Florida school district must restore books with LGBTQ+ content under settlement

MPI leadership not fooling anyone by forcing PUB’s hand

It is not a question you will hear raised at Public Utilities Board hearings into Autopac rates, but you can bet it’s the one on most people’s minds.

When will the NDP government step in and repair leadership at Manitoba Public Insurance? For the third year in a row, MPI has limped into PUB hearings like a badly damaged vehicle that should have been written off years ago.

This week, the Crown corporation’s chief actuary admitted the 2.38-per-cent increase requested for the 2027-28 fiscal year was too low, in part because of the impact of last summer’s multiple hailstorms and the premiums MPI pays for re-insurance that protects the public insurer from surges in claims costs.

Chief actuary Cara Low said the rate application was not updated because of “uncertainty.” That is sort of like a firefighter complaining about not being able to do the job because there was too much smoke and flame.

Minister disputes chief’s claim money offered to remove highway checkpoint

A provincial cabinet minister says he did not offer up to $250,000 for economic development to Bloodvein River First Nation’s chief in return for the removal of a highway checkstop that has outraged hunters.

Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures Minister Ian Bushie said he and Bloodvein Chief Lisa Young have discussed application-based Indigenous economic development programs.

“We talked about the opportunity for them to apply for that,” said Bushie. “We did not offer a bribe in any way, shape or form.”

Young said this week that Bushie raised the prospect of the money in a private conversation in September and told her the First Nation would receive a letter directing it to move the checkstop because it’s on a provincial highway.

Gillingham vows drug crackdowns would continue on his watch

Scott Gillingham would “immediately” provide funding to extend an initiative that cracks down on open drug use and connects vulnerable people to addictions and homelessness supports, if he’s re-elected mayor.

That partnership between Winnipeg Police Service and outreach organizations began Aug. 7 and is currently set to wrap up Oct. 31.

Gillingham said he would provide $100,000 to Ka Ni Kanichihk, which led weekly outreach walks and worked with police to support the effort, since it needs more funding to extend the program.

That should cover another six months of costs and provide time for the organization to seek longer term funding, the incumbent mayoral candidate said.

Chief says minister offered money to remove highway checkstop

The chief of the Bloodvein River First Nation says a Manitoba cabinet minister offered up to $250,000 for economic development as he was trying to persuade her to remove a highway checkstop that has outraged hunters.

Mayoral candidates share faves, test knowledge in Free Press culture quiz

It’s been said that politics is downwind of culture. However true that is, where politicians stand on hot-button cultural debates such as artificial intelligence, whether they prefer sports over arts and what local restaurants they patronize can offer a window into their sensibilities and outlooks.

The Free Press invited the four leading mayoral candidates among decided voters — according to a recent Abacus poll — to take part in a cultural quiz. (Kevin Klein, who was polling second, did not respond.) While most of the questions are lighthearted, they speak to some of the personalities behind the heated rivalries over budgets, buses, business taxation and beyond.

What was the last book you finished?

● Scott Gillingham: I’m almost done Winnipeg author Paul Vincent Jacuzzi’s book Blind Eyes. It’s a Dalton Drake novel.