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.

While the promise of a new Community Centre for Justice by NDP leader Wan Kinew is encouraging, Dauphin mayor David Bosiak is hoping for more from the upcoming provincial election.

“I’m supportive of (Community Centre for Justice) from a sense of there was plans and everything done in their past mandate and they’re fulfilling a promise. So I think that, from that point of view, it’s really good for us and it’s certainly something that may help stem the tide of the loss of public service jobs in our community. There was a huge loss when the jail closed,” Bosiak said. “I want to take them at their word. From what I can gather, historically the previous NDP government was beyond just the idea and the promise phase. The city and RM had developed the property and we spent some money and did a lot of planning on getting the land available for them. And they were designed, they were all ready, they were way past just the schematic plan for this.”

Historically, for a variety of reasons, governments do not always keep their promises, Bosiak said, and while the original plans for a new jail did not come to fruition, he believes the community will do whatever it can to make the centre for justice become a reality should the NDP come to power in October.

“I think that this may be one, at least for us locally, that is of importance enough that locals won’t allow them to ignore it,” Bosiak said. “Especially with a first-term commitment that was made and considering how our existing government handled (the closure of the Dauphin Correctional Centre).”

And while the jobs the new centre would bring many needed jobs to the community, Bosiak has his sights set on something less tangible coming out of the election.

“I would like to see a renewed level of communication between the municipal government and the provincial government and a willingness to discuss issues, ideas and concerns,” Bosiak said, citing the Community Safety and Well-being plan as one instance. “It’s been over a year and a half that it was announced and we’re just now starting to have discussions with consultants. But we still are yet to have a one-on-one with a consultant for our project. We are still in the infancy stages of the overall plan for the province with the consultants and it’s just so frustrating to see that this is what needs to be done.”

A more open relationship would also help in instances such the Main Street South redevelopment project, which became hung up when tenders came in $1.5 million over what the city had borrowed through debenture.

Government rules and regulations make it difficult for the City the raise the remaining funds and the City has been attempting to get some help from the province.

“We went to the province to say ‘hey can you throw us a bone, can you maybe help us, can you maybe do something?’,” Bosiak said. “Because we had seen this in other jurisdictions around the province, the province came to help other municipalities whether it’s water treatment plants in central Manitoba or crime stuff in the North or health stuff. There doesn’t seem to be an ability to help Dauphin.”

Bosiak said the City met with Minister of Municipal Relations Andrew Smith, last week, but now, because of the election blackout, there is nothing that can be done until after the election in October.

“So we just have to hurry up and wait, which is frustrating and it just means further delay,” Bosiak said. “Whichever government gets elected I just hope that we have a heightened sense of communication and collaboration as we work forward in the next three years for us and four years for them. I’m hopeful that we have someone on the government side again and that we have someone who may be a minister. But if not, I still want to have a positive relationship with the provincial government because quite honestly, municipalities can’t do much without support from the province.”

A new Community Centre for Justice for Dauphin is on the list of priorities should the Manitoba New Democrats form the next provincial government.

Party leader Wab Kinew was in the city, Aug. 18, sharing his plans to develop the facility, three years after the governing Progressive Conservatives unexpectedly and abruptly closed the Dauphin Correctional Centre.

“If our team forms the next government here in Manitoba in this fall’s election, we will build a new Dauphin Justice Center. We will build a new Dauphin Justice Center to replace the Dauphin jail that the PCs closed,” Kinew said. “We’re going to be building a facility that improves safety in the community and in the region. We’re going to be building a facility that is a concrete step towards addressing the crime that is too often present in our community. But we are also going to be making an economic investment to bring good paying jobs back to Dauphin and back to families who live in the Parkland.”

The plan, Kinew said, is centred on community safety and will act as a vehicle when interventions are necessary to address people who “are on a bad path” and need to be taken off the streets.

“But from there, we need to have a facility where we can address the addictions, we can address the trauma, we can address the issues that are causing them to go down the bad path and then we can show them how to lead a better life,” he said. “Specifically, the importance of working a good job and the benefits of hard work. This is part of what we need to see in responding to the issues around safety in our community.”

The closure of the Dauphin Correctional Centre by the governing PCs not only impacted community safety, Kinew said, but was economically difficult for the community given the loss of 80 jobs.

“And even though they tried to spin it this way and that way, at the end of the day from those 80 people who lost their jobs about 60 of them moved out of Dauphin entirely and the remaining 20, they lost work. They lost those jobs entirely,” he said, adding the Dauphin Centre for Justice will right that wrong. “We would like to bring back the 80 jobs. We would like to work towards that. We’ll work with the municipal leaders, MMF, First Nations. Those new jobs might look different than they did before because we might have some of the correctional type jobs that were there previously. Now we might also have some mental health, addictions training, educational type workers, as well as the maintenance staff. So we want to bring back the 80 jobs that were lost and we’re going to work with the community to make sure that it’s the right fit to hit those goals.”

What the new centre will look like will depend on extensive consultation with stakeholders, but as a starting point, Kinew anticipates an initial investment of $40 million to develop a 60-bed facility with annual operating costs of $5 million to $7 million.

“We’re going to have to spend some time looking at the scale. We want the municipal leaders and Indigenous leaders to be on side with that, so I don’t think we can prejudge that process,” he said. “At the same time the construction phase, I would imagine, is going to take some time, as well. But we will put shovels into the ground within a first term of a Manitoba NDP government.”

Check this week's Herald for the full story!