Unseasonably dry conditions have enabled City of Dauphin Public works crews to progress well into the 2023 capital plan.

“Things are going really well. Our capital projects have all been started,” director of Public Works and Operations Mike Vanalstyne said. “We’ve got the majority of our capital sidewalk work complete, water main renewals have been ongoing and road work started two or three weeks ago.”

One of the higher profile projects has been the replacement of paving stones with poured concrete on Main Street sidewalks.

The plan this year was to complete the sidewalks on the east side of Main Street from 8th Avenue South to 10th Avenue South to progress the multi-year project and things have gone flawlessly, VanAlstyne said.

“We have all the downtown left to do, too. So I’m going to hope in the next four to six years we have it all complete,” he said, adding the weather has been a real boon for the crews. “It’s been great. It has let us get a lot of work done earlier than normal.”

But that does not mean that Public Works crews will be standing around with nothing to do.

“We have got lots of other projects and maintenance work away from the capital stuff that we can get caught up on a little bit,” VanAlstyne said. “There’s always something to do.”

Inter-Mountain Watershed District (IMWD) has been conducting important environmental work throughout the area for many years.

And last week, IMWD staff had the opportunity to share some of its successes with their peers from around the province when the district hosted a two-day tour of the area.

IMWD’s boundaries extend from the Rural Municipality of Mountain in the north to Riding Mountain National Park in the south and from The Municipality of McCreary in the east to the Rural Municipality of Riding Mountain West.

And with the district covering a total of 12,508 square kilometres, an area larger than Prince Edward Island, there was a lot to look at, said IMWD general manager Jeff Thiele.

“We started in Ste. Rose and looked at a lot of the bridges and waterways and shale problems we’re having down there and things we’re working on down there,” Thiele said, during a stop for a presentation at the farm of Ernie and Jan Sirski, northwest of Dauphin.

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The tender to find a contractor to lead the redevelopment of Main Street South has closed, but higher than expected estimates have resulted in further delays to the project.

“It’s closed, but it’s not awarded officially yet. We’re working out money,” City of Dauphin director of Public Works and Operations Mike VanAlstyne said. “It came in well over budget. I don’t have any indication why right now. We were somewhat surprised by the pricing, for sure.”

Originally estimated to cost $13.5 million, the 1.7-km project covers a section of PTH 5A from Whitmore Ave., south to Triangle Road, and includes surface reconstruction with the creation of a divided highway.

The plans call to improve safety in the commercial area by having all local accesses connect to service roads, and service roads connecting to PTH 5A at upgraded intersections. Those service roads will be constructed along both the east and west sides of highway from their existing points south to Triangle Road.

As well, a new intersection allowing access to Dauphin Market Place Mall will be developed, complete with traffic signals.

Included in the project is a new drainage system design for the south end, which had been estimated to cost $8.15 million which the city will debenture through the province.

“We’re trying to work the financing out on our end here and we’re just waiting to hear back from our provincial partners. We’re waiting on the province right now to see how they can help us out,” VanAlstyne said. “We hope to have something settled in the next few weeks, I hope, and see some dirt moving by the fall.”

Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa MP Dan Mazier took the opportunity to connect with some of his constituents over a hotdog, last week, when he hosted his annual barbecue in the parking lot of Dauphin Market Place Mall, Aug.16.

The MP also hosted a well attended pop-up passport clinic in the Aspen Lodge at the Parkland Recreation Complex later in the day, complete with a photographer on site to take and print official passport photographs.

Anyone who stopped by the Liquor Mart in Dauphin, July 19, looking for an adult beverage instead found Manitoba Government Employees Union members who are employed at the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries facility on the picket line.

The local workers joined 1,400 of their peers in a one-day strike to draw attention to the fact the union has been without a contract since last March.

MGEU president Kyle Ross says the union is pushing for a fair and reasonable deal, including a 3.3 per cent wage increase, to provide frontline workers with fair compensation to keep up with inflation.

Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries said in a statement that negotiations were to resume later in the week, and that it remains committed to reaching a fair collective agreement.

Every year more than 300,000 high school graduates across the country are whittled down to a list of 1,500 nominees for a Schulich Leader Scholarship, Canada’s most coveted undergraduate STEM scholarship.

From that list of 1,500 nominees, 100 scholarships are awarded to entrepreneurial-minded students enrolling in a science, technology, engineering or math program at 20 partner universities across Canada.

And Dauphin’s Talia Iwanchysko is one of those 100, receiving $120,000 to complete her engineering degree at the University of Saskatchewan.

The 2023 graduate is thrilled with how all of her hard work throughout high school is paying off in a big way, for her and for her parents.

“It is an amazing opportunity. My parents don’t have to worry about helping me out. They’re beyond thrilled. They were very happy for me when I told them,” Iwanchysko said, adding her parents were instrumental in making sure she makes the most of the opportunity. “They put some sense into me when I was unsure of what I wanted to do and how much of an amazing opportunity this was.”

Every high school in Canada can nominate one graduating student each year to apply for the scholarship, which focusses on volunteerism, leadership, extracurricular activities and an interest in the STEM field.

To receive the nomination from the Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School, Iwanchysko had to complete an essay outlining what she sees as her three biggest accomplishments and where she sees herself in 10 years.

For her accomplishments, Iwanchysko first looked to her life as a musician.

“I have been playing piano for 10 years, played and sang for a church choir, jazz band and then with the Royal Conservatory of Music. And that’s like festivals, exams, everything like that,” she said, adding her second biggest accomplishment was her service as student council president this past year.

“So that was organizing assemblies and fund-raisers and some of the more serious issues of the school, too. And then just getting the student body involved in activities.”

Finally, Iwanchysko pointed to her academic success, receiving the highest math mark for Grade 12 pre-calculus and maintaining an overall average of 98 per cent.

As for where she sees herself in 10 years, Iwanchysko has big plans.

“I put as a project manager, potentially with my own company, working on designing and building skyscrapers in a big city,” she said.

After receiving the nomination from the DRCSS, Iwanchysko shopped it around to the University of Manitoba and the University of Saskatchewan.

It was the U of S that responded first.

“They sent me an email saying that I had received the scholarship. So that was where I was going to go. I couldn’t turn down something like that,” she said, adding the funds will be forwarded to her in $30,000 installments annually to support her education.

But beyond having their tuition, books and living expenses covered, Schulich Leaders receive a few perks, such as campus welcome tours, regional networking events, learning opportunities with top faculty members, access to top STEM employers and mentorship from university leadership.
Iwanchysko’s academic year starts, Aug. 31, with the first year focussing on core engineering subjects before focussing on a specific area of engineering.

“It can be any type of engineering so I was more interested in the civil side of things,” Iwanchysko said.

“I’m really open to anything, honestly, but I’m leaning towards civil engineering.”

Iwanchysko added she will be sharing an apartment with two other Schulich Leaders who reached out to her after she received the scholarship.

A frustrating season for the Dauphin Mavericks got even more frustrating this past weekend.

The local men’s rugby side travelled to Yorkton, Saturday at the request of Sask Rugby, which reached out to Mavericks president Codi Harrigan about playing an exhibition game as part of the efforts to build a rugby program in that city.

But it was not to be.

“The team didn’t end up showing, so we just kind of hit the field there with some U18 players. They came with three players, so we didn’t really have a game,” Harrigan said, adding the trip was not a complete bust, however. “We gathered everyone and we took the opportunity to do some training.”

And that training was worthwhile as it included coaching from Jamie Cudmore a former professional rugby union player and captain of the Canadian national team, who played as a lock and as a flanker. Cudmore began his career with Capilano in B.C. He then played professionally in Wales for Llanelli and Llandovery, and in France for Grenoble, Clermont and Oyonnax.

