Higher school taxes a preventable problem

Tens of thousands of Manitoba home and business owners face the prospect of permanent double-digit increases to the school tax portion of their property tax bills.

Province promises ‘proactive approach’ to truancy fight

The Kinew government is drafting legislative changes to better track schoolchildren and ensure more of them attend classes regularly.

The inconvenient truth: Thomas King’s admission he isn’t Cherokee hits hard

Intentionally or not, the real-life consequences of King’s story is that his inability to find out the truth of his own identity, which apparently wasn’t hard for others, meant Canadians were duped, Indigenous peoples were marginalized, and all of us are left to ask a lot of questions.

Métis federation sues Ottawa, Manitoba over Sixties Scoop

The Manitoba Métis Federation is suing the federal and Manitoba governments for damages caused to the Red River Métis as a whole when an unknown number of children were placed with non-Indigenous families during the Sixties Scoop.

Investing for ourselves, and those downstream

We have invested large sums of money in infrastructure before.

You don’t often hear Winnipeggers complaining about the results: soft, clean drinking water thanks to the Shoal Lake aqueduct and flood protection thanks to the Red River Floodway.

A new city report outlines the importance of upgrading Winnipeg’s North End sewage treatment plant, which is responsible for treating 70 per cent of the city’s wastewater and all sewage sludge. The report focuses on the upgrades’ potential benefits to the city, including increased capacity to build new homes and businesses, and related economic growth.

It briefly mentions that upgrades to the plant are necessary in order to meet environmental regulations designed to protect waterways from the discharge of harmful materials that compromise the health of the Red River and Lake Winnipeg.

City councillor found to have harassed city CAO fears ‘chilling effect’ on politicians if court won’t overturn judgment

Coun. Russ Wyatt’s requests that a court overturn a finding he harassed the city’s top bureaucrat, and order city council to apologize for a reprimand that followed, could affect politicians far beyond Winnipeg, his lawyer argued Friday.

“Your decision has the prospect of having an impact on municipal councils right across the country,” Kevin Toyne said during a hearing in the matter.

In January, city council formally reprimanded Wyatt (Transcona) after an integrity commissioner found he violated the city’s code of conduct by harassing former chief administrative officer Michael Jack.

Since most municipal governments now have similar codes of conduct and/or integrity commissioners, the decision could have wide-reaching implications on how elected officials communicate, Toyne said.

Key elements in Trump’s 28-point peace proposal and why much of it is unacceptable for Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — An American proposal to end the war in Ukraine puts the country in a delicate diplomatic position — caught between placating its most important ally, the United States, and not capitulating to Russia, its much larger neighbor that launched a full-scale invasion nearly four years ago.

The 28-point peace plan was crafted by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration and the Kremlin, without Ukraine's involvement. It acquiesces to many Russian demands that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the proposal late Friday, saying it “could form the basis of a final peace settlement” if the U.S. can get Ukraine and its European allies to agree.

Striking a diplomatic tone Thursday in his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskyy said his country needs a peace that ensures Russia does not invade again. He said he would work with the European Union and the Americans.

Not everyone sees the new Cancon rules as a win. Five takeaways from CRTC’s decision

An overhaul by the federal regulator of how Canadian content is defined has been met with mixed reaction from some of the country's biggest film and TV players this week.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued its long-awaited expansion of the range of creative roles that qualify a film or TV show as Canadian, setting new rules for foreign streaming companies that operate in the country.

However, not everyone sees the changes as a win.

MORE ROLES, MORE POINTS — AND MORE WORRIES FROM DIRECTORS

Climate activists award Canada satirical ‘fossil of the day’ title at COP30

OTTAWA - Canada's reputation as a global climate leader took a hit Tuesday when it was awarded the "fossil of the day" title at the UN Climate Conference in Brazil.

Climate Action Network International, which has handed out the satirical award since 1999, said Canada was singled out for the first time in more than a decade for "flushing years of climate action down the drain."

While Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday said Canada respects its commitments under the Paris Agreement and intends to achieve them, that was the first time in months the government issued a clear statement on its climate policy.

The commitment caused Green Party Leader Elizabeth May to change her mind and vote with the government to pass the budget.

Cougar makes rare appearance in Manitoba

A cougar made a rare appearance on a trail camera in the Whiteshell Provincial Park.

Merry and bright: more than 40,000 expected for annual Santa Claus Parade

Saturday’s annual downtown parade will feature Santa and the Grey Cup, which will be contested Sunday between the Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Manitoba teenagers honour war victims during trip to Europe

A group of Manitoba teens are honouring veterans and victims of the world wars overseas as part of a new provincial program that pays for them to visit historic and commemorative sites in Europe.

Elementary students share struggles with reading after report reveals education system failing

The Manitoba Human Rights Commission published the long-awaited results of a probe into how schools are teaching children to read — or failing to do so — at the end of October.

The 70-page report represents Phase 1 of a special project that’s become known as “Manitoba’s Right to Read.” A followup on the implementation of investigators’ recommendations is expected in 2026-27.

Local investigators concluded many teachers do not have training in structured literacy, a neuroscience-backed philosophy founded on explicit instruction in phonics, which stresses recognizing the connection between sounds and letters/letter combinations.

The structured-literacy method of teaching had all but lost the so-called “reading wars” by the 2000s, amid concerns memorizing letter-sound associations was repetitive and, as a result, was destroying students’ motivation to learn. Schools pivoted to prioritizing exposing children to a wide variety of interesting and increasingly difficult texts.

