Government wants public input on use of AI

The province says it’s taking the lead when it comes to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, but is it moving in the right direction?

Minister says changes to Nutrition North program set to roll out in the fall

OTTAWA - Northern Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand says changes to the Nutrition North program are coming this fall, but they won't be limited to subsidies to reduce the cost of food in the North.

Instead, Chartrand said, the federal government is looking at all options to help reduce food insecurity in the region, including strengthening local supply chains and supporting harvesters.

Nutrition North provides money to retailers to help bring down the high cost of groceries in 124 communities. Some retailers have been accused of not applying the full subsidy to the items they sell.

The federal government says it has been reviewing the program to strengthen the food economy, restructure governance and reform subsidies.

Poll suggests some Liberal supporters concerned about climate policy are leaning NDP

OTTAWA - A new online poll from the Angus Reid Institute suggests that one in six 2025 Liberal voters now say they would support the NDP.

The pollster found that half of these voters cite climate change as the issue that concerns them most. The poll also found that these voters are three times more likely to be concerned about inequality, with 34 per cent of red-orange switchers listing it as a priority compared to 10 per cent who are staying in the Liberal tent.

Angus Reid reports that 21 per cent of respondents nationally say that climate change is a top concern, an increase from the 14 per cent recorded just four months ago. The pollster said that wildfire season is a "stark reminder" of the threat climate change poses in a write up of its findings.

NDP Leader Avi Lewis told The Canadian Press Tuesday that he's been hearing from Liberals in Montreal are now looking to support his party.

Ottawa opening exports office as part of strategy to diversify trade

OTTAWA - The federal government is opening a new strategic exports office as part of its plan to diversify trade.

The office, announced in Budget 2025, will be housed under Global Affairs Canada and will be tasked with removing trade irritants, lifting market access barriers and addressing infrastructure gaps.

The government says the office will help Canada secure international business opportunities in sectors that include aerospace, defence, infrastructure and energy.

International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu told a press conference Thursday the office will help Canada's "best companies win the biggest contracts in the toughest markets around the world."

New Indigenous languages commissioner says her job is to support incoming leadership

OTTAWA - The interim head of the Indigenous languages commission, which is now facing a federal audit, says her job is to support new leadership to ensure a fresh start for the institution.

Candice St-Aubin, who left her job as a senior federal public servant to take on the interim commissioner's role, said on social media it's deeply meaningful work that "asks much of the mind, heart and spirit."

"I do not approach this work as temporary. The responsibility to support the preservation, revitalization, and strengthening of Indigenous languages in Canada does not pause while institutional processes continue," St-Aubin wrote.

"While the formal process will determine the leadership team that follows, I see my role as helping support those who will welcome them and ensuring they can begin their work on a strong and respectful foundation."

Temporary foreign workers rally to stay

Close to 100 temporary foreign workers, mainly from China, whose time in Canada is running out, rallied on the steps of the Manitoba legislature Tuesday to raise awareness of their situation.

They arrived in Manitoba before the federal government cut immigration levels — when international students and temporary foreign workers had a shot at becoming permanent residents if they met the requirements to stay, said Ruby Lu.

“We come here for a few years and we work for a few years, pay taxes. Some of us are already bought a house,” said Lu, whose work permit expires at the end of the year.

“So if our (permit) expires, we don’t know what to do,” she said in front of demonstrators holding signs with messages including “we love Manitoba” and “bring back TPP” — the temporary public policy used by the Manitoba provincial nominee program to support open work permits and prioritize permanent residency for select candidates.

Alberta to begin allowing self-referred medical testing as of Friday

CALGARY - Beginning Friday, Albertans will be able to pay out of pocket for diagnostic screening tests, including an MRI and an ultrasound, and without a doctor's referral.

The new change can help those who pay get a faster cancer diagnosis, and improve their chances of survival, without increasing wait times for others, the government said Monday.

Premier Danielle Smith said Albertans can self-refer, because they have a pretty good idea of when something isn't right.

"We just want to put the power in the hands of the patient so that they can get those peace-of-mind tests and hopefully get the all-clear," she said.

An eroding Winnipeg neighbourhood looks to new foundations

The lot Jesse Bettcher lives on in Winnipeg's North End used to be a pile of burnt rubble. Same with the one next door. And the one across the street. But he's now the proud owner of a two-storey house with blue-grey siding and white trim.

