How Canada can regain its measles elimination status

TORONTO - Infectious disease experts say Canada's loss of measles elimination status shows how badly investment is needed in public health, rebuilding vaccine confidence and solving the primary care crisis.

On Monday, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) revoked the measles-free status Canada has had since 1998 because an outbreak of the virus across several provinces has lasted for more than a year.

Dawn Bowdish, an immunologist and professor at McMaster University, said cuts to public health funding, the lack of a national vaccine registry and a shortage of family doctors — all while misinformation about vaccines is circulating widely — have contributed to the rise of measles.

"There's no two ways about this. This will take money — a lot of money — and a lot of investment. And it will take a lot of political will," Bowdish said

City tries to get the most bang for its (sewage) buck

The City of Winnipeg is exploring new ways to reuse its treated sewage sludge.

An expression of interest seeks feedback on the best options and technology available to recycle biosolids, a byproduct of the sewage treatment process. The document notes the treated sludge can be composted, used like a fertilizer, or even be transformed to produce energy.

A massive $3-billion upgrade to the city’s North End sewage treatment plant will add new biosolids facilities that improve the end byproduct, which means the city could soon have more options to reuse it, said Cynthia Wiebe, Winnipeg water and waste’s manager of engineering services.

“The key difference is that there are no pathogens in the (biosolids from the new facility),” said Wiebe.

U of M research underscores importance of polar bears to future of Arctic

Polar bears are generous hunters whose leftovers feed many other animals, new research shows, casting the protected species as a major provider, not just a vulnerable predator in a province that attracts thousands of polar bear watchers every fall.

Arctic foxes, wolverines, eagles, hawks, gulls and even younger bears are among at least 11 species who feast on the prey left behind by polar bears. The latest study calculates the leftovers: 7.6 million kilograms per year in picked-over seal carcasses left on sea ice.

That’s a conservative estimate, said biologist and University of Manitoba PhD candidate Holly Gamblin, lead author of the study published Tuesday in the journal Oikos from the Nordic Ecological Society.

“A bunch of my co-authors are in that polar bear research world and have been thinking about investigating (this issue), knowing that it’s this really under-represented and under-studied component of the story, when we think about polar bears as apex predators,” said Gamblin, who has studied Arctic foxes. “They had had this idea for a while and I was just sort of in the right place at the right time.”

Halloween pumpkin waste is a methane problem, but chefs and farmers have solutions

Don’t let your Halloween pumpkin haunt the landfill this November.

More than 1 billion pounds (454 million kilograms) of pumpkins rot in U.S. landfills each year after Halloween, according to the Department of Energy.

Yours doesn’t have to go to waste. Experts told us your pumpkins can be eaten, composted or even fed to animals. Here’s how.

Cooking with pumpkin waste

Winnipeg-based organization injects federal funds into innovative, women-powered business in Bolivia

With practised grace, Antonia Olpo slides down the bank of the long, shallow pond and plunges fully clothed into the muddy water. On the grass above, other women and their male helpers unfurl the net, stretching it across the pond from edge to edge, and let it sink below the surface.

Three scientists at US universities win Nobel Prize in physics for advancing quantum technology

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for research on the strange behavior of subatomic particles called quantum tunneling that enabled the ultra-sensitive measurements achieved by MRI machines and laid the groundwork for better cellphones and faster computers.

The work by John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis, who work at American universities, took the seeming contradictions of the subatomic world — where light can be both a wave and a particle and parts of atoms can tunnel through seemingly impenetrable barriers — and applied them in the more traditional physics of digital devices. The results of their findings are just starting to appear in advanced technology and could pave the way for the development of supercharged computing.

The prizewinning research in the mid-1980s took the subatomic “weirdness of quantum mechanics” and found how those tiny interactions can have real-world applications, said Jonathan Bagger, CEO of the American Physical Society. The experiments were a crucial building block in the fast-developing world of quantum mechanics.

Speaking from his cellphone, Clarke, who spearheaded the research team, said: “One of the underlying reasons that cellphones work is because of all this work."

Another subdivision, another city problem

So, here we go again folks. We just get the protection of the Lemay Forest done and dusted and bingo, there’s another proposed subdivision for 23 homes on two-acre flood plain lots right across the Red River from the Lemay on the old Daman Farm site.

