Final legal judgment rendered in Canadian Wheat Board saga

A judge has thrown out a class-action lawsuit that sought damages for certain grain farmers in relation to the end of the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly by the federal government.

It’s the last of extensive litigation over the dissolution of the board.

Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Justice Chris Martin, in a decision this month, dismissed farmer Edward Andrew Dennis’s 2017 civil claim against the federal attorney general and G3 Global Grain Group, the successor to the wheat board.

The wheat board was created in 1935 as a voluntary marketing program and transformed into a compulsory marketing agency in which farmers were required to sell their wheat and barley to it.

Winnipeg police suspend use of Crime Stoppers after hack

The Winnipeg Police Service has suspended its use of Crime Stoppers after a significant data breach.

An activist group hacked and stole a massive trove of data from United States firm Navigate360 and the tip management platform it operates last March, the CBC has reported. Crime Stoppers chapters in Canada and the U.S. use the platform to keep data anonymous.

More than 1.5 million tips submitted to Canadian Crime Stoppers programs over the last 25 years were exposed in the hack, along with unredacted personal information, the public broadcaster reported.

Crime Stoppers chapters collect what are supposed to be anonymous tips from members of the public on criminal activity, which are then provided to law enforcement, with cash rewards offered.

Candu attitude: Carney says Canadian bid for Turkish nuclear plant has ‘good chances’

ISTANBUL - Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday a Canadian company has a real shot at winning a lucrative tender to supply nuclear energy to Turkey — a prospect he said was remote a year ago.

Carney was meeting with Turkish business leaders in Istanbul Friday, a day after he announced a new strategic partnership between Canada and Turkey to deepen co-operation on a range of files.

Energy is one of the pillars of that agreement and Carney said the AtkinsRéalis bid to supply two planned Turkish power plants with the Candu nuclear reactor now has "good chances" of succeeding, the prime minister said. He added it would have been a long-shot a year ago.

"We're in negotiations, and those negotiations are getting more intense. Probably from here to the end of the year, or around COP 31, it will be a decision for the Turkish government," Carney told reporters in French.

WAG-Qaumajuq names first Indigenous director, CEO

John Mahli Lawa’ Hampton has been selected to take the helm of Canada’s oldest civic art gallery, WAG-Qaumajuq announced Thursday.

Millions in cheese revenue lost as protest torpedoes Italy’s buffalo mozzarella output

ROME (AP) — A truckers' protest in southern Italy has halted the production of the famed buffalo mozzarella, causing an estimated loss of 3 million euros in just 24 hours as the milk cannot reach dairies in the Naples region and the finished cheese cannot reach customers, an official said.

The weeklong strike by truck drivers over the high cost of diesel driven up by the Iran war has also blocked deliveries of other basic goods to supermarkets and left gas pumps empty in much of southern Italy. The government approved new tax breaks for truckers Thursday, but it was too early to tell whether they were enough to end the protest.

The disruption is particularly damaging to buffalo mozzarella because the production of the protected cheese depends on a tightly timed supply chain.

Buffaloes have to be milked regardless of whether dairies are operating, while production rules require that their milk be turned into mozzarella within 60 hours. Buffalo mozzarella is softer, creamier and richer than cow’s-milk mozzarella.

Campaign blunder: Klein features wrong city in election video

A paid ad from mayoral candidate Kevin Klein on his commitment to Winnipeg has been pulled after commenters noticed one small error: the footage used in the ad was actually of Edmonton.

Surprising announcement opens door slightly for accountability in police HQ saga

Early Monday afternoon, it looked as if former Mayor Sam Katz, former chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl and contractor Armik Babakhanians were going to finally and successfully escape the long arm of the law for their roles in the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters scandal.

Prosecutions branch reviewing new evidence from police HQ public inquiry

The Manitoba Prosecution Service is examining whether evidence presented during the inquiry could change previous decisions not to lay charges in the scandal-plagued project.

Katz ‘violated public trust,’ Sheegl lacked ‘moral compass,’ police HQ inquiry commissioner concludes

The final report from the public inquiry into the scandal-plagued Winnipeg Police Service headquarters construction project concludes that former mayor Sam Katz and former city CAO Phil Sheegl broke public trust and engaged in unethical conduct.

And the report, released Monday by inquiry commissioner Garth Smorang, says the cost of the project — transforming a downtown Canada Post office tower and warehouse into the police HQ — soared, in part, because main contractor Caspian Projects overcharged the city by more than $40 million in expenses.

The project’s initial $135-million initial price tag rose to about $209 million in the end. The city purchased the complex in 2009; construction was completed in 2016.

