Gillingham outlines big plan for Seine River in a second term as mayor

Scott Gillingham promises to turn the Seine River into a permanent recreation and nature attraction, if re-elected as mayor.

At a riverside campaign announcement Friday, Gillingham said a long-term plan would be to create Rivière-Seine Historic Municipal Riverway encompassing the entire Winnipeg section of the Seine, building on past volunteer efforts to clean up the river and make it a paddle-friendly attraction.

The Seine, which winds through St. Boniface and St. Vital, originates in the Sandilands Provincial Forest, passes through southeastern Manitoba, crosses the Red River Floodway and joins the Red River in St. Boniface just north of The Forks.

“What we want to do, really, is to establish the permanence of this river and allow its beauty and the opportunity to enjoy it, to be something that we don’t just leave to volunteers alone, but come together and focus on establishing it as, really, a place that gets focused attention and investment,” said Gillingham.

Restaurants ‘under pressure’

Happy hour outings are on Jackie Piggott’s calendar — but even those are fewer.

She and her husband might visit a restaurant once a month. It’s a change over the past year: earlier, they might go twice, thrice or weekly.

“It’s something that we’ve talked about, my husband and myself, just because the pricing is so expensive,” Piggott said, stopping during a grocery run in St. Vital. “It’s also better for our health.”

She’s in the majority: a new Restaurants Canada report found 80 per cent of Canadians are eating out less frequently because of higher living costs, up from 75 per cent in 2025.

Is a better Winnipeg on the horizon?

Four Free Press columnists weigh in on the challenges ahead and how the city can become better.

Kinew urges Bloodvein First Nation to reconsider turning moose hunters away

SELKIRK - Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is urging a First Nation to reconsider turning away licensed hunters this season, saying the move could incite "backlash" and lead to hatred toward Indigenous people.

Bloodvein River First Nation, north of Winnipeg, set up a check stop near the community last year to prevent drugs and alcohol from being brought in. The community also erected signs that prohibited non-members from hunting in their territory and deterred hunters from accessing public land in the area, citing a dwindling moose population.

The Manitoba Wildlife Federation said this week it has received five reports that the community was turning hunters away again after the moose hunting season began on Monday.

Kinew told reporters on Friday that he understands people in Bloodvein are passionate about the moose population, but that treaties are about sharing the land.

MPs split on whether AI should be used in House of Commons

OTTAWA - Members of Parliament are split on whether — and how — artificial intelligence should be used by lawmakers following a report that said the technology is being used to write a significant amount of what MPs say in the House of Commons.

The Economist reported this week that as much as 20 per cent of what was said on the floor of the House of Commons in late 2025 was flagged as AI-generated.

The publication studied comments, speeches and questions from MPs of more than 100 words, as recorded in Hansard, and ran them through the AI detector tool Pangram.

It compared the results from different countries, including legislatures in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and found Canada had the second-highest rate of AI use.

‘Zero chance’ U.S. attacks Canada, Alaska governor tells conference

BANFF - The governor of the U.S. state that shares the longest border with Canada expressed dismay at the notion that his country would ever invade its southern neighbour.

"I'd have a better chance of sprouting wings and flying around the audience here," Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said during an onstage discussion Friday at the Global Business Forum in Banff, Alta.

Dunleavy's remarks come days after the New York Times quoted Prime Minister Mark Carney as saying his government has studied such a possibility as an "extreme tail risk." Federal Defence Minister David McGuinty later told reporters in Ottawa that it's "normal" for all militaries around the world to analyze risk scenarios.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted he wants to make Canada the 51st state, but has said he would do so through economic, and not military, means.

EU vows to defend its stand against X after the US backs a court challenge from Elon Musk

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive arm said Friday it's prepared to defend a 120 million euro ($137 million) fine against the social media platform X after the U.S. government threw its support behind a legal effort by Elon Musk this week to have the case dismissed.

The European Commission fined X late last year for breaches of the bloc’s landmark digital regulations, stoking tensions with Washington.

The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that it had filed an application to support X's bid to have the case annulled at the European Union's General Court. It was the second time in three months that the Justice Department has intervened to defend a company owned by Musk.

In July, the Justice Department filed a motion to intervene in a civil rights lawsuit that alleges Musk’s xAI is illegally running dozens of natural gas turbines to power a $20 billion AI data center in Mississippi.

Global prediction markets, local presence

Winnipeg’s mayoral race has reached a new platform: illegal online betting.

Incumbent Scott Gillingham took the lead on U.S.-based Polymarket on Thursday afternoon. Some $15,335 had been invested in his win (from 54 per cent of bettors).

Gillingham also led on Kalshi, another U.S. prediction market. Half of bettors were banking on his victory (a ‘yes’ share was 60 cents at the time).

Kevin Klein trailed in second place in both Polymarket and Kalshi contracts; Mazher Alam had garnered $2,256 and third place on Polymarket; Don Woodstock claimed third place on Kalshi by 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Concrete doc befits brutalist Winnipeg

Moviegoers across North America are pounding the pavement and lining up around the block to see The History of Concrete, small-screen documentarian John Wilson’s feature-length debut.