Winnipeg Free Press – Breaking News, Sports, Manitoba, Canada

New Jets show promise despite loss to experienced Oilers

Mike McIntyre 8 minute read Updated: 9:34 AM CDT

Preseason hockey games are always more about the process than the result, and that’s especially true when the opposing rosters appear to be a major mismatch on paper.

So a 5-2 loss by an inexperienced group of Winnipeg Jets skaters against a star-studded Edmonton Oilers squad on Saturday night in the Alberta capital was neither surprising nor alarming.

There was, however, plenty to like from the visitors’ perspective despite the outcome.

Let’s break it down.

New

National Black Canadians Summit celebrates culture, combats racism

Gabrielle Piché 4 minute read Preview

National Black Canadians Summit celebrates culture, combats racism

Gabrielle Piché 4 minute read Yesterday at 6:06 PM CDT

Despite the event’s name — the National Black Canadians Summit — Bruce Miller felt he should attend.

He booked a ticket. And so, this weekend, the Indigenous Manitoban joined roughly 1,500 people flocking to the RBC Convention Centre.

It’s a full schedule — addresses from a former Canadian governor general, sessions on Black mental health and anti-Black racism.

The annual event draws politicians, artists and other professionals from across the country.

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Yesterday at 6:06 PM CDT

New health curriculum puts emphasis on harm reduction

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read Preview

New health curriculum puts emphasis on harm reduction

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Manitoba is revamping how students are taught about drugs with an emphasis on harm reduction, the complexities of substance use disorders and the role of ceremonial tobacco in Indigenous cultures.

For the first time this century, physical education and health curriculum is undergoing a systematic overhaul set to debut in September 2028.

Drafts released this back-to-school season have “substances and patterns of behaviour” units across kindergarten to Grade 12.

Grade 6 has been updated so students learn about the short- and long-term effects and risks of using and misusing cannabis products, as well as caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and vaping.

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Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Elmwood–East Kildonan candidate promises to tackle ‘inefficiency’ in government

Gabrielle Piché 3 minute read Preview

Elmwood–East Kildonan candidate promises to tackle ‘inefficiency’ in government

Gabrielle Piché 3 minute read Yesterday at 6:17 PM CDT

The former assistant of late Elmwood–East Kildonan councillor Jason Schreyer is again running for the seat.

Chris Sweryda officially launched his campaign Saturday. He did so with the backdrop of a grocery program he runs, where food is sold near-cost out of St. Gerard School’s gym.

Rows of cereal, pasta sauce and chips filled tables ahead of the program’s afternoon opening. Sweryda created the pop-up with Schreyer months ahead of the former councillor’s April 2025 death.

The program sees roughly 500 people each day it’s open (which is every other week on Saturday), Sweryda said.

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Yesterday at 6:17 PM CDT

Carney in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon to meet with Macron

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Carney in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon to meet with Macron

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Updated: 10:18 AM CDT

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney is in the French territory of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon Sunday for a mostly symbolic meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The leaders are expected to take part in a working lunch before attending a wreath-laying ceremony at a memorial for the volunteers of Free France.

In December 1941, Free French forces peacefully liberated the archipelago from the control of the Vichy regime, which aided Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

Macron was scheduled to be on the islands, which sit about 20 kilometres off the south coast of Newfoundland, for three days over this weekend, before travelling to New York City for the UN General Assembly.

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Updated: 10:18 AM CDT

Civic Election

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
New polling data shows 55 per cent of decided voters favour incumbent mayor Scott Gillingham compared to 23 per cent for Kevin Klein and 11 per cent for Mike Vogiatzakis.

Gillingham in lead with decided voters

Nicole Buffie 6 minute read Preview

Gillingham in lead with decided voters

Nicole Buffie 6 minute read Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

A cloud of uncertainty is hanging over Winnipeg as October’s municipal election nears.

Three months after a poll showed more than 40 per cent of Winnipeggers wanted to see someone other than current mayor Scott Gillingham elected, a new Abacus Data poll indicates more than half of Winnipeg voters are undecided heading into next month’s civic election.

Of decided voters, 55 per cent favour Gillingham compared to 23 per cent for former councillor and provincial cabinet minister Kevin Klein and 11 per cent for funeral director Mike Vogiatzakis.

Of all respondents, just over 50 per cent said they were unsure while 13 per cent said they will not vote.

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Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

Opinion

Can Brazil’s Lula best Bolsonaro’s backers? Peter McKenna Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT
Not falling back means time loop remains unclosed Jen Zoratti Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT
Kinew has crucial role to play helping Carney get the ball rolling on resource projects Niigaan Sinclair Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

Local

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Mayor Scott Gillingham presents the Mayor’s Award of Valour to Jaycyln Morrissette (right) and Brady Saunders at Winnipeg City Hall on Friday.

Mayor honours pair who rescued little girl, father from Red River in August

Morgan Modjeski 4 minute read Preview

Mayor honours pair who rescued little girl, father from Red River in August

Morgan Modjeski 4 minute read Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

A “proud and thankful” Mayor Scott Gillingham honoured two Winnipeggers Friday who rescued a young girl who fell into the Red River last month.

