We all saw it during last year’s wildfire season, the risks associated with a warming climate are growing.

To help mitigate those risks, the City of Dauphin is utilizing a $15,000 grant from the province’s Climate Action Fund to develop a formal plan framework around resiliance and climate leadership objectives which reflect local realities.

The process formally began recently when council received correspondence announcing the start of the process from the International Institute for  Sustainable Development (IISD), which is leading the project in collaboration with CVLNS, a community planning consultant based in Winnipeg, and the Prairie Climate Centre.

A warming of the planet is increasing climate-related risks, such as flooding, extreme heat, and drought, which pose challenges to public safety, municipal assets, and long-term sustainability.

While these risks are currently managed through existing operational practices, in a memo to council, Ashley Rawluk, a policy advisor  with IISD, said a climate adaptation plan “provides a co-ordinated and proactive framework to strengthen long-term resilience and support council’s climate leadership objectives.”

The City’s climate adaptation plan, expected to be completed this fall, will focus on identifying and assessing climate-related hazards and risks to City-owned assets and services, including transportation, water, wastewater, stormwater, public works, and parks.

The development process will consider risk assessments identified by City staff and stakeholder engagement, along with the identification of adaptation actions and funding opportunities.

Rawluk said the final document will support informed decision-making and long-term resilience by providing a clear, actionable roadmap to reduce climate risks, protect municipal assets, and integrate climate considerations into everyday operations.

A Climate Adaptation Working Group (CAWG) will lead the engagement process and will be comprised of eight members representing the City of Dauphin, the Northwest Metis Council and Aninshinaabe Nation in Treaty 2 Territory.

Public input will be gathered through both in person events and an online community survey. These will share key findings from the climate hazard assessment and the emerging plan, while gathering feedback on local climate impacts, community priorities, and adaptation needs.

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

Two Dauphin projects figured prominently in the tabling of Budget 2026 in the Manitoba Legislature, last week.

The budget document drew attention to the Dauphin Centre for Community Justice, with a promise of $7 million to break ground on the $142 million project this fiscal year, as well as a commitment of $1.5 million for Northgate Trails, to allow for the expansion of the network, with an eye toward integration of the system with the northern escarpment of Riding Mountain National Park.

For Dauphin MLA Ron Kostyshyn, the justice centre announcement is a bright light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

“I think we have nightmares about what was done a number of years ago by the previous government. I’m so very proud that our government sees the importance of working with the justice facility. We know there’s a shortage in the area,” Kostyshyn said.

“I think what we’re going to be seeing is a modernized version of a justice facility to work with individuals and, hopefully, correct some of the challenges they face.”

Kostyshyn views the justice centre as one of the largest opportunities for development, not only in the region, but in the province as a whole, and he is pleased to see the project get underway in the community in 2026.

“The latest I got is the documents are being designed and going out for tender darn quick. Things just don’t happen too quick, but the intent is to, hopefully, put some shovels in ground or get some movement. But it’s happening, there’s no doubt about it,” he said.

The province’s commitment to the expansion of the Northgate Trail System is another source of pride for Kostyshyn, considering the benefits the project unlocks.

“What’s going to be one of the greatest things that’s going to be specifically for the tourism industry is the continuation of the Northgate Trail,” he said.

“I don’t think people have any idea what opportunities that will have in the future for  us. It’s hard to believe Dauphin will be one of the unique locations for such a bike trail, actually internationally. In a perfect world, competitions could be held because of the trail.”

The out-of-box thinking that went into supporting Northgate is the approach the province is taking when it comes to being innovative and seizing opportunities to create economic development and economic growth.

Read the full story in this weeks Dauphin Herald.

The City released a video last week of a man disposing of an old toilet at the residential recycling drop off located along First Avenue Southeast to highlight ongoing problems at the facility.

At their regular meeting earlier this month, council was made aware of the situation by deputy city manager Lisa Gaudet.

“I wanted to briefly highlight, sadly, the ongoing misuse that we’re seeing at the residential recycling depot on First Avenue Southeast. This site is intended for city of Dauphin for approved residential recyclable materials only,” Gaudet said.

“But we continue to see household garbage, furniture, yard waste, and materials left outside the bins.”

Gaudet said the City has been reinforcing proper use of the facility through social media messaging and public education.

“That recycling must be placed inside the bins and absolutely no garbage or black garbage bags are acceptable here,” she said.

“If the misuse continues, we may have to evaluate the depot site and ultimately might have to consider reducing the service.”

