The number of speeding tickets issued in Steinbach has more than doubled according to statistics comparing 2022 to 2023 presented to city council on April 2.

Steinbach RCMP Staff Sgt. Guy Landreville told council speeding offences went from 155 in 2022 to 328 in 2023, up by 111 percent.

And he warned them, that’s not going to change any time soon.

“I will guarantee you when you see the 2024 comparison next year that number will be even higher,” he said.

Union Gospel Mission is letting the public know they don’t raise money by going door-to-door.Martin Chidwick, development manager for the Winnipeg mission, said they received a report from an Elm Street resident in Mitchell that someone had come to their door asking for donations.Described as a “tall blond guy,” the person presented credentials and told the homeowner he was representing the “Winnipeg chapter.”Chidwick said not only do they not conduct door-to-door campaigns, they also do not use language such as “Winnipeg chapter”.“That’s not how we work,” he said.In this instance, the homeowner donated and Chidwick hopes by spreading the word others won’t do the same thing.“I know the Steinbach area is a very giving area,” he said.Chidwick had not contacted the RCMP over what this case, but said he was planning to make them aware.

What makes 2024 a special year for Steinbach Regional Secondary School graduates is that this is the first prom these students will attend, having lost out on their Grade 8 prom due to COVID. And to make that evening even more special, the school’s grad committee is looking for donations from the public and the business community.

“We’re looking for donations because we need to supplement our ticket sales to be able to give the kids the best prom possible…as the head grad committee we’re trying really hard to build this experience to be the best prom that SRSS has seen,” said Mary Yoder who is head of the hospitality committee.

More than 450 students will graduate this year and what the committee is finding is that it’s not ticket sales that are lacking, rather it is the cost of supplies and services that is making grad hard this year.

“We can only charge a certain amount for those tickets and the price of everything just keeps going up. We can’t raise the ticket sales to the extent we would need to in order to cover all of our costs, because then it would just make it unfeasible for many of the students to go. So, to be able to keep the ticket (prices) at a price where the students can afford to attend, we need to be able to supplement it in other ways,” said Yoder.

Re: Clear thinking about Israel and Hamas (Think Again column by Michael Zwaagstra, April 6).

I could pick on MP Ted Falk again but why pick on low-hanging fruit when one of your regular contributors justifies the killing of innocent babies. Michael Zwaagstra does just that in his column. I’ll write that again. He justifies killing babies. I shouldn’t have to remind you but I will. There is no justification for infanticide.

Zwaagstra quotes an author who writes ‘…that it was Hamas that started this war. If Hamas really cared about the Palestinian people, they would never have intentionally slaughtered 1,200 Israeli civilians…” The latter part of that statement is certainly true - Hamas cares more about annihilating Jews than it does about its people - but please, Hamas that started the war? It’s Israel which has been systematically imposing its brand of apartheid on the Palestinians for years. It’s Israel which bulldozes neighbourhoods and claims them for itself, in direct violation of international law. And ironically, just like Hamas does not speak for its citizens, neither does Netanyahu and his government speak for theirs. It’s a last-ditch effort to stay in power and he’ll do anything to achieve it; even indiscriminately murder babies.

Zwaagstra goes on citing this author. “….Israel tries to avoid hitting civilian targets and warns Palestinian civilians to evacuate before engaging in a bombing campaign.” Hardly. Sure, Israel orders Palestinians to evacuate but wherever they go, they get bombed. There is no safe place in Gaza and Israel knows this. The IDF is also blockading humanitarian aid with the intention of starving Gazans to death. And most recently, Israel surgically bombed and killed 7 relief workers from World Central Kitchen - the charity funded by Jose Andres. Overall, more than 200 aid workers have been killed. That’s a lot of “accidents.”

A land purchase was discussed in camera at a March council meeting followed on April 2 with a resolution to purchase three Oakbank property titles (40 acres) for $1.6 million, rather than the advertised $1.8 million. The assessed value of these three titles is $344,700 over five times less than the purchase price but council passed the resolution 3-2.

