Carillon Sports Second Shots: Feb. 19th edition

Featuring SRSS basketball and hockey games Feb. 11, a HTJHL playoff game in Grunthal Feb. 12, Niverville vs Steinbach MJHL action Feb. 13, Ste Anne vs Warren HTJHL Feb. 14, and Providence MCAC championship basketball Feb. 15.

New Bethesda expansion to see patients in March

A Steinbach hospital’s newest expansion will soon be seeing patients next month after construction finished in December.

The second phase of the Bethesda Regional Health Centre’s expansion project cost nearly $64-million and will add 15 new beds, with seven dedicated for palliative care, three operating theatres and a new cultural space.

“I think there’s a general feeling that patients are going to really enjoy the new spaces,” said Kyle MacNair, Southern Health’s implementation lead for clinical planning.

The Bethesda Foundation contributed $8 million for the expansion and the province funded the rest, he said.

Bayer to build Winnipeg canola facility

Bayer Crop Science will build a new canola research and development facility in Winnipeg in what is one of their largest investments in Canada to date.

The company announced the $45 million facility at the end of January, saying the new facility will strengthen Canada’s leadership in canola innovation by establishing what they’re calling an “innovation” centre.

The facility will house seed development work for canola, camelina and winter canola, focusing on trait integration, yield trial seed processing and seed quality analysis.

Antoine Bernet, country division head for Crop Science Canada said this long-term investment demonstrates their commitment to canola in Canada.

U15 AAA Selects continuing to produce top WHL talent

Three years ago, Brek Liske (Beausejour) was taken by Everett in the first round of the WHL draft. Two years ago Graeme Pickering (St Adolphe) and Asher Gingras (Steinbach) were taken in the first round. Last year Crosby Mateychuk (Dominion City) was selected by Vancouver and has already made the jump to major junior.

In 2026, Île-des-Chênes’ Nixon Gaudet is hoping to add his name to that list, as the U15 Eastman Selects enjoy another strong year in the AAA league thanks in part to the 2011-born forward’s efforts. Gaudet had 50 goals in the first 29 games of the season.

“He’s probably one of the most skilled players in the draft, but because of his size he gets knocked back a few pegs,” Selects head coach Gerald Tetrault said.

“That being said, he’s a dog and he works so hard and I’m super proud of where he’s come in the last couple years as a player.”

COLUMN: Carillon Flashback October 24, 1946 – Fur farms are significant in Southeastern Manitoba

When people think of the animals on the farm, dairy and beef cattle, pigs, chickens and sheep come to mind. But there was a time when mink and foxes were just as important to many a farmer in the Southeast. In 1946, William P. Wiebe, who managed a fur farm in Steinbach’s east end, provided The Carillon News with an up-to-date report on the industry at that time.

Fur farming is a highly specialized industry, Wiebe said, and fur farmers get out of it only what they put in.

In southeastern Manitoba, the raising of fur-bearing animals is steadily gaining in importance, and at present it is estimated that approximately $175,000 worth of pelts are sold annually. Then there is also the revenue from breeding stock that is being sold by some of the top-notch fur ranchers. Breeding animals, of course, nets owners many times as much income as the marketing of pelts.

The gestation period for minks is 40 to 73 days, so minks increase on an average of 3½ times a year; foxes don’t do quite as well, but breeding stock outstrips income from fox pelts as well.

Hanover council approves female transitional home in Mitchell

RM of Hanover council has approved a conditional use order that will allow for transitional housing for women in Mitchell.

The approval of the conditional use order was granted by council Feb. 11 during a public hearing. The housing is an initiative between Initiatives for Just Communities (IJC) and the department of families’ community living disABILITY services.

IJC’s director of services and operations Kevin Drain said the organization has been discussing the housing project with the province for a couple of years and last year IJC put a proposal together to set up housing in a large single detached home.

The province came back and suggested they look for a more manageable and less crowded housing option, so IJC leased two duplexes in Mitchell.

