May long weekend second-coldest on record

The May long weekend was one of the coldest on record in Winnipeg.

The average daily high for the three days failed to reach double digits, hovering between 9.3 C to 9.6 C, said Matt Loney, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

It’s the second-coldest on record, failing to topple the record average daily high of 6.3 C logged on May long 1882.

“It’s definitely abnormal,” said Loney of the preliminary figures. “You wouldn’t expect temperatures to be that low, but it can happen and it has happened before.”

$61-M investment in high-speed Internet planned for northern First Nations

More homes on remote Manitoba First Nations will have access to high-speed Internet that most Canadians take for granted thanks to $61 million in new federal funding.

“Your communities have been living way too long without internet,” federal Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand told a gathering at Wasagamack Anisininew Nation Thursday. The MP for northern Manitoba said the four projects will deliver modern, reliable internet to 2,309 households.

“This really is a public safety issue and an equity issue,” Chartrand said in the community 600 kilometres north of Winnipeg that’s accessible by air, water and winter road.

“The lack of broadband has been a public safety failure. When families can’t call for help or nurses can’t access files or lives are at risk when you’re travelling roads without phone service, without internet,” she said.

A third world war — not as close as many fear

A Politico opinion poll conducted in the four biggest NATO countries in February revealed almost identical popular expectations about the likelihood of a global war in the next five years. In every one — the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany — they think it is quite likely.

Forty-six per cent of Americans think that, and so do 43 per cent of British and French people. The Germans are the optimists in the group, but even 40 per cent of them think a third world war is no more than five years away.

Canadians agree about that, but unlike the Europeans, who see the Russians as the biggest threat, Canadians fear an American invasion most.

These expectations and fears are not exactly wrong, but they are certainly premature. A world war is a war that involves all the great powers. We haven’t had anything like that for 80 years. The probability that it will happen in the next five years is not zero, but it is a very, very small number.

Health officials working to control hepatitis A outbreak in province

Public health officials are battling a hepatitis A outbreak in Manitoba not seen in decades.

Canada well positioned to face food inflation risks from fertilizer shortages: report

TORONTO - As shipping constraints in the Middle East disrupt global fertilizer supply and drive up prices, a new TD report says Canada is better positioned to face any inflationary pressures on its food production — at least in the short run.

Canada's fertilizer imports from the Gulf region are less than five per cent, limiting its exposure to the ongoing war in Iran. That's lower than Mexico and the United States, which import roughly 30-to-40 per cent of their nitrogen-rich urea from that region.

While high global oil prices have been in the spotlight since the effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the war in Iran has choked more than just oil supply.

Other essential commodities, such as fertilizers and aluminum, are also facing shortages and higher prices as tanker traffic remains halted. Roughly one-third of global seaborne fertilizer shipments of nitrogen and phosphate products pass through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the TD report. Demand for replacement fertilizer from alternative providers has gone up, raising prices globally.

Economic growth now tops environment as priority in energy policy, poll suggests

OTTAWA - More Canadians now say economic growth should be a bigger priority in Canada's energy policy than protecting the environment, a new Angus Reid Institute report suggests.

The pollster released a report Monday indicating 61 per cent of Canadians now see economic growth as the biggest priority in energy policy. The question offered two options on the top priority shaping federal energy policy: economic growth or environmental protection.

That's a shift in public opinion since seven years ago, when the same question had 55 per cent of Canadians saying the environment should be the top priority in energy policy.

Shachi Kurl, Angus Reid Institute president, said climate change was a top issue for voters in both the 2019 and 2021 elections, but opinion research shows the sense of urgency surrounding it has been declining in recent years.

Governments blasted for inaction as HIV rates rise

An HIV/AIDS advocate who has spent the past 35 years raising awareness about the disease is calling for a national inquiry into what he calls a lack of proactive action by provincial and federal governments to prevent infections.

Albert McLeod, a two-spirit elder from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, says HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis — commonly known as PrEP — has been approved by Health Canada since 2016. Despite that, infection rates have continued to climb.

“It’s just this sort of very conservative attitude to our health,” McLeod said Friday, challenging anyone to find a poster in Winnipeg promoting HIV awareness or PrEP on street corners or at bus stops.

“And now it’s suddenly an emergency in 2026, when we’ve had 10 years to be proactive and let people know about the availability of this medication? Instead, we have people who are HIV positive who could be negative.”

