Debate and classroom discussion topics

Please review each article prior to use: grade-level applicability and curricular alignment might not be obvious from the headline alone.

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Finance Minister Adrien Sala says underspent budgets reflect changes in Manitoba’s legal liability and capital timelines.

Manitoba budget reveals province underspent on crucial departments related to justice, public safety

Carol Sanders 5 minute read Preview

Manitoba budget reveals province underspent on crucial departments related to justice, public safety

Carol Sanders 5 minute read Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2026

While concerns about homelessness and public safety continue to make headlines in Manitoba, the two government departments mainly responsible for addressing them came in under budget last year.

The 2025-26 public accounts, released Monday, show Housing, Addictions and Homelessness underspent its budget of $869 million by $18 million. Manitoba Justice underspent its budget of $994 million by $34 million.

The 247-page public accounts report attributes the underspending in justice mainly to “reduced impacts of contingency liabilities,” such as a court ruling or legal settlement.

The report did not explain how and why Housing, Addictions and Homelessness underspent its budget last year as the province addresses those critical issues.

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Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2026

Students and rising tuition

Jonathan Szo and Joy Chikezie 4 minute read Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2026

Students in Manitoba are facing additional costs at a time when many are already struggling with the rising cost of living, despite repeated promises from the provincial government to make life more affordable.

Far-right gaining foothold in Germany

Kyle Volpi Hiebert 5 minute read Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2026

By capturing 39 of 83 parliamentary seats in Saxony-Anhalt, a poorer area of east Germany with two million people, it’s closer to power than any German far-right party since the Nazi era.

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Premier Wab Kinew speaks at a Kelvin High School press conference, Tuesday.

Manitoba students able to opt out of classes with sensitive lessons on sex, drug use

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Preview

Manitoba students able to opt out of classes with sensitive lessons on sex, drug use

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026

Manitoba’s premier pledges to continue allowing parents to pull their kids from health class if content — be it related to human sexuality, substance use or otherwise — clashes with personal beliefs.

Wab Kinew said Tuesday the government’s overhaul of phys-ed and health curriculum in Manitoba schools won’t impact the ability for parents to opt-out of a lesson and deliver material as they see fit.

“As a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher and that will always be the case,” Kinew said, surrounded by hundreds of teenagers on the football field outside Kelvin High School during an announcement Tuesday.

More than 100 schools are taking part in a voluntary pilot project this fall. It’s the first systematic review of this curriculum in decades. The changes to kindergarten-to-Grade 12 courses will be mandated to all schools in September 2028.

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Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Clarence Woodhouse leaves court in 2024 with his family and lawyers after being acquitted and declared innocent of the 1973 killing of Winnipeg restaurant worker Ting Fong Chan.

Province paid three men wrongfully convicted in 1973 Winnipeg homicide $4 million apiece

Morgan Modjeski 3 minute read Preview

Province paid three men wrongfully convicted in 1973 Winnipeg homicide $4 million apiece

Morgan Modjeski 3 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026

More than five decades after their lives were derailed by a racist justice system, the provincial government has paid millions of dollars to three men who were wrongfully convicted in a 1973 Winnipeg homicide.

Clarence Woodhouse, Allan Woodhouse (no relation) and Brian Anderson were wrongfully convicted of murdering restaurant worker Ting Fong Chan in 1974.

The ruling was reversed in 2024 for Clarence Woodhouse, when he was acquitted by Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal, and in 2023 for both Allan Woodhouse and Anderson. Russell Woodhouse, Clarence’s brother, was also subjected to a miscarriage of justice — he was wrongfully convicted of manslaughter — but died in 2011.

Canada’s first post-mortem conviction review has since been called into his case.

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Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Incumbent mayor, Scott Gillingham, scrums with media Tuesday afternoon, outside 1510 Main Street, a brand new 72-unit residential building developed by Inuka. Inuka is a Black-led, community-rooted nonprofit creating sustainable, affordable housing for low- to moderate-income households in Winnipeg.

