Union calls for Stella’s boycott

Grieving families, local leaders want review of Interlake intersection after teens die in crash

A two-vehicle crash that killed four teenage friends in the Interlake Sunday night prompted outpourings of grief in several communities and calls for safety improvements at the intersection, which was also the site of a death in July.

Recent high school graduates Maya Borsa and Chloe Vermette, both 18, were identified by their families as victims of the collision at Highway 8 and Provincial Road 229, just west of Winnipeg Beach.

“(Chloe) was a very bubbly, loving personality. Always giving, always caring. Her friends meant the world to her,” said her mother, Veronique Vermette, who struggled to comprehend the tragedy when she went to the scene Monday. “We sat in the rain for hours, and it blew my mind that four lives were taken.”

The teens’ parents are waiting for RCMP to provide more information about the cause of the crash. Chloe, who graduated from Windsor Park Collegiate in Winnipeg in July, was driving one of the vehicles, her mother said.

All that glitters … could work here

Sometimes, it’s hard to even suggest a change, because it seems there is always a plethora of people ready to tell you that your idea just won’t work.

Pointing fingers at Tories three years after election tiresome, accomplishes nothing

There is a point in every government’s life when blaming the previous government stops being an explanation and starts becoming an excuse.

For Manitoba’s NDP government, that point has arrived.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe was asked last week about a grievance filed by Crown attorneys over excessive workloads and a government attempt to keep a report documenting those workloads out of an upcoming arbitration hearing.

Wiebe said he couldn’t discuss the arbitration case.

‘Dynacare sucks:’ premier muses about bringing lab services back into public system after strike halted

Manitoba’s premier said the province is looking at bringing diagnostic lab services back into the public system rather than continuing to contract Dynacare, declaring the for-profit company “sucks.”

“Maybe we’ll take over the whole system… we’re working on it, we’re looking at it, the situation is not great, this company’s making a mess — I think it’s pretty clear I’m not happy with them,” Premier Wab Kinew told CBC Radio Wednesday morning. “At the same time, nobody should be trying to use people’s health care as leverage.”

Kinew made the comments the day after the Manitoba Labour Board cut short a strike by 350 lab technicians and technologists employed by Dynacare, which administers blood, urine and other medical tests for patients in Winnipeg, Brandon and surrounding communities.

Dynacare, which is contracted by the provincial government, performs the majority of non-emergency blood and urine tests in the province.

Parts of River Heights hammered by storm

A powerful storm cut a swath of destruction through River Heights on Sunday, leaving much of the area without power.

Nobody was hurt in the storm.

By the time it subsided, parts of the quiet neighbourhood, especially Borebank and Lindsay streets between Grant and Taylor, had been ravaged: power lines downed, Manitoba Hydro poles toppled, trees splintered and crashed down on vehicles and homes.

In one case, a vehicle was flipped into a yard and sat under a partially downed tree. Shingles were stripped from roofs. Some residents described looking out during the storm and seeing power lines ablaze and the blue glow of electricity arcing over their backyards.

Carney warns of tough times ahead in national address as retaliatory tariffs begin

OTTAWA - Canada's pivot away from the United States will "come at a cost" but the alternative would be far worse, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday.

Carney made the remarks in a video released just hours after his government made good on a promise to implement retaliatory tariffs on the United States. Those tariffs respond to American duties imposed last month by U.S. President Donald Trump, after the two countries could not come to an agreement to settle some outstanding trade irritants.

Carney spent much of the video laying out Canada's response to Trump's protectionist trade policies, including expanding trade with other countries and building more capacity domestically.

But he said it "won't be easy."