Smorang’s report concludes Katz “violated the public trust” and council code of conduct, and Sheegl suffered from a “complete lack of a moral compass.”

‘Make eye contact’: police urge extra caution amid spate of vehicle-pedestrian collisions

Winnipeg police are urging motorists and pedestrians to exercise extra caution at intersections following a rash of collisions across the city, including one that claimed the life of a man.

“Having the right of way does not make you safe,” Insp. Helen Peters of the Winnipeg Police Service’s traffic division said during a news conference Monday morning.

“This isn’t just about who’s at fault. This is about keeping each other safe and doing everything we can as drivers, motor vehicles or pedestrians to help each other out and navigate our roads.”

Police said a man in his 80s was struck by a vehicle that failed to stop at a stop sign while turning right onto eastbound Roblin Boulevard from Hunterspoint Road on Sept. 29.

News publishers launch copyright suit against AI company Anthropic in Ontario

OTTAWA - A coalition of news publishers that includes Canada’s largest newspapers is suing the AI company Anthropic in an Ontario court.

Postmedia, Torstar, The Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press say Anthropic infringed on their copyright by using their content to develop its large language AI model Claude.

"Anthropic has capitalized on the commercial success of its AI models, building an expansive suite of services, and raised significant capital — all without obtaining a valid licence from any of the News Media Companies," says the statement of claim.

"In doing so, Anthropic has been substantially and unjustly enriched to the detriment of the News Media Companies."

Province looks to keep nearly $1M from traffic stop

The RCMP constable could see that Alireza Haghgoo was nervous. The 22-year-old, seated as a passenger in a rental Nissan SUV the Mountie pulled over for speeding outside Brandon in late July, was breathing heavily and tapping his foot constantly.

Engagement politics activates citizens

With the upcoming Winnipeg municipal election just around the corner, Free Press contributors are reminding us of the risks of low voter turnout and encouraging us to exercise our civic responsibility by casting our votes.

Advocates planting the seed of a tree protection law in Winnipeg’s election

WINNIPEG - The giants that Diane Poulin used to live among are all dead, but she's hoping to protect the ones still left in Winnipeg.

“I had five mature elm trees right in front of my house that leaned over the street and formed a beautiful canopy, and they're all gone now,” she says.

In her backyard was the biggest of the bunch.

"He was like the grandfather of the neighbourhood … his canopy filled our backyard, and he’s gone."

Behind the push to make smoking and vaping illegal for a generation of Canadians

OTTAWA - It's illegal for kids under 18 to buy tobacco products in Canada and there's a movement afoot to make sure today's youth are never allowed to light up a cigarette — even after they come of age.

A law that will take effect in the United Kingdom in January will prohibit anyone born after 2008 from ever legally buying cigarettes.

In Canada, lobbyists are pushing the federal government to go even further by banning smoking and vaping products for the next generation entirely.

Sarah Sleet, CEO of Asthma + Lung U.K., said there has been broad public support for the move in Britain but it took decades of lobbying and advocacy.

Movie theatre reopening generates excitement in Selkirk

Selkirk got an extra dose of lights, cameras and action this weekend.

And ribbon cutting — for the grand reopening of the city’s sole theatre.

“It’s fantastic,” Mayor Larry Johannson said. “The sky’s the limit.”

The Garry Theatre now operates under a non-profit charity. It’s been closed since 2021, when Landmark Cinemas left the city.

Bank of Canada’s Macklem warns global resilience ‘under strain’

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem is warning that persistently high global energy prices will drive up the outlook for inflation at home.

While Macklem said global resilience is being tested after a series of shocks, he also expressed some confidence in Canada's ability to weather the storm.

The head of the Bank of Canada spoke to reporters on Saturday in a press conference from the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund meetings in Bangkok.

He said the prevailing message from his peers at the summit is that the global economy has been performing better than expected in the face of ongoing wars in Iran and Ukraine, sweeping trade disruptions and higher borrowing costs from rising bond yields.

Célébrer ‘la base de notre communauté’

Excursion exceptionnelle, conférences et défi financier, voici ce qui attend la Société historique de Saint-Boniface (SHSB) pour ses 125 ans. Fondée le 4 septembre 1902 par l’archevêque Adélard Langevin, cette institution garde entre ses murs les archives du patrimoine franco-manitobain et métis de l’Ouest canadien.

Un trésor précieux mis à disposition de la communauté. Ce rôle de passeur de mémoire, la nouvelle présidente, en poste depuis juin 2026, Michelle Smith le revendique : “Pour moi, la Société historique ça dit qui nous sommes, c’est comme la base de notre communauté. Ça vient confirmer qu’on existe, que nous avons une place ici.”

