Rescuers seek to bring down bodies found on Japan’s Mount Fuji

Now-independent ex-Tory leader skips legislature’s first question period in four months

Crime rates, the cost of living and the state of health care were on the agenda Tuesday when the legislature’s fall sitting began a day after Obby Khan’s abrupt resignation from the Tory caucus.

Kinew adds cabinet portfolio to focus on first responders

Premier Wab Kinew shuffled his cabinet Monday and created a new ministerial position that will oversee first responders in the province.

Kinew appointed David Pankratz, the MLA for Waverley, as minister responsible for first responder initiatives.

Tuxedo MLA Carla Compton was appointed minister responsible for accessibility, taking over the role from Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine.

The new ministers were sworn in at a ceremony at the legislature Monday afternoon.

Port of Churchill signs agreement with Dutch port

Arctic Gateway Group, operator of the Port of Churchill, has signed an agreement with the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands to attract business and strengthen supply chains linking Western Canada and Europe.

The agreement enables the two ports to work together to develop new trade in critical minerals and energy products, connect Canadian producers with European buyers, and identify opportunities to improve the supply chain from Western Canadian resource projects through Churchill and into European markets.

The Port of Rotterdam is Europe’s largest port and home to more than 3,000 businesses across its industrial complex, serving as a major gateway for critical raw materials and energy.

Meanwhile, the Port of Churchill has been identified as a transformative national strategy for Canada and is emerging as a northern trade corridor connecting Western Canada’s resources to global markets.

Completely separating inmates unrealistic, inquest judge says in report on three Stony Mountain slayings

Nothing short of keeping inmates separated at all times could have prevented three unrelated prisoner-on-prisoner killings several years ago in Stony Mountain Institution’s maximum-security unit, an inquest judge has found.

Provincial court Judge Lindy Choy made the finding after overseeing an inquest earlier this year into the slayings of Adrian Fillion, 42, Michael Monney, 27, and Nolan Thomas, 26, all of which occurred at the hands of fellow maximum-security inmates in the federal prison just north of Winnipeg. The killings occurred when cells were unlocked, allowing inmates to briefly move around to other areas in the cell block.

“The overall impression I was left with from the (Stony Mountain Institution) witnesses was that management of inmates in a custodial facility is a very complex undertaking. There are clearly multiple levels of oversight involved in any decisions that are made and it is all done in a very structured manner,” Choy wrote in her report on the inquest, which was made public Tuesday.

“While maintaining complete physical distance between inmates at all times would have prevented the homicides from occurring, we know that from a social and psychological perspective, this is not generally realistic nor acceptable.”