P.E.I. kiteboarder who lost leg in shark attack faces long road to recovery

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.

Kinew won’t budge on opposition to criminalizing residential school denialism

Premier Wab Kinew stood by his opposition to the proposed criminalization of residential school denialism Wednesday, after some First Nations leaders criticized his earlier comments and asked him to reconsider.

Kinew said he doesn’t think Canada should make residential school denialism a crime, nor does he think it’s feasible to do, and he’d prefer to see it combated with education.

“When somebody has a question or wants to make a statement from a place of ignorance, the response isn’t to try to criminalize,” he told reporters.

“The response should be to try to heal whatever is going on with them that would cause them to say something hurtful, to try and educate whatever they lack in terms of knowledge about the true history of our country, and ultimately to find a way for us to all live together.”

P.E.I. kiteboarder who lost leg in shark attack faces long road to recovery

A professional kiteboarder from Prince Edward Island faces a long road to recovery after he lost his leg in a shark attack while snorkelling in the Turks and Caicos Islands in late May.

An update to an online fundraising campaign says Lucas Arsenault lost his right leg and suffered significant damage to his left hand and foot.

Turks and Caicos police said in an email last month that the 27-year-old was taken to a hospital in the territory for treatment, but the update on the GoFundMe page says he is now in a Toronto hospital.

A video on the page shows Arsenault smiling and making small talk with people in the Toronto hospital as he takes a few steps using a walker and with the support of two health-care workers.

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.

MPI still lacking brain injury expert

Manitoba Public Insurance has failed to hire an independent brain injury expert to probe how personal injury claims are handled, nearly two years after it was recommended.