The Lineup

The port of Churchill — but done right

The seagoing grain carrier wasn’t christened with a champagne bottle. There was no confetti or streamers. Nevertheless, the Aug. 31 event marking the first shipment of grain to be loaded at the Port of Churchill since 2020 was celebrated like the launch of a brand new vessel.

The presence of the federal minister of northern and arctic affairs, provincial cabinet ministers and leaders and elders from several northern First Nations signalled that the fast-tracked process of refurbishing and buffing up Manitoba’s deep-water seaport gem is gaining momentum.

For OneNorth, the partnership of 29 First Nations and 12 northern communities which owns the Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Railway (both operated by the Arctic Gateway Group) the event heralded a new beginning. It’s been eight years since OneNorth purchased the port and railroad, and six years since grain was moved by rail through Manitoba and then by ship to European markets. Two more grain shipments, plus shipments of potash and critical minerals, will continue through the fall.

When Prime Minister Mark Carney solicited the premiers to suggest “nation-building” projects following his election in 2025, Premier Wab Kinew pitched a Manitoba trade corridor that would move wheat, critical minerals, potash and energy (oil or liquid natural gas) through the Port of Churchill.

Fallis’s comic thriller infiltrates book club

The Free Press Book Club and McNally Robinson Booksellers are pleased to welcome Toronto author Terry Fallis to the next virtual meeting on Tuesday, September 29 at 7 p.m. to read from and discuss his novel The Marionette.

Fallis, a former lawyer, bureaucrat and political consultant, is the author of 10 bestselling novels and the two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour (in 2015 for No Relation and in 2008 for The Best Laid Plans, which also won CBC’s Canada Reads in 2011).

His 11th novel, An End In Itself, will be published in November by McClelland & Stewart, who also published The Marionette in October 2025 (and which was also longlisted for the Leacock medal).

The Marionette follows James Norval, bestselling author of a series of thrillers featuring fictional CIA agent Hunter Chase. While in Tajikistan researching his next Hunter Chase novel, Norval is detained by local officials and subsequently freed and ferried away by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

The Lineup

Today in Music HistoryIn 1969, RAT magazine began the “Paul McCartney is dead” hoax, which spread like wildfire. The story was based on supposed clues throughout the Beatles’ songs. McCartney called in reporters several days later to say, “I am concerned about the rumours of my death.”

Born This DayRichard Dreyfuss, 1947

Winona Ryder, 1971

Sex assault charges against basketball referee stayed

A Winnipeg basketball referee accused of sexual offences involving three men has had criminal charges against him stayed.

Michael Shane Maryk, 45, had been set to stand trial July 20 on five counts of sexual assault and two counts of committing an indecent act, but instead agreed to a one-year peace bond prohibiting him from having any contact with the three men.

Maryk was employed by the Manitoba Association of Basketball Officials at the time the offences were alleged to have occurred.

The peace bond requires that Maryk not come within 200 metres of the men’s homes, schools or places of worship and have no contact with their families.

Highway-safety upgrades in progress after tragic Interlake crash

Provincial workers have started to update or install safety measures at a rural Interlake intersection where four teenage friends died in a crash on Labour Day weekend.

Pavement markings were repainted at Highway 8 and Provincial Road 229, just west of Winnipeg Beach, ahead of work to refresh worn-down rumble strips, starting Monday, and install flashing lights atop two stop signs, following an assessment earlier this week.

“They will also need to incorporate any information from the RCMP report that might be helpful if we were to consider any additional safety measures at this intersection,” Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor said of department staff.

“The most important thing is safety, and any kinds of changes we make at any intersection actually have to make it safer.”