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.

City working to reduce number of vacant buildings but can do more, mayor says

After several blazes ripped through vacant homes earlier this week, Winnipeg’s mayor is highlighting efforts to seize dozens of empty properties and reduce that risk.

The city has started the process to seize 48 properties through a “taking title without compensation process” since mid-December.

That’s when city council called on staff to use the process more often.

“I think there’s more we can do, and I want to see us use this tool of taking title more frequently,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham.

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.”

Hep A outbreak in province’s North makes its way to Winnipeg, officials scrambling to vaccinate people at high risk

Manitoba public health officials say an outbreak of hepatitis A that began in the province’s North last year has led to an increasing number of cases in Winnipeg in recent weeks.

The outbreak, declared in April 2025, was at first affecting communities in northern Manitoba, including several remote First Nations, but has evolved in recent months and spread to other places in the province, provincial health officials said Friday.

The outbreak has spread to Winnipeg, particularly the homeless community, and people with connections to other places where the virus was already spreading.

As of April 26, 601 cases of hepatitis A virus associated with the outbreak have been identified in Manitoba, 131 of which are in Winnipeg.

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.

Record-setting volunteer army invades downtown to clean up trash

An annual event to clear away downtown trash attracted more than 1,200 volunteers Thursday and also sparked a new program that will offer additional cleanups.

The single-day Downtown Winnipeg BIZ spring cleanup attracted about 1,265 participants, setting a record. About 900 volunteers participated last year.

The agency cut off registration early this year to ensure there weren’t more volunteers than available supplies.

Due to the surge in interest, the BIZ is now offering to help set up smaller community cleanups over the next few months to keep the work going.

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.

Astronomers believe they’ve detected an atmosphere around a tiny, icy world beyond Pluto

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A new study suggests that a tiny, icy world beyond Pluto harbors a thin, delicate atmosphere that may have been created by volcanic eruptions or a comet strike.

Just 300 miles (500 kilometers) or so across, this mini Pluto is thought to be the solar system's smallest object yet with a clearly detected global atmosphere bound by gravity, said lead researcher Ko Arimatsu of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

“This is an amazing development, but it sorely needs independent verification. The implications are profound if verified,” said Southwest Research Institute's Alan Stern, the lead scientist behind NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond. He was not involved in the study.

The finding offers fresh insight into our solar system’s farthest, coldest objects in a region known as the Kuiper Belt. Researchers used three telescopes in Japan to observe the object in 2024 as it passed in front of a background star, briefly dimming the starlight.

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.

Seeding clock ticks loudly on Prairie fields

If the forecast holds, Manitoba fields will be crawling with equipment this week, as the race to seed this year’s crop begins.

An early-May start to seeding is right on track by historical standards, but still feels late this year, partly because it’s been so cold. Seeding dates have been edging earlier over time, especially for crops such as wheat, as farmers discover they can get away with super-early seeding under the right circumstances.

Due to the compressed growing season characteristic to this part of the world, it’s well-documented the later the crop is seeded, the lower it yields. However, seed too early and there’s a risk that a late-spring frost will force farmers to reseed some fields.

For most, it’s a gamble worth taking.

Winnipeg, U.K. economic experts team up to better understand poverty trap

Money know-how is essential to survival no matter where you live in the world. Without adequate financial literacy, it’s difficult to achieve what many experts in the field call “financial well-being.”

A growing field of research suggests one reason financial literacy initiatives have failed to make in-roads, especially for low-income individuals, is because they do not address the many facets of financial well-being, says one of the leading experts in the field.

“Financial well-being for most people is about a balance, and what you see quite strongly is that it really has a social component,” says Adele Atkinson, a professor at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Atkinson, who will be in Winnipeg this week, is a member of the university’s well-respected Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM). She says financial well- being goes beyond long-term financial security.

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.

Innocuous critter or varmint to vanquish? Debating best approach to Richardson’s ground squirrel long a Prairie predicament

A peculiar debate brewed in the pages of Saskatchewan’s newspapers in 2001.

It did not concern post-9/11 security or squabbles over federal gun and environmental policies, though it did evoke other perennial Canadian political tensions.

It had to do with gophers.

Saskatchewan’s NDP government was choosing an animal to symbolize the province, and the suggestion of a gopher was driving some squirrelly.

The blunt — and massive — cost of forest fires

It’s a total that’s bound to go up — because all of the costs aren’t clear yet, and even when they are, not every cost can be quantified.

Healthy food subsidy might be on table over gas tax cut: Kinew

Premier Wab Kinew says he is still considering relief for Manitobans struggling with the high price of fuel but it may not be in the form of a gas tax holiday.

City offers real cost-of-living help while Ottawa, province pander for popularity

There’s no shortage of political enthusiasm these days for “cost-of-living relief.” Governments at every level are tripping over themselves to prove they feel your pain at the checkout counter and the gas pump. The problem isn’t the intent, it’s the execution.