”Ces institutions fondées par Monseigneur Langevin, comme La Liberté, font partie des bases qui ont supporté la société francophone dans un contexte minoritaire pendant des décennies, rappelle Émilie Pigeon, directrice générale. C’est merveilleux qu’on ait réussi non seulement à préserver ces institutions pour plus de 125 ans, mais à les faire croître au point tel que la SHSB est désormais un incontournable pour tout ce qui a trait aux questions du passé collectif du Manitoba francophone.” Une mission réussie qui vaut bien une célébration d’anniversaire pour la saison 2027, qui se veut “plus mouvementée” que la saison 2026.

Une programmation exceptionnelle

Diesel bill adds to cost-price squeeze on farm

Blessed with a week of good weather, most Manitoba farmers are now in the home stretch of harvest and beginning to assess whether their crop will earn enough to cover the cost of growing it.

Commodity market prices have surged well above the numbers used to prepare production budgets earlier this year, with the price of top-quality milling wheat up 27 per cent over a year ago. Canola and soybeans are up 36 per cent and oats by 14 per cent.

That’s a significant boost for the crops harvested in good shape before rainy weather shut down operations for a couple of weeks during the critical harvesting window. However, upwards of half of the province’s crop overall was affected by the bad weather, resulting in yet-to-be calculated yield and quality losses.

Then there’s the cost side of the balance sheet.

New chapter for Yellowquill University College

Sometimes, a milestone is about much more than a degree. It is about opportunity, recognition and the doors that open for the people who come next.

Yellowquill University College reached a historic milestone on Oct. 1, when new Manitoba legislation came into effect formally recognizing the institution within the province’s post-secondary education system and granting it authority to award degrees.

Established in 1984, Yellowquill is now Manitoba’s first fully recognized First Nations-owned and operated post-secondary institution with degree-granting authority.

It is an achievement worth celebrating, not only for Yellowquill and the communities it serves, but also for what it represents about education, career development and the future of Manitoba’s workforce.

Prominent extremist organizations in Canada come and go, but the danger of violence remains

For Blood and Soil: Far-Right Extremism in Canada is a brief and broad survey of far-right movements in Canada.

Written by Amarnath Amarasingam, associate professor in the School of Religion and the department of political studies at Queen’s University, and Stephanie Carvin, associate professor of international relations at Carleton University, the book is an academic text and so the writing is clear and straightforward, but somewhat dry, offering information without commentary or colour.

The authors state they have made conscious choices as to what to include. However, these choices come with limitations. Their decision to begin the survey of violent hate groups in the 1920s means the book lacks a grounding in the ways in which white supremacy was instrumental to the founding of Canada and has permeated so many of our institutions.

The pair does remind us that violent right-wing extreme groups have killed more people in Canada than have extreme Islamic movements. This fact cannot be repeated enough, as it often fails to make it into the discourse on extremist violence in this country.

Granite Curling Club wants judge to stop work on housing project, review city’s decisions

The Granite Curling Club has filed a new court action asking a judge to review and quash City of Winnipeg decisions on a controversial project that would construct a 110-unit housing complex on its parking lot — and to issue an injunction stopping work for now.

The new notice of application, filed in the Court of King’s Bench on Wednesday, comes as a judge mulls his decision on an earlier court application from the club over how the city moved forward on approving the development.

The developer has since begun what it calls “investigative work” at the site, conducting some digging to prepare for a heritage resources impact assessment that will determine whether the area has archeological significance, the chief executive of the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corp. Inc. 2.0 said earlier this week.

Work at the site prompted the club’s lawyers to file the new application, which will have its first hearing on Oct. 26.

Ottawa adding new express entry points for immigrants in ‘high-wage’ jobs

OTTAWA - Ottawa is adding new express entry points for some permanent residency applicants in "high-wage" jobs, Immigration Minister Lena Diab said Friday.

The government also plans to remove the requirement for an employer to prove they can't find a qualified Canadian for those jobs.

The policies, which will take effect on Nov. 3, will apply to applicants who already have Canadian work experience, or who have a job offer in a high-wage field such as engineering.

The government considers a high-wage job one that pays at least 1.3 times the national median wage. The new policy offers more points for an occupation's wage level, with higher paying jobs being worth more express entry points.

City’s drug, homelessness crises overlooked on campaign trail, front-line groups say

Those on the front lines of coping with the city’s deepening homelessness and drug crises express concern at civic election candidates’ lack of attention to the issues