Manitoba Construction Career Expo draws students from across province with goal of ‘AI-resilient’ career options

More than 1,200 students from across Manitoba hammered nails, operated miniature machinery and even tried their hand at masonry at a hands-on career fair organizers called a pitch for the “AI-resilient” jobs of the future.

The Manitoba Construction Career Expo has been organized by the Winnipeg Construction Association for more than 15 years. As Canada’s career landscape has changed for youth, there’s been an increasing interest in logging out of the virtual world and finding a more tactile profession, said Darryl Harrison, the association’s director of stakeholder engagement and advocacy.

“There’s a lot of opportunities in construction, whether you pursue an apprenticeship or take another path toward the industry, but it generally leads to well-paying jobs and it leads to a career that we’re now calling AI-resilient,” Harrison said at the event at Red River Exhibition Place on Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of careers where it’s questionable what the impact of AI will be, and we will always need hands-on work sites to build the buildings that we need.”

City missing opportunity to help the homeless, save significant amount of money

By all accounts, Winnipeg could face a tsunami of homelessness this summer. And, by many of those same accounts, Winnipeg is woefully unprepared.

Last month, End Homelessness Winnipeg released a new audit of the number of people living on Winnipeg streets and found that it had risen exponentially over the last year. The best, current estimate is that more than 8,200 Winnipeggers were living without adequate housing, and over half that number meeting the definition of chronic homelessness.

Agencies that support the homeless population have warned the city and province that warmer weather usually expands the number of people living rough on the streets. They have pleaded for more immediate help to deal with this impending crisis.

Government is responding, albeit rather unevenly.

Winnipeg: the crumbling city

At least Christine Keilback had a sense of humour about it. The 58-year-old fell into a buried, uncapped catchbasin on Lipton Street and ended up having to be pulled from the shoulder-deep hole by firefighters.

Business council’s new housing alliance, partners complete first ‘deeply affordable’ project

A unique Manitoba business-led enterprise created to invest in​ affordable housing has completed its first project, helping to launch a 23-unit building in Winnipeg’s inner city.

Solar ranch in Tennessee aims to prove grazing cattle under the panels is a farmland win-win

CHRISTIANA, Tenn. (AP) — From a distance, the small solar farm in central Tennessee looks like others that now dot rural America, with row upon row of black panels absorbing the sun's rays to generate electricity.

But beneath these panels is lush pasture instead of gravel, enjoyed by a small herd of cattle that spends its days munching grass and resting in the shade.

Silicon Ranch, which owns the 40-acre farm in Christiana, outside of Nashville, believes cattle-grazing is the next frontier in so-called agrivoltaics, which mostly has involved growing crops or grazing sheep beneath the panels.

The solar company debuted the project this week and will spend the next year working to demonstrate to farmers that much larger cattle also can thrive at solar sites. If successful, advocates say, that could jump-start new projects to meet the soaring electricity demand driven by rapidly expanding data centers — without contributing climate-warming carbon emissions — and help cattle producers hold onto their land and livelihoods.

Structural issues forced Grant’s Old Mill, built in 1973, to shut down

Grant’s Old Mill, a longtime city landmark, is closed due to structural problems as the Manitoba Métis Federation looks to discuss its future with Winnipeg’s mayor.

MMF minister Will Gooden is a descendant of Métis leader Cuthbert Grant, the man commemorated by the replica mill along Sturgeon Creek. He said MMF president David Chartrand wants to set up a meeting with Mayor Scott Gillingham.

“It’s an opportunity now to see what we can make happen here,” Gooden said Monday. “It is a replica, but it is still very significant, not just for the Red River Métis, but also for that part of town.”

The water mill, located at 2777 Portage Ave., was constructed in 1973 as a City of Winnipeg centennial project and was officially opened by then-premier Ed Schreyer in 1975. It is a replica of the mill constructed by Grant in 1829.

Shortage of housing for Indigenous seniors in city raising concerns ahead of northern flood, fire evacuations

A small group of women elders is expressing concerns about a lack of urban housing for Indigenous seniors, warning the crisis will only worsen as flood and wildfire evacuations uproot more from their communities.

North End vocational school opens ‘cultural learning lab’ creative design studio

A North End warehouse has been converted into a multi-purpose design studio where students can sew ribbon skirts, print 3D models and launch businesses.

The Winnipeg School Division celebrated the grand opening of its Waabishkaa-Makwa Lab last week.

The first-of-its-kind “cultural learning lab” embeds Indigenous teachings into project-based learning activities.

For more than a decade, the 4,500-square-foot space inside R.B. Russell Vocational School had been collecting dust and housing broken equipment.

Feds, city, province join forces with First Nation to build 150 apartments in St. James

More than a century after its lake became the source of Winnipeg’s drinking water, Shoal Lake 40 First Nation is leading a major housing development in the city, backed by more than $51 million in government funding.

The federal government announced the combined funding Tuesday to build 150 apartment units at 2675 Portage Ave. in the city’s St. James neighbourhood. The development will include one-, two- and three-bedroom units.

