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The Minnedosa

Since 1883
Volume 137 Issue 27 Friday, September 13, 2019 www.minnedosatribune.com 90 cents plus tax

PCs Win Second Thank You For Your Service

Majority

Photo submitted

Re-elected Riding Mountain MLA,

Greg Nesbitt, watches the results coming in
on election night with his parents, Joe and
Shirley, at his home in Shoal Lake.
Photo by Darryl Holyk

By DARRYL HOLYK Minnedosa Fire Chief Dean Jordan (C) with recently retired members of the fire
department, Firefighter Ken Morrice (L) and Deputy Fire Chief Mike Kowal (R)
M anitoba voters re-elected Brian Pallister’s
Progressive Conservatives back into power
Tuesday earning the party its second consecutive
during a retirement celebration held last Friday evening.

majority win. After a successful 29-day campaign, By DARRYL HOLYK
the Premier and his party return as our provincial
government, “Moving Manitoba Forward.”
Although voter turnout was at an all-time low of
55.4 per cent, once all 472,575 ballots were counted
T wo long-serving
Minnedosa Firefight-
ers were honoured at a
from the 57 electoral divisions, the PCs had earned special retirement celebra-
36 seats, losing a few from its 40 seats secured in tion at the local fire hall on
the 2016 election. The NDP earned 18 seats, up four the evening of Friday, Sep-
from the last general election and the Liberals were tember 6th. The evening
given three seats resulting in a loss of official party recognized the service and
status. dedication of recently re-
Here in the Riding Mountain constituency, in- tired members, Mike Kow-
cumbent Greg Nesbitt, PC, was re-elected as our al and Ken Morrice.
MLA. Nesbitt, who was new to the provincial po- Mike joined the
litical scene in the 2016 election won his second Minnedosa Fire Depart-
election by a landslide. Nesbitt earned 6,117 votes ment in 1999 under for-
which was a 4,156 vote lead over the next closest mer Fire Chief, the late Bill
candidate, Wayne Chacun running for the NDP. McVey. Throughout the
Mary Lowe, representing the Green Party, received years, Kowal was highly
723 votes followed by local Liberal candidate, Jor- involved in various aspects
dan Fleury, with 454 votes. of the local department
including administration
Continued on Page 5 and the firefighter’s an-
nual antique poker derby,
which continues to be
one of its largest fundrais-
ing events. He recalled his
first fire call being a house
fire in the middle of a cold
winter night in which he
rushed to the fire hall un-
prepared for the frigid
winter temperatures – no
proper head gear or socks!
Kowal has always
been proud to tour others
through the local fire hall,
including a number of fire-
fighters and fire officials
from other communities.
“I’ve had Winnipeg and
Brandon firefighters come
through our hall and they
could not believe what we
have for equipment for a
town the size of Minnedo-
sa and surrounding mu-
nicipalities,” stated Mike.
“Some larger fire depart-
ments don’t even have half
of what we have. We are
very fortunate and I am
very proud to have been
part of this department.”
In approximately
2015, Mike was promoted
to Deputy Fire Chief, a role
he held until his retire-
ment from the department
earlier this year.
Ken became part of
the local fire department
18 years ago in 2001, also
under former Fire Chief
McVey. His time as a fire
fighter began with a minor
out-of-control grass fire
but in August 2003, along
with other members of the
Minnedosa emergency re-
sponse teams, Ken faced
one of the most horrific
scenes to stand out in his
memory when six vehicles
were hit by a semi on High-
way #16 east of Minnedosa.
This fatal crash, in which
a 13-year-old boy lost his
life, was imprinted on the
minds of all who attended
the scene that day. “Being
part of the fire department
is one of those things you
enjoy doing but also hope
you never have to do,”
mentioned Ken. “But, we
do it and it’s very reward-
ing.”
Continued
on Page 6