Downtown mulls uncertain impact of Fairmont downtime

As the Fairmont Winnipeg hotel prepares to close its doors this summer for a months-long renovation project, surrounding businesses say they’re waiting to see what the impact will be on Winnipeg’s downtown.

Any time Palomino Club owner Christian Stringer books an act outside of the province, he’ll set them up at the Fairmont — most recently, DJ Pauly D of Jersey Shore fame — and a chunk of his customer base is out-of-towners staying at the nearby hotel looking for a bit of fun.

“(The Fairmont) has always been the five-star (hotel) for us,” Stringer said Thursday.

He said he’s not sure how much the hotel closing from July until spring of 2027 will affect business. He worries it might complicate bringing in performers from outside of Canada — a practice he’s already had to cut back on as the Canadian dollar has made it harder to meet the asking price of U.S. acts.

Construction groups miffed by new fee on public-sector projects

Three large construction associations in Manitoba say the cost of huge public projects will soar thanks to a new fee implemented by the province, and they want the auditor general to investigate it.

The fee is applied to projects covered by Manitoba Jobs Agreements, which launched last year to try to ensure more local workers and contractors benefit from big public-sector projects. Builders must pay 85 cents per hour, per worker.

The Winnipeg Construction Association, Manitoba Heavy Construction Association and the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba attacked the fee in a joint letter Thursday.

“The 85 cents per hour has nothing to do with wages of workers on site,” said Darryl Harrison, director of the Winnipeg association. “Every cent… (could) be spent in other ways that help the Manitoba taxpayer.

Residents pigeonhole hobbyist’s backyard aviary as health risk, nuisance

Some Winnipeg residents will flock to city hall next week, aiming to oppose a racing-pigeon aviary in their neighbourhood.

However, supporters of the practice say the birds should ruffle few feathers.

The city’s urban planning and design division approved the construction of a 3.9-square-metre (42-square-foot) structure to house racing pigeons in a Strathcona Street backyard.

“The relatively small structure is significantly smaller than a vehicle garage, and would not be out of character on the lot,” writes city planner Dylan Chyz-Lund, in a city report.

Friends’ infill complexes ensure designs fit, respect older neighbourhoods

A couple of childhood friends are taking a sensitive approach to infill housing, including a recently completed fourplex in Norwood they say fits the mature neighbourhood.

B2K Builders, co-founded by Matt Vis and Brandon Bunkowsky, incorporated their company in 2024, but are already in the process of breaking ground on their third project.

“It takes so much time for neighbourhoods to really come alive. And so we really see the value in infill in these more centralized, mature neighbourhoods,” Bunkowsky said.

A fourplex on Des Meurons Street is a new build in the established Norwood area, but Bunkowsky believes infill housing is the best way to densify neighbourhoods, increase property values and address Winnipeg’s urban sprawl.

Local TV stations ask regulator to force Meta to pay for posting some news content

OTTAWA - Some local and independent TV stations are asking the federal broadcast regulator to start a process to force Meta to pay for allowing some news content on Facebook and Instagram.

They say that despite Meta’s move in 2023 to pull news from its platforms in response to the Online News Act, some content remains available.

The Online News Act requires Meta and Google to compensate media outlets for displaying their content. While Meta pulled news from its platforms in response and has not been required to pay news outlets, Google has been making payments under the act.

In a submission to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the stations cite examples of online posts that included news content, such as text and screenshots of stories and video clips.

Unusual atmospheric river will impact B.C. for days, even after it ends, says expert

VANCOUVER - Emergency officials say residents stranded by an early morning mudslide in Coquitlam, B.C., on Thursday have been safely extracted by helicopter, but a meteorologist warns such slides remain a possibility as an atmospheric river continues to drench the province.

RCMP say they were called to a rural area near the Upper Coquitlam River just after 5:30 a.m. following reports of a mudslide north of the Upper Coquitlam River Park. Coquitlam Search and Rescue said in a social media post that its crews started to rescue residents, who were stranded on the north end of Pipeline Road, just before 10 a.m.

The post said all eight residents, two dogs and one cat living in the area were extracted by a helicopter by 2:45 p.m.

