Pallister portrait shows more of the man

Salvador Dali once said, “The reason some portraits don’t look true to life is that some people make no effort to resemble their pictures.” This cannot be said of Manitoba’s 22nd premier, Brian Pallister. His official portrait by artist Andrew Valko doesn’t just resemble Pallister, it reveals him.

It reveals not just who he is but more, someone far different than the public portrait many Manitobans had of him.

Begin with the setting. Manitoba’s most outdoors premier has the first outdoors portrait of a premier.

Significantly, he chose not where he worked — the formal pediments and stone of the province’s legislative building which form the preferred backdrop of all his predecessors — but where he lived and loved, the landscape of Manitoba itself. High Bluff, part of his hometown municipality of Portage la Prairie, with the Assiniboine River gently wending its way in the background, fills the canvas. It cries out roots and belonging, not position or status.

Federal privacy law changes would expand sharing of personal data across government

OTTAWA - The Liberal government proposes making it easier for federal agencies to share and reuse the personal data of Canadians through a major overhaul of the Privacy Act.

The act governs how federal agencies collect, use and disclose personal information, and gives people the right to see and correct data about them the government holds. The law has not changed substantially since it took effect in 1983.

In a policy paper issued Thursday, the government says that in most cases, reusing personal data or sharing it with another program for an alternative purpose requires the person's consent or must meet one of the few legal exceptions.

"These rules were designed to protect privacy, but they make it harder to deliver modern, connected services that rely on secure data sharing," the paper says. "The goal is to make it easier for programs to share data responsibly, so Canadians only have to provide information once."

First Nations chiefs demand apology after PM said he could ‘outlast’ protester

OTTAWA - Two First Nations chiefs are calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to apologize for saying he could "outlast" a First Nations woman who was protesting over mercury poisoning in her community.

Chrissy Isaacs, a Grassy Narrows woman suffering from mercury poisoning, was in Toronto on Monday to demand compensation from the provincial government for mercury contamination.

The Dryden Paper Mill released thousands of kilograms of mercury into Grassy Narrows' river system from the 1960s to the 1970s. It's widely considered to be one of the country's worst environmental disasters and community members are still dealing with the fallout today.

Isaacs and a group of community members and their supporters attended a news conference Carney held on Monday with Ontario Premier Doug Ford to announce new funding for housing. She and the other protesters could be heard chanting and shouting in the background about the mercury contamination.

Alberta separatists say they’ve collected enough signatures to trigger a referendum

EDMONTON - Two Alberta separatists say their group has collected enough signatures from citizens to trigger a referendum on the province quitting Canada.

Mitch Sylvestre says the group – named Stay Free Alberta -- has collected well over the approximate 178,000-signature threshold. And he says volunteers who have been keeping tally as the signatures come in are expecting that number to grow.

"We (have) more than the buffer that's required if they (Elections Alberta) refuse signatures as well," Sylvestre said in a phone interview Tuesday.

They still have another month to go before they must deliver the names to Elections Alberta for verification, but Jeffrey Rath, the general counsel for the group, says they want to announce their success now.

‘Good day to be a polar bear’: Carney unveils nature strategy, new conservation areas

LA PÊCHE - The Liberal government's new $3.8 billion nature protection strategy will put Canada's 2030 nature conservation goals within reach, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday.

Announcing the new plan at an event in Wakefield, Que., Carney said the federal government will create new national parks, urban parks and marine conservation areas.

Carney said his government is taking an "ambitious" approach to conservation spaces and urban parks. He said the plan will require "significant" federal funding and includes aspirations to spur private-sector investments.

The new conservation areas will include the Wiinipaawk Indigenous protected area and national marine conservation area in Eastern James Bay, and the Seal River watershed national park in Manitoba.

Liberals dismiss call for law to ensure political fibs and flubs don’t eclipse facts

OTTAWA - The Liberal government has dismissed a Toronto man's proposal to keep politicians honest in an age of misinformation, saying there are already several ways to fight falsehoods.

Federico Sanchez initiated an electronic petition to the House of Commons to propose legislation that would help correct the record when members of Parliament stray from the truth intentionally or simply because they are ill-informed.

