Opaskwayak Cree Nation tabs up to $20 million to get into aerospace, defence manufacturing

Darryl Bauer arrived with open ears and a business plan: aims for Opaskwayak Cree Nation to enter aerospace and defence manufacturing, either through acquisition or partnership.

Paskwayak Business Development Corp.’s economic development director carried the physical plan through an aerospace procurement event Wednesday in Winnipeg. The day-long conference drew all levels of government and industry executives.

“There could be significant long-term benefits,” Bauer said of breaking into the sector. “The government’s committing a lot of financial resources.”

Ottawa released a $6.6-billion defence industrial strategy in February.

Gillingham pledges police, firefighter staffing increases to serve growing population

Scott Gillingham is promising to set long-term staffing targets to raise the ratio of firefighters and police officers to Winnipeg’s population, if re-elected as mayor next month.

Online fundraiser for ‘polite, modest farmer’ facing firearms charges sending message, neighbour says

Thousands of dollars have been raised to help cover the legal fees of a Manitoba man charged after he allegedly fired a gun at thieves during a theft on his farm in August.

The T. rex had a body temperature similar to our own, study finds

NEW YORK (AP) — Using fossilized teeth, scientists have finally taken the T. rex's temperature — and it wasn't too different from our own.

Researchers once thought that dinosaurs were sluggish, cold-blooded creatures. Later findings challenged that, suggesting that older dinosaurs were warm-blooded and could control their body temperature.

Most scientists agree that Tyrannosaurus rex was warm-blooded, but pinning down the exact core temperature of an extinct creature is difficult.

“We can't just use a thermometer to do that,” said Jasmina Wiemann, a paleobiologist at Johns Hopkins University who had no role in the latest work.

Canada seeks full membership in U.K.-led military coalition

LIVERPOOL - Prime Minister Mark Carney met for the first time face-to-face with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Wednesday, bonding over common values, a love of sports and a shared loss of their fathers to Alzheimer's disease.

The two leaders watched the Wolverhampton Wanderers play the Everton Football Club — Burnham's favourite team — in a League Cup game in Liverpool, England.

When they had their first call in July, a readout from 10 Downing said Burnham told Carney he "hoped to be able to roll out the blue carpet" for him in the future — a reference to Everton's colours and the invitation to the game.

The two men sported the blue and yellow brooch of the Alzheimer Society on Wednesday, in recognition of Burham’s father who just recently died of the disease. In his own remarks, Carney noted that he too had lost his father to Alzheimer’s.

Diverting intoxicated people from ER to recovery program ‘transformative’: study

TORONTO - A new study suggests diverting intoxicated people from emergency rooms to a safe recovery space can help free up valuable health care resources and offer more suitable care.

The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health this week, evaluated the first two years of a non-medical Stabilization and Connection Centre in Toronto launched in 2022.

The centre was created to redirect people who are intoxicated by alcohol or opioids and don't require medical attention from the ER to a 10-bed facility with support workers.

The University Health Network program partners with The Neighbourhood Group Community Services and Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre, who staff the site.

If Alberta leaves Canada, it will need up to $170B and 70,000 civil servants: report

EDMONTON - A report released Wednesday by the Alberta government says if the province wants to separate from Canada, it would need to shell out up to $170 billion and hire at least 70,000 civil servants to do it.

The report, which the province commissioned from the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy, says the minimum cost over the first five years would be $50 billion and could top out at $170 billion.

The figure covers money to acquire infrastructure, supplies and property currently paid for by the federal government. It also covers the staff needed for the transition and debt payments made higher by Alberta taking on a portion of the federal debt.

There are other costs. About $69 billion would be needed to replicate programs currently run by Ottawa. The annual expenses to run an independent Alberta government would cost up to $67 billion. New tax revenue could cover the increases, but there’s also a risk of staggering annual deficits of at least $25 billion.

Anglophones hail Quebec ruling ordering elections agency to send bilingual documents

MONTREAL - Members of Quebec's anglophone community are hailing a Quebec Superior Court ruling that ordered Élections Québec to mail voting reminder cards in both French and English.

The ruling provides a temporary resolution to a controversy triggered by the adoption of legislation in 2022 that required public institutions to communicate with citizens in French, with few exceptions.

The ruling suspends provisions of Quebec's Charter of the French language for 10 days so that the provincial agency overseeing the elections can send out the reminder cards for voters in both languages.

"This is an important victory for English-speaking Quebecers and for democratic participation in Quebec," said Eva Ludvig, president of anglophone advocacy group TALQ.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen says she wants Canada to become the bloc’s 1st associate member

STRASBOURG, France (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed Wednesday making Canada the European Union’s first associate member, a striking overture as U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats drive Ottawa closer to Europe.

Speaking in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump suggested that allowing Canada to become an associate EU member could be a “hostile act” and threatened to respond to the proposed move by imposing more tariffs on the bloc.

Trump conditioned his threat on the “intention” of European leaders, saying that, “If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe.” He also suggested the U.S. could cut off trade with Europe in certain areas.

Trump called the prospect of Canada joining the EU “laughable” and called America’s neighbor a “terrible trade partner.” He also on Wednesday ratcheted up his trade war by signing an order restricting the U.S. government's purchases of Canadian goods.