The depot is intended for approved residential recycling from city households only

Household garbage, furniture, appliances, mattresses, renovation debris, yard waste and black garbage bags are not allowed.

When using the depot, place materials inside the correct bin and flatten cardboard boxes before placing them in the cardboard bin.

Do not leave anything outside of the bins. Ottenbreit Sanitation Services rotates the bins regularly. If a bin is full, wait until space becomes available or call 204-622-3200.

When contamination or illegal dumping occurs recyclable materials may be redirected to the landfill. As well, City staff time and equipment are required for cleanup, meaning taxpayer dollars are diverted to address improper disposal.

Gaudet stressed this service is provided for the convenience of City residents and can only remain available if it is used properly.

The efforts of local business and community leaders were in the spotlight at The Parkland Chamber of Commerce Celebration Night, Mar. 18, at Countryfest Community Cinema.

Dr. Kara Vanderheyden, owner of WillowBrook Eye Care, was presented the Business Person of the Year Award.

The award recognizes a well-known passion for excellence and leadership in the business community and a commitment to economic development, innovation, business ethics and community involvement.

Flying under the radar for many years, Ritz Machine Works came out into the light as the Outstanding Business Award winner for 2026.

Criteria for the award considers success in positive company growth including sales, growth prospects, and employment creation, while demonstrating a clear strategic vision and engaging in innovative practices, which have a continuing positive impact on the community.

Any healthy business requires the presence of young entrepreneurs, who exemplify the qualities of effective leadership, innovatively applied know-how, and excellent potential for growth.

The Young Entrepreneur of the Year, presented to an individual between the ages of 18 and 35, who has been in business no longer than two years was presented this year to Jarrod Delaurier of Delaurier Welding Ltd.

The Start-up Business Award, presented to an undertaking which has been in operation for  less than two years and shows promise in positive growth, while creating new employment opportunities, was this year presented to Flett’s Custom Cutting in Gilbert Plains.

A pair of awards named after a former mayor, recognized contributions through personal efforts to the well-being of the community as a whole.

This year the Eric Irwin Community Appreciation Award Individual was presented to Lindsay Dingwall, while the Dauphin RIDE Program took home the Eric Irwin Community Appreciation Award Group.

Carla Vandenbrink of Carla’s Adventures accepted the Side Hustle Business Award. The award recognizes an entrepeneur, who demonstrates success within a venture they choose to operate outside of their regular job.

To bring the clebration to a close, Gary Sydor was posthumously presented the Legacy Award with his accomplishments highlighted in a video presentation of Dauphin MLA Ron Kostyshyn reading a Member’s Statement in the Manitoba Legislature.

The award recognizing Sydor’s extraordinary accomplishments, which benefited the region in unique and meaningful ways and served as an inspiration for the community, was accepted by his wife Liz.

With fierce competition for quality employees in the agriculture sector, a proper human resources program can improve the odds of attracting and retaining productive farm workers.

That was the message Lyndsay Seafoot of  The Curbridge Group relayed to area producers gathered for the Dauphin Agricultural Society’s Farm Outlook 2026, Mar. 10.

“I think a lot of times we give up on some of these HR things that seem overwhelming, they seem complex,” Seafoot said.

“But there is a huge responsibility and a huge impact that you can have on other people when you’re a manager or an owner and people work for you and with you.”

Farms, like all businesses, are competing for employees and it is important to set things up professionally to slant the field in their favour, she added.

“What happens when you build up your business on some very basic HR stuff is that you become a better competitor,” Seafoot said.

“You want to give people assurance and trust and comfort that you’re doing things properly from an HR perspective.”

The HR function of any business, she said, is every interaction an employee has with a business from hiring to retiring.

“How do you hire people? How do you pay people? What do you do for overtime? What do you do on stat holidays? Do you have benefits? Why or why not? Do you have a retirement program? Why or why not? What happens if I do something wrong? How can I get fired? How much are you paying people when they get fired? All of those things, that’s HR,” Seafoot said, adding it is important to have all that information and more written down in an employee handbook and that the parametres are followed. Expectations and boundaries should be clearly communicated and communication should be continuous throughout the employees’ tenure. Employment contracts are another important area which should be considered.

“Employees feel stable, they feel comfortable when they enter a workplace that has things organized for them.”

Recommending leadership training as a worthwhile investment, Seafoot said the goal of developing a comprehensive HR program is to position the business as an “employer of choice.”

“When you’re hiring and you’re looking for employees, you have a good reputation and you’re a choice employer, meaning people want to work for you and try to work for you,” she said.

