This past summer the City of Dauphin reduced the number of lead water service lines in the community thanks to a financial incentive for homeowners.

In June, a $1,000 rebate was made available to homeowners who have lead service lines on their property and who contracted city crews to replace those line.

The incentive was the result of Health Canada allowable lead standards being halved from 10 parts micrograms per billion to five and testing switching from the distribution system to the tap back in 2018.

At the time tests were conducted on 17 homes in Dauphin which had lead service lines - the line connecting the watermain in the street to the residential plumbing system - with 14 of those tests coming back with lead levels higher than the current standards.
In 2018, the city had 445 lead service connections out of 3,500 systemwide. While city officials encouraged homeowners with lead service lines to change them at the time, 420 remained heading into this construction.

“This year alone, we’ve probably replaced 15 to 20 throughout the community, and this incentive helped and we’re aiming for that 10 to 20 a year, just to start to chisel away at this,” director of Public Works and Operations, Mike VanAlstyne said. “We are offering this anywhere in the community where lead has been identified. And if people wonder if they have lead, they can contact us here at the city and we can search their property records.”

While the cost of replacing a service line varies from property to property, the amount is about $3,000.

Under the City’s Water and Sewer Utility System Bylaw, the replacement of lead service lines for property owners is cost-shared. The City pays to replace the line from the water main to the property line and the property owner pays to replace it from the property line to the building.

An incentive which offers around a one-third reduction in costs seems to be making a difference, VanAlstyne said.

“I don’t know if one season is enough to see the success of it, but we’re happy with the way it’s been going with people buying into it,” he said. “We would love to remove all services that carry lead.”

According to a Province of Manitoba fact sheet, although blood levels have fallen significantly in recent decades due to the removal of lead from gasoline and paint, lead remains an important health concern.

The higher and longer the exposure to lead, the greater the effect on health.

Lead exposure has been associated with effects on intellectual development and behaviour of children. Water levels around 0.010 mg/L would be considered a low level lead exposure and may have effects on intellectual development and behaviour of children.

Other health effects, such as cardiovascular effects - increases in blood pressure and reduced kidney function - have also been associated with relatively low levels of lead exposure. High levels of lead exposure have additional health impacts.

Anyone wanting their service changed should contact the city shop at 204-622-3202.

“We can provide them an estimate for the work and put them in the queue if they’re interested,” VanAlstyne said. “Our waterworks crews probably have work until the end of November at this point, doing services with new construction and lead. So I think we’re almost queing into the new year for new people.”

Last week the Lifesaving Society of Manitoba embarked on a Northern and Parkland tour to meet with their partners and stakeholders in the communities to talk about water safety and putting their message out about drowning prevention.
On average, the Lifesaving Society sees around 22 drowning incidents a year on a five-year average in Manitoba and their goal is to get people thinking about water safety and to bring that number down.
“We believe as an organization that one drowning death is one too many and 22 is far too high,” said Lifesaving Society of Manitoba Water Smart and Safety Management Co-ordinator Dr. Christopher Love.
“Drowning is the process of experiencing respiratory impairment due to submersion; it’s not like what is seen in the movies.
“People are generally under the water when drowning initially starts and they spend about 90 percent of the time below the surface when this occurs. They can’t yell for help or make noise and this can happen very fast. This is why we advocate that people need to be very attentive around the water.”
There are a number of ways to prevent drowning incidents from occurring and the biggest factor is supervision.
“We talk about layers of protection when it comes to this subject, so that’s things like learning how to swim and having active adult supervision at all times,” said Love. “This is how we will prevent drowning incidents from happening. The third one is to swim at a lifeguarded facility because statistics show that under 1 percent of drowning incidents happen at guarded facilities.
“The number one thing we see in both our Manitoba and national statistics is that drowning fatalities for children under 12, almost 90 to 100 percent of cases happen when children are alone. As soon as you add an adult to the equation to supervise, that percentage drops to close to zero.
“It may be annoying to some parents or adults, but it’s the one step that needs to happen in order to prevent a tragedy from taking place,” said Love. “Drowning prevention is our mission and we want to make sure people are taking part in a healthy and engaging manner when it comes to being in the water.”
Right now there is a massive lifeguarding shortage across the Province. Many aquatic facilities are struggling to find staff for lifeguarding and teaching swimming lessons in the community. This is a problem also for the Valley.
“Lifeguard shortage is not just a Manitoba issue, it’s across Canada and North America,” said Love. “We’ve had low-level staffing issues for years in the industry because it’s very often not seen as prestigious and the first choice for employment.
“Then with COVID-19, pools were shut down and the vast majority of staff were laid off. These people needed to pay their bills and went on to find other jobs. We’re seeing that these people aren’t coming back to work in this field and are staying in their new careers as a result of this.
“Combine that with the fact that we’ve had two years with very little to no training of new lifeguards, and this all contributes to the shortages we’re seeing,” said Love.
The Lifesaving Society of Manitoba is working hard to address the issue by helping to facilitate more training courses to be held within communities, to train staff to fill the vacancies.
“We’re working as hard as we can with our partners to get courses up and running to train new lifeguards,” said Love. “We’re helping to source people from our office or finding someone who can come to that particular community and offer the training needed.
“People have to realize that it took two years to put things into this situation and we’re not going to get out of it overnight. We don’t want to compromise quality for lifeguards and we want people to still be safe when they come to the pool.”