Shoal Lake 40 Chief Herb Greene said the project carries historical significance.

“This development is about three things: history, teamwork, and the future,” Greene said during a sod-turning ceremony Tuesday. He noted for more than 100 years, Winnipeg was in dire need of a reliable source of clean drinking water.

Energy-hungry Nova Scotia companies nearly doubled their solar power capacity in 2025

HALIFAX - Energy-hungry companies in Nova Scotia are heading toward the light.

New statistics from the province's private power utility show that commercial-scale players — which includes municipalities and First Nations — grew their capacity to generate solar energy by 82 per cent last year.

Energy consultant David Brushett says that’s partly because legislative changes a few years ago have allowed companies to install solar systems 10 times larger than before. The “net-metering” system gives firms a credit on their power bills for the electricity they generate, offsetting their own usage. Even with the new rules, they are not allowed to generate more power than their operations consume.

The program allows solar projects of up to one megawatt for commercial customers. Brushett says that size makes more financial sense. “So that allowed much larger installations,” Brushett said in an interview.

‘Neighbours hating each other’: Proposed Saskatchewan wind farm divides community

Don Bourassa says a proposed wind farm near his home in southeast Saskatchewan has ruined relationships in his community — to the point where he feels he has been bullied.

A resident of the Rural Municipality of Weyburn, Bourassa said one of his neighbours approached him about buying his property to keep him quiet on Enbridge's Seven Stars Energy Project.

"He wants me out of there, to shut up," Bourassa said in an interview. "That's bullying and I'm not falling for that.

“It’s neighbours hating each other."

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.

Ottawa contributes $91M to 10-storey Naawi-Oodena apartment block

The federal government has announced $91 million to support the development of a 10-storey apartment building that’s under construction at the former Kapyong Barracks site.

“This is an exciting day, but it really marks the doors opening for future with a lot more affordable homes for people who need them the most,” said federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson.

The project — named Endayaan Omaa, meaning “home is here” in the Anishinaabemowin language — will create 260 housing units in southwest Winnipeg; 109 units will offer affordable rents below median market value.

It is part of the larger plan to transform the former military site into Canada’s largest urban reserve. The overall project, led by a consortium of seven Treaty One Nations and dubbed Naawi-Oodena, is expected to provide about 5,000 homes.

NDP bill aims to strengthen renters’ protection

The Manitoba government says it will carry out the largest expansion of rent control in decades.

Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu called the measure “historical action” that will affect thousands of units in the province.

Under the proposed legislation, which was introduced by the NDP Thursday, suites that rent for at least $2,000 a month won’t be subject to rent control. Currently the threshold is $1,670 a month.

The proposed law leaves intact the exemption for complexes that are less than 20 years old.

Some B.C. appraisers adding land-claims clause after Aboriginal title court case

VICTORIA - An organization representing about 1,200 appraisers in British Columbia says some of its members are adding clauses to their reports noting that current, past, and potential future land claims have not been considered in their valuations.

Allan Beatty, president of the B.C. branch of the Appraisal Institute of Canada, says in a statement that the recent Cowichan Aboriginal title court ruling in B.C. is contributing to speculation that private property rights could be affected.

Beatty says the organization is preparing advice for its members on the appropriate limitation clauses, but discourages the use of "unsubstantiated adjustments that do not reflect the most relevant market data."

In an August 2025 ruling, a B.C. Supreme Court judge confirmed the Cowichan Tribes hold Aboriginal title over about 300 hectares of land on the Fraser River in Richmond, B.C.

Chief says more funding needed to repair homes after power outage, flooding

A northern First Nation hit by a days-long power outage and subsequent water crisis is seeking additional government funds to cover the cost of mould and asbestos removal in homes.

Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief David Monias said Friday there is a shortage of funding to remediate the hazards and bring homes with damage up to code so they are habitable.

“We can’t have (residents) return to a situation where there might be some bacteria or moulding issues that will affect their safety, that affect their health, and possibly cause medical issues that will be made worse because they already have existing health issues,” he said during a virtual call.

Pimicikamak’s leaders said an estimated 1,300 homes were damaged after pipes froze and burst two months ago. Water leaked into basements and crawl spaces. The community’s water and sewage plants were also affected.

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.

Almost 12% of city parks, open spaces in poor condition: report

Nearly 12 per cent of the city’s parks and open-space assets are in poor or very poor condition and it would cost $108.5 million to replace them, a new city report says.

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.

Co-founder of Winnipeg's NIBI Enviro Tech says 'opportunities are endless' for recycling shipping containers into custom pods

When Robin Richards looks at a shipping container, he sees possibilities. It could be a freezer, backyard cabin or small storefront.

“The opportunities are endless,” Richards said.

The 40-year-old entrepreneur is the co-founder of NIBI Environmental Technologies Ltd., a Winnipeg business that recycles shipping containers and turns them into custom modular pods. The turnkey pods are designed to be mobile and durable.

Richards started the company in 2022 with business partner Kelsey Friesen. Last year, the company set up its headquarters in an industrial park in the Transcona neighbourhood of Winnipeg and began manufacturing pods.