News briefs for January 21, 2021

The Winnipeg Jets have strung consecutive victories together at the expense of the Ottawa Senators.

Winnipeg (3-1-0) got goals from four different forwards in a 4-1 triumph over the Senators tonight in Ottawa. Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele, Adam Lowry and Blake Wheeler all scored their second goals of the season. 

Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped 27 shots. His shutout bid was ruined with just 2:57 left in the game by Chris Tierney.

Despite the impressive effort, the Jets were 0-for-7 on the power play. 

The squads collide in Winnipeg on Saturday night, their third meeting in a row. The Jets posted a 4-3 overtime win on Tuesday.

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Mark Scheifele, Adam Lowry and Blake Wheeler scored second-period goals to inflate the Winnipeg Jets’ lead to 4-0 over the Senators in Ottawa tonight.

They were the second tallies of the abbreviated season for each of the Jets veteran forwards.

Despite a dominating performance so far, the Jets’ power-play unit has failed on all five of its chances.

Nikolaj Ehlers opened the scoring midway through the first period, his second goal of the year.

Kyle Connor has two assists.

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck has stopped all 19 shots he’s faced.

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The Winnipeg Jets are finally leading a hockey game. Nikolaj Ehlers scored his second goal of the young NHL season past Ottawa goalie Matt Murray at 11:50 of the opening period to give the Jets a 1-0 lead over the host Senators tonight.

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped all 11 shots he faced, including a great save off Evgenii Dadonov with time winding down in the period.

Winnipeg plays a third straight game against Ottawa (1-1-1) Saturday night at Bell MTS Place.

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OTTAWA — The Liberal Party has appointed Winnipeg South Member of Parliament Terry Duguid as its platform co-chair, the Free Press has learned.

The Liberals are hoping to lean on Duguid’s roots in the Prairies and environmental issues to land a majority government, amid speculation of a federal vote this year.

Duguid replaces former Saskatchewan MP Ralph Goodale, and will work alongside Ottawa MP Mona Fortier. The pair will craft policies to present to the party’s convention in early April, after hearing from numerous groups and grassroots Liberal voters.

Duguid’s appointment signals the party still aims to win seats outside of its base in the country’s three largest cities. It also suggests Duguid is part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s orbit, despite being passed over for cabinet positions since he was elected in 2015.

The Manitoba government has promised to spend an extra $50 million above the 2020 budget commitment of $160 million on school infrastructure projects. 

From that pot of money, $24 million will be set aside for seven land-acquisition projects for future school sites, including two in Brandon, one in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood, and another one in Waverley West.

The funding will also cover access projects such as elevators and wheelchair lifts.

A pickup truck spotted with expired licence plates led to the seizure of a sawed off semi-automatic shotgun.

Portage RCMP said on Thursday its officers were on patrol in Portage la Prairie on Tuesday when they saw a pickup truck which had been reported with expired plates on Dec. 18.

The officers pulled the pickup over and saw two firearms inside it, one the sawed off weapon.

The pickup driver, 30-year-old Winnipeg man Stewart Young, has been charged with possession of a prohibited weapon and two counts of unsafe firearm storage.

Young has been detained in custody.

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Provincial health officials announced 198 new cases of COVID-19 and 5 more deaths in Manitoba Thursday.

There are 3,205 active cases in Manitoba, with 125 people in hospital, 23 of them in intensive care.
The five-day test positivity rate is 9.2 in Manitoba, and 6.6 in Winnipeg.

The new deaths include:
• a woman in her 60s from the Northern health region
• a man in his 80s from the Winnipeg health region, linked to the outbreak at Poseidon Care Centre.
• a man in his 80s from the Prairie Mountain Health region, linked to the outbreak at the McCreary/Alonsa Health Centre
• a man in his 60s from the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region
• a woman in her 90s from the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region, linked to the outbreak at Salem Home

Of the new cases announced Thursday, 54 are in the Winnipeg health region, 13 in Southern Health; 9 in Interlake–Eastern; 17 in Prairie Mountain; and 105 in Northern Health.

The Winnipeg Jets will once again be without Patrik Laine tonight in Ottawa.

The 22-year-old will miss a third straight game with an upper-body injury, coach Paul Maurice confirmed following the morning skate.

Laine had two goals, including the overtime winner, and an assist in Winnipeg’s 4-3 overtime victory last Thursday to begin the 2021 season.