Sanchez said he was "very upset" by the lack of federal interest in his pitch.

"It made me feel like they didn't take it seriously," he said in an interview. "If they don't think that there's a problem, then I think we're going to have a lot worse days ahead."

Prison overcrowding has no simple fix

Rarely, if ever, does government respond so quickly to a demand for more money. On March 20, the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union said that overcrowding in provincial jails was causing mayhem and putting their members at risk.

Environmental groups give NDP budget a ‘near failing grade’

The Manitoba government has made big promises to protect and prioritize the environment as it works to boost economic development and become a “have province.”

But climate groups say the latest provincial budget, released Tuesday, has failed to deliver.

A coalition of environmental organizations including the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Manitoba Eco-Network and Climate Action Team Manitoba gave the province “a near failing grade for its lack of meaningful investment in climate action and environmental protection,” according to a Friday release.

“Manitoba’s 2026 budget and the past two budgets before it have been extremely disappointing for climate and nature,” Ron Thiessen, executive director of CPAWS Manitoba, said in an interview.

Province making up chaotic, inadequate child-care ‘plan’ as it goes along

The Manitoba government can point to a lot of ink spilled — and a lot of money committed — on child care over the past few years. Fees have come down to $10 a day. New spaces have been promised. Workforce strategies have been rolled out.

On paper, it all sounds like progress.

But a scathing new report from Manitoba’s auditor general makes one thing painfully clear: when it comes to actually delivering child-care spaces where and when families need them, the province has badly dropped the ball.

And both the former Progressive Conservative government and the current NDP one are equally to blame.

Election bill takes aim at deepfakes, long ballots, threats to nomination contests

OTTAWA - The Liberal government is proposing new legislation to strengthen election integrity by banning digital deepfakes of candidates, cracking down on unduly long ballots and protecting nomination and leadership contests.

The bill, introduced Thursday, would extend existing election protections beyond the campaign period itself, making them effective year-round.

The government says this would include the extension of rules forbidding foreign people or organizations from improperly influencing someone's vote, as well as bans on offering or accepting bribes to influence a vote.

Government House leader Steven MacKinnon said the changes follow recommendations made by the chief electoral officer, the commissioner of elections and the public inquiry into foreign interference.

Indigenous services minister questioned about fire that killed toddler

OTTAWA - First Nations chiefs from northern Ontario demanded answers Thursday from Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty after they linked the death of a three-year-old boy to a lack of federal funding for fire services in their communities.

On Monday, a house fire in a northwestern Ontario community took the life of Chief Donny Morris's three-year-old grandson and left two others with serious injuries.

The Independent First Nations Alliance, a group of five First Nations that includes Morris's own community of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, filed a Canadian Human Rights Commission complaint in August 2025 alleging Indigenous Services Canada was systemically discriminating against their communities by underfunding on-reserve fire services.

Chief Carla Duncan of Muskrat Dam Lake First Nation — a member community of that alliance — told Gull-Masty during a Nishnawbe Aski Nation meeting in Toronto Thursday the community is still searching for the child's remains.

Procurement ombud slams Indigenous procurement strategy outcomes in ‘shocking’ report

OTTAWA - Indigenous Services Canada and other departments are failing to uphold their own Indigenous procurement strategy and may be allowing contractors to use shell companies to access contracts reserved for Indigenous businesses, the federal procurement ombudsman said Thursday in a new report.

In a scathing analysis, Alexander Jeglic said Indigenous Services Canada failed to provide timely answers to procurement officers' questions in some cases and allowed some contracts to go out to companies not listed in the Indigenous Business Directory.

The report also cites a lack of oversight on contracts to ensure 33 per cent of the value of the work is done by an Indigenous contractor.

"Non-Indigenous businesses may use Indigenous businesses as shell companies — entities that meet the minimum ownership requirement on paper but do not actually perform the work — allowing them to unfairly access contracts intended to be set aside for Indigenous businesses," the report reads.

Province turning former university building downtown into transitional living units for homeless people

The $24.4-million purchase and renovation project at 447 Webb Place was confirmed in Tuesday’s provincial budget, although the site opened a couple of months ago.

