Ottawa takes next step in negotiations on possible GlobalEye radar plane purchase

OTTAWA - The Liberal government has taken another step forward in talks with the Swedish defence company Saab as it considers acquiring its advanced radar planes for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Ottawa and Saab agreed on a non-binding term sheet that supports more detailed negotiations on a fleet of GlobalEye aircraft.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced at the CANSEC defence expo in May that Canada had selected Saab as a preferred supplier for airborne early warning and control planes.

While Ottawa has made no binding commitment to purchase the platform, it has indicated a strong intention to reach a deal.

Positive anticipation is growing about major housing developments underway in Winnipeg’s downtown

If traffic is light and the wind is down, Somia Sadiq is able to hear the roar of Winnipeg Jets fans twice: first through her window, then on TV.

From her apartment view high above downtown, she can look out at Graham Avenue’s painted pedestrian landscape, see construction cranes and hear the heavy equipment at work as massive housing projects take shape at The Forks, at what used to be Portage Place shopping centre and at the former Hudson’s Bay building.

Sadiq has lived at 300 Main for 2 1/2 years, a few steps from the city’s famous, windy and reopened-to-pedestrians Portage Avenue intersection. At 42 storeys, it’s the tallest building in Winnipeg.

She is among 18,000 downtown residents who will soon be joined by thousands of others attracted to the city’s core by the new wave of major construction projects.

East St. Paul product’s next wheelchair basketball chapter in Spain’s best men’s division

Every time Joshua Brown takes the court, the line between dreams and reality blurs.

You see, Brown, born and raised in East St. Paul, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy early in life. Understanding his condition, he came to terms with the challenge it would be to play stand-up sports competitively.

That didn’t stop him from dreaming, though.

Brown remembers watching Canada’s best in wheelchair basketball at the Paralympic Games on television as a youngster, and vividly recalls what went through his mind at the time.

More than 60,000 Manitobans rely on food bank each month, Harvest Manitoba report says

Linda Smith first turned to Harvest Manitoba in the early 1990s when her husband became permanently disabled. Now, on a fixed income, she continues to access the food bank to make ends meet.

Smith is one of more than 60,000 Manitobans now relying on food banks each month as demand continues to grow, a new report by Harvest Manitoba reveals.

The organization said in its 2025-26 impact report, released Thursday, that 61,188 people accessed a food bank in the province in March. Nearly half of them were children. The number of people accessing food banks in the province since 2020 has ballooned by more than 150 per cent, including more seniors, like Smith, than ever before.

Smith, a mother of five now in her 70s, first went to Harvest Manitoba in 1991 when he husband was disabled, and then again in the mid 2000s following a major car accident that led to a brain stem injury that forced her out of the workforce.

Defence minister downplays PM’s comments on prospect of U.S. military action

OTTAWA - A day after Prime Minister Mark Carney told a U.S. media outlet his government has studied the possibility of U.S.-led military action in Canada, Defence Minister David McGuinty said all militaries consider such risks.

"It is normal. All militaries in the world spend time analyzing risk scenarios," he told reporters in Ottawa.

McGuinty downplayed the significance of comments Carney made to the New York Times on Wednesday indicating Ottawa has examined the possibility of American military action.

Carney told the New York Times he would not discuss in detail what that examination involved, but suggested it would be irresponsible not to prepare for what he called "extreme tail risk."

Mayor introduces charter change motion to remove council members charged with crimes

Mayor Scott Gillingham is urging council to move forward with his plan to force a paid leave of absence on elected civic officials charged with criminal offence.

Canadian astronaut ready for NASA mission to International Space Station

HOUSTON - Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk said he's been dreaming of going to space for a long time — and assuming everything goes to plan, he could fulfil that goal next week.

"I always dreamt of it and thought it would be the most wonderful experience," Kutryk said on Thursday.

The 44-year-old is one of four people assigned to NASA's SpaceX Crew 13 mission heading to the International Space Station.

The crew will spend six months at the station conducting experiments, doing research and taking part in critical maintenance work.

‘Extremely disappointed’: hunters being turned away near Bloodvein First Nation, Manitoba Wildlife Federation says

The Manitoba Wildlife Federation says hunters are again being refused access to land near Bloodvein River First Nation, a year after leadership told court it would let them through.

Indigenous Sports Fund listening to level playing field

Manitoba is home base for a fund organizers hope will boost Indigenous participation in sport across Canada.

“We should be involved in more than just dancing in the opening ceremonies,” said Bruce Miller, creator of the nascent Indigenous Sports Fund.

He’s been visiting First Nations and Métis groups since June as part of “listening tours,” where community members share their thoughts about how such a fund could be used.