The Fields of Jubilee (FJ) has been successfully harvested for another year, with 80 acres of wheat bringing in 82 bu/ac and 85 acres of canola bringing in 40 bu/ac. The wheat has been sold for $78,718 and the canola is projected to be $73,000. The FJ committee hopes to be able to donate $125,000 to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, which works to fight global hunger.

“Oh it feels so good to be back together!” No matter what Beef and Barley event you may have taken in, that was the feeling around town over the Thanksgiving long weekend.

In the more than thirty years since our annual Beef and Barley festival began, the first long weekend of the fall has long been thought of as a ‘regional reunion’ of sorts as students came back from their first month of post secondary studies and families gathered from near and far.

And boy-oh-boy, has the joy of gathering as one great big community, been missed. And to top it off, Mother Nature co-operated beautifully.... “People wise, it was bigger than 2019,” Tyler Kilkenny, one of the long time event organizers said in an informal post festival chat. “The amount of people who showed up this year who I haven’t seen at Beef and Barley functions in the past, was really great to see.”

While the week long event was fantastic, one of the most popular was the Charity Buckin’ Rodeo - followed by the Saturday Night cabaret featuring locally famous In Too Deep on the stage. “When we chose our bull riders to ride for various charities, we focused on age and what age group of people they were going to bring in, what area they were from - so we had two riders from Angusville, two from Inglis and Binscarth and a lot from the RM.

“We really wanted to represent everyone,” Tyler said. Another focal point, the trio explained was to get a really good variety of ages coming out to the rodeo and then staying for a while to take in the cabaret. “And we definitely did that,” Tyler said. “I would say at least 80 percent of the people stayed for the first set of the band and by the time the cabaret ended, I think that more than fifty percent of the people who were still there had been at the rodeo too.”

For more check this week's Russell Banner!

Dauphin’s Breken Brezden travelled to Regina, Oct. 8 and 9, to compete in the Sask Skate 2022 figure skating competition.

Brezden finished first in the short program on Saturday night, then finished first in the free skate program, Sunday, winning overall gold in the Junior Women’s division over the two-day competition.

Brezden then finished third overall at the Ontario Octoberfest 2022 Skate Competition, this past weekend.

She was in fourth place after Saturday’s skate and skated well enough to make it onto the podium on Sunday.

It has long been said that it takes 21 days to break a habit and 21 days to make a habit.

And Dauphin deputy city manager Lisa Gaudet is hoping to help city residents form a new habit through a 9 PM Routine campaign meant to involve the entire community in the fight against property crime.

The campaign will feature nightly email reminders to secure property by removing valuables from vehicles, locking vehicle doors, locking all exterior doors and turning on an outside light.

“There’s a lot of chatter on social media about crime. It’s a hot topic and people are feeling unsettled about the mischief kind of crime, where people are getting into their vehicles and sheds and yards,” Gaudet said. “So this is a positive message that brings us all together collectively and people can be a part of something where they feel like they’re making a difference in a small way. It’s a message of empowering people to take action even though it’s small steps. If we do it collectively, people can take action to prevent crime.”