BC Hydro said the slide knocked down a power line, temporarily leaving some 5,000 people without power. The utility expected power to be restored to all affected customers late Thursday or early Friday, but noted crews were having difficulty accessing the damage due to the unstable ground.

Canada drops down to 25th place in world happiness rankings: report

TORONTO - Canada's happiness ranking slipped again last year, continuing a decade-long trend that's seen the country plummet from the 5th happiest in the world in 2014 to 25th in 2026.

The annual World Happiness Report from the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford looked at how social media use might be affecting happiness on a population level, and found in some cases it was having an impact.

"There's probably no simple explanation as to why Canadians' view of happiness has been dropping. What this report suggests is that social media could be one part of this puzzle, but it doesn't seem like it's the full picture," said Felix Cheung, a happiness researcher at the University of Toronto, who reviewed two chapters in the report but did not write it.

Between 2023 and 2025, the timeframe the researchers used for this report, Canadians' life evaluations averaged at 6.741 out of 10. In Finland, the happiest country in the world for nine years running, the average was 7.764.

Proactive planning for a future with more seniors

They’re supposed to be “the golden years.” But for many Manitobans in the ever-expanding 65-plus age bracket, life is anything but a warm and gentle journey toward a tranquil, glowing sunset.

A sanctuary for the city — and its future

On Saturday mornings during my Grade 12 year, I would head downtown to the Eaton’s department store on Portage Avenue.

I was part of the Eaton’s Junior Executive program, which brought together students from high schools across Winnipeg to host events and represent Eaton’s at community gatherings.

I also had a part-time job in the store’s sporting goods department.

Downtown Winnipeg in those days felt like the centre of my universe. Eaton’s — now the site of Canada Life Centre — was a bustling hub, and on my lunch breaks I would wander outside to explore the neighbourhood.

Province intends to create registry of Manitoba-certified Red Seal tradespeople

The Manitoba government plans to create an online public registry of certified tradespeople.

Squirrel skirmish: animal groups fight province’s pesticide approval

Animal rights groups are protesting a decision by the province to allow the city to use two chemicals to control its ground squirrel populations at some parks.

The city received permission from the province to use Rozol RTU field rodent bait and RoCon concentrate rodenticide for a year in an effort to control squirrels at nine parks.

“It’s disappointing,” said Danae Tonge of Manitoba Animal Save. “The city had a year to come up with something else but they didn’t. Why would the province have approved this?”

The group is set to hold a noon-hour rally outside city hall on Thursday followed by a protest at the Legislature starting at 1:15 p.m.

Councillors brace for impact when provincial education property tax hikes crash into Winnipeggers’ mailboxes

The despondency in the voices of Winnipeg city councillors Jeff Browaty and Evan Duncan was palpable.

The two suburban councillors took the opportunity this week to slam the provincial NDP government for increases in the education portion of property taxes that many Winnipeg property owners will see later this spring when they receive their tax bills.

According to Browaty (North Kildonan) and Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood), even though the tax increases are mostly due to provincial policies and school division decisions, the city will end up bearing the brunt of criticism.

“I’d like to see them take accountability and ownership of it,” said Duncan, pointing south from city hall to the Manitoba legislature.

Ottawa contributes $91M to 10-storey Naawi-Oodena apartment block

The federal government has announced $91 million to support the development of a 10-storey apartment building that’s under construction at the former Kapyong Barracks site.

“This is an exciting day, but it really marks the doors opening for future with a lot more affordable homes for people who need them the most,” said federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson.

The project — named Endayaan Omaa, meaning “home is here” in the Anishinaabemowin language — will create 260 housing units in southwest Winnipeg; 109 units will offer affordable rents below median market value.

It is part of the larger plan to transform the former military site into Canada’s largest urban reserve. The overall project, led by a consortium of seven Treaty One Nations and dubbed Naawi-Oodena, is expected to provide about 5,000 homes.

Canada’s population has dropped for the first time since Confederation: StatCan

OTTAWA - Statistics Canada's latest estimates suggest Canada's population declined last year for the first time since Confederation, due primarily to a drop in the number of non-permanent immigrants.

The estimates suggest Canada's population lost about 102,000 people in 2025.

That loss came after the non-permanent resident population fell by more than 171,000 individuals between Oct. 1, 2025, and Jan. 1, 2026.

