Canada, Manitoba lagging behind promise to meet 2030 target of protecting more land and water

There are just four years left on the clock for Manitoba — and the rest of the country — to meet a promise to conserve 30 per cent of land and water by 2030.

But halfway through the timeline adopted at the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity in 2022, Canada has made little progress, adding less than one percentage point to its protected land tally and three points to its protected waters.

The country needs to double its protected areas to meet its target, known as 30-by-30. But conservation groups, including the Wilderness Committee and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, warn progress could stall even further as federal funding for conservation initiatives is set to run out at the end of the month — and there’s no indication it will be renewed.

“We have a conservation economy that we can build on, that gives local jobs, that helps honour our Indigenous reconciliation commitments,” Sandra Schwartz, national executive director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, said.

Big dreams, cold reality: Buzz builds for Port of Churchill, but risks could outweigh rewards

The marine town of Churchill, cherished for its wildlife, landscapes and history, has recently taken on a new sense of national importance. Plans to expand Canada’s lone deepwater Arctic port on the shores of Hudson Bay have gained momentum — and investment — in the last year as the country looks north for solutions to an unprecedented conflict with its southern neighbour.

Premier Wab Kinew has pitched the Port of Churchill as an answer to Canada’s trade concerns, and a means of galvanizing both provincial and national economies.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has designated a plan to upgrade the port facilities as “transformative,” committing millions in federal dollars to the project and touting its merits in meetings with European trade partners.

In late January, Kinew announced the province was in talks with several companies, including at least one major energy company, about investing in port expansion.

Data centres and Manitoba: a cautionary tale

Alongside the rapidly expanding use of AI in everyday life, there’s a growing awareness that the technology also comes with extreme, big-picture threats to the things we need more: fresh water, affordable clean energy and a healthy information ecosystem.

Tired of waiting, First Nation buys $8M worth of generators

A northern First Nation that was evacuated almost all summer due to a wildfire and power outage has bought an $8-million emergency backup generator system, the chief announced Friday.

Mathias Colomb First Nation Chief Gordie Bear said he wants the federal and provincial governments to reimburse the community, which had asked the two governments to purchase and provide diesel-powered generators before power was restored in September.

“I don’t know why they didn’t come through with the request that we made when we were out in the boondocks,” Bear told the Free Press. “I just hope they all get together — have a tea party — and cost-share my investment.”

He accused the governments of ignoring the First Nation’s concerns. Bear said four generators were purchased using own-sourced revenue.

Province to power up smart thermostat program, rebates

Manitobans may get cash for turning down the thermostat during peak energy-use periods next winter.

What to know about EPA decision to revoke a scientific finding that helped fight climate change

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday revoked its own 2009 “endangerment finding,” a scientific conclusion that for 16 years has been the central basis for regulating planet-warming emissions from power plants, vehicles and other sources.

The finding itself is straightforward: Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases — caused by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas — endanger public health and welfare.

It was adopted after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases are air pollutants that can be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

The Trump administration says the finding hurts industry and the economy and that the Obama and Biden administrations twisted science to determine that greenhouse gases are a public health risk.

Energy sector’s interest in Churchill heating up: Kinew

Several companies, including at least one Canadian energy giant, are “kicking the tires” on a long-touted vision to export oil, gas, minerals and agricultural products through Churchill, bringing the dream of a trade corridor to the Hudson Bay coast closer to reality, Premier Wab Kinew says.

Pause at N.W.T. diamond mine amid weak market ‘serious news,’ industry minister says

CALGARY - An expansion project has been put on hold at a diamond mine in the Far North, a move the Northwest Territories government says underscores the need to reduce its economic reliance on that industry.

Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. says it and joint-venture partner De Beers Canada Inc. have decided to pause the Tuzo Phase 3 project at the Gahcho Kué mine some 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife. Mountain Province owns 49 per cent of the mine and De Beers owns 51 per cent.

"This decision follows a careful assessment of the project's economics considering the prevailing market environment," Mountain Province said in a news release late Monday.

"While the Tuzo Phase 3 project has demonstrated strong potential, current market conditions have prompted the partners to take a measured approach to its development."

