Pope Francis resumes regular appointments after canceling schedule with a fever

BRANDON — Charges were stayed mid-trial for a man accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in an abandoned house after the youth admitted during cross-examination she was lying about what happened.

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison peppered the 15-year-old victim with questions in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench on Monday, suggesting she feared getting in trouble if she now spoke the truth, despite previously telling police his client, 22, inappropriately touched her in a July 2024 incident.

The girl, who can’t be identified due to a publication ban, initially held firm in her testimony, saying, “No, he did touch me inappropriately,” before Harrison posed the question again, and she answered, “I can’t really understand.”

Harrison asked the question a third time, saying, “I’m going to suggest that you’re concerned that if you tell the truth that he didn’t touch you, that you may get in trouble. That’s the situation, isn’t it?”

Democracy is on the ropes everywhere in the world as politics have become extreme, divisive, virulent — just plain toxic.

It would seem like a reasonable, visceral decision not to participate, to not be contaminated or compromised by association. However, like education, where more education is the cure to a lack, a deficit in democratic politics calls for more, not less, political engagement.

In his 1919 poem The Second Coming, W. B. Yeats wrote, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;” as a description of social and political catastrophe and the failure of usual safeguards in the aftermath of the First World War. He ends the first stanza with: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”

I believe it’s an apt description of what’s going on today — not new but frightening, nonetheless.

Winnipeg is facing a housing and toxic drug crisis that is not going away. Every day, we see the consequences — people living without safe homes, encampments in neighbourhoods and public spaces, increasingly toxic drugs, overdoses and emergency services stretched to their limits.

These are symptoms of a deeper crisis of inter-generational trauma related to colonization of the original peoples of these lands, compounded by a crisis in housing, income security, mental health and addictions services and the availability of community based supports.

Winnipeg’s next city council must decide whether it is prepared to invest in solutions that address the root causes.

Weaving a Better Winnipeg: The Alternative Municipal Budget 2026, proposes a five-point action plan that would put housing, outreach, human rights and Indigenous leadership at the centre of Winnipeg’s response.

Winnipeg-based Buhler Versatile Inc. announced on Monday the completion of its acquisition of German construction machinery manufacturer Atlas Group.

The transaction was first announced in June and officially closed on Oct. 1, following the satisfaction of the required closing conditions. Financial terms of the deal will remain confidential, the company said in a news release. As part of the acquisition, more than 200 jobs at Atlas will be retained.

“The completion of this acquisition marks an important milestone for Buhler Versatile and our long-term growth strategy,” Zafer Ozbalaban, president of Buhler Versatile, said in the release. “Atlas brings an established European brand, valuable engineering expertise and a strong manufacturing heritage. Together, we have an opportunity to expand our capabilities, strengthen our international presence and build a more diversified equipment manufacturing business.”

The addition of Atlas broadens Buhler Versatile’s equipment portfolio beyond its agricultural equipment brand, expanding into construction and material handling equipment. It also strengthens the company’s European manufacturing presence, with Atlas continuing operations at its established locations, including Ganderkesee, Delmenhorst and Vechta in Germany, and Bradford, England.