The idea was first developed by the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office in Florida in 2017. Since then it has been adopted by police forces and municipalities across North America, Gaudet said.

“It recognizes that crimes against property are often crimes of opportunity. So a potential thief will happen upon an unlocked car with keys or a wallet on the seat and they’re more likely to open the car door and take what’s inside,” she said, adding if people can develop a habit of locking up vehicles, sheds and houses, removing valuables from the yard and vehicles and turning on an outside light every night the community will be far safer.

“We’re trying to just instill this habit.”

As part of the campaign, Dauphin RCMP detachment members will be conducting foot patrols through city neighbourhoods. If they see a car door unlocked or something that’s unsecured on a property they will leave a card pointing out the problem.

“That fosters that connectivity that people want. I think people are feeling lost and they’re saying ‘is anyone listening? Does anyone hear us? We’re not feeling safe in our neighbourhoods’,” Gaudet said. “And this is the way to promote that connectivity where they can see the RCMP were here, they are checking on things. I think there is a sense of security in that.”

To encourage participation in the campaign, Gaudet has arranged for some prizes consisting of $25 in Chamberbucks. Those who complete the routine each night will be encouraged to post a check mark in the comments and share the post with their friends.

“For the people who have engaged the most with our social media posts and that way we get the message out further,” Gaudet said. “The more engagement with our posts, the better your chance to win one of our $25 Chamberbucks prizes.”

Gaudet is in the process of contacting community organizations and other stakeholders, encouraging them to get involved by forwarding the posts on their websites and social media accounts to encourage as much engagement with the campaign as possible.

The more people taking part, the better off the community will be in the long run, she added.

“I noticed posts on social media where people would say, ‘is the city aware that this is happening, that people are breaking into my shed’,” Gaudet said. “We are aware. We are very much aware, but there was a gap in the messaging where there was no connectivity between the city and the residents. So I think this is (connecting) and it’s fun.”

Starting this week the email reminders with tips, hints and graphics will be distributed just before 9 p.m. each night.

“If there’s good uptake on it I might continue and do more of them, but hopefully people will develop a habit,” Gaudet said. “I think for the most part it’s a positive message that the community needs right now to really pull us all together.”

Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa MP Dan Mazier will play a prominent role in the Conservative Party of Canada’s shadow cabinet.

Mazier will serve as the shadow minister for Rural Economic Development and Connectivity after being appointed by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

“I guess the leader identified that I was a very good advocate for rural Canada and our riding in general,” Mazier said. “It is a true honour and it’s good to know that, just like I’ve always done, I’ll be advocating for rural Canada.”

Mazier’s mandate calls for him to hold the government accountable while proposing policy solutions to support rural Canadians.

Poilievre has also tasked Mazier with addressing the lack of internet and cellular connectivity in rural Canada, something Mazier has been spearheading since he was first elected in 2019. Earlier this year, the MP introduced Bill C-288, An Act to Amend the Telecommunications Act, which, if passed, would provide Canadians with more accurate and transparent information regarding the internet services Canadians pay for.

As such, Mazier is pleased Poilievre has “really emphasized connectivity.”

“Inflation is going to be a primary focus on all these files, like how do we get this inflation down. That’ll be the main focus on anything we touch,” Mazier said, adding there is a real crisis that is being created by a number of government policies.

That is where a large part of his focus will be.

“The carbon tax and just how that is impacting our lives. Not only in Canada, but in rural Canada there is a big, way bigger disparity than this government knows about,” Mazier said. “Justin Trudeau’s inflation crisis is hurting rural Canadians disproportionally. Whether that be his carbon tax or his planned tax hikes on gas, groceries and home heating, I will be relentlessly opposing any policies that increase the cost of living to rural Canadians.”

Mazier is looking forward to learning his new role and to meeting with a wide cross section of rural Canadians to better understand their priorities and concerns

“Beyond learning the process, especially being a relatively new MP, this is the first time I’ve been appointed to any type of a position like this, so on that side of it, there will be some learning,” Mazier said, adding he is awaiting further marching orders in terms of committee assignments.