Bracing for a future global water shortage

Declaring bankruptcy is by all accounts a painful, traumatic and perhaps even humiliating process.

First Nation says Hydro misuse of river diversion destroying sturgeon population

A northern First Nation is calling on Manitoba Hydro to alter its use of the Churchill River diversion to protect a lake sturgeon population allegedly decimated by hydroelectric operations.

Tataskweyak Cree Nation Chief Doreen Spence said the culturally significant species is facing extinction on the river system without immediate intervention, 50 years after Manitoba built the diversion to send water to large power generating stations.

“The diversion has artificially altered the flow of the water… so much that the river is barely able to sustain life as it once did,” Spence told reporters in Winnipeg Thursday.

“Manitoba Hydro must operate the diversion in sync with the natural flow regime of the river for the sturgeon to survive.”

Damage estimates spiral as Pimicikamak tries to recover from power outage, deep freeze

The power is back on, but the damage has been done. Water leaks. Burst pipes. Burned houses. And still, more than 4,000 residents of Pimicikamak Cree Nation are forced out of their homes, with no clear timeline of when they’ll be able to return.

On Saturday, six days after a downed power line left the remote Northern First Nation without electricity for over four days, Pimicikamak Chief David Monias spoke to reporters by Zoom to give an update on the crisis — and emphasize the expertise and supports the community still needs to recover.

Although power has been restored to the community, which is located roughly 100 km south of Thompson, over four days without electricity caused major damage, Monias said. The water treatment plant is “pretty much ready to explode” due to leaks and is unable to draw water into its reservoir, leaving the community without potable water.

Houses too suffered in the deep freeze, including damage to pipes and cracked floors. So far, of the 1,335 houses on the community, which is also known as Cross Lake, at least 200 are severely compromised and not yet safe for residents to return. That number may grow as officials continue their inspections.

Northwest Territories facing a hard-as-diamonds reality as pivotal industry wanes

It’s said that pressure makes diamonds, but a diamond mining downturn is what's putting pressure on the Northwest Territories economy these days.

Diamond mines have long been a vital source of well paying local jobs, with spinoffs in hospitality, construction and other areas. It’s been estimated that the region's three operating mines directly and indirectly employ more than 1,500 residents — a significant chunk of the territory's population of almost 46,000 — and account for about one-fifth of the N.W.T.'s gross domestic product.

“Diamond mining in the Northwest Territories has been incredibly pivotal to our economy over the last 25 years,” said Caitlin Cleveland, the N.W.T.'s minister of industry, tourism and investment.

“It's put over $30 billion into the Canadian economy, $20 billion of which has stayed here in the Northwest Territories.”

First Nations sue over oil-rich land

A pair of First Nations are suing the provincial and federal governments, claiming land and mineral rights to a swath of land in southwestern Manitoba that generates more than $1.3 billion annually from oil and gas production.

Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation and Dakota Tipi First Nation filed a statement of claim in Court of King’s Bench on Thursday calling for a declaration of title and subsurface rights over Manitoba’s portion of the Williston Basin.

The oil-rich basin stretches from southwestern Manitoba into southern Saskatchewan and over the U.S. border. The Manitoba portion hosts at least 14 identified oil fields and is home to all the current oil production in the province, the lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs are claiming rights over the entirety of the basin in Manitoba, including the “right to economically participate in the extraction, development and production of subsurface minerals.”

Prairie harvest a mixed bag as tariff strife casts shadow over healthy crop

CALGARY - Gunter Jochum can easily tell which parts of his farm got rain and which parts the clouds passed over this year.

He and his brother-in-law grow wheat, canola, oats and soybeans on 2,500 hectares west of Winnipeg, much of that on long tracts hugging the Assiniboine River.

"Some showers that came through this summer during the growing season when things were really, really dry didn't even cover the whole field," said Jochum, president of the Wheat Growers Association.

The quality of the crop Jochum has harvested so far this year has been excellent, but yields for his oats and wheat have varied field to field.

