$8.7-million detox centre called ‘high-priced drunk tank’

The new facility to detain people in a drug psychosis for up to 72 hours is operating the way it should, the government said Friday, even though just 26 people have been held for that purpose since it opened.

“The (protective care centre) is doing what it’s meant to do: support people, meet them where they’re at, provide a caring environment,” Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith said after updated data were posted online.

The vast majority of those detained at the 20-room facility at 190 Disraeli Fwy. were recovering from alcohol intoxication, the update shows.

In total, 4,425 people were detained from the time the site opened on Dec. 2, 2025, until June 30, for an average of less than five hours.

Mayoral candidate Gillingham vows building boom; Vogiatzakis, Woodstock promise improved safety

Scott Gillingham promised several new steps to help get more homes and businesses built in Winnipeg Friday, if re-elected as mayor, amid other pledges from his competition.

Frequency of private plasma donations called into question

Two weeks after the death of a second plasma donor in Winnipeg at a privately run collection site, provincial and territorial health officials compiled a list of urgent questions for Health Canada.

A health department official in Nova Scotia, which leads the Provincial Territorial Blood Liaison Committee, wrote in mid-February to the federal regulator that their members had expressed “a great deal of curiosity tempered with concern” and forwarded two dozen questions, according to documents obtained by the Free Press.

Under a section titled “MANITOBA ESTABLISHMENT INCIDENTS,” the provinces wanted to know: “What requirements are in place to ensure Grifols is ensuring collections frequency (does) not exceed the limit under the Health Canada licence?” and “Is Health Canada able to identify whether Grifols Canada has a donor system across establishments? (e.g., can identify when a donor last donated and where, similar to their operations in the United States).”

“Does the situation of two high-severity incidents in one Province or at establishments run by a relatively new entity to Canada, within a short period of time, initiate any additional protocols?”

Expect intense back-to-back clash from Bombers, Riders

REGINA — You know that longstanding notion that the CFL season truly starts around Labour Day?

Well, you won’t have to wait very long to see if it rings true for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, as they’re set to engage in a two-game series with the Saskatchewan Roughriders that could have serious ramifications in the West Division standings, beginning with Sunday’s battle at Mosaic Stadium.

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea isn’t a proponent of the adage, believing it would diminish the importance of the effort and preparation required for the 11 games before the calendar flipped to September.

He doesn’t even want to look ahead to next weekend, when the home-and-home series returns to Winnipeg for the Banjo Bowl.

Shared Health urges surgical patients to get tests ASAP as Dynacare strike looms

Shared Health issued an urgent call Friday to surgical patients who require bloodwork to get it done before Dynacare stops collecting blood on noon Saturday — three days before lab workers are set to go on strike.

The company, which conducts blood tests at 22 outlets in Winnipeg, Brandon and surrounding communities, is locked in a contract battle with the union that represents its 350 workers.

Health officials warned that any disruption would significantly impair the health-care system.

Shared Health said Friday its officials, as well as regional health authorities, CancerCare Manitoba and the government have been working together to prepare for the walkout.

Mayoralty candidate Vogiatzakis decries war of words

A mayoral candidate took aim at personal insults among two of his competitors Friday, stressing the election campaign should focus on city issues instead.

“I’m really embarrassed by the mayoral candidates slinging mud at each other. We should be more professional … I don’t think we need to bring up people’s past or garbage that they’ve been involved in. I think this needs to be about the City of Winnipeg and what we’re going to do for the City of Winnipeg,” Mike Vogiatzakis said at a press conference Friday.

He confirmed he was referring specifically to skirmishes between Scott Gillingham, who is seeking re-election as mayor, and Kevin Klein, a former city councillor and provincial cabinet minister who registered for the race this week.

Within a few hours of Klein’s Tuesday announcement that he would enter the mayoral contest, Gillingham issued a statement labelling Klein “toxic,” a “Caribbean political fixer” for Peter Nygard and a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump.

‘Quite a journey’: dozens move into transitional housing downtown

Dozens of residents have moved into transitional housing units in a former university building in downtown Winnipeg.

Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said 42 residents have moved into suites on the third and fourth floors of a seven-storey building previously owned by Providence University College and Theological Seminary. There will be space for as many as 118 people who were in encampments or otherwise homeless.

The remaining units under renovation are expected to be ready and occupied in the coming weeks, Smith said.

“This has been two years in the making,” the minister said at a media event with residents, staff, neighbours and supporters. The building cost the province $24.4 million to purchase and renovate.

Councillors want city to revamp homeless camp approach

Three Winnipeg councillors say the city uses lack of housing as an excuse to drop the ball on managing public spaces affected by the homeless crisis.

Sherri Rollins, Cindy Gilroy and John Orlikow want bureaucrats to develop a co-ordinated, proportionate and measured approach to maintaining safe, accessible and usable public spaces.

On Friday, they put forward a motion at the final city centre committee meeting before the Oct. 28 election. Gilroy is the only one seeking re-election, in the Daniel McIntyre ward.

“Right now, we have de facto designated encampments. We have increasing social disorder that much of the sector is pointing toward our own policy and blaming it for causing the disruption to the whole entirety of the city and spreading the problem,” said Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry).

Insurance money spent, family waits for provincial flood aid

Three months after a once-in-a-lifetime rainstorm battered her home and caused extensive flooding, J’aime Killbery is still picking up the pieces while she waits for financial relief from the provincial government.

Killbery lives in Balmoral, north of Stonewall, in the rural municipality of Rockwood, one of the communities hardest-hit by the June 9 deluge. The RM declared a state of emergency after a record-breaking 250 mm of rainfall caused sewer backups and overland flooding.

The damage to the family home was immense. Their fully finished basement was destroyed by sewage water, meaning the walls and flooring needed to be ripped out and replaced.

While family is handling some repairs themselves to cut costs, every repair is expensive, Killbery said.

Loon design wins for next Manitoba specialty licence plate, province says

WINNIPEG - Manitoba says a loon design has won out in a public survey about a new specialty licence plate that pays homage to provincial parks.

The government says 62,605 people responded to the July survey.

Manitobans had five options, with a portion of the proceeds of every plate sold going to an endowment fund for park improvements.

Along with the loon on a lake, there was also a campsite at night, someone canoeing on a waterway, a replication of a map and a pure black one to represent a park at night.