The New Year has arrived, with the early days of 2025 welcoming the Swan River Valley with one of winter’s cold snaps. Temperatures reached their coldest this year on Jan. 4 with a reported -38.7C low. Forecasts indicate temperatures to return to single digits this week. Pictured here, the Swan River swan can’t help but be frozen stiff as it’s only blanket to keep warm is snow.

The end of any year is a time for celebration and reflection. It is also a time to cast thoughts towards the future to wish and to plan.

With 2024 coming to a close, Dauphin’s elected officials at all three levels of government did just that.

Here are their hopes for 2025.

Dauphin-Swan River- Neepawa

For Dan Mazier, MP for Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa, the goals for the coming year focus on building on his work completed throughout his time as MP for the riding.

As a member of the opposition, Mazier keeps hearing people are ready for an election, due mainly to the policies of the current Liberal government.

Affordability, he said, is the number one issue that he keeps hearing about, along with other issues such as a housing shortage, inflation and crime.

Last year, Mazier spearheaded a private members bill C-299 for connectivity and internet service providers.

Looking ahead, Mazier said the focus will shift to cell phones.

“With my bill, they have to be a lot more transparent in what kind of service they’re selling you. That is going to, hopefully go over to cell phone service,” he said.

During his travels throughout the constituency, Mazier has noticed there are holes in cell phone service.

“There’s something going on in our cell phone service area and I know why it is. It’s because they’re going up in spectrum and they need to install more infrastructure, but they’re just not in rural Canada,” he said, adding that is something he plans on addressing to hold service providers more accountable.

Mazier hosted passport clinics throughout the riding in the summer, which proved to be popular, with more than 400 people taking part.

“So we plan on, again, providing that service that government just doesn’t provide in rural areas,” he said.

The primary focus in the new year, Mazier said, will be to hold the government to account until such time as an election is called.

“That’s our job. Bottom line, that’s our job,” he said.

“My number one focus is representing the Parkland and the riding in Ottawa on your behalf. It’s an honour every day to do it. And I have to honestly say, it’s been an honour of my lifetime to be doing this. I do do it with great enthusiasm and vigour on behalf of all the people in the constituency.”

Dauphin constituency

For Manitoba Agriculture minister and Dauphin MLA Ron Kostyshyn, his hopes for the constituency centre on the successes his NDP government has enjoyed over the past year.

“It’s great to be working with a government that’s been proactive in the last year,” he said.

“We’ve got some challenges ahead of us, but we’ve made some progress.”

Looking at the big picture, Kostyshyn is proud of the progress that has been made across the province in the areas of health care, education and making life affordable for Manitobans.

If he had his way, that progress would continue in the coming year.

“Not only in the Dauphin constituency, but all through Manitoba,” Kostyshyn said.

“If I had a big wish, and if I could make that happen, that’s probably going to be my number one opportunity.”

Focussing a little closer to home, Kostyshyn said the constituency has realized some major accomplishments over the last year.

Pointing to the success of the Manitoba Summer Games and the facility legacy left by that event. He also pointed to the redevelopment of Main Street South in Dauphin and the scheduled construction of Prairie Park Place, a new day care facility, and the growth and potential of the Northgate Trails system as examples of why 2024 was such a good year in Dauphin Valley.

“Also the financial support towards the Gilbert Plains golf course. You know, there are so many things,” he said.

“We can go back on a number of other things from the ground up”

And while some might be inclined to sit back and revel in those triumphs, now is not the time to rest on our laurels, he said.

“Specifically being my backyard, me being the MLA for Dauphin, we need to make things progress, and I think we’ve made some major inroads this year,” Kostyshyn said.

“I think we’re going to continue to grow the opportunity in the Dauphin constituency and the surrounding area.”

As a producer and minister of agriculture, Kostyshyn knows the importance of agriculture across the Dauphin constiuency. Celebrating some of the successes that have been realized, particularly in the area of  Crown land leases.

Looking forward, he hopes the conditions are right to continue along the path to prosperity for everyone through further successes in agricuture.

“We look forward to, hopefully, a profitable year for all agriculture producers and in the industries directly or indirectly associated with agriculture,” he said.

And while success is never a guarantee, Kostyshyn added he will be doing his part to make sure every opportunity is seized on behalf of Dauphin area residents and Manitobans as a whole.

