Ratepayers living within the boundaries of Mountain View School Division (MVSD) are preparing for an increase in the education portion of their property taxes.

At the division’s 2024-25 public budget forum, Mar. 7, secretary-treasurer Lori Slepicka indicated the mill rate for the special levy will rise to 13.87 in the coming school year, an increase of one mill from the previous year.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

The weather turned out to be nearly perfect – everyone got plenty of Vitamin D – for the San Clara/Boggy Creek Métis Local’s annual Langan Lake fishing derby held March 9.

The event drew about 150 anglers

Find out who won the top prize in this week’s issue.

Members of the Roblin Skating Club took to the ice at the Centennial Arena Sunday, March 10 to present their season-ending showcase “Under The Sea”.

The show featured a guest performance by Blades Unlimited, a regional synchro team.

Check out some action shots in this week’s Review.

Prairie Mountain Health is taking additional steps to encourage community members to protect their kidneys.

March is kidney awareness month, and PMH encourages everyone to learn more about protecting their ‘beans.’

Check out this week’s issue for some timely information

Last week the world celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, which is a time to celebrate, acknowledge and showcase the remarkable contributions, efforts and achievements of women. Two women in the tri-community are stepping up to a higher level of community service by being a part of The Pas Fire Department (TPFD).
Brooklyn Mayer is the newest female recruit to join TPFD and has found her place as one of the members.
“What first made me join, was seeing the advertisements for a calling to TPFD in the local newspaper,” said Brooklyn Mayer. “I joined last year in 2023.
“Since I started, there was only one other woman in the department.”

The Northern Manitoba Skills Competition always brings out the best of the best when it comes to high school students demonstrating a certain skill set. Once again, the hairstyling portion of the competition was held in The Pas and showcased many talented students taking hairdressing at Mary Duncan School
“I taught hairstyling part-time between 2017 and 2023, while I went to school to complete my education degree,” said Mary Duncan School Hairstyling Instructor Becki Crozier. “I graduated this past June and am now teaching hairstyling full time at Mary Duncan School.

Cree Nation Tribal Health (CNTH) is presenting their first gathering, known as Weesahkayjak Comes Home, for Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals in the tri-community. The event will be held for two days at The Pas Legion.
“This is our first time hosting the event,” said Connie Merasty. “I’m the 2SLGBTQIA+ Program Manager at Cree Nation Tribal Health and this position came up last year, so it’s fairly new. With the funding we were allotted, I decided to try and hold a gathering for 2SLGBTQIA+ people in the north. From that concept, we had an opportunity to host a small gathering here in The Pas.

The Pas Guest List has contracted an artist, this time from northern Manitoba, to do the second mural as part of their Walking Path Mural Project, which brings new life and art to the community. There were no specifications given to the artist on what to paint for this second mural, so it was like a blank canvass waiting to be brought to life.
“For the second mural it was really important to feature a local northern Manitoban Artist,” said The Pas Guest List Treasurer and Co-founder Gabrielle Swan. “Mike Spencer is so active in the arts community and his style is unlike anything we have in the other murals in The Pas; it was an obvious choice for us to commission him to create the second mural.

Winter almost came and went without Swan River sculptor Derryl May crafting another creation in his front yard, with last week’s precipitation providing a medium to erect a representation of an osprey catching a fish, which melted down somewhat and re-envisioned into a chickadee. Here, the final result before the above-freezing temperatures melted it further.

After suffering three losses last week, the Dauphin Kings have resigned themselves to a third-place finish in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division.

Dauphin’s week began with a 4-0 setback at the hands of the first-place Virden Oil Capitals, Tuesday in Virden, followed by a 3-2 overtime loss to the Neepawa Titans, a game in which the Kings led 2-1 until Neepawa tied it with 14 seconds left in regulation, then won it on a power play with two seconds left in overtime.

Saturday, the Kings hoped to make up some ground when they hosted the Blizzard Jr. A Hockey Club, but they were set back on their heels almost right off the start in what turned into a 5-3 Blizzard victory, the team’s 12th win in a row.

Defenceman Aiden Murray was assessed a high sticking penalty 53 seconds into the game and 37 seconds later, defenceman Trey Gnetz was given what was initially called an interference penalty, but was later changed to a cross checking penalty, putting the Kings two men short.

The Blizzard took advantage, scoring twice to build an early 2-0 lead, 3:21 into the contest and they never looked back, building a 5-1 lead less than six minutes into the third period.

The Kings scored two goals 34 seconds apart, but that was as close as they would get.

As a result, the Kings enter the final week of the season with a 34-17-2-1 record for 71 points, seven behind the Blizzard.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley felt the second penalty was unwarranted as it was a play which occurs several times a game.

“We do it all year. Everybody does it. Every PK unit does it. The guy has the puck, he dumps it in, he gets hit. And all of a sudden we’re down five-on-three. I didn’t agree with the call. It is what it is. It was a tough start,” he said.

Hedley felt the Kings were better the rest of the period, but gave up a goal just 1:13 into the second period to fall behind 3-1.

“And then, for some reason, the start of every period, we’re back on our heels,” he said.

To the Kings credit, they didn’t give up and scored twice to make a game of it.

“We wanted to send a message that they have to go through us. If you have a bad shift, it’s the guys on the bench that are responsible for having a better shift. They’ve got to get out and work with five guys on the ice,” Hedley said.

The Kings started throwing pucks at the net and creating opportunities, but failed to close the gap.

Now the Kings will end the season with four games this week, beginning with the final home game of the season, tonight, against the Portage Terriers at 7:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, the Kings travel north for a rematch with the Blizzard at 7:30 p.m.

On Friday, Dauphin is in Winnipeg to face the Blues, before ending the season in Selkirk against the Steelers on Saturday.

Hedley plans to give some players some rest to make sure everyone is healthy and ready to go for the playoffs.