The previous council sold public land without following the proper tender process and with no independent evaluation of its worth. Will this council be selling public land without the tender process and independent evaluation is to be seen. It was stated that a $1.3 million surplus would be used towards this purchase. These funds could have been used to decrease the borrowing amount for the water treatment plant. There was no public input on the use of the surplus funds.

Council is becoming a real estate agent and developer. This is not their mandate according to the Municipal Act or their expertise. Developers have staff to survey, draw up blueprints, etc. The RM would have to use consultants that adds to the cost. The free market should be in charge of development with the municipality ensuring that a development agreement contains the proper criteria to blend in with the surrounding environment and other guidelines required.

Council has created a division between rural and urban dwellers. This resolution drives a further wedge even among urban dwellers. Council needs to consider that they were elected to serve their residents not outside forces such as the Capital Region, John Q Corp. or other corporations.

A 25-year-old Steinbach man is facing charges after allegedly being found impaired following a single vehicle accident on April 6.

RCMP said that incident, which happened on Hanover Road south of Steinbach, was one of 48 calls for service that happened over the weekend.

Police responded to the accident from which two passengers were taken to hospital while the driver and a third passenger were released on the scene by EMS.

The driver is facing charges of driving while over .08 and impaired driving. He also had a 30-day vehicle impoundment.

One of the most trumpeted “achievements” of the current Liberal/NDP coalition is the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP). Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh proudly call it universal dentalcare.

However, there is nothing universal about it, as those who signed up will find out next month.

For starters, the plan only covers seniors below a certain income level who don’t have access to their own dental plan. Thus, anyone currently paying for private insurance is ineligible for this plan, even if their premiums have become unaffordable.

In addition, the CDCP covers only some treatments and doesn’t even pay their full cost. While dentists are encouraged to waive the balance so that patients don’t need to pay, there’s no guarantee that this will happen.

All of those who know me and love me anyway – and even those who don’t – also know that I am not a morning person.

I run errands, and book most of my appointments after lunch, and you won’t get a cheery, “Good morning!” call from me at 7 a.m. If you do, hang up. It’s someone trying to impersonate me.

And if you have the misfortune of calling me at that hour, I apologize in advance.

But this doesn’t make me a bad or lazy person. It just means my happy hormones don’t kick in until I have a certain amount of caffeine coursing through my veins, and my brain needs time to fully accept that a new day, with all its tasks and concerns, has dawned.

Last weeks provincial budget, the first under the new NDP government, was both a reflection of the past and perhaps a look into the future. The projected budget deficit of $800 million was a reminder of the type of deficits the last NDP government rang up under former Premier Greg Selinger. In fact, the size of this deficit is usually only seen in Manitoba when the province has to deal with significant flooding or forest fires. But this isn’t a budget that is the result of a natural disaster, simply old fashion NDP spending.

The large deficit is in stark contrast to the last set of financial books that were audited by the independent provincial auditor. That budget, for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, resulted in a quarter billion dollar surplus in Manitoba. The NDP have managed to swing the books by a billion dollars and run one of the province’s largest deficits. And that is only after a few months in office.

In somewhat related news, British Columbia, the only other province that is governed by the NDP, suffered their third consecutive credit rating downgrade this week. The credit rating agency, S&P, cited the risk caused by “outsize” deficits as the reason for the downgrade. This will result in that province paying higher interest rates for its borrowing. At the same time that the new Manitoba NDP government is running deficits that remind Manitobans of the last NDP government, it is hard not to look at B.C. and wonder if that is not what is to come.

After all, the last time the Manitoba NDP had their hand on the provincial books, not only was the credit rating impacted, it resulted in record increases in taxes in our province including the raising of the provincial sales tax (PST). Even in this first budget, the NDP are projecting tens of millions of dollars in increased revenue from higher taxes on homeowners through the reduction of credits and cancellation of rebates. As Manitobans begin to receive their property tax bills and see the impact of these tax changes, they are likely going to discover they are paying more taxes this year than last.