“They’re very well organized and things will come out here and we’ll get a clear direction of where we’re headed. It’s just learning all this and it’s shifting gears a little bit more in our office.”

For the final instalment of our mayoralty candidate series the focus shifted to infrastructure, which is perhaps the most important responsibility for a municipal government.

We asked, “From buildings and facilities to sidewalks, roads and the systems buried beneath them, infrastructure is arguably the most important responsibility of a municipal government. Where does infrastructure sit in your list of priorities and what plans do you have to drive maintenance and renewal of existing infrastructure along with additions to the City’s list of assets?”

Below are their answers. Remember to get out and vote on Oct. 26.

David Bosiak

Infrastructure affects people’s lives every day. It is the literal foundation we build our community on. We drive and walk on it. We turn on our taps, we flush our toilets, we play in our recreation facilities and our parks. We expect our infrastructure to meet our most basic needs. As such, it is the most important responsibility of a municipal government.

The City is well positioned to deal with the ongoing challenges of managing and operating our different types of infrastructure. This is primarily due to our current financial position of little debt, healthy capital and utility reserve funds, and the relatively good condition of much of our visible infrastructure. We don’t want to “get behind the eight ball” and constantly be trying to catch up, though. We need to make smart investments in our infrastructure and ensure it is keeping pace with our ever-changing needs.

One specific action that I will encourage new council and staff to address is our capital asset management plan. An asset management plan is used by municipalities to determine the life cycle management of its major infrastructure and provides an outline for infrastructure and equipment upgrades and/or replacement. It generally allows a municipality to ensure it has the resources and timeline to replace infrastructure when necessary and to keep the city operating in the most effective and cost-efficient manner possible.

An effective asset management plan helps save the city money. Major breakdowns usually have a ripple effect causing costly disruptions to city services and operations. A well executed plan avoids these situations by making sure the city’s infrastructure is in good working condition.

I will ensure that new council puts review of the plan at the top of our priority list. We need to keep it a relevant, current template that guides our city in making the appropriate repairs, upgrades and replacements at the most cost-effective time with the least disruption in service.

Adhering to a well-developed plan will allow us to regularly review our priorities, and measure them against grant opportunities from other levels of government. We must further ensure efficiencies found in sustainable development initiatives be maximized. Inputs from council as they meet with community members must be communicated effectively to administrative staff and vice versa. We have to continually revise and update this plan – and use it to guide our annual capital budgeting process.

Much of our city infrastructure is visible, and most of this is in reasonable to very good condition. The recent announcement of funding for upgrades to our lagoon suggests our sewage treatment system will have the capacity to serve the growing needs of our community for many years to come. We have a relatively new City Hall and our recreation facilities are in their “mid-life”, meaning they are in good condition but will require certain mechanical and system upgrades as they continue to age. Our public works shop is in relatively decent condition considering its age, but will require significant improvements soon. These issues must be identified in our plan and be addressed appropriately by council.

The city also has a considerable invisible network of infrastructure, most of it buried beneath our community. Some of this system consists of old and leaden pipes that need to be replaced or re-lined. Upgrades must be considered, which may ultimately save us money in the long run, as water main break repairs are a costly item in the city budget.

Can we do this all at once? Not likely. We have to be logical and plan, budget, execute, learn and focus on best practices. We will start this process by ensuring our asset management plan is current, and being used appropriately. We need to invest wisely.

If elected mayor on Oct. 26, I will ensure council and staff work together to provide citizens the best possible value for the infrastructure we all need, rely on and have come to expect from our great little city.

Kerri Riehl

We cannot move forward unless we have a solid foundation. There have been many changes within the last two years thrusting the city into an environment of great upheaval. Inflation is the highest it’s been since 1983. That changes every aspect of community and daily life for us all. Great change requires strategic planning. Once a strategic plan has been completed the next step is an organizational review. The City of Dauphin’s strategic plan was released in 2021 outlining goals and priorities to lead decision making between 2021 and 2024. The first goal of the strategic plan is a sustainable community. That encompasses everything mentioned in the question from buildings, facilities, sidewalks and roads.

The question is do we have the infrastructure planning, internal processes, analyses, and the blueprints for change in place? Have our priorities shifted since the strategic plan was developed? We can’t keep doing what we were doing two years ago. There have been drastic changes.

