Surprising announcement opens door slightly for accountability in police HQ saga

Early Monday afternoon, it looked as if former Mayor Sam Katz, former chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl and contractor Armik Babakhanians were going to finally and successfully escape the long arm of the law for their roles in the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters scandal.

Prosecutions branch reviewing new evidence from police HQ public inquiry

The Manitoba Prosecution Service is examining whether evidence presented during the inquiry could change previous decisions not to lay charges in the scandal-plagued project.

Katz ‘violated public trust,’ Sheegl lacked ‘moral compass,’ police HQ inquiry commissioner concludes

The final report from the public inquiry into the scandal-plagued Winnipeg Police Service headquarters construction project concludes that former mayor Sam Katz and former city CAO Phil Sheegl broke public trust and engaged in unethical conduct.

And the report, released Monday by inquiry commissioner Garth Smorang, says the cost of the project — transforming a downtown Canada Post office tower and warehouse into the police HQ — soared, in part, because main contractor Caspian Projects overcharged the city by more than $40 million in expenses.

The project’s initial $135-million initial price tag rose to about $209 million in the end. The city purchased the complex in 2009; construction was completed in 2016.

Smorang’s report concludes Katz “violated the public trust” and council code of conduct, and Sheegl suffered from a “complete lack of a moral compass.”

News publishers launch copyright suit against AI company Anthropic in Ontario

OTTAWA - A coalition of news publishers that includes Canada’s largest newspapers is suing the AI company Anthropic in an Ontario court.

Postmedia, Torstar, The Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press say Anthropic infringed on their copyright by using their content to develop its large language AI model Claude.

"Anthropic has capitalized on the commercial success of its AI models, building an expansive suite of services, and raised significant capital — all without obtaining a valid licence from any of the News Media Companies," says the statement of claim.

"In doing so, Anthropic has been substantially and unjustly enriched to the detriment of the News Media Companies."

Salvation Army calls on Winnipeggers to donate merchandise as sales soar

The Salvation Army is taking donated merchandise from other regions to stock its Winnipeg thrift stores as increasing sales outpace local donations.

Retail activity at the charity’s eight Winnipeg locations grew more than 10 per cent year over year during several months, from January through April, and again in June.

Although local donations remain strong, they haven’t kept pace with demand, prompting the organization to supplement inventory with merchandise from elsewhere.

Ted Troughton, managing director of the Salvation Army’s thrift store operations, said rising living costs are bringing in new customers.

Bank of Canada’s Macklem warns global resilience ‘under strain’

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem is warning that persistently high global energy prices will drive up the outlook for inflation at home.

While Macklem said global resilience is being tested after a series of shocks, he also expressed some confidence in Canada's ability to weather the storm.

The head of the Bank of Canada spoke to reporters on Saturday in a press conference from the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund meetings in Bangkok.

He said the prevailing message from his peers at the summit is that the global economy has been performing better than expected in the face of ongoing wars in Iran and Ukraine, sweeping trade disruptions and higher borrowing costs from rising bond yields.

Diesel bill adds to cost-price squeeze on farm

Blessed with a week of good weather, most Manitoba farmers are now in the home stretch of harvest and beginning to assess whether their crop will earn enough to cover the cost of growing it.

Commodity market prices have surged well above the numbers used to prepare production budgets earlier this year, with the price of top-quality milling wheat up 27 per cent over a year ago. Canola and soybeans are up 36 per cent and oats by 14 per cent.

That’s a significant boost for the crops harvested in good shape before rainy weather shut down operations for a couple of weeks during the critical harvesting window. However, upwards of half of the province’s crop overall was affected by the bad weather, resulting in yet-to-be calculated yield and quality losses.

Then there’s the cost side of the balance sheet.

Increasingly cited financial term, ‘nut,’ is worth knowing, says best-selling author

It’s nuts. That might be some folks’ reaction if they knew their “nut” in the financial sense of the word.

If that stirs visions of squirrels fighting over acorns, you are not far off.

Nut is increasingly used in popular culture, especially in the United States as the struggle increases for millions of consumers with each passing day.

A couple of high-profile TV examples are South Park and Your Friends & Neighbors, where the nut is discussed in the context of what someone’s spend rate is based on their lifestyle.