But he’s been unable to play on this three game road trip, which began with a 3-1 loss Monday in Toronto followed by a 4-3 overtime win over Ottawa on Tuesday.

Ville Heinola will make his season debut for the Winnipeg Jets tonight in Ottawa.

The 19-year-old defenceman is fresh off winning a bronze medal with Finland at the World Juniors in Edmonton, which caused him to miss all of training camp.

Heinola, taken 20th overall in the 2019 draft, played eight games with Winnipeg last season, recording a goal and four assists.

He was eventually sent down to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL before returning to Finland for the remainder of the season.

It’s not yet clear who Heinola is replacing in the lineup.

Winnipeg is 2-1-0 to start the NHL season.

RCMP have arrested a man, who was on a bus to Thompson, as part of an ongoing drug investigation. 

Around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, Thompson RCMP intercepted a bus travelling from Winnipeg to Thompson while it was stopped at a gas station in Grand Rapids, RCMP said.

Mohamud Ahmed Abdi, 29, from Toronto, was found in possession of over 200 oxycodone pills, 142 grams of cocaine and a cutting agent, RCMP said.

Abdi was arrested and faces several charges for possession, trafficking and obstruction and failure to comply, RCMP said. 

Abdi is in custody and RCMP continue to investigate.

Manitoba Education has called off provincial tests that were scheduled for Grade 12 students this spring, owing to COVID-19 learning disruptions.

"Provincial tests for Grade 12 have been canceled. However teachers will continue to assess their students at the end of the year," a provincial spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.

Winter provincial exams were cancelled earlier in the 2020-21 school year. 

A report from Manitoba’s auditor general has found the province is not doing enough to identify and recover overpayments made to physicians. 

Manitoba physicians, who bill the province on a fee-for-service model, were paid a total $930 million in 2020, the report found. The audit found the province has processes to collect overpayments, but those processes are seldom used.

In a five-year period the audit identified $1 million in overbillings, but found only around one per cent of those overpayments were collected by the province, the report said. 

The auditor general’s report, released Thursday, offers six recommendations to address the issue of overpayments made to Manitoba physicians.

One man has died after a collision with a semi-truck in the RM of Rosser, RCMP said Thursday.

Stonewall RCMP received report of the collision, on CentrePort Canada Way near Bergen Cutoff Road, around 4 p.m. Wednesday. Initial investigation showed the semi-truck had been travelling east when it took a curve, drove through the median and collided with a minivan in the westbound lane.

The 33-year-old minivan driver was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and was later pronounced deceased. The 37-year-old driver of the semi-truck was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, though he remains in hospital, RCMP said. Both men were from Winnipeg.

RCMP have indicated alcohol is not thought to be a factor in the collision, though investigations into speed and road conditions are ongoing.

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin and Premier Brian Pallister will speak to Manitobans Thursday at 12:30 p.m. with a COVID-19 update.

Roussin previously said the province would "signal" its decision on loosening pandemic restrictions Thursday. Relaxed restrictions would take effect Saturday.

The event will be livestreamed on the Manitoba Government website and YouTube channel. 

Manitoba’s education minister is scheduled to make an announcement about an investment into education infrastructure this afternoon. 

Education Minister Cliff Cullen is holding a press conference at 2 p.m. in the Manitoba legislature. 

The event will also be streamed live at youtube.com/ManitobaGovernment.

The provincial government has added nearly 90 medications — mostly generics — to the pharmacare program, Health Minister Heather Stefanson announced this morning. 

The formulary will now include: 

• Emerade – for the emergency treatment of anaphylactic reactions;
• Ozempic – for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes mellitus;
• Tegsedi – for the treatment of polyneuropathy in patients with hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis;
• Triamcinolone Hexacetonide – for the treatment of pediatric chronic inflammatory arthropathies;
• Humira – for the treatment of polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis and pediatric Crohn’s disease;
• Inlyta – for the treatment of kidney cancer;
• Lynparza – for the treatment of ovarian cancer;
• Xalkori – for the treatment of ROS-1 rearranged non-small cell lung cancer; and
• Try-Jordyna-21 – a generic form of a name-brand birth control pill.

The medication will be added to the provincial formulary as of today. 

“Manitobans dealing with a number of conditions and disorders will now have help in paying for their prescription medications,” said Stefanson. 

To be eligible for coverage, patients are required to meet provincial pharmacare criteria.