Livestock producers mull support amid dry spell

Though rain has fallen, pockets of livestock producers continue to struggle for feed and water — and future government support is being considered.

“With climate change, it’s more than likely that this will not go away,” said Richard Chartrand, reeve of the RM of St. Laurent. “We have to look at being proactive.”

St. Laurent declared a state of agricultural emergency in July. Interlake municipalities including Armstrong, Coldwell and Woodlands enacted similar statuses as drought hit local farmers.

A group of municipal leaders met Manitoba government officials to discuss short- and long-term solutions last month. Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn attended.

Province’s mine assessment ‘shoddy,’ environmental group says

A group that opposed a sand mine ultimately nixed by the NDP government says the environmental assessment of an open pit mine that has been approved near Hollow Water First Nation is “shoddy.”

Locally produced renewable energy is the right call

At the start of Premier Wab Kinew’s government’s mandate, it signalled it would work to get Manitoba to a net-zero electricity grid by 2035. With 99 per cent of the province’s electricity already emissions-free, it is a small, but important gap to bridge.

Protesters gather at corner to oppose funding of pipeline

About 50 people from Winnipeg’s Mennonite community gathered Sunday at a TD Bank at the corner of Notre Dame Avenue and Sherbrook Street to protest the bank’s funding of the Line 3 pipeline replacement.

As rain pelted down on a canopy of umbrellas, one man cut his TD Bank card into pieces while the crowd cheered. After some minutes of song and prayer, the group took non-permanent markers and wrote messages over the windows of the bank.

“Stop fossil fuel funding,” one man wrote on the door. The red ink ran in long streaks from the rain down over the bank’s hours.

Organizer Steve Heinrichs said he drew inspiration from Indigenous communities leading protests in Minnesota.

Cuba refuses to let US Embassy in Havana import diesel for its generators

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Cuban government has refused a request by the U.S. Embassy in Havana to allow it to import diesel for its generators while the Trump administration continues to impose a fuel blockade on the island, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said Friday.

The government turned down the request as the U.S. State Department has been weighing a reduction in staffing at the embassy in the Cuban capital of Havana because of the lack of diesel. Such a move would likely lead to a U.S. demand for a similar reduction in staffing at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, say the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

The Cuban government rejection was first reported by The Washington Post.

The White House, State Department and Cuban Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Gas pains: soaring prices due to Mideast conflict could lead to energy turning point in Canada

Veteran actor Billy Bob Thornton may seem like an unlikely source of wisdom about the world’s relentless dependence on oil. Then again, it would be hard to find a better, more poignant description of the global addiction than a diatribe he delivered in a recent episode of Landman, a melodrama set in the Texas oil industry.

Thornton’s character, Tommy Norris, a crisis manager for a large oil company, is walking through a wind turbine farm that generates electricity to power remote oil rigs. Norris notes that over a wind turbine’s 20-year lifespan, the “clean” energy it produces won’t offset the carbon emitted in the manufacturing of its components or its installation. The same economics, Norris says, can be applied to solar panels and batteries for electric vehicles.

Then, the punchline.

“Our whole lives depend on (oil). And hell, it’s in everything — that road we came in on, the wheels on every car ever made, including yours. It’s in tennis rackets and lipstick and refrigerators and antihistamines. Pretty much anything plastic: your cellphone case, artificial heart valves, any kind of clothing that’s not made with animal or plant fibers. Soap, f—king hand lotion, garbage bags, fishing boats. You name it, every f—king thing. And you know what the kicker is?

PUB locks in Hydro rate increases, warns more on way

Manitoba Hydro customers can expect further upward pressure in rates as the Public Utilities Board has finalized a four per cent general rate increase — effective Jan. 1, 2026 — and approved general revenue increases of 3.5 per cent Jan. 1, 2027, and three per cent Jan. 1, 2028.

The board noted short-term financial pressure due to severe drought conditions, according to a news release late Thursday.

In 2025, water flows approached the second-lowest levels in 112 years, the release said.

Between filing the application in March 2025 and oral hearings in November, Hydro’s outloook worsened by more than $600 million — from a projected net income of $218 million to a projected loss of $409 million, the board’s release said.