“So, setting yourself up as an employer of choice makes hiring and retention a heck of a lot easier.

“You can experience a lot of ease and a lot of smooth sailing with employees when you do things right.”

Normally, Jon Driedger finds grain markets straight forward and, at times, a bit boring.

But the representative of LeftField Commodity Research told area producers gathered in Aspen Lodge at the Parkland Recreation Complex for Farm Outlook 2026 in this crop year, things are anything, but normal.

“That’s maybe a bit flippant because markets are always hard, right? They’re always unpredictable. But certainly there’s just an element of utter chaos that has become a part of grain markets and trying to get a sense of what’s going on,” Driedger said, adding when he last attended the event, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia had just taken place.

“Now we got war going on in Iran and it seems like it’s utter chaos, which doesn’t make our job any easier.”

Despite that chaos Driedger shared some of his thoughts about the markets and how to navigate them.

“I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I have any kind of perfect crystal ball. Because I think in this kind of environment, no one does,” he said, adding LeftField Commodity Research is not aligned with any major agricultural company and is free to “call it as we see it.”

While overall, he is cautiously optimistic about prices, Driedger warned producers the “external

shocks” everyone has been dealing with result in wide ranging outcomes, good and bad. 

“Think about the potential for extremes even if grain market fundamentals are pretty normal,” he said.

Driedger opened his analysis with a look at U.S corn and soybean markets as they are a bellweather for Canadian crop markets.

In both cases, large crops were grown last season and the carry out of both commodities will be higher than normal.

“They grew a lot, we’re going to use a lot, but there’s a cushion going into this next season. We got a comfortable carry out, it’s not crushingly burdensome, but it just has a bit of a dampening effect,” Driedger said, adding the U.S. is expected to plant additional acres of each crop this season, while South America is on track for a record soybean crop this year.

On the good news side, demand is on the rise particularly in the biofuel industry, Driedger said, which can help keep prices on the higher side of the ranges traditionally seen.

“That’s kind of the setup you have, decent production, decent supplies, but also pretty good demand,” he said.

For the full story, read this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

When ratepayers in Mountain View School Division head to the polls this fall to elect a new board of trustees, things will be a little different than in the past.

As part of their public budget meeting, Mar. 2, MVSD presented some options for the realignment of its electoral wards ahead of the Oct. 28 vote.

“I guess the first question that a lot of people have is why are we changing the ward systems,” MVSD board chair Jason Gryba said.

“We have to do this to stay in compliance with the Public Schools Act, particularly section 57, which states that there has to be fairly close to equal representation of voters per trustee, across the wards.”

The effect of Bill 16, which finally extends voting rights to First Nations, also has to be considered in the calculation.

“So we have the Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation, which are also going to be included into a ward,” Gryba said.

Under the current system, Ward 1 in the Roblin area does not have enough ratepayers to support the two trustees currently representing it, while Ward 4, the City of Dauphin needs more than its current three trustees, given its population.

“The number of voters that are represented by a trustee can vary slightly, but can’t be below a 25 per cent difference or above a 25 per cent difference,” Gryba said.

Currently Ward 1 is comprised of the Roblin Municipality and is represented by two trustees. Ward 2, also with two trustees, is made up by Grandview Municipality, Gilbert Plains Municipality, Municipality of Ethelbert and a portion of the RM of Mountain South. Ward 3 includes the RM of Dauphin, RM of Lakeshore, Mossey River Municipality and a portion of the RM of Mountain and McCreary Municipality, again with two trustees, while three trustees represent the City of Dauphin in Ward 4.

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

Following questions of ownership being resolved, the indoor playground at the former Parkland Crossing is being relocated to the heart of the city later this spring.

Dauphin Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation, which was gifted the structure by the Church of Christ last April, will provide a new home for the equipment in the auditorium of the DNRC Community Center on Third Avenue Northwest.

“We have quite a significant addition that we’re fund-raising for and filling out grant applications for, in addition to the original structure,” said DNRC executive director Amanda Novak, adding the organization will host an open house, Mar. 10, to share its plans and details of a fund-raising campaign.

“It’ll be quite a bit bigger. It’ll be about another 35 per cent to 40 per cent bigger than what it was at Parkland Crossing.”

Novak added DNRC is currently working with the manufacturer Orca Coast Playground Ltd. on design of the addition and the logistics of moving the existing playground.

“They have to come out and disassemble it.  Then we’ll have to transport it here and reassemble it in our facility,” she said.

