Exchange Sessions Featuring Sierra Noble

‘Exciting news’ on rail relocation coming

Premier Wab Kinew is expected to make an announcement concerning long-awaited Winnipeg rail relocation later this week.

Former federal transport minister and Manitoba MP Lloyd Axworthy, who Kinew tasked in October 2024 with leading a two-year rail relocation feasibility study, confirmed there would be an announcement Wednesday.

“We’ve had this rail study group which I’ve chaired and we’ve been responsible for developing recommendations,” Axworthy said Monday.

The longtime champion for Winnipeg rail relocation, who is vacationing at his cottage on Lake Winnipeg, deferred to the premier’s office for information, but confirmed he will attend Wednesday’s news conference.

Rail line bypass plan would make Winnipeg ‘major transportation hub’: Axworthy

After decades of calls to move railway traffic to the outskirts of Winnipeg, a plan that would benefit residents, railways and taxpayers is now on track, says the former Winnipegger leading the way.

A rail line bypass around the city, using Crown-owned land and the Manitoba Hydro corridor, would take 20 years to complete, remove 120 railway crossings that are a safety risk, and free up about 250 acres of Winnipeg land over time for development, Lloyd Axworthy said Tuesday.

Axworthy, a former federal transport minister and Manitoba MP, was tasked by Kinew in October 2024 with leading a two-year rail relocation feasibility study.

Axworthy and Premier Wab Kinew are holding a news conference Wednesday afternoon. The premier is expected to announce a three-month feasibility study that homes in on a location for a bypass around the city for major railways CN Rail, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

Student union coalition scrutinized, accused of providing minimal benefit for fees paid

Despite being labelled as “permanently closed” online and maintaining a website filled with outdated information, a coalition of student unions is defending itself as an active entity deserving of fees in spite of its low profile.

The Canadian Federation of Students and its local chapter, better known as CFS-MB, collect annual membership dues from campuses across the province to support their advocacy work.

Alan Saji Koshy’s advice to new and returning students to the University of Winnipeg? “Start asking questions.”

“We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for practically no benefit and students don’t even know (CFS-MB resources) exist,” the recent graduate and former student association president said.

Quiet opening fitting for controversial site

One of this city’s most loudly debated facilities — after all the angst, all the opposition and all the vocal support — began operations in the most low-key way possible.

Letters, Aug. 12

Manitoba’s Bill 43 finally gives e-scooters legal status, but I fear we are regulating our cheapest, cleanest transportation into a corner. The new rules ban riders under 16, ban sidewalk riding nearly everywhere, and ban these vehicles from faster roads, before Winnipeg has built a bike lane network that gives them anywhere safe to go.