A kitchen is transformed with beautiful tiles and new countertops

Remote job sites are a challenge. Not only is distance a consideration when venturing out to gather information for a price quote, but the commute has to be factored into the project’s overall costs. As a result, many of my repeat remote clients indulge my idea to propose several projects at once, in an effort to maximize my time while putting all those kilometres on my work truck.

Although the jaunt from Winnipeg to Gimli is not that demanding, from where I live the travel time is close to two hours each way, making for long work days. So, the homeowners knew to throw everything at me once I had scheduled an initial visit. On the agenda was a main bathroom facelift as well as the addition of a frosted glass door to the office, which just had a doorless entryway from the hallway.

Nearing the end of our chat, the homeowner mentioned almost in passing how she’d love to also have a backsplash in the kitchen. Previously, the wall area above the back edge of the arborite countertops to the bottom of the upper cabinets had always been painted.

After assessing the kitchen, I would have felt remiss in not mentioning that the backsplash might not yield the desired result if they were intent on keeping the arborite counters. It wasn’t an attempt at an upsell — I truly felt that tiling the backsplash above the back edge of the old countertops was not the way to go. After a bit more discussion, I suggested that if they truly wanted a facelift, the cost-effective approach would be to retain the existing cabinetry, while upgrading the countertops to quartz, along with a new undermount sink and faucet. A newly tiled backsplash after those upgrades would be the icing on the cake. The homeowners quickly jumped on board and requested a quote for the kitchen facelift, along with the bathroom reno and the new glass door for the office.

Ottawa adding new express entry points for immigrants in ‘high-wage’ jobs

OTTAWA - Ottawa is adding new express entry points for some permanent residency applicants in "high-wage" jobs, Immigration Minister Lena Diab said Friday.

The government also plans to remove the requirement for an employer to prove they can't find a qualified Canadian for those jobs.

The policies, which will take effect on Nov. 3, will apply to applicants who already have Canadian work experience, or who have a job offer in a high-wage field such as engineering.

The government considers a high-wage job one that pays at least 1.3 times the national median wage. The new policy offers more points for an occupation's wage level, with higher paying jobs being worth more express entry points.

Bank of Canada set for pair of important data drops ahead of ‘live’ rate decision

OTTAWA - The Bank of Canada will get a raft of fresh data to start next week as it weighs what could be a pivotal interest rate decision at the end of the month.

Statistics Canada is set to release its September inflation data on Monday, giving the central bank a look at how energy price pressures are influencing other parts of the consumer basket.

A Reuters poll of economists expects the annual rate of inflation rose to 3.2 per cent in September, up from three per cent in August, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

RBC assistant chief economist Nathan Janzen said he expects inflation held steady at three per cent last month. Persistently high gasoline prices tied to the ongoing war in Iran will remain the biggest fuel for inflation, he said.

NDP expects crypto, data centre electricity levy to shave about $50 annually off residential Hydro bills

Revenue from the province’s new electricity levy on cryptocurrency businesses and large AI data centres will go toward offsetting residential bills, rather than the coffers of cash-strapped Manitoba Hydro.

Jets-linked biometrical hockey skills platform launches

True North Sports and Entertainment Ltd., the ownership company behind the Winnipeg Jets, is throwing its weight into a new business producing data-filled analyses.

20th annual VIBE awards put spotlight on giving back

As a student at the University of Manitoba, Terry Brown never thought that one day he might be the leader of an award-winning company.

Indigenous groups invest $65.3 million in Coastal GasLink pipeline in B.C.

CALGARY - A group representing five First Nations says it has invested $65.3 million for an interest in the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which brings natural gas from northeastern B.C. to the LNG Canada plant in Kitimat — and is set for a big expansion.

FN CGL Pipeline Ltd. Partnership said in a news release Tuesday that members are putting up their own funds.

"Our Nations are making this investment with their own capital. No government loan guarantees, no borrowed money,” said Chief Harley Chingee of McLeod Lake Indian Band.

"It was a deliberate choice, the best way to secure maximum benefits from what we believe to be a sound commercial investment. The returns will now belong entirely to the communities, as will decisions as to how they are used."