Cristobal D'Alessio, a spokesperson for Statistics Canada, said 2025 was the first calendar year to see an estimated decrease in the population since Confederation.

Proposed legislation targets predatory grocery pricing

The Manitoba government is taking action to ensure grocery pricing based on customer data doesn’t rear its predatory head in the province.

Ducks Unlimited provides $1-M pasture for farming research

A Manitoba farming research non-profit will have more space to let cattle roam and graze on prairie grasslands — and study how that foraging affects biodiversity — through a partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada.

Churchill port could further stunt polar bear growth: U of M researcher

Manitoba’s bold plan to transform the Port of Churchill into a shipping powerhouse could have a negative effect on the area’s treasured polar bear population, which fuels its tourism trade, new research shows.

Muslim community reflects on decades worth of growth

As Manitoba Muslims enter the last days of the holy month of Ramadan, they are counting their blessings, including the growth of their community since the establishment of the first mosque in the province 50 years ago.

“That was a great accomplishment,” said Abdo el-Tassi, who was among the 10 or so families who started the Pioneer Mosque in St. Vital in 1976.

El-Tassi — a prominent Winnipeg business leader and philanthropist — said he feels “very proud” of what the Muslim community has accomplished since that time.

Today there are as many as 20 mosques or prayer centres in the province, including in Thompson, Brandon, Niverville, Steinbach and Winkler. The most recent one to open was the Al-Haqq Masjid in Winnipeg, which serves the Nigerian Muslim community.

Speed limits and safety — follow the science

The premier of Manitoba recently appeared hesitant about collaborating with Winnipeg City Council on a public works proposal to lower the city’s default residential speed limit from 50 km/h to 40 km/h. Without a provincial amendment to the Highway Traffic Act, the city says implementing the change would require installing signs on hundreds of streets, at a cost of up to $10 million to taxpayers.

Maple 2.0: Quebec syrup-makers turn to automation and expansion as demand grows

ROXTON POND -

Visitors to the main building of the Côté et fils maple farm in Quebec's Eastern Townships region will be greeted by a wall of screens with the views from dozens of security cameras, showing an array of tubes and troughs filling up with clear, foamy sap.

Through a door, inside the production area, noise-cancelling headphones are needed for the deafening hum of the gleaming machines transforming thousands of litres of maple sap into syrup each day.

Mikael Ruest acknowledges that the process is far removed from the folksy images of buckets and horse-drawn sleighs that still grace the company's syrup cans.

Ukrainian Guide to Winnipeg directory puts focus on area businesses, services run by Ukrainians

A new online directory brings together Ukrainian-owned businesses and service providers in Winnipeg.

The brainchild of Mila Shykota, a provincial government worker who immigrated to Winnipeg in 2022 after Russia invaded her native Ukraine, the directory features 138 businesses — a number she says she adds to every day.

“I came up with the idea a year ago, when I initiated a project at work celebrating our diversity, since our team is very multicultural,” Shykota said on Friday.

She invited co-workers to represent their own country in some way, be it cuisine, culture or heritage. She said when she was preparing her own presentation, she decided to collect data on all of the Ukrainian restaurants and souvenir boutiques in Winnipeg so her colleagues could experience her culture.

RWB turns classic 'Sleeping Beauty' fairy tale into waking dream

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet unveiled its dreamy new production The Sleeping Beauty Thursday, with the beloved ballet throwing more sparks than a spray of pixie dust.

Considered one of the pillars of the classical ballet canon, the lushly romantic story ballet features Tchaikovsky’s masterful score. American guest conductor Ming Luke crisply leads the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra throughout the production, with the maestro officially stepping onto the podium as RWB music director this fall, taking over the baton from outgoing conductor Julian Pellicano.

The Sleeping Beauty, composed of a prologue and three acts, is essentially an archetypal tale of goodness triumphing over evil. Its protagonist, Princess Aurora, is doomed by evil fairy Carabosse to die on her 16th birthday, until the benevolent Lilac Fairy of Wisdom saves the day by switching the curse to a 100-year slumber.

Only a tender kiss by Aurora’s true love, Prince Desire/Florimund, can awaken her, as they all live happily ever after.