It’s not his first time launching a project: he’s a founding member of the Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre and has led the Indigenous Peoples Resilience Fund, which provided emergency relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.

City of Ottawa to rename Trump Avenue as trade war continues

OTTAWA - A residential street in Ottawa bearing the last name of U.S. President Donald Trump will be given a new monniker after the city council voted in favour of a motion to start the renaming process.

Coun. Riley Brockington introduced a motion that was carried Wednesday to rename Trump Avenue, in Ottawa's Central Park neighbourhood.

The area, just southwest of the city's core, was developed in the 1990s and 2000s with a New York City theme, and multiple streets pay homage to the city with names like Central Park Drive, Staten Way and Grammercy Park.

"Since I came to office, there have been a number of requests from Trump Avenue residents, residents within Central Park and across our city and frankly beyond that would like to see the City of Ottawa engage in a street renaming process," he said Wednesday.

David Suzuki says Mark Carney is driving Canada ‘into a ditch’ with shift on climate

OTTAWA - David Suzuki said that when Prime Minister Mark Carney was first elected last year, he celebrated. Having met and interviewed the prime minister before, the national environmentalist icon said he knew Carney understood the challenges of climate change.

But in an interview with The Canadian Press, Suzuki said he now feels he was "wilfully blind" to Carney's promises of action on climate, despite warnings from his longtime friend the late Stephen Lewis, who predicted the agenda of a banker — and now politician — would supersede Carney's views on addressing climate change.

"I don't see that there's going to be any deviation from the driving of our country into the ditch," Suzuki said.

He acknowledges that Carney's actions come as Canadians' views on climate have shifted to other priorities.

Oxford English Dictionary adds several words long used in the Caribbean and Bermuda

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — More than a dozen words long used in Bermuda and across the Caribbean got an official nod on Wednesday from the Oxford English Dictionary.

First in line is “bimpert,” a Bermudian word of unknown origin that is used to describe a stupid or foolish person. People on the tiny island in the north Atlantic often use it in this traditional phrase: “A bimpert is justah wuffless bye,” which roughly translates to: an idiot is just a worthless boy.

Another colorful addition is “hornerman,” a word used in the eastern Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago since 1975 to describe an unfaithful man or a man having a relationship with someone else's partner.

Leonard Alexander, a grocery store owner in Trinidad, chuckled at the inclusion of the word “hornerman.” He explained that to “horn” means being unfaithful, and now the world would know the term for a man who commits such an act.

13 federal departments, agencies spending more than $18 million on return-to-office

OTTAWA - Federal government departments and agencies are set to spend more than $18 million to get their employees to work in the office more often.

Thousands of federal public servants started a new work schedule in July requiring them to be on-site in the office four days a week. Executive public servants returned to the office full-time in May.

In response to an order paper question from NDP MP Heather McPherson, 13 federal organizations said they plan to spend a combined $18,720,150 to reconfigure or acquire office space to accommodate the increased frequency of in-person work.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada said it will spend almost $5.7 million, while Fisheries and Oceans Canada said it will spend $4.2 million.

Manitoba budget reveals province underspent on crucial departments related to justice, public safety

While concerns about homelessness and public safety continue to make headlines in Manitoba, the two government departments mainly responsible for addressing them came in under budget last year.

The 2025-26 public accounts, released Monday, show Housing, Addictions and Homelessness underspent its budget of $869 million by $18 million. Manitoba Justice underspent its budget of $994 million by $34 million.

The 247-page public accounts report attributes the underspending in justice mainly to “reduced impacts of contingency liabilities,” such as a court ruling or legal settlement.

The report did not explain how and why Housing, Addictions and Homelessness underspent its budget last year as the province addresses those critical issues.

RRC Polytech among schools selected to train RCAF aircraft technicians

Red River College Polytechnic will become one of the first civilian schools to train Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft technicians.

The first cohort is expected to begin aircraft maintenance engineer training in fall 2027. Students will attend the post-secondary’s Stevenson campus in Winnipeg.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for us to grow,” Fred Meier, RRC Polytech’s president, said as he and University of Manitoba president Michael Benarroch addressed business executives at a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce event Tuesday morning in Winnipeg.

They highlighted the local post-secondaries’ increasing work with the Canadian Armed Forces and broader defence sector.

Manitoba students able to opt out of classes with sensitive lessons on sex, drug use

Manitoba’s premier pledges to continue allowing parents to pull their kids from health class if content — be it related to human sexuality, substance use or otherwise — clashes with personal beliefs.

Wab Kinew said Tuesday the government’s overhaul of phys-ed and health curriculum in Manitoba schools won’t impact the ability for parents to opt-out of a lesson and deliver material as they see fit.

