Nothing like ma’s cooking New Bannatyne eatery brings feast of Asian flavours By: Eva Wasney Posted: 4:29 PM CDT Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026

Mayoral candidates’ promises worthless without price tags, payment plans

Winnipeg’s mayoral candidates have plenty to say about what they want to do for the city. But there’s one question they haven’t answered very clearly: how much are they prepared to raise property taxes to pay for it?

It’s an important question, because almost everything candidates are promising — more police officers, better transit, safer buses, improved roads, expanded library hours and better-maintained infrastructure — costs money. And in a city with limited revenue sources and growing expenses, that money has to come from somewhere.

City hall can’t even pay for what it does now with existing revenues — it has been drawing down reserve accounts in recent years just to balance the books.

So far voters haven’t heard much — if anything — from candidates about what they would do with property taxes. Would they raise them every year? By how much? Would they freeze them? Cut them?

Manitoba Hydro to replace dozens of electrical substations over 20 years

Manitoba Hydro is promising fewer power outages in Winnipeg while it replaces or converts 41 electrical substations in a project the utility says will last up to 20 years and cost as much as $1.2 billion.

Peter Chura, a spokesman for the Crown corporation, said upgrades to the electrical distribution system will improve safety, reliability and resiliency, and reduce maintenance costs.

“We’ve been clear for a few years now that aging infrastructure is a challenge for the province going forward, so our programs like this are solving that problem incrementally,” he said Friday.

Many substations in Winnipeg are nearing the end of their service life or operating close to capacity, Hydro said.

Police HQ inquiry final report will be released next week: Kinew

The final report of the public inquiry into the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters will be released next week, days before voters elect a mayor and city council, Premier Wab Kinew announced Thursday.

Nurses call for national strategy on seniors’ health care

Canada’s nurses are calling for a national strategy that ensures seniors have access to care while reducing the impact on the public health system.

“Nurses and health-care workers are stretched too thinly, and Canada’s population is aging,” Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) president Linda Silas said in a news release Friday after meeting with provincial and territorial health ministers in Winnipeg.

“It’s time to act.”

The federation called for a national human resources plan to help address staffing challenges, pointing to a Canadian Institute for Health Information report showing more than three million overtime hours clocked by long-term care workers over a one-year period — the equivalent of 1,500 full-time providers.

A decision with potential for ‘distraction’ and ‘disrespect’ in Transcona

Transcona voters acknowledge they have a tough decision to make at the ballot box on election day.

The east Winnipeg working-class ward is replete with lawn signs and posters, but most of the people the Free Press spoke with said they were still undecided.

While Winnipeg is, historically, more likely to elect an incumbent, longtime councillor Russ Wyatt is seeking a sixth term while facing five criminal charges, including sexual assault and administering a noxious substance, after incidents alleged to have occurred in 2023 and 2025.

Residents are not without options. In addition to Wyatt, former councillor Shawn Nason — who occupied the city council seat from 2018-22 — is running for council (Wyatt chose not to run in the 2018 election after taking several months off to undergo addictions treatment), and there are three new faces on the ballot: Lora Meseman, Chris Giesbrecht and Nathine Dagdick.

Disgraced ex-dean landed job at German university after fleeing Winnipeg

Before he was arrested in a posh Paris suburb, the disgraced dean of Manitoba’s only law school — who fled the country following a 2020 expense scandal — kept a low profile at a German university.

Jonathan Black-Branch, 64, was apprehended on April 21 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. He owes the University of Manitoba more than $700,000 and faces extradition to Canada to be prosecuted for fraud.

The former dean of the faculty of law at U of M appeared in the Versailles Court of Appeal Friday opposing his extradition. The court reserved its decision to Nov. 6.

Black-Branch evaded Canadian authorities for years while he taught finance and other subjects at the International University of Applied Sciences in Germany, the Free Press has learned.