I was asked numerous times what I wanted to accomplish in my first 100 days as mayor, and this was my response. An organizational review. The city does a financial plan and a financial yearly audit. I don’t see that an organizational review has been completed. The two go hand in hand. The organizational review helps understand how work needs to be structured to achieve desired goals.

An organizational review is an assessment of jobs, tasks, and how positions are related and inter-related. It is a targeted effort to understand how work gets done now, what work is most important to accomplish, and how it may need to flow differently. It seeks to identify the levels and nature of the knowledge, skills, and abilities that the city has or requires if it is to match resources with priorities.

There are free resources to assist municipalities with an organizational review. The timing is right to view things with a fresh lens with the best and honest intentions. Any bias, positive or negative, must be parked. It is not an assessment of people or of their level of performance. It’s conducting a position analyses. This is not about targeting staff or reducing positions. It is about focusing the organization on excellence and the work and processes that support it.

For example, our roads and back alleys. They require maintenance and repair. We have excellent staff who can address this infrastructure. Is it finances? Do we have enough staff? Are there too many other critical priorities? Can we obtain services of other trades? Is it a lack of equipment? We have roads in town that are the province’s responsibility. These include River Avenue, Main Street, 2nd Avenue NW, and 1st Ave NE. The city is responsible for the parking lane and gutter. Imagine how that works for snow removal and the predicament this causes for our snow clearing staff. The snow piled in the middle of the road down Main Street is the province’s responsibility to remove. Is there not an opportunity to work with the province to address this which would facilitate a better solution for our city staff regarding snow removal? A win/win for both?
Some roads in town have a six-inch drop in pavement from the road to the gutter. Sidewalks need repair with large drops in some cracks. We need to consider mobility of our citizens. During a parade this summer a long-term citizen fell crossing the street from one side of the road to the other on Main Street. This individual tore their meniscus, hurt their shoulder and back. They still are receiving treatment 2-1/2 months later from infrastructure.

The city draft plan recently released has many great ideas and demonstrates a snapshot of where we are currently, and where they would like to go in the next 25 years. It doesn’t align with the cities’ first strategic plan’s goals that was completed a year ago. Does the strategic plan need to be redone even though it was implemented in 2021, or is this the new strategic plan?

Therefore, the organizational review is critical. It removes people and positions from the equation and identifies how to achieve goals. There has been a high level of staff turnover in key critical positions within city staff over the last four years. Mayor Irwin died in November of 2017. There will be four different mayors for the city in the last five years. We need consistency over time. At 54 years old, I am dedicated to seeing the long-term vision for Dauphin to become a reality. Change requires time.

We cannot blaze a path forward until we know where we are headed, how were going to get there, and determine if our current infrastructure can provide us with the solid foundation, we require to achieve our goals. How can we do better if we don’t know better?

I would appreciate your vote on Oct. 26. Thank you.

This year’s National Fire Prevention Week in Canada is held from October 9 to 15 and many fire departments will be promoting fire safety and awareness to the public during that time.

There are many useful tips to help prevent fires in ones home and the biggest form of prevention comes in planning. 

Usually around this time of year that people should be thinking about testing or replacing their smoke detectors in their homes.

It’s recommended that smoke detectors should be tested once a month and replaced every 10 years or per manufacturers specifications.

Check this week's paper for more!