From investment buzz to building: Canada’s major projects face hurdles, experts say

OTTAWA - Canada’s inaugural investment summit created a buzz that the country is open for business, but experts say the real test will be whether that momentum can translate into major projects that overcome labour shortages, community concerns, environmental hurdles and lengthy approvals.

The two-day summit in Toronto hosted by Prime Minister Mark Carney and two of Canada’s largest pension investors aims to create a sustained pipeline of private investment for major Canadian projects.

It included a flurry of multi-billion dollar funding announcements that Ottawa says are part of its broader goal of attracting $1 trillion in total investment to Canada over five years.

At the summit, Carney said the world’s largest investors, who manage more than $120 trillion in assets, would come to "peer into our shop window" as global interest in Canada grows.

Winnipeg, police and downtown crime

A safer downtown is not much use if people are still afraid to walk there.

That is the uncomfortable message from Winnipeg’s latest police citizen survey, and one city council should take seriously.

Downtown crime has fallen this year, according to the most recent police statistics. Violent crime is down even more. But for most Winnipeggers, the downtown still feels like a place to avoid, particularly after dark.

Only 44 per cent of survey respondents said they feel very or reasonably safe walking alone downtown during the day. At night, that number plunges to just eight per cent. Among women, it is an appalling three per cent, compared with 14 per cent of men.

Food literacy curriculum on the menu

Manitoba has a new recipe for health class and “food literacy” is a key ingredient.

The in-class portion of phys-ed has historically involved lessons about puberty, the risks of consuming drugs and dissecting Canada’s food guide.

A new pilot program asks teachers to expand their nutrition units and include in-depth discussions about how everything from diet culture to food insecurity affects eating habits.

“This is really moving beyond a conception of food as only fuel, where you just boil down food to its calories, its vitamins,” said Sarah Elvins, a food historian at the University of Manitoba who researches popular culture and marketing.

Putting together annual fashion show takes many hard-working hands

A frenzy of activity is taking place behind the closed doors of WAG-Qaumajuq on Monday. It’s the day before Crafted on the Catwalk, the gallery’s annual fashion and design show, and the clock is ticking.

There’s less than 30 hours before the big event and it’s all hands on deck.

A steady stream of people walk in and out of the Memorial Boulevard entrance towards the main hall, which glows in soft hues as technicians test out lighting equipment.

The ground floor is teeming with people lugging chairs and pushing trolleys. A stream of white material unravelling from its roll prompts a shouted “OK to step on this?” and receives an equally loud ‘No!” in reply, voices raised above the metallic buzz of a drill as staff from a local production company put together seats.

EU head tells Carney she wants Canada as bloc’s first ‘associate member’

STRASBOURG, FRANCE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday she wants Canada to become the first "associate member" of the European Union, though Canadian officials downplayed the significance of that term.

Prime Minister Mark Carney listened in the front row as von der Leyen laid out key pillars for stronger co-operation between Europe and Canada in her state of the union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

She said the two sides must "urgently reimagine" their partnership and move beyond a free-trade agreement to bring the relationship to the "highest level possible."

"I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU," von der Leyen said, drawing a standing ovation from most members in the chamber.

AI rivals found rare agreement on safety. Putting it into practice is harder

The leading AI industry voices rarely agree — so when they do, it’s no wonder it captures attention.

Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, SpaceXAI's Elon Musk and other prominent industry leaders have said in recent days that AI’s development needs to slow down. The consensus came after an Anthropic researcher resigned with a dire warning about the threats the technology poses to humanity.

But obstacles including domestic and global competition, profit motivations and pushback from President Donald Trump all stand in the way of a coordinated effort to pace AI’s development.

Still, this moment could force the industry to wrestle with a “reframing of what we consider successful," said Nick Reese, former director of emerging technology policy at the Department of Homeland Security and an adjunct professor at New York University.

MPI looks into motorcycle safety

Manitoba Public Insurance is probing how to make regional roads safer for motorcyclists.

The public insurer is seeking feedback about restrictions on powerful bikes for new riders, mandatory training for older motorcyclists and limiting registrations to drivers who have a motorcycle licence (Class 6).

The Coalition of Manitoba Motorcycle Groups, which is set to gather at its regular meeting in Winnipeg Wednesday, will weigh in.

President Mary Johnson said some of the questions — such as those that relate to restricting new riders to bikes with engines under 500 cubic centimetres — are non-starters.

Federal Court awards OCN $27M, 62 years after construction of hydro dam

The Federal Court has ordered Ottawa pay Opaskwayak Cree Nation $27 million over damages suffered due to the construction of the Grand Rapids hydro dam in the 1960s.

In a decision dated Sept. 3, Federal Court Justice Sébastien Grammond says the federal government had a fiduciary duty to protect the community from the impacts of the dam.

“When the Crown exercises a discretionary power over an Indigenous interest, it has a fiduciary duty and it must exercise the discretion in the best interests of the Indigenous group,” the ruling said. “Canada breached its fiduciary duty to OCN because it approved the (project) without ensuring that the impacts of the Grand Rapids dam on OCN’s traditional way of life were mitigated or compensated.”

The First Nation took the federal government to court in February over impacts on the community after the dam, located about 145 kilometres southeast of Opaskwayak Cree Nation, was installed on the Saskatchewan River in 1964. The case was heard over 14 days in a judge-alone trial in Winnipeg.