George Weston signs deal to sell fresh and frozen bakery business for $1.2B

Manitobans mostly optimistic about time change

Turning the page on turning back the clocks in Manitoba was met with enthusiasm — and some hesitation — Thursday.

Calling the move “perfect,” the general manager of Larters at St. Andrews Golf & Country Club said a switch to permanent standard time would have hurt men’s and women’s golf leagues.

The course could have tried to open an hour earlier, but some after-work leagues may have been forced to cancel owing to not enough daylight.

“It would get dark too early and people can’t leave work early to go play an hour earlier,” said Geoff Kehler. “It would have been really bad for the business.”

Winnipeg, police and downtown crime

A safer downtown is not much use if people are still afraid to walk there.

That is the uncomfortable message from Winnipeg’s latest police citizen survey, and one city council should take seriously.

Downtown crime has fallen this year, according to the most recent police statistics. Violent crime is down even more. But for most Winnipeggers, the downtown still feels like a place to avoid, particularly after dark.

Only 44 per cent of survey respondents said they feel very or reasonably safe walking alone downtown during the day. At night, that number plunges to just eight per cent. Among women, it is an appalling three per cent, compared with 14 per cent of men.

‘Parental rights’ issue resurfaces

Trustee campaign material that condemns rainbow flags is being met with outrage of all kinds, written complaints and, in one case, a cease-and-desist order.

“Parental rights,” including questions about classroom diversity, equity and inclusion policies, are resurfacing heading into school board elections across Manitoba.

“People are trying to advance their politics and their issues while simultaneously calling teachers ideologues and brainwashers,” said Shannon Moore, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba who studies sexual health education. “And I find that rich.”

Moore said parents have a right to choose independent school or homeschool, but they do not have a right to dictate curriculum that is currently developed using research and mainstream morals.

Federal Court awards OCN $27M, 62 years after construction of hydro dam

The Federal Court has ordered Ottawa pay Opaskwayak Cree Nation $27 million over damages suffered due to the construction of the Grand Rapids hydro dam in the 1960s.

In a decision dated Sept. 3, Federal Court Justice Sébastien Grammond says the federal government had a fiduciary duty to protect the community from the impacts of the dam.

“When the Crown exercises a discretionary power over an Indigenous interest, it has a fiduciary duty and it must exercise the discretion in the best interests of the Indigenous group,” the ruling said. “Canada breached its fiduciary duty to OCN because it approved the (project) without ensuring that the impacts of the Grand Rapids dam on OCN’s traditional way of life were mitigated or compensated.”

The First Nation took the federal government to court in February over impacts on the community after the dam, located about 145 kilometres southeast of Opaskwayak Cree Nation, was installed on the Saskatchewan River in 1964. The case was heard over 14 days in a judge-alone trial in Winnipeg.

Jets GM insists club’s not working under any deadline in netminder’s trade request

Connor Hellebuyck and his family were subject to so much post-Olympic vitriol that both the Winnipeg Jets security team and even police had to get involved.

RCMP charge N.D. man after driver flees Emerson border crossing

A North Dakota man faces a string of charges after police say he fled the Emerson border crossing, leading RCMP on a pursuit along Highway 75.

Emerson RCMP were notified just before 6:30 p.m. Saturday that a man entering Canada from North Dakota had sped away from the port of entry after Canada Border Services Agency officers flagged him for a secondary screening.

Officers from several RCMP detachments and the Integrated Border Enforcement Team were sent to Highway 75.

Police said Morris RCMP tried unsuccessfully to stop the vehicle south of the town. Police later blocked Highway 75 at Provincial Road 210, but said the driver went around police vehicles, drove through a ditch and narrowly missed an officer before continuing north toward Winnipeg.