Gillingham promises to make north Main revitalization a second-term priority

Joyanne Pursaga 3 minute read Preview

Gillingham promises to make north Main revitalization a second-term priority

Joyanne Pursaga 3 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026

Scott Gillingham says he will work to “reset and renew” north Main Street, if he wins a second term as mayor.

The incumbent candidate promised Tuesday to devise a long-term plan to rejuvenate that section of the thoroughfare, noting it has recently suffered from decay.

“It has a rich history, a deep and proud history. But the last couple of years, to say it’s been underperforming would be an understatement…. So many stretches of Main Street here, I see derelict buildings, boarded-up businesses, piles of rubble after fires that sit waiting to be cleaned up,” Gillingham said.

“We can disrupt what is going on and turn the tide on north Main Street.”

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Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Coun. Brian Mayes called a motion to change the employee status for Winnipeg Transit Plus drivers a “ridiculous anti-worker provision.”

Changing Transit Plus drivers’ status a ‘ridiculous anti-worker provision,’ councillor says

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Preview

Changing Transit Plus drivers’ status a ‘ridiculous anti-worker provision,’ councillor says

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026

Some fear a change of status for Winnipeg Transit Plus drivers could allow them to be paid less and receive fewer benefits.

However, council’s public works chairwoman said pay protections are now embedded in contracts and the change is needed to attract enough workers.

Three years ago, city council passed a motion that required Winnipeg Transit Plus drivers to be employees of companies the city hires to provide accessible transit service.

Coun. Brian Mayes said that clause prevents “sub-minimum wages” from being permitted for subcontracted drivers and ensures drivers can access multiple benefits.

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Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026
Prime Minister Mark Carney rises during question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Carney says he won’t backtrack on digital services tax, streamers’ CanCon payments

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Carney says he won’t backtrack on digital services tax, streamers’ CanCon payments

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney says he won’t change his mind about his decision to eliminate the digital services tax and Canadian content contributions for streamers.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet asked Carney in the House of Commons on Monday whether he would reconsider those decisions, since they failed to secure progress in trade talks with the United States.

"No," Carney replied.

Blanchet said in French that Carney's strategy failed and that big tech companies, whose revenue streams are larger than those of some countries, should have to contribute to arts and culture.

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Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026
Deputy premier of British Columbia Niki Sharma speaks to media before the First Minister’s Meeting in Saskatoon on Monday, June 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards

B.C. sues OpenAI, says one call could have prevented Tumbler Ridge mass shooting

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Preview

B.C. sues OpenAI, says one call could have prevented Tumbler Ridge mass shooting

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026

VANCOUVER - The B.C. government has filed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence company OpenAI in California over the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., asserting "one telephone call to the RCMP could have prevented the tragedy."

Attorney General Niki Sharma announced the filing on Monday, saying the province is seeking accountability from OpenAI and its decision-makers.

British Columbia is also aiming to recover costs associated with the shootings in February that left eight victims dead, including five students at the local secondary school.

Sharma said OpenAI failed to warn police of concerning interactions between the shooter, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, and the company's chatbot ChatGPT.

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Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026
FILE - Solar panels operate April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)

Climate Week talks balance hope for clean energy against uncertainty over artificial intelligence

By Seth Borenstein And Jennifer Mcdermott, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Climate Week talks balance hope for clean energy against uncertainty over artificial intelligence

By Seth Borenstein And Jennifer Mcdermott, The Associated Press 6 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — As scientists calculated that Earth is getting sicker, global leaders on Monday kicked off a week of talks about how to fix it and fast, pointing to hope from a renewable energy boom.

A different boom, in artificial intelligence and the power-and-water-hungry data centers behind it, could both worsen and solve some of these issues, a paradox world and business leaders will struggle with this week.

Every year as top government officials attend the United Nations General Assembly and business executives flock to New York Climate Week sessions, global warming generates lots of talk but little action.

This time two new forces — the rise of AI and data centers, as well as higher fossil fuel prices from wars in Iran and Ukraine — should change the discussion, experts and activists said. That's on top of climate-driven disasters recently reaching new levels of destruction in Asia.

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Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2026