News briefs for Thursday, August 3, 2023

Manitoba government pledging up to $1 million for 2025 CEBL Championship Weekend bid

10:24 AM

The Manitoba government announced Thursday morning they are investing up to $1 million to support the Winnipeg Sea Bears’ bid to host the 2025 Canadian Elite Basketball League’s Championship Weekend in the summer of 2025.

The $1-million commitment would go towards required upgrades and resources necessary to help increase Winnipeg’s bid. The upgrades would also help the team’s ability with its year-round community programming.

The championship weekend showcases the final four CEBL teams in a five-day festival. It’s anticipated the weekend would bring in more than 1,300 visitors and engage more than 10,000 spectators.

Lake St. Martin man killed after being struck by vehicle

11:03 AM

One man is dead after being struck by a vehicle on a Manitoba First Nation early Wednesday.

Mounties from Gypsumville RCMP responded to reports of a pedestrian who’d been struck by a vehicle near Memorial Crescent on Lake St. Martin First Nation, located roughly 270 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, at around 12:20 a.m.

Investigators learned a 43-year-old man was found dead on the scene, and a suspect vehicle was found in a nearby ditch, police said in a news release Thursday.

The driver of the vehicle, who was not injured in the collision, was identified as a 39-year-old woman from the community. She was located at a nearby home and transported to the hospital for an “unrelated medical matter.”

RCMP has not announced charges related to the incident. The investigation is ongoing, police said.

Pollster gives Tories four point lead over NDP

2:08 PM

A new poll by Mainstreet Research has found 36 per cent of Manitoba voters would cast a ballot for the Progressive Conserveratives if the general election was held last month.

The survey polled 597 adults living in Manitoba and was conducted by phone between July 26 and July 28. It was comissioned by iPolitics.ca and the margin of error was +/- 4 per cent with a confidence level of 95 per cent.

Respondents were asked “if a provincial election were held today, how would you vote?”

Thirty-two per cent of all respondents would cast their ballot for the Manitoba New Democrats and nine per cent would vote for the Manitoba Liberals. Another 18 per cent were undecided.

Among decided voters, the Tories had 42 per cent support and the NDP had 38 per cent support.

Thirty-seven per cent of respondents said they had a favourable view of Premier Heather Stefanson and 45 per cent said they had a favourable view of NDP leader Wab Kinew.

A recent Free Press-Probe Research Inc. poll conducted between May 31 and June 13 showed the governing Tories and official Opposition were tied at 41 per cent support.

Round dance calling for landfill search shuts down Portage and Main

2:20 PM

A round dance and march are underway at Portage Avenue and Main Street, meant to support calls for governments to fund a search of Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of at least two slaying victims.

The round-dance began at 2 p.m. Winnipeg police said in a social media post that the demonstration is expected to disrupt traffic in the downtown intersection from 2-to-4 p.m., with the intersection now closed to traffic.

The demonstration is the latest protest action meant to garner government support for the landfill search, where police believe the remains of Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, were deposited last spring. Jeremy Anthony Michael Skibicki has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in their deaths and those of two other Indigenous women.

The charges have not been heard in court.

Charges laid after man, 27, fatally shot

2:33 PM

RCMP have charged a 43-year-old man in a shooting death that happened in Blumenort on Tuesday night.

Police said a 27-year-old man was pronounced dead at a home in the community, located southeast of Winnipeg, after officers and paramedics arrived at about 7:45 p.m.

Cory Jay Davis, who is from Blumenort, was charged with criminal negligence causing death with a firearm and other gun-related offences.

Tories drop challenge of $19.4M award to profs

4:52 PM

The Tory government says it will stop fighting its legal battle with University of Manitoba faculty over $19.4 million in compensation — two months before voters head to the polls.

In a release, the government said it “fully respects the July 13 decision of the Manitoba Court of Appeal in the University of Manitoba Faculty Association remedy case.”

The government will not seek leave to appeal the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Last month, the Court of Appeal rejected the government’s appeal of the $19.4-million award to compensate professors for secretly interfering in contract talks, which led to a strike in 2016.

On Thursday, the Tories said it was time to turn the page on the dispute.