The writ has officially dropped to send Manitobans to the polls.

Premier Heather Stefanson visited Lieutenant Governor Anita Neville, last Tuesday to kick off Manitoba’s 43rd provincial general election with polling day set for, Oct. 3.

As of press time there are two registered candidates in the Dauphin electoral district. Gord Wood is looking to retain the seat for the Progressive Conservative Party, while Ron Kostyshyn is hoping to win the constituency back for the New Democratic Party.

Advance voting runs for eight days, from Sept. 23 to 30.

To be eligible to vote, you must be a Canadian citizen, at least 18 years old on election day and have lived in the district for at least six months immediately before election day.

Voters will receive a voter information card in the mail. This card confirms you are registered to vote and when and where to vote on election day and the advance voting period.

Voters who have not received their cards or received a card with incorrect information can visit www.electionsmanitoba.ca or contact their local election office to register or update their information before Sept. 14. Voting is faster and easier when registered before the election, but you can still register at the poll when you vote.

During all eight days of advance voting, Manitobans can vote at any advance poll in the province.

Advance polling in the Dauphin constituency at the Local Election Office in Dauphin at 1550 Main St S, and at Dauphin Market Place Mall at 1450 Main Street South every day throughout the advance voting period from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with the exception of Sunday, Sept. 24, when voting can take place from noon to 6 p.m.

Advance voting will also be available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 27 only at:
• Winnipegosis Elks Lodge at 337 3rd St., Winnipegosis.
• Waterhen Council Office at 104 North Mallard Rd., Waterhen.
• Rorketon Community Hall at 800 1st St. S., Rorketon.
• Sifton Community Centre at 115 2nd Ave., Sifton.
• Richardson Pioneer Community Hall at 201 Main St. N, Gilbert Plains.
• Grandview Kinsmen Hall at 435 Burrows St., Grandview.
• Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Nation Band Hall on Hwy. 5, Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Nation.
• Ste. Rose du Lac Curling Club at 555 Maillard St., Ste. Rose du Lac.
• Ebb and Flow First Nation Community Complex at 517 Arena Ave., Ebb and Flow.
• Royal Canadian Legion McCreary Branch at 431 1st. Ave., McCreary.
• Alonsa Community Centre at 10 PTH 50, Alonsa.
On election day, you can vote at any polling place in your electoral division.
In the Dauphin constituency that includes:
• Winnipegosis Elks Lodge at 337 3rd St., Winnipegosis.
• Skownan Hall at 1050 Skownan Rd., Skownan.
• Waterhen Council Office at 104 North Mallard Rd., Waterhen.
• Maurice Morrisseau Memorial Hall at 3207 Lakeshore Rd., Crane River.
• Rorketon Community Hall at 800 1st St. S., Rorketon.
• Fork River Community Hall at 105 1st Ave. W, Fork River.
• Sifton Community Centre, Sifton.
• Richardson Pioneer Community Hall at 201 Main St. N, Gilbert Plains.
• Grandview Kinsmen Hall at 435 Burrows St., Grandview.
• Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Nation Band Hall on Hwy. 5, Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Nation.
• Valley River Community Centre at 5 Hassard St., Valley River.
• Dauphin Friendship Centre at 210 1st Ave. NE., Dauphin.
• Ukrainian Orthodox Auditorium at 304 Whitemore Ave. E., Dauphin.
• Happy Haven Home at 116 Whitemore Ave. W., Dauphin.
• Ochre River Community Hall at 401 Mann St., Ochre River.
• Ste. Rose du Lac Curling Club at 555 Maillard St., Ste. Rose du Lac.
• Westlake Community Centre at 16 Eddystone Dr., Eddystone.
• Ebb and Flow First Nation Community Complex at 517 Arena Ave., Ebb and Flow.
• Kinosota Community Centre on Kinosota Front Rd., Kinosota.
• Les Nouveaux Horizons Centre at 112 Fosbery St., Laurier.
• Royal Canadian Legion McCreary Branch at 431 1st. Ave., McCreary.
• Alonsa Community Centre at 10 PTH 50, Alonsa.
• Amaranth Memorial Hall at 12 PTH 50, Amaranth.

All polls will be open from 8 a.m. on election day.

All voters require ID to vote, either one piece of government-issued photo ID or two other pieces. There are many options. A complete list of acceptable ID is available on the Elections Manitoba website.

Voters are encouraged to bring their voter information card, which can be used as one piece of ID.

This election will see new technology at the polls, resulting in reduced wait times for voters and faster results reporting. This new technology includes:

• Laptops with secure access to the voters list;
• Scanners to scan voter information cards and quickly find voters on the voters list;
• Printers for printing ballots on demand in place of write-in ballots for advance voting; and
• Vote counting machines to scan and accurately record ballots and provide results at the close of polls.

It is expected that approximately 85 per cent of election day voters and 95 per cent of advance voters will see these tools in use in the 2023 general election.

MS Bike Riding Mountain made its triumphant post-COVID return this past weekend, but with a twist.

Rather than beginning in Dauphin and proceeding to Clear Lake on day one with a return to Dauphin on day two, the event involved a looped course beginning and ending at Elkhorn Ranch in Riding Mountain National Park.

What did not change, however, is the scenic views and diverse sightings of wildlife that come with a trip through RMNP.

Riders were able to choose from two loops, with a 71-kilometre option featuring a turn around at Moon Lake or a 109-kilometre round trip with a turn around at Northgate Trails.

