Local
Fine for dangerous crash after drinking
3 minute read Yesterday at 4:17 PM CDTA Kleefeld man who admitted to drinking before driving 114 km/h over the speed limit on Highway 52 and crashing his van received a $2,500 fine and one-year driving prohibition in Steinbach court.
Branden Giesbrecht, 25, pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and avoided going to trial for impaired driving as part of a plea deal. The sentence from Judge Kael McKenzie was more than the $1,500-2,000 fine defence lawyer Michael Dyck asked for when he pointed out that Giesbrecht had no prior criminal record, and that Manitoba Public Insurance will be charging a lot more as it hands him demerits on his licence.
“I sat here about a month ago and I had almost the exact same case. I don’t know what it is and why that is… I thought didn’t I just deal with this matter?
“There has to be a message sent to this community, to you and everyone else out there that if you are going to engage in this type of reckless, dangerous driving, that the consequences are going to be such… that this is meant to be punitive,” said Judge McKenzie.
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Metis wood plant to boost southeast region economy
3 minute read Preview Yesterday at 3:35 PM CDTSteinbach Pistons ready for a battle in first round of MJHL playoffs
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3 minute read Preview Yesterday at 9:30 AM CDTA season of sacrifice (and chocolate withdrawals)
3 minute read Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2025Every year, without fail, Lent sneaks up on me. Just when I’ve finally recovered from my New Year’s resolution flop, along comes another season of self-improvement disguised as sacrifice.
Lent, for those unfamiliar, is the 40-day period leading up to Easter, meant to mirror Jesus’ time in the wilderness. It’s a time of reflection, repentance, and often, giving something up as a personal challenge. In theory, this practice strengthens faith and discipline. In reality, it also strengthens my craving for whatever I’ve sworn off - particularly if it’s chocolate.
Now, let me be clear: I love the idea of Lent. A time to step back, take stock, and let go of the things that have an unhealthy hold on me. That’s noble. But somewhere along the way, it’s turned into a season of personal deprivation games. Every year, I try to identify that one thing I’ve grown a little too attached to - be it sugar, caffeine, social media, or my insistence on staying up late reading “just one more chapter.” Then, for 40 days, I attempt to prove that I am not, in fact, ruled by my vices.
Some years, my sacrifice has been commendable. Other years… well, let’s just say my commitment wavered around day three, when a dear friend surprised me with a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs. The rest, as they say, is history.
Carillon Sports Second Shots: March 13th edition
1 minute read Preview Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2025$235-million RSR Wastewater project going to tender with tariff contingency
4 minute read Preview Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2025COLUMN: On Parliament Hill – Carney’s coronation / four words
5 minute read Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2025On March 9 the Liberal Party overwhelmingly elected central banker Mark Carney to be their new leader.
Four words come to mind as I consider Mr. Carney’s victory and his premiership to be (however brief): coronation, continuity, opportunism, and history.
Coronation.
Was there ever any doubt?
Local takes the lead in MTC production King James
3 minute read Preview Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2025Red River Valley SD raises special levy 11.3%
4 minute read Preview Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2025Koop, rookie of the year Dick, help Wesman to CanadaWest title
3 minute read Preview Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2025COLUMN: Report from the Legislature – We can weather the economic storm
4 minute read Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2025I think it is safe to say that everyone getting tired of the rollercoaster ride of tariff threats being thrown around for the last couple months. Since president Trump’s inauguration, we have seen serious threats to our cross-border trade and relationship with the United States in general. Since the first threat we have heard many commitments and comments from political leaders across our country including our premier and prime minister. We do need to act but I am convinced that we will not be able to trade retaliate our way out of this mess. Donald Trump is in office for four years and he has set the stage for our relationship during that time. The only way to combat the effects on our economy is major deregulation and economic incentives in sectors that are most dependent on U.S. trade.
Instead of retaliation on the trade of products that substantially affect our citizens and insignificantly affect theres, we need to instead give our economy the tools to compete. The most certainty that we can see from retaliation is that it is going to push the president to increase tariffs in the days to come, which could outright cripple our economy. We instead need to remain competitive with U.S. companies making it harder on the people of the United States and their economy. This will in turn force them to put pressure on their government and the president. We see substantial regulation and taxation in each of the main trade sectors within our economy. Our region of the province is significantly based on agriculture and manufacturing. Within these two sectors of our economy, we can easily see far more than a 25 percent government burden on production as well as significant opportunity for government to enable growth. This same approach can be seen and used across all major sectors of our economy.
Examples of these taxes and regulation that make up more than 25 percent of the costs of production are things like the carbon tax, production levies, payroll tax, corporate tax and income tax. If we can cut taxes and regulations by more than the 25 percent for our local businesses and manufactures it will allow them to not only compete but also provide them the flexibility to react to ongoing market changes while keeping their employees working and happy. This not only will allow the economy stability but avoids the alternative government reaction which is debt driven subsidies which we have recently learnt the devastation that it can have on inflation and the stability of our economy.
We are an economy heavily dependent on exports of raw or near raw materials that our effect of retaliation is insignificant in the grand scheme of our trade position. Government should never get into business or in the way of business. It should be governments position right now to step out of the way of business and the economic growth of our province and country by allowing businesses the tools they need to remain competitive. The more money left in the pockets of Manitobans is more money into our economy. This trade war can be won with less government involvement instead of more.
Cinderella’s Wardrobe a fairy godmother for graduates
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7 minute read Preview Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2025Agape House Purple Gala sees large turnout, dollars raised
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