“Our government, we are going to be proactive trying to make life affordable for everybody. one of (the steps) being we’re going to freeze Hydro rates as a beginning to the New Year,” he said, adding he will be doing his part to make 2025 as successful and positive as it can be.

“As the MLA for Dauphin, I will be talking to the Health minister, be talking to the Education minister, be talking to the Finance minister. We’re talking about economic growth in the province of Manitoba and throughout the Dauphin constituency.”

Read the full story in this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

The Thunderhill Ski Area held their Ski with Santa event this past weekend, Dec. 22. Santa and two of his elves brought plenty of Christmas cheer to skiers and families. Here, Santa and his elves pose for a photo with a young Santa fan.

As has been his tradition, Swan River resident Ed Maga constructed a snowman as tall as his house in his front yard this month. Check out the sizeable sculpture on the 400 block of Sixth Avenue North.

Dauphin will head into the New Year with the issue of recreation funding remaining unsettled after City council rejected a recent funding proposal from their counterparts in the Rural Municipality.

The RM forwarded the proposal to the City on Dec. 11 and rejected the plan at a meeting, Dec. 13, and informed their rural counterparts by way of a letter.

In part the letter read, “City council reviewed the RM joint services proposal dated Dec. 11, at a meeting held on Dec. 13. After very thorough review and discussion the city council agreed unanimously that it could not accept the proposal as presented. As indicated in your letter, for 2025 the City of Dauphin chooses to revert to the RM of Dauphin’s July 23 resolution. As Dauphin Recreation Services organizes to reflect the situation, please be advised that RM participation in the DRS board for 2025 remains unchanged. It is our intent to continue a dialogue with your council to find a long-term solution for DRS funding. The city looks forward to meeting with the RM soon to resume our liaison community meetings as there are many topics we can discuss that affect and benefit both of our municipalities including, your suggestion of proportional funding for other RM and City agreements.”

RM of Dauphin reeve Ernie Sirski said his council is extremely disappointed with the City’s decision to reject the proposal put forward.

“After only having it in their possession for two days,” he said.

“How serious of a discussion did they have in that short period of time? The RM council and management spent untold hours on the project, after the City’s request for the RM to submit a proposal. The RM proposed a structure that would have the City and RM be true partners in recreation and we are disappointed that the City rejected this concept so quickly.”

On the financial side, the RM proposal called for joint operating to be shared on a per capita basis, adjusted annually.

Additionally, the proposal called for capital cost to also be funded jointly on a per capita basis with the annual maximum contribution from the RM capped at $50,000.

Finally, the proposal called for the RM to receive a per capita share of the recreation portion of Dauphin’s Accommodation Tax.

The financial details of the proposal are materially the same as what the City was asking for from the RM, said mayor David Bosiak. Where city councillors have trouble supporting the proposal, he added, is around the RM’s vision of the board structure.

According to the RM proposal, while Dauphin Recreation Services will continue to operate as a separate agency, the RM plan proposes the current DRS board be disbanded and replaced by a new board made up of two elected officials each from the City and RM, who will be voting members, as well as the city manager and the RM CAO, who will sit as non-voting members. Any motions that result in a tied vote would be defeated.

“Basically they want to dismantle the recreation commission without any reflection that we have a 75-year agreement with the Ag. Society that we’re still in on and we still view them as a partner,” Bosiak said, adding the make up of the board does not reflect the funding realities and was also a sticking point for councillors.

“We’ve told them that their involvement needs to be proportional to their funding amount and to me that makes perfect sense. If you’re funding an organization 22 per cent you should have 22 per cent of the influence, or the say on that board or that body.”

For Sirski, the issue boils down to forming a “true partnership” with the City when it comes to recreation for citizens of both municipalities.

Read the full story in this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

Every year, the major TV networks bring the world together to ring in the new year with coverage of New Year’s parties all over the world.

So when a national network like CBC calls to see what plans you have in store to help people celebrate, you know you’ve made a name for yourself.

Read all about it in this week’s issue.

The Pas Tri-Community Foundation wrapped up a very successful Giving Challenge this year. The amount of donations received has almost doubled in amount.
“We had an excellent response from the community, considering we’ve only been operating for three years,” said The Pas Tri-Community Foundation Vice President Kent Whaley. “We received pretty much double the amount of donations this year compared to what we received last year for the Giving Challenge. I think that is because there has been more awareness of our community foundation and what it does.

