, brought the Kings to within two, but Johnson sealed the win with his second of the game into an empty net.

Chris Fines was called upon to make 28 saves in the win, while Dmytro Kubritskyi stopped 23 shots in the loss.

Dauphin rebounded in a big way in Sunday’s rematch in Niverville, building a 5-0 lead and hanging on for a 5-2 victory of their own.

Myles Yearwood staked Dauphin to a 1-0 lead in the first period with his eighth of the season.

The Kings increased the lead to 4-0 after two, on goals from Nicholas Hatton, his second, Nolan Wickham’s sixth and Mason Smith with his 11th.

Deepkaran Hans tallied his 12th of the year early in the third before the Nighthawks got on the board with a pair of power-play markers from Hayden Wheddon and Josh Paulhus.

Cole Sheffield was stellar in goal for Dauphin, making 40 saves, while Dane Couture was credited with 27 stops.

At 25-15-2-1, the Kings sit alone in first with 53 points. Waywayseecappo, Swan Valley and OCN are tied with 51 points, while Virden is two points back with 49. Neepawa brings up the rear with 45 points.

This week, the Kings travel to Virden, Tuesday, for a 7:30 p.m. face off, before hosting the Winnipeg Freeze, Friday, and the OCN Blizzard on Saturday. Both games at Credit Union Place get underway at 7:30 p.m.

Kings court:

Kings head coach Doug Hedley enters the week only two wins behind former bench boss Marlin Murray for most coaching wins in team history. If the Kings beat Virden on Tuesday and Winnipeg on Friday, Hedley will have a chance to become the alltime winningest coach in Kings history against OCN on Saturday. Murray finished his tenure as Kings head coach with 348 wins, while Hedley has 346.

Skips Greg Todoruk of Richardson Pioneer, kneeling, and Kyle Forsyth of Turko Fertilizer track an incoming shot in the final of the Bayer Crop Science Parkland Super League of Curling, Sunday evening.

Todoruk and his team of third Darcy Todoruk, second Rob Fisher and lead Taran Stykalo won the game and the $1,500 prize with a 7-3 win. Forsyth and his crew took home $750.

Earlier in the day, Todoruk had beaten Glenn Toews of Nutrien Ag Solutions, 4-3 in an extra end, while Forsyth defeated Greg Clark of Cross-Town Motors, 6-2. Toews and Clark each won $500.

A review of Dauphin Fire Department (DFD) operations in the search of efficiencies is underway as part of the Municipal Services Delivery Improvement Plan.

The program, which was introduced by the provincial government in 2021, provides municipalities and planning districts with financial support to complete value-for-money service delivery reviews of programs and services searching for improvement which do not raise taxes or reduce front line services.

The work is done in consultation with a third-party consultant and the three-year program is fully funded by the Province to a maximum of $120,000 per project.

The Dauphin Fire Department, with support of the City and the RM of Dauphin, applied to the program during the second intake in 2022 and was awarded funding up to $120,000. Exchange Chartered Professional Accountants LLP was assigned as the consultant to perform an organizational study and operations review of the department.

Check this week's Herald for the full story!

In general terms, the recent education funding announcement by the province is a positive one, but Mountain View School Division will need a little time to digest the announcement to determine its benefits locally, said secretary-treasurer Lori Slepicka.

“Anytime they’re saying that nobody’s going to see a decrease and everyone’s going to see an increase, that’s definitely positive news,” Slepicka said. “But I haven’t even had a chance to really look at the information. Our details are just coming out. So we haven’t had a chance to work through those at all to see how it all applies to our specific division.”

Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced an extra $100 million for Kindergarten to Grade 12 School for the 2023-24 school year, representing an increase of 6.1 per cent over last year’s funding levels.

Since 2016-17, operational funding to schools has increased by $328 million or 23 per cent, the minister noted.

This year’s annual funding increase of $100 million includes:
• a $62.9-million increase in operating support including an additional $20 million to address cost pressures, $5 million for special needs along with increases in other existing grants;
• an $8-million increase in capital support payments;
• a $24-million increase to the Property Tax Offset Grant; and
• an additional $5-million increase for independent schools.

“Our government believes that all students must succeed regardless of where they live, their background or circumstances, and this year’s investment will provide an operating funding increase to each and every school division across the province,” Ewasko said. “Every division will see an increase in funding next year, which will help them engage students and invest in the programs and services that will best meet the needs of local communities.”

It is not that cut and dried for MVSD, however, as there are a lot of unknown variables affecting the budget.

“We’ll definitely see an increase. Whether it’s going to be enough to even cover salary increases, we’ll see about that. We have to crunch some numbers yet,” Slepicka said. “All of our contracts expired in June of 2022 so we don’t know what this year holds for increases. We have seen huge increases in interest and fuel, like everyone else has. Just supplies in general are all going up.”

The province is also investing another $106 million to make one-time funding provided to school divisions last year permanent. This includes $22 million to support student presence and engagement to facilitate the implementation of Safe and Caring Schools, the new policy directive and action plan for enhancing student presence and engagement.

“They’re going to use the old funding formula for this year, but by next year we’ll have a new funding formula so it’s all going to be recalculated,” Slepicka said. “But the dollars should stay unless they do decrease funding.”

Making this funding permanent will help divisions respond to financial pressures, strengthen student learning and supports, and provide additional support for students with special learning needs. Building these increases into the annual funding allotment to schools will ensure these funds remain available now and into the future, Ewasko said.

“This significant investment in Kindergarten to Grade 12 education keeps Manitoba among the highest per-pupil funded provinces across Canada,” he said. “This investment continues to highlight our ongoing commitment to improving literacy and numeracy and strengthening Indigenous education.”

Work continues on the development of a new education funding model, with one-to-one consultations planned with each school division post-budget.

This year’s funding announcement is an important piece in the division’s budgeting puzzle, Slepicka said, adding the process is progressing well.

“We should have a draft put together shortly, especially now that the (funding) announcement is out,” she said, adding a public presentation of the draft budget will be held sometime in early March.

With Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin managed to merge jazz and classical music - drawing praise from the lovers of both genres.

Over his lifetime, Scott Joplin composed over 40 original pieces, one ragtime ballet and two operas, earning him the moniker of King of Ragtime.

Austrian Joseph Haydn is considered the father of the classical symphony and string quartet, and an innovator in the composition of piano sonatas and trios. On the frigid last Saturday of January, the beautiful sanctuary of Knox United Church was awash with the creative genius of these composers and many others thanks to the talent of Ian Elliott. The cold certainly didn’t keep music lovers away.

The pews were full as long-time friends and music devotees came out to enjoy Ian’s skill. This concert was the culmination of Ian’s 28 years at a piano keyboard. “I began playing when I was in Grade 1 when we were living in Humboldt, taking lessons with a woman named Allison Sarauer for four years”, Ian said. “After we moved to Russell, I took lessons from Arlene Baschuk for two years.”

Get the full story and more in this week's Russell Banner!

The MacNutt Hotel hosted its 21st annual Big Buck Night back in December after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic with 11 sets coming in for judging and 40 guests in attendance.

The Non-Typical winner was Ryan Andres while Deven Andrews took top spot for Typical.

Check out the pictures in this week’s Review.

It’s been another successful hockey season so far for North Dakota Fighting Hawks’ Riese Gaber.

Riese is the son of Mike Gaber and grandson of Ken and Marion Gaber. His peers, prior to the season, named Gaber an assistant captain of the team.

Details in this issue.