Whichever ride they chose, riders celebrated their accomplishments with awards, food and fun. This year, the Riding Mountain event had a fund-raising goal of $85,000 with over $53,514 raised to date. MS Bike Riding Mountain is one of 12 MS Bike events happening over a four-month period across Canada with the goal of raising funds to support people living with multiple sclerosis.

On the morning of Sept. 2, Don Kobluk, an elder at Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Lennard, noticed that the front door of his church was askew and the handle had been torn off.

He went inside and found the entire sanctuary covered in fine dust from a fire extinguisher.

More in this week’s issue.

The new school year is shaping up to be a good one at Roblin Elementary School and Goose Lake High.

With Covid in the rear view mirror – not quite a distant memory yet – and school life returning to pre-Covid normals, there is a real sense of excitement among students and staff.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

In the next couple of months, some very prominent music award ceremonies are going to be taking place and a local Roblin artist is breaking his own personal record by being nominated for six awards from two different music award ceremonies.

Ryan Keown is nominated for Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year at the 2023 Manitoba Country Music Awards (MCMAs) for his song A Lie I Can Live With. He is also nominated for four awards as Male Vocalist of the Year, Music Video of the Year, Best Video Performance and Modern Song of the Year at the ninth annual Josie Music Awards in Nashville.

Find out more in this week’s paper.

In the afternoon of Aug. 25, Roblin RCMP received a report of theft of bike from a backyard. Two bikes were locked with a rope lock and were stolen.

One was later located being ridden. Person on the bike was arrested for possession of stolen property and charges are pending. Bike was returned to owner.

See what’s kept police busy over the last two weeks in the RCMP Report.

The Pas is leaping into the future and has progressively established installing an EV charger in the community. The EV charger isn’t open for business quite yet, but will be very soon.
“The actual unit arrived during the week of the August 14, and work started then as well,” said Jackie Rechenmacher.
“We still have a couple things to figure out, but once we get it up and running, then the most common thing is to have the users pay a rate for how much power they use. The municipality is looking into other models as well, more to come on that. We will be connecting and testing the unit in the coming weeks.”

The Swan River Centennial Arena saw more action this past weekend (Sept. 1-2), as the Swan Valley Junior A Stampeders opened their Main Camp, welcoming returning players, prospects and invitees to the rink.

Much of the Swan Valley’s crops have been harvested already as weather has permitted area farmers to take their combines out into the field...

Elias Eisenbarth’s goal with one minute remaining lifted Team Hobbs to a 6-5 win over Team Cherepak in the Dauphin Kings’ annual JoFo Cup intrasquad game, Sunday afternoon at Credit Union Place.

Blake Boudreau was named player of the game for Hobbs after he scored twice and added an assist.

Linemate Rylan Gage had a goal and two assists, while Riley Borody and Jordan Bax had the other goals.

Joshua Schmidt was named player of the game for Cherepak with a two-goal effort. Josh Heistad, Sam Boldt and Danylo Dolin also scored.

Austin Siebel and Ethan Fechter combined to make 24 saves in goal for Team Hobbs. Luke Swanson and Piet Mierreau had 30 stops for Team Cherepak.

Coming into camp, Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley knew the team would be strong on the backend and in goal.

“We’ve had six guys in here and a couple of young kids that are going to be good in the future. There’s three of our guys that are battling for those spots,” he said, noting veteran Cole Sheffield and rookies Siebel, Swanson, Fechter and Mierreau all had good camps.

Mierreau and Chase Glover will likely play in the opening preseason contests, Tuesday against the Neepawa Titans and Wednesday against the Swan Valley Stampeders.

Both games get underway at 7:30 p.m. at Credit Union Place.

Dauphin will travel to Swan River for the rematch, Friday, at 7 p.m.

Newcomer Naaman Hofer, who was acquired in a trade with the Winnipeg Freeze, last week, was one of the best players in camp all weekend.

“And we really like the pairing with (Karson) Raymond and the (Trey) Gnetz kid that we got from the States, they looked really well. So our backend, we like our mobility, we like our speed and we like our first passes” he said. “And I think there’s some real good potential up front with the speed and the youth that we have.”

Most of the veterans in the intrasquad game were being outplayed by the rookies fighting to make the roster.

“Boudreau has been good all camp. Bouds has separated himself, but I think the rest of our guys, the 17 and 18 year olds have looked really good,” Hedley said, adding he liked the speed and work ethic he saw, as well as the plays that were made. "We showed some really good IQ and some creativity. At this time of year, that’s what we have to do as a coaching staff is get that compete level to the intensity that we want,” he said. “But I do like our speed and the skill sets are really good. There’s something to work with, that’s for sure.”

Tonight’s preseason game with Neepawa will feature the team’s draft picks and list players.

Following Tuesday’s game, the Kings will drop to between 25 and 30 players heading into the remainder of the preseason.

Defenceman Marco Bodnarski and Aidan Murray are out with injuries, so the team will likely carry 10 defencemen and 18 forwards, as well as three goaltenders.

For the remainder of the preseason, Hedley would like to see the work ethic and speed to continue.

“We’re looking to really get some good depth with some size, speed and compete. Hopefully, we can get six lines out of there. Six lines and 10 D and three goaltenders to go into the exhibition (games),” he said.

Kings court:

The Kings will end the preseason with a home game, Sept. 15, against the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Melville Millionaires at 7:30 p.m. at Credit Union Place, followed by a game in Virden the next night against the Oil Capitals. The regular season begins, Sept. 22, with the Stampeders in town for the home opener at 7:30 p.m.