Gillingham said he was humbled to meet Jayclyn Morrissette and Brady Saunders before he presented them with the Mayor’s Award of Valour for saving the child and her father, who jumped into the water in an attempt to help his daughter and nearly drowned.

“These are the kind of people who we have in our city,” he said. “When someone is in need, they’ll step up, risk their own lives, to help someone they’ve never met in their life.”

Morrissette and Saunders were at St. John’s Park in the evening on Aug. 24, when they saw the man and child in the river.

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Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

Agriculture

A head of wheat is silhouetted by the sun in a wheat crop near Cremona, Alta., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

From soggy fields to skyrocketing diesel, Prairie farmers face tough harvest

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

From soggy fields to skyrocketing diesel, Prairie farmers face tough harvest

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Updated: 9:38 AM CDT

CALGARY - Stephen Vandervalk half-jokes that there's a reason more farmers aren't seen pitching their businesses on "Dragon's Den" and "Shark Tank."

"They would laugh you out of the room," said the fourth-generation southern Alberta wheat grower.

It's an industry where investment decisions span generations, not fiscal quarters, and where owners are at the mercy of forces as fickle as weather and as volatile as war. Canadian farmers are working to get their crops off their fields against a particularly stormy backdrop this year, as conflict upends global supply chains and the U.S. administration throws a once rock-solid cross-border trading relationship into disarray.

And, in the West, the skies were of little help.

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Updated: 9:38 AM CDT

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Business

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
The Steinbach Credit Union on McGillivray Blvd.

Steinbach Credit Union member warns others after scammer steals $10K

Scott Billeck 5 minute read Preview

Steinbach Credit Union member warns others after scammer steals $10K

Scott Billeck 5 minute read Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

A Winnipeg single mother whose bank account was drained of nearly $10,000 says Steinbach Credit Union needs to warn its members about what she believes is a broader security problem.

The woman, who is not being named to protect her identity, said a scammer gained access to her account earlier this week after calling SCU’s contact centre, claiming to be her and successfully completing the credit union’s authentication process.

She said she knows of at least six others who have experienced similar incidents in which callers impersonate SCU account holders and pass the authentication checks.

The woman discovered something was wrong when her minor son asked why money had been transferred out of an account they jointly hold.

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Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

Canada

A maintenance worker vacuums the carpet in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Bills, byelections and bilats: what you need to know as MPs return to Parliament Hill

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Bills, byelections and bilats: what you need to know as MPs return to Parliament Hill

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Updated: 9:38 AM CDT

OTTAWA - Members of Parliament are making their way back to Ottawa for the fall sitting of the House of Commons that gets underway on Monday.

It's set to be a busy season with the release of the federal budget, debate on legislation and looming byelections.

Here are five things to watch for:

The budget

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Updated: 9:38 AM CDT

NHL

Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES
Team Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon (left) just misses the open net on Team USA netminder Connor Hellebuyck in the men’s gold medal hockey game at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics back in February.

Hellebuyck standoff caused by… Nathan MacKinnon?

Mike McIntyre 6 minute read Preview

Hellebuyck standoff caused by… Nathan MacKinnon?

Mike McIntyre 6 minute read Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

Looking for someone to blame in the Connor Hellebuyck fiasco and cast as public enemy No. 1? How about long-time Winnipeg Jets nemesis Nathan MacKinnon?

Allow us to explain as we fire up the time machine and head back to February in Italy.

Oh, what could have been if MacKinnon had been able to score on what appeared to be an open net late in the third period of the men’s gold medal game with Hellebuyck down and seemingly out of position.

Instead, the star forward fired wide, keeping the score deadlocked at 1-1 as the clock ticked down on regulation.

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Friday, Sep. 18, 2026

Business

A Chevron station displays its gas prices on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, on Eastern Avenue in Las Vegas.(Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Rising gas prices frustrate voters. Trump says it’s an ‘inexpensive price to pay’ for the Iran war

Steve Peoples, Jesse Bedayn And Jonathan J. Cooper, The Associated Press 8 minute read Preview

Rising gas prices frustrate voters. Trump says it’s an ‘inexpensive price to pay’ for the Iran war

Steve Peoples, Jesse Bedayn And Jonathan J. Cooper, The Associated Press 8 minute read Updated: 9:37 AM CDT

EDINBURG, Texas (AP) — Quinten Martinez, pumping gas under a hot South Texas sun, remembers a time when fueling up didn't require difficult decisions.

“Is it going to be groceries this week?" asked the 28-year-old Amazon delivery driver as he watched the numbers tick higher. "Is it gonna be getting gas in our tank to go to work?”

He shook his head when asked about President Donald Trump's assertion last week that higher gas prices are a small price to pay for the war with Iran.

“I don’t feel like it’s a good trade-off,” Martinez said. “I don’t feel like this is good for anyone.”

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Updated: 9:37 AM CDT