Your forecast
Sunny, with local smoke. Wind becoming northeast at 20 km/h late this afternoon. High 20 C. UV index 7 or high.
What’s happening today
The Winnipeg Sea Bears host the Calgary Surge at Canada Life Centre, starting at 7:30 p.m.
Today’s must-read
Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan has dumped Jeff Wharton from his shadow cabinet after he violated the Conflict of Interest Act in the dying days of the PC government in 2023.
“When I spoke to MLA Wharton, his reaction was one of remorse and of sincere apology towards me and the party in Manitoba,” Khan told reporters Thursday after the member for Red River North made a public apology in the chamber for violating the caretaker convention that prevents outgoing governments from making major decisions.
“I could see that he felt terrible but he understood my decision,” the newly appointed PC leader said of his decision to remove Wharton from the mining critic role. Carol Sanders has the story.
Progressive Conservative MLA Jeff Wharton (Red River North) offered an apology in the chamber for his role in pushing to have the Sio Silica project approved. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)
On the bright side
Winnipeg’s cold winters appear to be slowing down an invasive beetle that experts once feared could wipe out the city’s ash trees within a decade.
Emerald ash borers were first detected in Winnipeg in the fall of 2017, when the city deemed the species a major threat to destroy hundreds of thousands of ash trees. At the time, there were about 101,000 ash trees on city property and 256,000 private and natural ones.
Emerald ash borers can damage the structure of the wood and put an infected tree at risk of collapsing. Almost eight years later, the city has been surprised to find few infested ash trees required removal. Joyanne Pursaga has more here.
A dying ash tree marked for removal due to the emerald ash borer. The beetle was first detected in Winnipeg in the fall of 2017. (Trevor Hagan / Free Press files)
On this date
On May 23, 1964: The Winnipeg Free Press reported Canada was considering sending troops to a potential peacekeeping mission on the border between South Vietnam and Cambodia. The Manitoba Medical Services was probing incidents in which physicians were apparently padding bills, including one case in which a doctor claimed and was paid for 46 visits to a patient who recalled only four. The high volume of reader responses to prime minister Lester Pearson’s proposals for a new Canadian flag prompted the newspaper to publish an additional page of letters to the editor. Read the rest of this day’s paper here. Search our archives for more here.
Today’s front page
Get the full story: Read today’s e-edition of the Free Press.
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