‘Bright’ future: RCAF chief says spike in defence spending is boosting flight times

OTTAWA - One year into her new job as commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet said she could see an immediate effect of the federal government's defence spending boost: RCAF pilots are spending more time in the air.

In a recent interview with The Canadian Press, Speiser-Blanchet also acknowledged that preparing the entire service for what she described as a rapid and "giant transformation" — rebuilding the whole plane while it's flying, so to speak — sometimes gives her pause.

"It's that pace of change sometimes that worries me a little," she said.

She said while she’s "very comfortable" with the decisions made preparing for modernization, it's "the thought that there's something we should be doing now to make sure that we're set up for success in the future and that we're missing it" that keeps her up at night.

‘Too big to rig’: Alberta separation petition succeeds with 223K verified signatures

EDMONTON - A citizen-led petition seeking to force a vote on Alberta quitting Canada is officially successful.

Elections Alberta announced Friday it verified nearly 223,000 signatures out of almost 280,000 valid names counted. The petition needed almost 178,000 signatures to be successful.

Despite the result, the document is largely moot.

It was quashed in court in May, although the ruling is being appealed by those behind the petition campaign as well as by Premier Danielle Smith's government.

Canada, UAE conclude negotiations on a free-trade agreement

OTTAWA - The governments of Canada and the United Arab Emirates say they have concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement.

International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu told a press conference in Toronto on Friday that the next steps include legal review, the signing of the deal and ratification.

"It's been a busy couple of days. We've been at it negotiating and we literally just walked out of the room with the final touches," Sidhu said.

Sidhu said the government has been working to expand its partnership with the UAE and that while the conflict in the Middle East delayed the start of negotiations, his team was determined to reach an agreement.

Carney says ‘everything’s on the table’ for tariff retaliation against United States

CHARLOTTETOWN - Prime Minister Mark Carney says "everything's on the table" if Canada can't secure a deal to avoid a dramatic escalation in U.S. tariffs planned for next month.

Carney was asked Thursday what measures his government is considering in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to impose 50 per cent tariffs on a variety of Canadian goods.

While the prime minister said Canada has a "full range" of options, he refused to identify specific measures Ottawa could take in retaliation if Trump’s new tariffs come into force.

“It would be counterproductive at this stage to respond in advance. But it’s important to know what your options are, to have worked it through,” Carney said.

Small business group says immigration cut makes it tough to hire workers

Canada’s immigration clampdown has put employers in remote and rural places in a bind and put fear into employees from abroad who want to stay.

Yi (Rick) Zheng and his family from China, who’ve been working in Thompson for two years and hope to gain permanent residency, said they fear their work permits will expire and they’ll have to leave the country.

Zheng, 41, says he works as a restaurant cook and his wife works at a hotel in the northern city, where their two children, ages 10 and 12, are thriving in school.

“I work very hard every day. Our kitchen doesn’t have enough staff.”

Manitoba Premier Kinew ‘willing to entertain’ Alberta to Ontario pipeline

CHARLOTTETOWN - Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Wednesday he's open to a west-east pipeline being pitched by his counterparts in Alberta and Ontario.

Kinew, speaking to reporters at a meeting of premiers in Charlottetown, said the pipeline could make Canada stronger and that there are workers in his province who would be eager to help build it.

"I love Alberta, I love Albertans, so (I'm) willing to entertain the idea," he said.

The pipeline proposal was announced earlier this month by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Climate change? It’s already here

Winnipeg’s roads are buckling. Ontario forests are burning. Toronto chokes on wildfire smoke. The summer heat dome in Europe has already killed thousands. Climate change is not some future dystopian vision. It’s right here, right now. And the cause is crystal clear: burning fossil fuels.

Landlord miffed after city orders cleanup of riverside homeless camp

A West Broadway landlord is angry the City of Winnipeg has ordered him to clear away a homeless encampment from his riverfront property or have the cleanup cost added to his property tax bill.

Marvin Sharp, CEO of Astroid Management Ltd., which manages the Pen-Eve Apartments at 35 Balmoral St., said the city is forcing private property owners to deal with a problem they didn’t create.

