Our cross to bear

Manitoba family finalist for cattle producers environmental award

A family in western Manitoba is one of seven finalists for a national environmental award honouring beef cattle producers.

Connor and Kyla English, alongside Connor’s parents, Brian and Leanne English, are nominated for the Canadian Cattle Association’s Environmental Stewardship Award. The 30-year-old award is presented to beef farmers and ranchers who explore innovative ways to protect, preserve and enhance their operations and the environment simultaneously.

This year’s recipient will be announced on Wednesday during a banquet at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference in Winnipeg.

The English family’s roots near Bradwardine — about 265 kilometres west of Winnipeg — date back to 1898. Today, Connor, Kyla, Brian and Leanne manage a herd of about 320 breeding cows on nearly 445 hectares (1,100 acres) of owned and rented pasture and forage land.

Trailblazing Western Scrap Metals heavy-equipment operator relishes role at massive crane’s control

Less than five per cent of heavy-equipment operators in the country are women but that number is trending upward, according to a study conducted by trade magazine Crane & Hoist Canada.

It was reported that in Ontario roughly eight per cent of jobs in the transport and heavy-equipment field are currently held by women. Furthermore, in 2024 almost 20 per cent of graduates at an Edmonton-based heavy-equipment operator training school were female, the article stated.

That brings us to Harmony Guspodarchuk, the first female crane operator in the 70-year history of Western Scrap Metals, a family-owned business at 18 Sutherland Ave.

Three years ago, Guspodarchuk literally stepped into the driver’s seat of a 27,500-kilogram, Liebherr C 924 Heavy Lift Litronic crane. The 29-year-old hasn’t looked back much since.

Could renewed interest in strategically critical rare earth elements finally make sub-sector profitable?

Rare earth elements are among the most critical of mined resources for modern economies.

They’re essential in manufacturing specialized magnets used in a host of technologies from wind turbines and electric vehicles to hard drives, smartphones, television screens, and fibre optics. Most notably, however, rare earth minerals are increasingly vital to the defence industry.

These 17 elements — closely related chemically and usually found all together in mineral deposits — have indeed been growing in geopolitical importance as the United States, Canada and other Western nations recognize their dependence on production from China.

It is the world’s largest producer and processor of rare earths, including the most in-demand elements neodymium and praseodymium used to manufacture very light and powerful magnets for an array of technologies, including the most advanced weapons of modern warfare.

Nola chef earns national award

Celebrated Winnipeg chef Emily Butcher has another feather to add to her toque. The executive chef and owner of Nola and Bar Accanto in St. Boniface has received the Culinary Award of Excellence from Restaurants Canada, a national foodservice advocacy organization.

‘Disrespectful’: residents frustrated after Wyatt arrives hour late to committee meeting

Several Winnipeggers attending a city development hearing on Thursday expressed frustration that one councillor arrived about an hour late, delaying the matter from being heard.

Coun. Russ Wyatt, who continues to attend city hall while facing criminal charges, began participating in the 9:30 a.m. East Kildonan-Transcona community committee meeting at 10:35 a.m.

A resident who hoped to speak at the meeting about a development plan in south Transcona noted the tardiness led the committee to bump the topic down on its agenda, while dozens waited to speak on it.

Christina Pyra eventually opted to leave city hall instead of waiting for her turn to make a presentation, to avoid missing a work commitment.

West Kildonan Industrial residents call for speed bumps after child hit by truck

Residents in the West Kildonan Industrial neighbourhood are calling on the city to install speed bumps in their area after a child was hit and dragged by a vehicle Thursday.

Katelyn Bemister lives near the area where the child — who was hospitalized as a result of the incident and has been upgraded to stable condition — was struck. She says people frequently speed in the area.

“They’re going really fast, and they’re not really paying attention at all to the pedestrians in the area,” says Bemister.

In video supplied to the Free Press by a resident, the child can be seen riding a bike down a sidewalk along the 500 block of North Point Boulevard.