Junos shine on Manitoba artists

Sheriff who died in train collision ‘loved everybody’

Brett Matheson-Maytwayashing was a loving father, hard-working sheriff and proud First Nations man who helped lead traditional ceremonies for a decade before he died in a collision with a train near Portage la Prairie.

Matheson-Maytwayashing, 27, died in the Tuesday morning crash, which occurred on a rural road west of Portage while he and another member of the sheriff’s service were on their way to attend court in Amaranth, his mother, Alissa Matheson-Maytwayashing, told the Free Press.

It was Matheson-Maytwayashing’s first day back at work after taking time off to participate in a sun dance ceremony in northern Saskatchewan last week, his mother said.

“Brett didn’t judge anybody, he would give people chances,” she said, her voice breaking. “He didn’t care what colour you were, he didn’t care your nationality — Brett just loved everybody.”

Sheriff’s officer dies in collision with train

Manitoba’s premier says the “service and sacrifice” of a sheriff’s officer who died in a train collision near Portage la Prairie on Tuesday morning will “never be forgotten.”

RCMP were called to the collision between a van and the train on Road 40 West, west of Portage, on Tuesday at 8 a.m.

RCMP say it appears a Manitoba Sheriff Services van collided with the train, causing it to roll and land in the ditch.

The driver, a 27-year-old man from Portage, died at the scene, while a passenger received minor injuries and taken by paramedics to hospital as a precaution.

Poilievre can only smile and nod after Carney’s chess move

Mark Carney may still be relatively new to elected politics, but he’s proving to be a remarkably quick study in the art of political chess.

Police mum about final report on 10-day drug crackdown

Winnipeg police will not say whether results of the controversial 10-day crackdown on open drug use and drug trafficking that ended this month will be made public.

On Wednesday, Winnipeg Police Service said officials are still deciding whether or not to release the overall outcome of the operation, which took place from June 24 to July 3.

“We are reviewing both operational outcomes and community impacts, including valuable feedback provided by stakeholders. No final decisions have been made regarding reporting, future activities, or the release of results,” wrote Const. Dani McKinnon, in an email.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said the decision on whether to release the data is up to police, noting city council doesn’t have the power to direct law enforcement operations.

Hydro’s planned outages turn out the lights for thousands across province

Business owners in the East Beaches area of Lake Winnipeg hauled out generators Wednesday after a planned Manitoba Hydro outage left thousands of residents and cottagers without power.

Lise Bourassa, who runs several stores in Grand Beach, had to rent generators to accommodate the eight-hour blackout, which affected the area from Beaconia to Victoria Beach as well as Sagkeeng First Nation, while Hydro crews fixed a pole that was damaged by fire in May .

Despite the spare power source, she was only able to open one of her stores during the outage and said it came at a bad time.

“I understand the importance of what Manitoba Hydro is doing, the problem all the businesses in this area are having is that our season is very short and to be shut down for a full day has a fairly big impact, plus they added cost of getting generators,” she wrote in a message to the Free Press. “We also had less than one week to make arrangements, find electricians and generators to be able to keep all the food safe.”