“He was in the World Cup four or five times. Sask Rugby brought him down to do some development stuff,” Harrigan said, adding players present split into two sides and played a training game. “It was a great opportunity just to get his feedback and tap into some of his knowledge and his expertise. It was nice just making that connection.”

While the season has been difficult because Rugby Manitoba can not seem to find any competition for the Mavericks, there are still opportunities for the local club to play, with a game in Brandon scheduled for July 22, and a home game versus the Wasps set for July 29. But even that is presenting some hurdles for Harrigan.

“MARR (Manitoba Association of Rugby Referees) has pretty much said we’re on our own to find a ref, as well I don’t know why that is,” Harrigan said. “So that’s my next challenge I guess. I’m gonna make it my mission”

Harrigan is hopeful a refereeing clinic tentatively set for July 22 in Dauphin goes off as planned and adds to the pool of potential referees.

“I’m hoping we’ll have some newly-certified refs that can come to get their feet wet the weekend after,” he said. “There’s about 10 of us who did the online portion last year and we were waiting to do the clinical portion in person. They said they’d come out to Dauphin, but of course they didn’t. So we’re still after them.”

With the provincial U16 and U18 teams scheduled to play exhibition games in Dauphin July 22, it is the perfect opportunity to hold the refereeing clinic, Harrigan said.

“We’re trying to get it together for this weekend, but it just seems every road I take is a dead end,” Harrigan said, adding with Rugby Manitoba executive director Patrick Ryan stepping down, it is the perfect opportunity for the association to show it cares about rural programs.

“I would really like to see someone from rural Manitoba take that position over, because I think there’s a lot of potential outside the perimeter that just needs to get tapped into. We need to see that support from Rugby Manitoba.”

Exhibition

On July 22, exhibition games will take place at the Kinsmen Rugby Pitch at Vermillion Sportsplex between provincial U16 and U18 sides from Manitoba and Saskatchewan

The U16 girls get underway at 3 p.m. while the boys game starts at 4 p.m. On the U18 schedule the girls game starts at 5 p.m. while the boys kickoff at 6 p.m.

Local players taking part in the games include Felicity Salhuka and Paityn Bourgouin on the U13 roster along with Ben Miner, Colton MIner, Sully Fox and Kingston Stirling in the boys game.

On the U18 side Lars Gubjartson, William Miner, Rhett Thachyk, Joseph Lopez, Matt Zurba, Oliver Dandeneau and Scott Gower will compete with Manitoba’s U18 boys provincial squad. The girls roster will include Bree Walker, Brooke Miner, Chloe Fletcher, Mia Maguet, Emma Fox, Saje Marohn, Allee Hrechka, Raylyn Koshowski and Megan Thompson.

A total of 58 golfers braved less than ideal conditions to take party in the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy Two person Lady Scramble at Dauphin Lake Golf Course, July 16.

Taking top spot in the first flight was the duo of Stephanie Remniak and Pearl Maksymetz with a 72, followed closely by Ashley Shaw and Cayley Mouck in second with a 76. The team of Gail Tycholiz and Martha Messinbird finished in third place with 81.

In the second flight the pair of Leanne Fedak and Diana Thorsteinson finished first with a 90. The second place team was Laurie Vandendool and Joan Vandendool shooting a 90, while Donna Campbell and Jan Pazuik finished in the third spot with a 91.

The third flight saw Donna-Leigh Davis and Donna Lesyshen finish in first with a 96, Colleen Johnson and Elise Karpiak capture second with a 98, and Lori Bourque and Margo Elliot finish in third with a 99.

The line up of Dauphin Consumer’s Co-op members looking for their equity cheques snaked its way through the produce section of the Dauphin Food Store last week.

Over 6,600 equity cheques were available to be picked up, July 11 to 13, as Co-op hosted its annual Equity Days.

A total equity allocation of $2.9 million, including $1.8 million in cash-back to members, resulted from a successful 2022.

Cheques that were not picked up during Equity Days have been mailed out.