“This is kind of like the neighbours throwing their garbage over the fence, every single day, and the city’s saying, ‘You have to go clean this up, but we’re not going to go tell the neighbour to stop doing that,’” Sharp said. “What do you want me to do here? You’ve got a serious problem here. We’re not talking about someone throwing garbage on the ground. We’re talking about encampments.”

Sharp said he received a city compliance order dated July 10, which was viewed by the Free Press. It says a bylaw officer observed “an accumulation of garbage” on the property, including abandoned goods of manufacture, tents and unattended shopping carts.

Court orders Alberta prison to take steps to protect inmates from extreme heat

OTTAWA - As the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal prepares to hear a separate case about extreme heat in prisons, the Federal Court has directed an Alberta prison to take steps to install air conditioning to protect inmates.

The court said Correctional Service Canada has failed to put an effective solution in place at the Edmonton Institution for Women's secure unit, despite complaints about extreme heat that go back two decades.

"The excessively high temperatures have caused inmates to suffer panic attacks, psychological distress, and sleep deprivation. It is a long-standing problem: CSC has known of design problems with the temperature regulation equipment in Secure since as early as 2012," Justice Meaghan Conroy wrote in the July 16 decision.

One affidavit from an inmate housed in 2018 in a corner cell nicknamed "the oven" said a maintenance worker recorded a temperature of over 40 C in her cell.

Opposition brewing as data centre capacity is set to explode across Canada

OTTAWA - Across Canada, plans are underway for a massive boom in construction of the huge new data centres needed for artificial intelligence technology.

But opposition is also building as residents worry about how the facilities will affect their communities — and as the data centres themselves become a symbol of the anxieties swirling around AI.

"An AI data centre is like the physical avatar of AI. And so it's just like concrete and steel, physical space of a technology that increasingly I think Canadians are worried is going to have a really disruptive impact on their lives," said David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data.

"The local concerns are tied to the resources that these data centres consume. So it's about electricity, it's about water, it’s about noise."

A whack-a-mole approach to a complex problem

The Winnipeg Police Service has produced a report that details the results of a recent 10-day crackdown on open drug use and trafficking. Unfortunately, and to the detriment of both the community and police service, they just won’t show it to anyone.

This week, a WPS spokeswoman confirmed no decision has been made “regarding reporting, future activities or the release of results” from the drug sweep. As the operation was ongoing, WPS did say that it “interacted” with more than 100 people and arrested 25, with most of those related to warrants and breaches of court orders, not open drug use or trafficking.

These very preliminary results prompted criticism that the WPS had failed to adequately collaborate with social service agencies that help the homeless and those suffering from addictions and mental health.

A detailed report on the results of the sweep, along with commentary from the police about lessons learned, is essential if police are to engage in this kind of initiative again. In fact, it would be hard to see how police could ever unleash a similar operation without some sort of accounting of the impacts — both good and bad — of the first effort.

First Nations’ concerns overshadowed by talk of major projects

The contrast could not have been more stark in Ottawa — unceded Algonquin territory — this week.

Fire-ravaged First Nations community accuses Ottawa of denying it federal aid

OTTAWA - A small First Nations community in Ontario that was burned to the ground by a raging wildfire on Monday is being deprived of the help it needs because the federal government doesn't recognize it as a First Nation, the community's lawyer says.

And its chief says she didn't hear anything from Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty for nearly a week after the fire broke out.

Residents of Collins First Nation, a remote community without road access more than 200 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, were forced to self-evacuate earlier this week in advance of fast-moving fires.

Videos show community members fleeing on small boats as the flames encroached upon the shoreline.

City tries to find the right balance in regulating personal e-vehicles

Patty Wiens was already a cycling enthusiast when she got an electric bicycle in early 2023, but she didn’t realize how much it would transform the way she got around Winnipeg.

She started riding throughout winter and stopped relying on her vehicle. Eventually, she sold her car.

“It’s not a replacement for a bike,” she said. “It’s a replacement for a car.”

Wiens, who has been dubbed the “Bike Mayor of Winnipeg” by a global cycling advocacy organization, said her e-bike is a cheaper and more environmentally friendly way to get around the city, especially as the cost of living mounts.

What happened to public service?

What I’m referring to when I talk about public service is that rare and courageous individual who enters public life to do good.