“As a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher and that will always be the case,” Kinew said, surrounded by hundreds of teenagers on the football field outside Kelvin High School during an announcement Tuesday.

More than 100 schools are taking part in a voluntary pilot project this fall. It’s the first systematic review of this curriculum in decades. The changes to kindergarten-to-Grade 12 courses will be mandated to all schools in September 2028.

Province paid three men wrongfully convicted in 1973 Winnipeg homicide $4 million apiece

More than five decades after their lives were derailed by a racist justice system, the provincial government has paid millions of dollars to three men who were wrongfully convicted in a 1973 Winnipeg homicide.

Clarence Woodhouse, Allan Woodhouse (no relation) and Brian Anderson were wrongfully convicted of murdering restaurant worker Ting Fong Chan in 1974.

The ruling was reversed in 2024 for Clarence Woodhouse, when he was acquitted by Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal, and in 2023 for both Allan Woodhouse and Anderson. Russell Woodhouse, Clarence’s brother, was also subjected to a miscarriage of justice — he was wrongfully convicted of manslaughter — but died in 2011.

Canada’s first post-mortem conviction review has since been called into his case.

Gillingham promises to make north Main revitalization a second-term priority

Scott Gillingham says he will work to “reset and renew” north Main Street, if he wins a second term as mayor.

The incumbent candidate promised Tuesday to devise a long-term plan to rejuvenate that section of the thoroughfare, noting it has recently suffered from decay.

“It has a rich history, a deep and proud history. But the last couple of years, to say it’s been underperforming would be an understatement…. So many stretches of Main Street here, I see derelict buildings, boarded-up businesses, piles of rubble after fires that sit waiting to be cleaned up,” Gillingham said.

“We can disrupt what is going on and turn the tide on north Main Street.”

Changing Transit Plus drivers’ status a ‘ridiculous anti-worker provision,’ councillor says

Some fear a change of status for Winnipeg Transit Plus drivers could allow them to be paid less and receive fewer benefits.

However, council’s public works chairwoman said pay protections are now embedded in contracts and the change is needed to attract enough workers.

Three years ago, city council passed a motion that required Winnipeg Transit Plus drivers to be employees of companies the city hires to provide accessible transit service.

Coun. Brian Mayes said that clause prevents “sub-minimum wages” from being permitted for subcontracted drivers and ensures drivers can access multiple benefits.

Carney says he won’t backtrack on digital services tax, streamers’ CanCon payments

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney says he won’t change his mind about his decision to eliminate the digital services tax and Canadian content contributions for streamers.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet asked Carney in the House of Commons on Monday whether he would reconsider those decisions, since they failed to secure progress in trade talks with the United States.

"No," Carney replied.

Blanchet said in French that Carney's strategy failed and that big tech companies, whose revenue streams are larger than those of some countries, should have to contribute to arts and culture.

B.C. sues OpenAI, says one call could have prevented Tumbler Ridge mass shooting

VANCOUVER - The B.C. government has filed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence company OpenAI in California over the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., asserting "one telephone call to the RCMP could have prevented the tragedy."

Attorney General Niki Sharma announced the filing on Monday, saying the province is seeking accountability from OpenAI and its decision-makers.

British Columbia is also aiming to recover costs associated with the shootings in February that left eight victims dead, including five students at the local secondary school.

Sharma said OpenAI failed to warn police of concerning interactions between the shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, and the company's chatbot ChatGPT.

Moe warns ‘blood potash’ part of Trump’s planned deal with Belarus to thwart Canada

REGINA - As U.S. President Donald Trump works on a deal to buy potash from Belarus to lessen dependence on Canadian fertilizer, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is warning that the eastern European country has blood on its hands.

"More than 40 countries – Canada and its allies – have sanctions against Belarus for supporting war criminal (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s invasion of Ukraine," Moe said on social media Monday.

"Buying blood potash from Belarus is supporting Russian aggression.

"It’s wrong and it doesn’t make sense."

Oil, grain exports fuel record cargo at Port of Vancouver as trade shifts beyond U.S.

The head of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority says surging oil and grain exports drove a record amount of cargo through its gates in the first half of the year as part of a push away from U.S. markets, with Alberta crude fuelling the pivot.

Freight volumes at the Port of Vancouver rode a rising tide of crude oil and canola seed to a three per cent year-over-year increase for the six months ended June 30, the federal agency said Monday.

Port authority chief executive Peter Xotta described "a degree of focus and urgency" to hauling loads — fossil fuels included — to and from countries that lie beyond North American shores.

"The U.S. percentage of crude oil shipments is declining ... as those global destinations for Alberta crude increase," he said in a phone interview from Canada Place, which overlooks Vancouver Harbour.