Top BBC bosses resign after criticism of the broadcaster’s editing of a Trump speech

LONDON (AP) — The head of the BBC and the British broadcaster's top news executive both resigned Sunday after criticism of the way the organization edited a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The BBC said Director-General Tim Davie and news CEO Deborah Turness had both decided to leave the corporation.

Britain’s publicly funded national broadcaster has been criticized for editing a speech Trump made on Jan. 6, 2021, before protesters attacked the Capitol in Washington.

Critics said the way the speech was edited for a BBC documentary last year was misleading and cut out a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

Other encampment options possible

Authorities in Winnipeg will soon launch their latest response to homeless encampments, though sadly actual solutions to the problem remain elusive.

Beginning in mid-November, the city will roll out its new policy for dealing with the encampments, in an effort to prevent them from being established and presenting risks near sensitive sites and public spaces. The system outlines three different levels of encampment response, each calling for a different degree of involvement from police, fire-paramedics and support workers. Some responses call only for outreach, rather than removal of encampments.

The new policy is sure to bring relief to Winnipeggers who have been alarmed by the emergence of homeless encampments in public spaces, near schools, or other at other locations where they may present unwanted risks to residents in the area.

What it does not do, however, is get the city any closer to a long-term solution to its homelessness crisis. The number of homeless people in Winnipeg nearly doubled last year — End Homelessness Winnipeg’s annual street census reported that about 2,469 people are homeless in the city. The Manitoba government has implemented a strategy to get people into housing, but the process has been slow and the results to date underwhelming. About 100 people had been successfully placed in housing as of the end of October, but that still leaves more than 2,000 people living rough.

Canadian sprinter Brendon Rodney helping with hurricane relief aid in Jamaica

Brendon Rodney knows even helping a few people is enough to make a big difference.

The three-time Olympic medallist sprinter from Toronto lives in Jamaica where Hurricane Melissa caused significant damage, mainly in the northwest and southwest parts of the country. The Category 5 hurricane hit the island last week and took a number of lives as well.

"It's always tough because it's my home, ... I live here, but it's my home away from home," he said. "And the people that have been affected are not just people that I don't know. But of course my training partners, the students at the school and many different people that I interact with on a day to day, month to month basis.

"So for me, this is difficult because you can't help everybody, but as long as you can help one, two or three people then it does make a big difference. So for us, it's just finding ways that we can help in any possible way."

Amid bail-reform debate, some argue court orders must suit low literacy levels

Several red flags jump off the page when literacy expert Margaret Banasiak examines a Manitoba provincial court bail form.

Trustee suspended for third time in three years

TRANSCONA’S school board has given a veteran member his third strike in as many years, but he’s not out of a job.

Rod Giesbrecht, a longtime trustee in the River East Transcona School Division, has been suspended for three months for breaching the board’s code of conduct.

Giesbrecht was disciplined twice during the 2023-24 school year for admitting he spoke out of turn about confidential board matters.

His colleagues voted to suspend him without pay — the most severe consequence available — on Sept. 9.

Unique Bunny jumps to 10 stores, with eye on future expansion

Ekam Verma’s shopping trip might be sparked by an email: we’ve restocked. Her destination? Unique Bunny. Verma scanned the aisles of Unique Bunny’s McPhillips Street location on Monday — her go-to Japanese eyeliner was across the store; South Korean cleansing foams and pore repair serums stood nearby.

Province releases inaugural innovation report

Promises to keep data in Manitoba and bolster the economy through innovation highlight the province’s first innovation and prosperity report.

“AI, tech, it’s gonna be in your industry,” Premier Wab Kinew said Friday after the report’s release. “We have to get in the game.”

Proponents of the 39-page document expressed hope for Manitoba’s future; critics deemed the strategy lacking.

A majority of Manitoba’s data storage and cloud computing infrastructure is run by United States firms such as Microsoft. The report calls on the province to build its own infrastructure with federal and provincial funds.

The ‘fix’ is a fantasy as dysfunctional health-care system fails Manitobans on multiple fronts

If you’ve been stuck in a Winnipeg emergency room wondering why you’re waiting longer than ever to see a doctor, you’re not imagining it.

New numbers are in, and they paint a grim picture of a health-care system still in crisis.

According to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s 2024-25 annual report released this week, emergency room and urgent care wait times have jumped 36 per cent over the past three years.

The 90th percentile wait time — meaning nine out of 10 patients are seen faster and one in 10 waits longer — has ballooned from 7.6 hours in 2022-23 to 10.3 hours in 2024-25.

Billie Eilish to billionaires: ‘No hate, but give your money away, shorties’

Billie Eilish wants billionaires to donate more.

As the Grammy and Oscar winner accepted the music award at this year’s WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards on Wednesday night, she urged the ultra-wealthy to address more of the world’s issues.

“We’re in a time right now where the world is really, really bad and really dark and people need empathy and help more than, kind of, ever, especially in our country,” Eilish said to an audience that included Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, as well as “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. “I’d say if you have money, it would be great to use it for good things, maybe give it to some people that need it.”

Late night host Stephen Colbert introduced Eilish on stage at New York’s Museum of Modern Art by announcing that she would donate $11.5 million of the proceeds from her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour to causes dedicated to food equity, climate justice and reducing carbon pollution.