Comedian revisits standup roots before his big-screen debut

Police HQ report ‘outrageous’: Kinew

Premier Wab Kinew says public inquiry findings that taxpayers were overcharged more than $40 million for the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters project and two city leaders broke the public trust are “outrageous.”

Inquiry commissioner Garth Smorang’s report, which was released Monday, concluded former mayor Sam Katz “violated the public trust” and council code of conduct, while the city’s former chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl suffered from a “complete lack of a moral compass.”

Smorang also found the city was overcharged $43.3 million for the project, with $42 million of that going to key contractor Caspian Projects.

“It’s outrageous that people who were elected betrayed the public here in the city. It’s outrageous that there were people in business who ripped you off, ripped me off — I was paying property taxes in Winnipeg at the time — and ripped all of us off to the tune of $43.3 million. That’s crazy,” said Kinew.

The Butt of jokes

Beyond Brent Butt's usual penchant for self-deprecation, there is a reason his cross-country standup comedy tour is titled the Almost a Movie Star Canadian Comedy Tour.

Butt is the guy who proved a Canadian sitcom could actually be funny on its own terms with his much beloved Saskatchewan-set series Corner Gas (2004-09). With this tour, which stops at the Burton Cummings Theatre on Feb. 28, he is simultaneously revisiting his standup roots and reminding Canadians of his formidable comic chops in advance of his first feature film, No Clue, which opens in theatres on March 7.

At least, we assume the tour is partly promotional. Why else would a guy -- raised in Saskatchewan and familiar with the extremities of Canadian weather -- choose to travel across Canada in February and March?

"Maybe that wasn't the smartest thing," Butt says on the phone from a tour stop in Kingston, Ont. "But I can take it. I have a generous layer of winter blubber."

Klein, Gillingham trade jabs over megaproject

Two of Winnipeg’s mayoral candidates wasted no time trading barbs over who bears responsibility for the skyrocketing cost of overhauling the North End sewage treatment plant, during a televised debate Wednesday.

Scott Gillingham and Kevin Klein pointed the finger at each other for the rising cost of the massive project, which had a cost estimate of $795 million in 2015 and had ballooned to $3.2 billion as of the latest estimate.

“We need to be able to understand how that amount tripled in that short a time,” Klein said at the event held at CBC’s downtown Winnipeg headquarters. He pointed out the first estimate was given when Gillingham was chairman of the city’s finance committee. He questioned what the incumbent did to garner funding for the project.

Gillingham shot back by noting Klein was Manitoba’s environment minister in 2023. He accused his opponent of failing to make a dent on the cost.

Mayoral candidates snipe over safety during radio debate

Public safety took centre stage during a sometimes fiery mayoral debate Wednesday in which Kevin Klein revealed he would have to raise property taxes to fund his plan to make Winnipeg safer.

The CJOB debate also included candidates Scott Gillingham and Mike Vogiatzakis, who were selected as the top contenders in the race based on polling data.

Klein noted he has promised to strike a task force on public safety and to hire more police, if he’s elected Oct. 28.

“We are 100 police officers short of the very bare minimum of the per capita (number) right now. We have to replace those officers,” said Klein, a former city councillor and Tory cabinet minister.

Mayoral candidates focus on public safety at Indigenous forum

Mayoral hopefuls made their pitch to Winnipeg’s Indigenous community Tuesday at a forum hosted by chiefs organizations.

“Public safety must include trust between police and First Nations,” said candidate Kevin Klein, a former chair of the police board. “Winnipeg needs a policing approach that protects Indigenous residents, supports victims, prevents crime and builds lasting relationships with Indigenous communities.”

The former city councillor and Tory cabinet minister promised harsher penalties for drug dealers and said he’d work to create a community safety task force that would include Indigenous leadership.

He also said the police service must recruit more Indigenous officers to change its culture.

Limited visibility, radio communication among safety issues cited in mid-air collision

An investigative report into a mid-air plane crash that killed two student pilots in southeastern Manitoba cited concerns about radio communication, situational awareness and visual detection methods.

Two small planes collided twice and crashed into a field after one aircraft ended up flying above the other while both approached a runway at Steinbach South Airport the morning of July 8, 2025, a Transportation Safety Board report said Wednesday. The planes belonged to the Harv’s Air Service flight school.

“Once they’re on final (approach), the ability to see each other would have been very limited,” said Eric Vermette, a TSB regional manager in Winnipeg.