On World Rhino Day, South Africa marks progress but still loses a rhino daily to poachers

DINOKENG GAME RESERVE, South Africa (AP) — The Dinokeng Game Reserve in South Africa has a thriving rhino population, but their exact numbers and the details of the security operation that keeps them safe from poaching are closely guarded secrets.

They are the protocols that reserves with rhinos follow to ensure they're not the next target for poachers who still kill on average one rhino every day in South Africa for their horns despite decades of work to save the endangered species.

South Africa has the largest populations of both black and southern white rhinos of any country and sees itself as the custodian of the animals' future.

As conservationists mark World Rhino Day on Monday, South Africa remains in a constant and costly battle against poaching nearly 30 years after black rhinos were declared critically endangered, and more than a half-century since southern white rhinos were on the brink of extinction with just a few dozen left.

Ralliers decry Kinew’s pro-pipeline policy

Almost 300 people braved the rain Saturday afternoon to demand Premier Wab Kinew and the NDP government take action on climate change.

A crowd donning rain jackets and umbrellas gathered on Osborne Street in front of the Fort Rouge Leisure Centre next to Kinew’s constituency office with posters decrying proposed pipelines and Manitoba’s extreme wildfire season.

“Watching how the weather has changed due to climate change has been really concerning to me. I look outside every day and I think about it,” said Ashley Blackshaw, an environmental studies graduate who drove to Winnipeg from Starbuck to attend Saturday’s rally.

Blackshaw made a custom sign bearing lyrics from rock band Smashmouth’s hit “All Star” saying “The ice we’re skating is getting pretty thin.”

Small changes, big impact

Are you a climate champion or climate destroyer? Ecological quizzes and carbon-footprint calculators can help you find out.

Reimagining the garden

Next week, close to 100 horticultural professionals from botanical gardens and conservatories across Canada and the U.S. will be in Winnipeg for the American Public Gardens Association’s 2025 Horticulture, Greenhouse, & Facilities Symposium, which will be hosted by Assiniboine Park Conservancy at The Leaf.

Will electric tractors gain traction? At a pilot event for farmers, researchers see possibilities

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — In the soft dirt of an indoor horseback riding ring last month, a group of farmers got ready to test drive a new piece of equipment: an electric tractor.

As they took turns climbing in — some surprised by its quick acceleration — they gave real-time feedback to the Michigan State University researchers who have been developing it for over two years.

The farmers remarked on the motor's quiet whir. Most were intrigued, or at least open to the idea. Some were concerned that the battery on the underside of the carriage would mean a lower clearance over the field, while others worried that it would simply be too expensive.

“What we hope to do when we retire is we want to get everything electric on the farm. The tractor is the last electric implement to get,” said Don Dunklee, one of the farmers to provide feedback. He runs a small organic vegetable farm that's relied on wind and solar for decades.

After summer evacuation, northern students ready to hit the books

Hundreds of young wildfire-evacuees will be reunited with their peers and teachers on Sept. 29 for a belated, albeit welcome, first day of school on familiar campuses across northern Manitoba.

Frontier School Division plans to officially launch 2025-26 in South Indian Lake, Leaf Rapids and Lynn Lake before the end of the month.

Chief superintendent Tyson MacGillivray said he and his colleagues are looking forward to “opening day,” following months of emergency management and uncertainty.

Approximately 450 students are currently unable to attend regular classes at West Lynn Heights School (Lynn Lake), Leaf Rapids Education Centre (Leaf Rapids) and Thunderbird School (South Indian Lake).

Province creates hunting buffer zone on Bloodvein First Nation

The Manitoba government is creating a buffer zone restricting where non-Indigenous hunters can harvest moose on Bloodvein First Nation’s traditional lands.

Manitoba Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures Minister Ian Bushie announced the change late Monday as moose season began for game hunting areas 17, 17A and 17B that includes the traditional areas of the First Nation, located 285 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

The community, which established a check stop to prevent illegal drugs and contraband from entering the First Nation, warned “outside hunters” on social media weeks ago that they’re not welcome to take moose on their traditional lands.