Having a pet is a wonderful thing, whether it be as a companion in a home or to instill a sense of responsibility to a child.
Typically, household pets that are available for purchase or adoption in the Swan Valley have been limited to cats and dogs.
For those interested in something a little more scaly than furry, business owners and engaged domestic partners Stu Coulthart and Shay Bresky have set up a new pet store in Swan River known as S&S Reptiles that features a wide variety of exotic or atypical pets of the generally more cold-blooded variety.
Walking through their brick-and-mortar location on Sixth Avenue North, you’ll see plenty of reptiles – such as bearded dragons, chameleons, geckos, monitors, skinks, snakes and tortoises – as well as some toads and frogs, fish and small mammals like pet rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils and the like. Or, if invertebrates pets are what you’re after, they even have a selection of tarantulas.
“I’ve had reptiles personally since I was about seven or eight years old,” said Coulthart. “I’ve had pretty much everything and anything that could fit in a 50-gallon tank or less, bearded dragons to geckos to salamanders and things like that.
“There was a lot of things that I couldn’t get when I was young. The world has really expanded so much in the reptile world. There’s probably about 240 species of reptiles that are available in Canada, whereas when I was young, you could probably only get about 50.”
Many times, Coulthart would have to pick up his reptile pets in Winnipeg, and he has gone as far as Edmonton to pick one up.
“My favourite was probably the bearded dragon, just for the simple fact that they are great for children, from age two all the way until you are in your 90s,” said Coulthart. “We have a two-year-old boy that absolutely loves them and has been with them, and our grandmas come in here and hold them.
“Bearded dragons are calm, not aggressive by any means and overall they are playful. They know who their owner is. I’ve seen videos of bearded dragons playing tug-of-war with a chihuahua. They are just an all-around great pet.”
The lifespan of a bearded dragon also ranges from seven to 11 years, depending on husbandry and environment.
The reason that Coulthart and Bresky got into selling reptiles as a business was because Bresky had her salon business Shay’s Shears out of their home and they found people were interested in the reptiles they had.
“We would have children that would come to get haircuts, screaming and crying,” said Coulthart. “I’d go get a bearded dragon to give to them and they would forget all about the haircut and would get interested in the bearded dragon.
“As customers would come in to get their hair done, our two boys would take out the bearded dragons and show the customers. Parents would wonder where we got them and told us we should start selling them.”
Once they started selling a few, the side business necessitated a new space and so both S&S Reptiles and Shay’s Shears both have a downtown Swan River location now, on the backside of Spruce Country Computer where Dr. Theodore used to have his clinic.
“We were in our home for about three or four months, and we looked at a couple of places before we got into here,” said Coulthart. “We got a decent price on this place and for the amount of room we need right now, it’s perfect.”
In addition to the various species of exotic pets, with new kinds seemingly arriving all the time and the access to order more, S&S Reptiles also has the support systems needed to set up a tank or habitat for your creature companions, as well as the selection of food and nutritional supplements to keep them comfortable and healthy.
“I really enjoy doing this as a hobby,” said Coulthart. “I’d like to eventually expand and do a breeding program and become a breeder for my own supply of reptiles. But, I want to give everybody some information that reptiles aren’t as icky and gross as what some people think they are. They are no different than having a small dog.
“I would like to acknowledge people in all the different species and temperaments that reptiles have. There’s some reptiles that are aggressive, just like a mistreated pit bull might be, but then there’s some like the bearded dragon that is as friendly as a poodle. Everyone has their hesitations and a lot of the time, reptiles are misunderstood for what they are.”
The added benefit of the new store is that access to pets such as these is normally limited for a town like Swan River.
“The closest places that have what I have is either Winnipeg or some places in Regina that might have some of it,” said Coulthart. “I do try to carry some of the more unique stuff that you wouldn’t find just walking into a pet store.
“And, with our area where we are, we have no pet stores or anything going up north as far as six hours, and four hours travelling east, west or south. I’m trying to serve a large area, so I like to try to keep some neat stuff so people can have a grasp on what different stuff is out there than what you might normally see in a PetSmart, for example.”
The standard of care for these animals isn’t necessarily more complicated or time-consuming than other pets of their size, once a habitat is set up. The important thing to remember is that – apart from the small mammals – everything is cold-blooded and needs a temperature controlled home to match their original environment.
“There are reptiles that I’ve considered getting in here that have a lot higher standards, needs and requirements,” said Coulthart. “But, for the most part, I try to keep it as simple as possible because we haven’t had a pet store or a store like this in our area for a long time and I know a lot of the people coming in are just beginners and first-time reptile owners, so I want to keep it as simple and easy for them as possible.”
S&S Reptiles is normally open from Tuesday-Saturday afternoons, or by appointment by calling Stu at 204·281·7298 or Shay at 204·281·2985. They are also available to contact at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or their online sites at ssreptiles.ca or facebook.com/swanriverreptiles.
Either of them will be willing to answer any questions you have and introduce you to the wonderful world of reptiles.