Nature is a big part of the Canadian economy — but how big? We crunched the numbers.

Canada’s vast landscape, which boasts 20 per cent of the world’s freshwater, a quarter of global wetlands and 28 per cent of its boreal forests, is critical to its economy. Natural resource industries — forests, farms, fisheries, mining and oil and gas — together make up approximately seven per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product.

Tension exists between expanding these industrialized sectors and protecting the ecosystems on which they depend.

In Manitoba, some worry protecting the Seal River Watershed, which spans more than 50,000 square kilometres in the province’s north, will hinder opportunities in mineral resources and hydro; to the east, critical mineral mining ambitions in Ontario’s Ring of Fire clash with the protection of the Hudson and James Bay Lowlands, the second-largest carbon sink on earth; and in B.C., Coastal First Nations have protested that lifting the large tanker ban through their waters will endanger the protected Great Bear Rainforest.

These tensions make it easy to frame nature as the antithesis of economic activity, if it’s always put in opposition to projects that are described as growing Canada’s wealth, sovereignty and security.

Agape Table expansion underscores surging food demand

Food banks and non-profit organizations across Manitoba are expanding their spaces to meet record demand for food.

Agape Table showed off its new 10,500-square foot home at 350 Furby St. Thursday, where it has planted permanent roots for the first time in its 45-year history.

It is located next to the Wave Church, where it had been operating out of the basement for eight years.

The executive director of the food-distribution charity said a bigger space has been needed for years.

Manitoba declares public health emergency over HIV rising rates

The Manitoba government declared HIV spread a public health emergency Thursday as case counts continue to escalate.

Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, made the declaration at a news conference, noting cases have steadily increased over the past six years.

“In 2024, we reported a rate of 19.5 cases per 100,000 (people), which is roughly 3½ times that of Canada’s rate of 5.5,” Roussin said.

Manitoba had 328 new cases of human immunodeficiency virus in 2025, a sharp increase from the 90 tracked in 2019.

Discount stores drive Loblaw’s Q1 profit and sales, raises quarterly dividend

An emphasis on discount stores continues to pay off for Loblaw Cos. Ltd. as shoppers search for affordable groceries amid intensifying economic headwinds.

"The ongoing outperformance of our hard-discount banners — Maxi and No Frills — was a key driver of (the) success, reinforcing their vital role in helping Canadians manage affordability," chief executive Per Bank told financial analysts on Wednesday after the retailer reported its first-quarter results.

The earnings report noted that the discount grocery banners outperformed for the owner of Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart, while its drugstore business saw growth in prescription drugs, particularly in sales of GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic.

Loblaw also raised its quarterly dividend by 10 per cent to 15.5 cents per common share.

Canadians being asked to complete 2026 census as letters are mailed out

OTTAWA - Canadians will soon be receiving their census forms, and while the mailout says it needs to be returned by May 12, Statistics Canada says this is a "reference date" rather than a deadline.

It is mandatory to fill out the census, but it would be at least a couple of months before someone would face consequences for failing to do so. Statistics Canada will follow up with people who haven't returned the form by May 12.

A spokesperson from Statistics Canada said in an emailed response that this date was chosen in order to maximize the number of Canadians who are at home before people begin to travel for the summer.

Statistics Canada will send reminder letters out to households that don't complete the census by mid-May. Additional follow up could involve phone calls and in-person visits to ensure the census is completed.

Study probes experiences of Indigenous grads

Brandon Murdock recalled thinking in 2020 that, despite his struggling academic performance, he had “a solid case” to remain enrolled at the University of Winnipeg.

Murdock was mistaken — it didn’t matter that he’d missed a voluntary course withdrawal date because he’d been overwhelmed with grief amid a wave of COVID-19-related deaths in Fisher River Cree Nation, the 31-year-old said.

There was little slack for a student who had already been suspended once before. His arts degree program, which he began in 2012, was initially put on hold in 2015 because his attendance, grades and motivation suffered during a family health crisis.

Murdock shared those challenges, among others he’s faced as a first-generation university student who grew up in foster care, as part of a recent study about the experiences of Indigenous and racialized Grade 12 graduates in Winnipeg.

Census data does much more than determine population

The children of families who live in public housing in Tuxedo are more likely to graduate from high school, go to college or university, and less likely to need income assistance when they become adults than their counterparts who live just off Main Street in the North End.

How do we know this? The national census.