The Manitoba Wildlife Federation has questioned the First Nation’s authority to block licensed hunters with a moose tag from the area and called on the provincial government to intervene.

Province accuses mining company of negligence in Lynn Lake wildfire

Manitoba Conservation investigators believe a massive wildfire that prompted an evacuation of Lynn Lake started at the nearby Alamos Gold Inc. mining site, accusing the company of negligence because it did not use water to extinguish burn piles.

The allegations are outlined in court documents filed by a sergeant working for the conservation service. They stem from an investigation into the wildfire, which is said to have started May 7 after a burn pile reignited at the Toronto-based gold producer’s MacLellan mine site, located about 7.5 kilometres northeast of Lynn Lake.

The blaze burned more than 85,000 hectares and got to within five kilometres of Lynn Lake later that month. The community, home to nearly 600 residents and located about 800 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, was evacuated and dozens of properties were destroyed.

“The investigation showed that Alamos Gold Inc. was negligent in ensuring that the fires that occurred on May 7, 2025, from burn piles on the MacLellan Mine site set on earlier dates were properly extinguished,” allege the documents, obtained by the Free Press.

Very hungry caterpillars very good for biodiversity

Widely considered a pest and a scourge, a leaf-chomping defoliator dedicated to decimating crops, boring into buds and biting down blossoms as it works to satiate its inexhaustible appetite, a new nature documentary reveals there’s more to the much-maligned caterpillar than meets the eye.

The larval creature takes centre stage in Winnipeg filmmaker Jeff McKay’s documentary feature The Extraordinary Caterpillar.

His hour-long film takes viewers on a journey to understanding why the famously “very hungry caterpillar” is a key player in maintaining biodiversity.

“Caterpillars are right at the centre of the food chain, they are key to the food chain working as it should,” McKay says.

Residents pour cold water on proposed development in St. Vital

Some south St. Vital residents hope to stop a development proposal to build 23 new homes over fears the construction would put their well water at risk.

The proposal aims to add the homes at 45 Daman Farm Rd., 100 Jean Louis Rd. and 2974 St. Mary’s Rd., a 57-acre property on the west side of St. Mary’s Road in the St. Vital Perimeter South neighbourhood. The area is located within city limits but does not have city water and sewer service.

“This particular property lies in a sensitive groundwater area and every well that’s drilled in this area just contaminates the water even further by adding more salt,” said Michelle Olivson, who lives in the area.

City staff recommended the housing application be rejected over the groundwater concerns but city council’s property and development committee voted in favour of the project Friday, echoing a previous community committee vote.

Grey Cup week could feature game-changing economic score for Churchill, political triumph for Kinew

It is an incredible economic and political gift that could keep giving to Manitoba’s NDP government for years, if not decades, to come.

This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney released a list of five major projects that his government would fast-track to give Canada more economic independence from the United States. No Manitoba projects made that first short list, but something called “Churchill Plus” was identified as being under consideration for approval in the second round.

Churchill Plus includes improvements to the Port of Churchill in Manitoba’s North, including the provision of an icebreaker ship and possibly an all-weather road, to allow greater access to the port and provide improved transportation links for northern and Indigenous communities.

There is no way to exaggerate the economic and political dividends that could flow from Churchill Plus.

Steinbach, nearby communities flooded in massive overnight deluge

Some residents of Steinbach were mopping up and assessing damage Friday after the southeastern Manitoba city was swamped by two months’ worth of rain in about four hours.

An animal rescue charity was hit by catastrophe again when basements and streets flooded almost a year to the day a deluge inundated buildings.

“Last year, they told us it was a one-in-1oo-year event, and here we are 11 months later with the same event,” said Graham Pollock, vice-president of Steinbach and Area Animal Rescue.

He said the organization moved almost two dozen cats and kittens to foster homes after nearly 2.1 metres (seven feet) of floodwater filled the shelter’s basement overnight Thursday.

Great potential in Churchill port project — but…

Prime Minister Mark Carney, seeking to bolster Canadian economic power at a time when its closest ally and trading partner is becoming increasingly hostile, wants to get started on some nation-building projects. Among them, he has indicated, is one to make some serious upgrades to Churchill’s port, funding for which is expected to be announced soon.