Missed payments by Manitoba small businesses rose nearly 13 per cent earlier this year, new Equifax Canada data show.

The credit bureau counted 2,005 Manitoba businesses that didn’t meet at least one payment deadline between April and June, when looking at financial trade delinquencies. Construction, mining, transportation and wholesale trades were among the categories to see increased delinquency rates.

“Provinces that have been stable in the past are really showing areas where they’re starting to pull apart,” said Jeff Brown, Equifax Canada’s head of commercial solutions.

Manitoba’s financial trades delinquency rate year-over-year change outpaced the national average of 8.67 per cent.

GLAZED windows and limits on lighting are options the City of Winnipeg is considering to save birds from flying into buildings.

Approximately 25 million birds die in Canada annually by colliding with windows, according to a study used as part of the city’s research into the problem.

“We’re losing our birds, especially our migratory birds, at a really fast rate,” said Kevin Fraser, a University of Manitoba associate professor who studies the species. “Light and windows are huge threats.”

Winnipeg is part of the Mississippi flyway, a major migration route for birds.

Bell MTS is launching its Wireless Home Internet service for 12 communities across Manitoba, with enhanced broadband access for nearly 40,000 rural and remote locations to come by the end of 2021.

“It’s an exciting chapter for us and for all of Manitoba,” said Ryan Klassen, vice-chair of Bell MTS and Western Canada, in an interview Tuesday.

The new 5G-capable network will offer download speeds of up to 50 megabits per second and upload speeds of 10 Mbps, with no data overage fees on the 3500 MHz spectrum. It’s part of a recent $1.7-billion investment from telecommunications giant Bell Canada, as it expands across the country from province to province over the next two years.

“COVID-19 certainly accelerated the need for something like this, because we’ve all been relying more than we ever have on strong and trustworthy internet service,” Klassen told the Free Press. “But in many ways, it also predates that, because these are communities that haven’t had this kind of access before.”