Officially known as the Census of Population, in the next few weeks, an estimated 41 million Canadians will receive this year’s census to fill in the boxes that reflect their lives. Most will receive the short form, which census officials say should take only five to 10 minutes to fill out. But 25 per cent of Canadians will receive the lengthier long-form census, which includes more demographic questions, and takes about a half-hour or so to complete, depending on the size of the household.

It’s only when the numbers are tallied that we will know exactly how many people there are in the country.

Community tip line making difference, but funds about to dry up, organizer says

Six months after launching a community-run crime tip line in William Whyte, the group behind the initiative is preparing to ask the province for additional funding to keep the program alive.

Darrell Warren, president of the William Whyte Neighbourhood Association, said $20,000 provided through the provincial property crime forfeiture fund last year will dry up in May.

“It’s a big asset. I didn’t think it would be as popular as it is,” Warren said Monday.

“There are a lot of good people in these neighbourhoods who are affected by this stuff and they do want to get involved. This gives them the tools they need. The police are stretched to the limits right now and we need to be those eyes and ears out in the neighbourhood.”

Antisemitism on the rise, becoming normalized, B’nai Brith warns

Canada is in the throes of a national antisemitism crisis, says B’nai Brith Canada.

The organization’s annual audit of antisemitic incidents reports 6,800 in 2025, 6,248 of which involved online hate.

That is a 9.3 per cent increase over 2024, when the total was 6,219, and it represents the highest total since 1995, said B’nai Brith, the country’s oldest human rights organization dedicated to eradicating racism, antisemitism and hatred.

The biggest spike in antisemitism occurred in 2023, when the number of incidents rose from 2,769 in 2022 to 5,791 following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Shortage of housing for Indigenous seniors in city raising concerns ahead of northern flood, fire evacuations

A small group of women elders is expressing concerns about a lack of urban housing for Indigenous seniors, warning the crisis will only worsen as flood and wildfire evacuations uproot more from their communities.

Report on state of rural Manitoba’s economy ‘exciting work’

Declining municipal populations and workforce-bound immigrants are highlighted in a first-of-its-kind report detailing Manitoba’s rural communities.

Military hits 30-year recruitment high but still falls short on key trades

OTTAWA - The Canadian military just had a banner year for recruitment — but not enough for the defence minister to declare an end to what his predecessor called a personnel "death spiral."

Military recruitment hit a three-decade high when the Canadian Armed Forces brought in 7,310 new members over the past year, Defence Minister David McGuinty said Monday.

That's 600 more than the previous year, when the military brought in 6,710 recruits.

McGuinty touted a surge in enlistment applications Monday morning — just hours before a House of Commons committee heard testimony about how the Canadian Armed Forces has struggled to keep applicants from dropping out of the recruitment process.

In praise of the deliberately slower lane

Before I begin this story, I should first confess that I once suffered from a serious affliction — that nasty urban disease known as road rage.

Long-term data lacking about the religiosity of Gen Z

There’s been lots of media attention recently about the idea of youth religious revival — that young people, especially those from Gen Z, are flocking to church.

It all started in April last year, when the Bible Society in the United Kingdom shared the results of a poll it commissioned from YouGov, a prominent online marketing organization. That poll showed a 16 per cent increase in church attendance in the U.K. by young people ages 18-24.

This was, the Bible Society contended, “dramatic” proof of a “quiet revival” among youth in that country.

Skeptics quickly pushed back. The reason it was “quiet,” they said, was because there was no other poll, including those done by the U.K. Anglican and Catholic churches themselves, that had found anything like the Bible Society’s results. Not only that, they pointed out that anyone who visited most any church on a Sunday morning could see for themselves how few young people were in attendance.

Indigenous Winnipeggers undercounted, underserved: report

Winnipeg’s First Nations and Métis population may be vastly undercounted, raising questions about how governments fund services for Indigenous communities, a new report says.

The new estimate, contained in the “Our Health Counts First Nations & Métis Winnipeg” report, says the population could be four times larger than what was recorded by the 2021 census. The report pegs the population of First Nations and Métis people in Winnipeg at between 248,000 and 379,000 people based on its survey of 1,090 adults and 306 children, most of whom identified as First Nations or Métis.

In contrast, the 2021 census recorded 90,000 Indigenous people in the city.

The study was produced by a partnership of the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre of Winnipeg, the Well Living House Action Research Centre, and Indigenous health organizations.