Saskatchewan signs first contracts with nurse practitioners to expand primary care

Chief medical officer quits, cites work environment ‘challenges’

Manitoba’s provincial chief medical officer is resigning from his position at Shared Health, citing the role’s demands and work environment challenges in an email viewed by the Free Press.

Dr. José François, who’s held the executive position since April 2024, sent an email to provincial medical specialty leads that said his final day will be Jan. 17, 2027, after he submitted his resignation Wednesday. Several other senior leaders have departed the provincial health authority in recent months.

“Serving in this role has been a privilege,” François, a longtime family physician from Ste. Anne, wrote in the email.

He said his “greatest pleasure” was working alongside and supporting an “exceptional group” of provincial medical specialty leads and chief medical officers.

Frustration on menu as St. James construction drags on

Nearly four months of construction outside the front door of a longtime Portage Avenue restaurant has driven away customers and left its owner struggling to cover operating expenses.

Processing potential long way from reality

There are times in life when you want to be wrong — like when you walk into the doctor’s office believing your ailment will be the death of you.

It’s the same sort of feeling I get wading through the pile of newly released reports extolling the unrealized “potential” for more value-added processing in Canadian agriculture. There’s this little voice inside my head saying: “I’m from Manitoba. Show me.”

There are jaw-dropping numbers bandied about in various reports from Food and Beverage Canada, the Canadian Chambers of Commerce/PwC and the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute. For example, more processing could add $75 billion on top of the $188 billion the sector already generates, create hundreds of thousands more jobs and a bigger domestic market for farmers. The list goes on.

Not to discount the solid analysis behind these efforts. Overall, it all sounds great, although notably missing is any mention of the growing concerns over ultra-processed foods and how that might affect future market growth.

Province orders ban on private teacher-student messaging

Manitoba teachers are no longer allowed to text or use social media to contact a student – regardless of whether they coach a school sports team or supervise other activities outside typical instruction times.

Another strong outing from Skinner, but Jets unable to lock down lead

DALLAS — Stuart Skinner did everything in his power to ger the Winnipeg Jets back in the win column.

A 35-save effort included plenty of highlight-reel moments, but the Jets were unable to lock down a lead late in the third period and lost 3-2 in overtime to the Dallas Stars on Thursday at American Airlines Center.

“Stu kind of got us a point there, to be honest with you,” said Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi. “They were better than us. Their structure, they played a really tight checking game, and we couldn’t really get much going offensively. They obviously outplayed us, and when you give up that many chances, eventually, Stu can’t stop everything.”

Both of the goals the Jets allowed in regulation came with Stars goalie Jake Oettinger on the bench in favour of an extra attacker — once on a delayed penalty call during the third period and then with two minutes to go in the third period when Mikko Rantanen found Roope Hintz alone in the slot.