Right in the centre-Choosing change

Just about every election is run on a promise to change. Most town and municipal councils, provincial and federal governments get elected promising to do a better job than their predecessors. For certain, the Manitoba government lead by Premier Brian Pallister was given a huge mandate to change. After 17 years of NDP government, it wasn’t hard to see the need for change.

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Right in the centre - Manitoba has the second highest number of VLTs in Canada

Ken Waddell
The Neepawa Banner

reader and friend called last week and he was somewhat amazed at how much money gets poured into slot machines in rural towns. That raises the question as to how much do the slot machines return to the winners, to the facility owners and to the government? In 2016, the Town of Neepawa received $57,562.14 which was a $5,000 base fee and the rest on a per capita basis. But that figure pales in comparison to how much money goes out of the community.

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My perspective - And now, for something completely different

Kate Jackman - Atkinson
The Neepawa Banner

Last week, as most of Manitoba was experiencing a heat wave, I was looking at some icebergs in Canada’s easternmost province. Over seven days, we saw not only icebergs, but also whales, puffins, subarctic tundra, the earth’s mantle, a landlocked fjord, a Norse settlement and the difference one person can make. Of course, we also ate lots of fish and chips.

Read more: My perspective - And now, for something completely different

My perspective - What's the attraction

Kate Jackman-Atkinson

Neepawa Banner

What do we want to be known for? It’s an important question every community must ask itself. The Town of Neepawa used to be known for its flowers and each summer, thousands would come from across North America for the Lily Festival. With all those eyes on the town, everyone did their part to help the town live up to its title of “World Lily Capital”.  There were publicly funded lily beds and privately maintained yards and bus and carriage tours took visitors around to admire the beauty. The concrete deadline of the festival pushed everyone to get the town ready for the attention. 

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Right in the centre - Epidemic of secrecy

Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner

In the decades long crawl to make health care accessible and still stay within 40 per cent of  the province’s budget, Manitoba governments have actually done a very poor job of containing costs. The current Pallister government is finding that to hold the line on costs or to actually reduce costs is a pretty frustrating exercise. 

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