The decision to move the structure to the DNRC Community Centre was an easy one for the organization, Novak said. Not only does the facility offer more space for the playground, it can still be available for low-cost rentals by families and for free play sponsorships by community organizations.

“All of that is going to continue. But we’re hoping to even build off of what was there. We’re hoping to have it open to the community for different activities and programming and stuff throughout the week,” she said, adding having the playground on site will also facilitate easier management of bookings and allow DNRC to incorporate the playground into some of its existing programming.

“We’re looking at expanding our youth employment readiness program and offering them first job type exposure, mentoring exposure, with maintenance, janitorial, administration with the booking and everything that goes with that,” Novak said.

“Sometimes it’s not easy to have those types of jobs. Not all employers want to take on that responsibility. So, if we can have the opportunity to integrate it into our own facility, we feel like would be great because that’s one of our areas of emphasis. It’s an opportunity we can give to our youth. With all the fallout from all of the different things that are going on in the world, like the pandemic, these types of opportunities are really valuable.”

The playground must be removed from its current location by May 31, and Novak said a steering committee is busy working on the logistics of that.

“It’s made up of members from Fusion Credit Union, somebody from Rotary. DNRC. We’ve got South Parkland Healthy Child Coalition representation,” she said.

“That steering committee is going to be the ones working with us and helping us get this rolling, marketed rolled out throughout the community so that we’re able to have the funds in place to get (the playground) over here by the end of May.”

Based on perception, often the reality of a situation can be very divergent among different groups.

Knowing that, Dauphin and Area Welcoming Communities Coalition co-ordinator Anna Lermolenko has set out to determine where the perceptions of the city align and differ among long-time community leaders and new immigrants.

To get to the reality of the situation, Lermolenko has organized separate discussions with the two groups to gather information.

“The purpose of these sessions is to bring different perspectives together and to better understand key community needs,” Lermolenko said, prior to the first meeting with community leaders, Feb. 18.

“I will compare the findings from both sessions to see where the perspectives of community leaders and immigrants align and where they may differ.”

The focused discussion centred on five key areas with specific questions posed in each area.

In the priority area of Inclusion of Immigrants workshop participants were asked:

• Based on your work role, what helps immigrants integrate successfully into the community;
• What barriers do you observe most often for immigrants; and
• Which immigrant groups seem to face the greatest challenges?

Read the full story in this weeks Dauphin Herald.

Dauphin city councillors kicked off their Feb. 2 regular meeting by adding one outstanding water account to the tax rolls.

The motion involved $141.42 outstanding at 506 Main Street South after the owner did not pay current bill and the City was unable to disconnect the service due to a malfunctioning curb stop.

Emergency plan

Council received correspondence from Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure’s regional emergency manager Amy Currie informing them their updated emergency plan was approved as submitted. Municipalities are required to update their plans annually under provisions of the The Emergency Measures Act. The current plan was updated by the Dauphin’s safety manager, senior administration and the Emergency Measures Organization regional emergency manager.

Infrastructure

Council received a copy of Manitoba Transportation and  Infrastructure’s 2025-26 Multi-Year Infrastructure Investment Strategy. Mayor David Bosiak noted the capital plans include numerous projects in the Dauphin area.

Daycare project

City manager Sharla Griffiths updated councillors on the Prairie Park Place Early Learning Centre project. Griffiths said the tender documents for the project have been published on MERX, a nation-wide tendering system, which provides  vendors with a low-cost, easily accessible way of reviewing and obtaining government tenders. The daycare tender will close, Mar. 2, and will be followed by a review period before the contract is awarded. Construction is expected to start this spring and be completed by the fall of 2027.

Working group

Griffiths updated councillors on the workings of the Parkland Regional Working Group, which met recently. Made up of the heads of council and heads of staff, the group is comprised of the  City of Dauphin, RM of Dauphin, Ste. Rose, Lakeshore, Ethelbert, Mossey River, Grandview, Gilbert Plains, and McCreary. At the latest meeting, the topics of discussion included health care, immigration, 911 issues, tourism, regional economic development, joint training for municipal employees and elected officials and the 2026 election. The next Parkland Regional Working Group meeting is set for Mar. 20.

Human resources

Griffiths informed council the recruiting process for a new director of Public Works and Operations, as well as a new Public Works foreman is progressing. City administration also reviewed the structure of Public Works crews and decided to add a Charge Hand - Public Works as a permanent position, instead of seasonal.

Accounts approved

Councillors authorized the issuance of 39 cheques totalling $1,211,040.64 to cover outstanding accounts. Also authorized were five electronic payments totalling $25,792.50.

For the full story, read this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.