More damaging AI hacking incidents to come unless changes are made, scientists warn

OTTAWA - Dozens of Canadian academics are among an international group of scientists calling for better containment measures for AI models.

"Multiple organizations have disclosed high-profile security failures: their AI models bypassed insufficiently sandboxed environments to compromise the systems of external organizations," they say in an open letter.

The letter, released Tuesday, says that unless immediate changes are made to how AI is developed and deployed, "such incidents will continue to occur, and future incidents will be far more damaging to our exposed critical infrastructure."

They say there is a need for more research on AI safety as well as emphasis on containment technologies and procedures. The scientists also want to see an international body that standardizes best practices.

Protein crests current appetite wave

Holiday feasts often reflect the latest fads and trends influencing how we eat.

This Thanksgiving’s table is likely to feature more Canadian content than it might otherwise as a point of national pride.

In the recent past, the carb-free craze has made cauliflower a substitute for the mashed potatoes on some family spreads. Some have gone meatless, while others have added more. Still others offer gluten-free, dairy-free or fat-free alternatives.

Nowadays, it seems consumers can’t get enough protein. Desmond Sobool, deputy chief economist Farm Credit Canada, told a recent economic update for the agri-food sector there are two converging influences in play.

Phoneless concert a beautiful chance to bask in moment

Outside the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, digital billboards flashed fans their singular photo op for the night: “I took this photo before I saw Phoebe Bridgers: The Lost Tour 2026.”

It is, as it is for so many other people, my only documentation of a concert by one of my favourite artists. The American singer-songwriter — who I discovered at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in 2018 — has had a meteoric rise in the past few years, winning three Grammys in 2024 as one third of Boygenius, the indie-rock supergroup rounded out by Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, and opening for Taylor Swift on select dates of her titanic Eras Tour.

Now, Bridgers is touring in support of Lost Weekend, her third album and first since 2020’s Punisher. It’s a feat of a record, a richly textured meditation on loss and grief, written in the aftermath of the death of her dad, with whom she had a complicated relationship.

So she is in a position to not only play multiple sold-out arena shows, but also insist that those shows be phone-free.

Heated hiring debate over iced coffee

Apparently, we have found the latest battleground in the generational war over what constitutes professionalism: iced coffee.

Not wages. Not work-life balance. Not whether employees should answer emails after 5 p.m.

There has been quite a bit of discussion lately about whether it is appropriate for a job candidate to walk into an interview carrying an iced coffee. To some hiring managers, it is a clear sign of poor judgment, a lack of professionalism or an attitude that says, “This isn’t really a big deal.” To others, it is simply a person walking into a meeting with a drink they picked up on the way.

I have to admit, as an HR person, I can see both sides.

Building new addition to bouldering community

If you can’t find your footing, try climbing.

It worked for David Kalmakoff. Now, almost 10 years after taking up the sport, he’s opened the Kal Climbing Gym, a bouldering facility in Winnipeg where climbers can practice their skills.

It’s not the first bouldering facility he’s owned, but it’s the first one the public can visit. When the entrepreneur purchased a two-bedroom house a few years ago, he turned the extra bedroom into a climbing space.

“It’s this tiny little wall that doesn’t look like anything at all, but it’s led to hours of enjoyment,” Kalmakoff said. “It’s kind of what sparked the idea that I could do the same thing on a scale that involves other people.”

Royal Winnipeg Ballet workers unionize with MGEU

Workers at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet have unionized.

The RWB workers’ application to join the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union as a single bargaining unit was approved by the Manitoba Labour Board Thursday.

The new Local 466 will include employees of both the RWB and the RWB School, including teaching staff, student boarding staff and accompanists as well as those working in marketing, development, facilities and security, data services, finance, food services and administration.

Physiotherapists, students of the RWB School and employees represented by another bargaining unit will not be members of Local 466.

Special House committee votes to push forward major projects bill

OTTAWA - A special House of Commons committee created to study the Liberals' new economic bill agreed Friday to limit the period it can receive submissions and hear from witnesses.

Members of Parliament passed a motion to begin clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-39 in mid-November. The House is set to sit until mid-December.

The committee agreed to invite Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon, Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin, Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu and Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc to appear before the committee.

It also agreed to issue a press release asking interested stakeholders to submit briefs to the committee by Oct. 26.