Culture Days once again has garnered some local attention for the tri-community area. It was recently announced that, yet again, Culture Days in our community has ranked in the Top Ten Rural Communities List for hosting such an event. This year, the event placed sixth in that category nationwide.
“As always, all events were well received and I believe, this year, each event had the best attendance,” said Culture Days Organizer Cheryl Antonio. “It’s been a long journey over the years getting attention to Culture Days, but since the pandemic, people have really begun to notice the event and all it has to offer. The partnerships with the Kinettes, The Pas Regional Library, the Golden Agers, and the 4-H Club have added to getting the word out there. Each year, the events have been growing.

Many of us are wishing for a Merry Christmas, but some are hoping and praying for freedom and their lives. Former resident, 64-year-old Maurice Kevin O’Rourke has been fighting for both his life and freedom from a prison in Dubai. O’Rourke was on his way to South Africa to meet colleagues when he was detained for carrying medications to treat a disease he has been battling. His family currently resides in Ontario and has been doing all they can to bring him home.
“On July 2, my dad left Canada to fly to Africa,” said O’Rourke’s daughter, Maegan O’Rourke. “He was transiting through Dubai and was only going to be there for less than two days.

It is always nice when you find a little money, whether that’s a $5 bill in the pocket of a jacket you haven’t worn for awhile or, in the case of the City of Dauphin, a share of a new $62-million provincial fund announced at the recent Association of Manitoba Municipalities Fall Convention.

The One Manitoba Growth Revenue Fund, will funnel that $62 million to municipalities across the province over the next five years, Premier Wab Kinew said.

“Last year, our government promised to treat municipalities like the true partners that they are and to respect the pressures they are under after years of freezes,” Kinew told municipal officials gathered in Winnipeg for the convention.

“This year, we’re establishing a new fund to provide extra support for programs now and into the future. Together, we’re giving Manitobans reasons to hope with a plan that makes life better across our province.”

With shares of the new fund determined on a per capita basis, for the City of Dauphin it will mean roughly $75,000 in “found money” annually for the next five years, said city manager Sharla Griffiths.

How that money will be used is yet to be determined.

“It’s always great to have some found money and we have a really progressive, exciting and excited council who want to do things,” she said.

“So we might be able to put this money into something special.”

The new fund is part of what Kinew is calling historic funding for municipalities. Budget 2024 provided $221 million in unconditional funding to all municipalities, including a two per cent escalator to the Municipal Operating Grant to help municipalities address rising cost pressures after years of funding freezes worth $4.4 million, the premier said.

However, when considering those years of frozen funding, combined with delays in receiving inflationary increases, the renaming of grant programs and uncertainties around the size and timing of grants, it is not as if the City is awash in discretionary funds.

“While we’re told historic funding, that kind of thing, it’s not like we now have a windfall . . . we’re catching up,” she said.

“But we will always take any money that’s given to us.”

The new growth revenue fund will be in addition to the operating grant. When combined, this increase to municipal funding is equivalent to 7.6 per cent, a $16.8 million guaranteed increase in operating funding for the next year.

It is an indication that the Province of Manitoba  is in the corner of its citizen’s, added Municipal and Northern Relations Minister Glen Simard.

“True collaboration is about recognizing the challenges of our municipal partners and coming forward with real support to meet those challenges,” Simard said.

“Our new growth revenue fund is focused on helping municipalities deliver for their communities and continuing to offer the quality services Manitobans expect. We’ve got your back.”

In the last year, Simard noted record provincial investments for municipalities include:

• $221 million in unconditional funding to all municipalities including a two per cent escalator to the Municipal Operating Grant to help municipalities address rising cost pressures after years of funding freezes worth $4.4 million;
• $62 million for the One Manitoba Growth Revenue Fund, a historic commitment to municipalities across the province;
• $265,000 in funding to the Swan Valley General Investigation Section (GIS) pilot program as part of the provincial Public Safety Strategy;
• $42 million for the new Manitoba Growth, Renewal and Opportunities for Municipalities (Manitoba GRO) program, which provides dedicated capital project funding for municipalities outside Winnipeg;
• $4 million in additional funding to the Manitoba Water Services Board, which increases its funding to $24 million to support water and sewerage projects;
• $500,000 to the Municipality of Virden to support the expansion and renovation of Virden Regional Airport;
• $47 million to complete the rehabilitation of the Rivers Dam; and
• $19.6 million for the Souris bridge crossing.