Don’t waste time now mutual interest is clear

Gillingham in lead with decided voters

A cloud of uncertainty is hanging over Winnipeg as October’s municipal election nears.

Three months after a poll showed more than 40 per cent of Winnipeggers wanted to see someone other than current mayor Scott Gillingham elected, a new Abacus Data poll indicates more than half of Winnipeg voters are undecided heading into next month’s civic election.

Of decided voters, 55 per cent favour Gillingham compared to 23 per cent for former councillor and provincial cabinet minister Kevin Klein and 11 per cent for funeral director Mike Vogiatzakis.

Of all respondents, just over 50 per cent said they were unsure while 13 per cent said they will not vote.

Canada-U.S. trade relationship is broken, but the damage can — and will — be repaired

Canada needs to get serious about diversifying its trade beyond the United States. But at the same time, Canadians should expect relations with the U.S. to normalize after Donald Trump is no longer in the White House.

For generations, Canada-U.S. trade was considered almost a fact of geography. The two countries share the world’s longest undefended border, deeply integrated supply chains and a century of commercial relationships.

Canadian manufacturers depend on American customers. American manufacturers depend on Canadian suppliers. Energy, agriculture, automotive production and countless other industries operate across the border as though it barely exists.

That isn’t going to change dramatically, even in the midst of a bitter trade war unleashed by the U.S. president.

Police officer faces charges of domestic assault

A Winnipeg police officer has been charged after police said he broke into a woman’s home and attacked her.

Police were sent to a home on Wednesday shortly before 10:20 p.m., the Winnipeg Police Service said in a Thursday news release. When officers arrived, they found the man, 20-year member in his 40s, inside a home assaulting the woman, the release said.

The man was taken into custody and the woman was given medical aid.

She told officers the man broke into the home, threatened to kill her and then attacked her.

Manitoba abandoning spring, fall clock changes

Time’s up for the time change in Manitoba.

Manitobans won’t be setting their clocks back an hour in November. The province has decided to permanently stay on daylight time after surveying residents on the twice annual clock adjustment.

“We heard from Manitobans loud and clear — no more changing the clocks in Manitoba,” Premier Wab Kinew said in a news release Thursday.

Most of the 72,000 votes submitted in an online EngageMB survey — 92 per cent — said they would like to see the practice end. The survey asked if they preferred earlier sunrises in winter with standard time or the later sunsets in summer with daylight time. More than half of survey participants (58 per cent) indicated a preference to stay on permanent daylight time; 34 per cent voted to eliminate the time change but stay on standard time.

Siloam Mission, WFPS discussing on-site paramedic to reduce staggering number of emergency calls

Winnipeg’s fire-paramedic service and its largest homeless-serving organization are discussing what it would look like to station at least one paramedic at Siloam Mission, as emergency calls to the downtown facility surge.

The ongoing discussions come as Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews were dispatched 1,771 times during the first eight months of the year to the two adjacent Siloam properties at 303 Stanley St. and 300 Princess St.

WFPS said most of the calls were related to overdoses or other consequences of substance use, with the total nearly double the 854 calls recorded over the same period last year. By comparison, there were 831 calls during the same span in 2024, and 591 in 2023.

“The number of emergency calls isn’t sustainable for us as a service, but it’s certainly not sustainable for them as an agency trying to provide services,” WFPS chief Ryan Sneath told the Free Press. “And they recognize that they’re impacting emergency services, not them specifically, but the site in a significant way.”

Lauded Manitoba author chronicled life in the Interlake

Longtime Manitoba author, editor and professor David Arnason died on Monday at age 86.