Providence College set to add rugby next fall

Providence College continues to add sports programs to their offerings.

With Cross Country, Curling and now rugby, the Pilots are set to add three new sports during the fall 2026 semester.

Providence will play Rugby 7s in the Prairie University Women’s Rugby Conference, with the aim of playing 15s next year. Isi Masi, who played high-level rugby in Austrailia and Manitoba and coaches the Eastman Warriors women’s rugby team, will head up the program.

Athletic director Joel Coursey said Masi is the perfect coach to build a strong culture around the sport at the school.

Tache looks to leave WMR

The Rural Municipality of Taché has voted to leave the Capital Planning Region, joining a growing list of municipalities unhappy with the provincial body.

Taché council unanimously passed a motion to file the ask to Municipal Relations Minister Glen Simard during a Jan. 27 public works meeting. The move came one week after Springfield passed a similar motion to want out of the Capital Planning Region.

Taché Reeve Armand Poirier labeled Winnipeg an “elephant” and took issue with its voting power on the planning region’s board, which allows it to have a double majority on decisions.

“It’s important for Taché and all the other municipalities to be at the table, to be heard on what we expect to see happen in our jurisdictions, rather than sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that we don’t exist,” he said. “By doing that, we’re going to get chewed up and spit out.”

COLUMN: Village News – Winter memories

Mennonite Heritage Village held its annual winter carnival last Saturday. The mild winter day was conducive to many outdoor activities for all ages, and our volunteers and staff shared stories of the early Mennonite settler experiences of surviving Manitoba winters in the semlin. Hundreds of families and extended families spent the day skating, snowshoeing, and pushing each other around on the kick sleds. The horse-drawn sleigh rides through the peaceful winter village setting and the experience of being pulled on a dog sled by five eager mushing dogs were added features to this day of interacting with nature at MHV.

As brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and grandmas and grandpas were enjoying these activities, I was reminded of winter days in my childhood. Growing up on a farm, our family enjoyed the outdoors on a daily basis. We had our regular farm chores of tending to the animals in our barn or in the outdoor shelter, but we also played outside whenever we could. After a fresh snowfall, we would make trails around the yard, following each other in games of tag, hide and seek, and duck-duck-goose. The snow piles on the yard served two purposes, first of all, these became wonderful sliding hills with our toboggan and sliding carpets, either taking turns with my sister and brothers, or piling on as a group to see how far we could travel with the added weight. Secondly, we would designate certain hills safe for creating tunnels and we spent many hours carving out tunnels or cutting out snow blocks to build little snow shelters. Many years, Dad would spend hours flooding an area near our well house to create an ice rink and with our hockey sticks and a puck, we would pretend to be our favourite Montreal Canadiens or Toronto Maple Leafs player.

When it was finally time to be called inside by Mom, we would place our outdoor clothing near the wood-burning stove to dry off and be treated to hot cocoa or a home-baked cookie, as our rosy cheeks indicated that we had benefited from a ‘fresh air’ outdoor experience.

Last Saturday, at MHV, the outdoor firepit was a popular gathering space for warming up and enjoying roasted marshmallows. Some families even brought their own wieners and buns to have a roasted hotdog treat. Many people took time to visit the canteen for fresh waffles with white sauce and a cup of hot chocolate before they went back outside to try their hand at snow carving or crokicurl.

Growing Home program returns

Communities across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario have an opportunity to access up to $25,000 from a prize pool of $160,000, thanks to BASF Agricultural Solutions and their Growing Home with BASF community program.

Back for its fourth year, the program is designed to empower Canada’s agriculture community to support the organizations that in their words “strengthen the fabric of rural Canada and make a difference in their hometown.”

Last year, thousands of Canadians nominated and voted for local organizations that help rural communities including childcare services, agricultural societies and hospital foundations.

Andrea McConnell, customer solutions for BASF Agricultural Solutions Canada said the program has gained momentum over the last four years.