Lawyers for Quebec government tell Supreme Court that Bill 21 is legitimate

OTTAWA - The Quebec government is urging the Supreme Court of Canada to uphold a controversial secularism law, arguing that the Constitution allows the province to override the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The case revolves around the law, adopted in 2019, that banned some public sector workers from wearing religious symbols on the job, including judges, police officers and teachers.

Quebec pre-emptively used its powers to override the Charter when it adopted the law, and the court challenge could have implications for how other provinces handle similar cases.

The federal and provincial governments can override the Charter if they invoke what is known as the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution.

Pride festivals seek federal $3M as corporations pull back support amid DEI backlash

OTTAWA - Pride festivals are seeking $3 million annually from Ottawa to fill a funding gap left by corporations pulling back funding amid a backlash to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

"We are seeing corporate sponsors pull back their investment into Pride. This can be for a multitude of reasons — DEI pullbacks, the tariffs," said Joseph Hoang, a director with Vancouver Pride.

"They are not coming to the table at the level that they used to be. This is why we are asking the federal government for this new funding."

He was speaking Tuesday on Parliament Hill, joined by other executives who are seeking $9 million over three years to help 200 festivals maintain their operations. They are asking for funding to pay artists and logistics costs, separate from rising security expenditures.

Liberals to debate age restrictions on social media, AI chatbots

OTTAWA - Age restrictions on using social media accounts and AI chatbots are among the topics up for debate when Liberal party grassroots gather next month for their national convention.

There are 24 different policy resolutions that are on the agenda when party rank-and-file meet in Montreal for their convention April 9 through 11.

Two of them try to tackle ongoing concerns about the impact of social media and artificial intelligence on children and youth.

One resolution from Quebec calls for anyone under the age of 16 to be banned from accessing "all AI chatbots and other potentially harmful forms of AI interaction," such as ChatGPT.

Canadian sport system ‘underfunded and unsafe,’ commission urges Ottawa to step up

Canadian sport needs an overhaul, and it starts with the federal government.

That was the conclusion of the Future of Sport in Canada Commission's final report released Tuesday.

The Canadian sport system is broken, fragmented and unsustainable, said Lise Maisonneuve, a former chief justice of the Ontario court of justice, who headed the commission.

The report issued 98 calls to action for phased-in change over five years, but starting immediately.

Provincial budget includes free transit passes for youths in Winnipeg, three other cities

Manitoba’s NDP government will make it more affordable for youths as young as 12 to get to school, jobs and activities with free transit passes.

The autism strategy gap is already here

In Winnipeg classrooms, the autism strategy gap is not theoretical. It is visible every day.

Quebec’s Bill 21 lands in the Supreme Court, with notwithstanding clause in spotlight

MONTREAL - A legal challenge to Quebec's secularism law, known as Bill 21, will be heard at the Supreme Court of Canada beginning Monday, and legal experts say whatever the eventual ruling, it will have a profound effect on constitutional law in Canada.

The highly anticipated high court challenge to Bill 21 has been years in the making, but legal debate is likely to focus primarily on Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the provision known as the “notwithstanding clause," which shields legislation from most court challenges over violations of fundamental rights.

François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec government pre-emptively invoked the provision into the law passed in June 2019.

The Quebec law, known as Act respecting the laicity of the state, sets out the principles of secularism in the province. Among its most controversial measures is the prohibition of civil servants who are considered in positions of power — such as police officers, teachers and judges — from wearing religious symbols at work.

Maritime historical groups earn UNESCO recognition for Black Loyalist archive

HALIFAX - Detailed ledgers, business receipts and church records from Black Loyalists in the 1780s and onward are more than just rich historical texts to Andrea Davis.

“This is a part of my history… it means so much to us as a community,” she said in an interview Saturday.

Davis is an eighth generation descendant of Black people who left the United States for Nova Scotia at the end of the American Revolution, siding with the British. The Black Loyalists were offered land, protection and freedom, but they were not given the rations, assistance or fertile land they were promised.

“My ancestors, they are a group of people that were not meant to survive, but they did. And so to be here to represent the Black Loyalists and my ancestors is extremely rewarding,” she said.