‘Catch and confront’ risks too many snags

Fusion pop-up coming to street food festival

After surviving breast cancer and watching her husband live through a brain tumour, Marilyn Magtoto decided it was time to take a chance.

Magtoto left her corporate job as a mortgage specialist in July to start M3 Cravings, a pop-up restaurant that blends the traditional Filipino cuisine she grew up on with Mexican street food.

“To me it was like, how much longer do I want to put on hold this thing I’ve been wanting to do for a while now?” Magtoto says. “People may think I’m crazy for leaving behind a corporate professional career I’ve been doing for 22 years, but you know what — it’s worth it.”

Magtoto will now have the chance to share her food at the Streat Feast Festival at The Forks to Sunday; the event brings together people from a variety of backgrounds to share their culture through food, art and performances.

City charter ties council’s hands in wake of criminal allegations against Transcona councillor

In the wake of additional criminal charges laid against Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, several council members say the city should explore options to impose leaves of absence on elected officials who face serious allegations in the future.

Wyatt, 56, was charged Monday with sexual assault and administering a noxious thing with intent to aggrieve or annoy in relation to an October 2023 incident. The councillor was previously charged with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance in March, based on allegations tied to a 2025 gathering.

Under the City of Winnipeg charter, a provincial law, a member of city council automatically forfeits their seat if they are convicted of certain serious criminal offences. It does not apply if they are simply charged.

Mayor Scott Gillingham and others have urged Wyatt to step away from his city hall duties voluntarily, while Gillingham has also suggested the province review the legislation.

It’s one thing to climb aboard rail-relocation train, quite another to pay for the ride

Anyone who wants a brighter, safer, healthier future for the city of Winnipeg should really want the renewed hopes of rail relocation to finally become reality. And the sooner, the better.

Premier Wab Kinew announced Wednesday the province was going to forge a plan to relocate the Canadian Pacific Kansas City central yards and many of other the lines that run through Winnipeg to a bypass that runs around the city.

This “plan to design a plan” strategy was devised by a task force headed up by former federal MP and cabinet minister Lloyd Axworthy, who in 2024 was given a two-year mandate to find the best way to rid the city of some or all of its rail infrastructure.

For the record, Kinew and Axworthy said a relocation would likely take 20 years to complete, which makes this week’s announcement an important statement of intent, but little more. The sobering reality is that this promising idea has been proposed by political leaders, and then abandoned, for decades.

Strike mandate for Dynacare workers

Nearly 350 laboratory technicians and technologists at Dynacare’s 22 laboratory and health services centres in Manitoba have voted in favour of a strike.

The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, which represents the employees, said in a news release that 99 per cent of members who voted supported going on strike. A strike notice has not been served to the employer. If and when that occurs, the union is required to give two weeks’ notice.

The collective agreement between the union and Dynacare ended March 31. Negotiations between the parties began in February and they have been in mediation since July 15. They’ve been unable to reach a tentative agreement through mediation, and there are no further bargaining or mediation dates scheduled, the union said in a news release.

Dynacare became Manitoba’s only private outpatient provider for laboratory services in 2017, after purchasing competitor Unicity Labs. The union said Manitoba government records show Dynacare members completed more than 15 million laboratory tests in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

‘No CUSMA, no booze-ma’: Kinew

With the next round of tariffs set to hit Canadian goods next week, and a new report suggesting Manitobans could be severely impacted if the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement on trade breaks down, Premier Wab Kinew pledged Wednesday to keep working with the U.S. ambassador — and keep American booze off Manitoba shelves, for now.

Libau man warns Manitobans after contracting West Nile Virus

A Manitoba man is warning others about the presence of West Nile virus in the region, as he’s concerned his case has not been announced by the province.

Todd Holmes was informed he had contracted West Nile virus on Friday, several days after he attempted to donate blood in Selkirk. Canadian Blood Services called to tell him his sample tested positive for the virus.

Holmes said he was contacted by the province about his diagnosis on Tuesday afternoon, yet a website that logs cases of West Nile in the province continues to read zero.

He decided to take matters into his own hands by posting about his plight on social media.