Storm left $840M of insured losses across Manitoba, Saskatchewan

Severe weather spanning two days in June — hitting both Manitoba and Saskatchewan — has led to at least $840 million in insured losses.

The June 9 and 10 weather is the latest in an increasing number of “catastrophic” events with major insurance payouts, said Rob de Pruis, the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s national director of consumer and industry relations.

The Insurance Bureau didn’t share a breakdown of insured losses by province. Most of the claims cover hail and flood damage, including sewer backups, de Pruis said.

At the time of the storm, Manitoba saw grapefruit-sized hail, torrential downpours and at least one tornado.

Water-bus service relaunches with bigger boat

After staying docked last summer, the water-bus service stationed at The Forks is once again ferrying people up and down the Red and Assiniboine rivers.

Winnipeg Waterways launched the service for the season on Saturday, introducing commuters to the largest water bus the company has ever operated — a 10-metre-long, custom-made vessel designed specifically for scheduled passenger service.

Named after co-owners Will Belford’s and Griffin Hewitt’s fathers, the GTS (Gas Turbine Ship) Dave was built by a company in Quebec for $200,000.

“We see the rivers as being underutilized,” Belford said on Wednesday. “So we felt strongly about investing in the water bus.”

Advocates say rehab benefits animals with behavioural issues, but more resources are needed

After two years at the Winnipeg Humane Society’s shelter, it seemed iffy that Benny would ever find a forever home.

The German shepherd had behavioural issues and was not great at socializing with other dogs, but after one month of rehabilitation with Back to Pack Rescue Shelter, he was able to be adopted.

Benny was fortunate enough to be given another chance, but the lack of resources for rehabilitating dogs means some aren’t as lucky, said Andrew Din, co-founder of Back to Pack.

Din and other animal advocates say more resources and education are needed to retrain dogs and give them a fair shot before they are euthanized or designated as dangerous.

Woodstock pledges radical change at city hall

A mayoral candidate has vowed to abolish several city committees, eliminate pay bumps for executive policy committee members, and keep monthly office hours to meet Winnipeggers, if elected.

Don Woodstock said city council holds too many private meetings before public sessions of EPC, whose members are appointed by the mayor. He also alleged members of EPC, also known as the “mayor’s inner circle” get more information and special treatment for their wards.

“If the mayor cannot govern and treat every single councillor and every single ward with absolute equality, they are not a leader,” said Woodstock, who is seeking the job for the third consecutive time. Four years ago, he placed ninth out of 11 candidates. In 2018, he was fourth in a slate of eight contenders.

Provincial legislation requires the city to have an executive policy committee. When asked about that law, Woodstock said he’s confident he could successfully lobby the province to change it.

Selkirk Avenue resident misses sound of silence

Selkirk Avenue resident Gail Allard sits on her front steps, looking at a row of tree stumps.

Until last fall, Allard would have opened her front door to a lush canopy of mature trees. Now, she has an unobstructed view of a freight terminal — the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. intermodal yard.

Although the residential street is quiet on this August afternoon, the steady beeping of machinery moving shipping containers carries throughout the neighbourhood.

It’s the first summer since Manitoba Hydro cut down 262 mature trees — most of them Siberian elms — along Selkirk Avenue between Keewatin and Railway streets.

Transit driver stabbed with syringe by passenger

A Winnipeg Transit driver is recovering in hospital after a passenger stabbed him in the leg with a syringe while riding the bus early Wednesday, the Amalgamated Transit Union says.

The union said the incident occurred shortly before 1 a.m. while the operator was stopped in the northbound lanes of Isabel Street, near William Avenue. A female passenger reached around the driver’s safety shield and stabbed the driver twice before getting off the bus.

The driver was taken to the Seven Oaks Hospital in stable condition, where he is undergoing treatment and further testing, union president James Van Gerwin said in an interview.

“We spoke to the member. He is doing OK, but he is still in the hospital and he is scared — as anybody would be,” Van Gerwin said.

Federal government to build $267-M emergency research lab in Winnipeg

The federal government says it will build a $267-million medical countermeasures laboratory in Winnipeg with the goal of preparing Canada for future pandemics or outbreaks.

Expected to open in 2033, the national site will help the country develop vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostic tools, Winnipeg Liberal MP Terry Duguid said.

“This is a big deal for our city and for our province, a big deal for life sciences in Canada,” he told reporters Wednesday. “This facility is going to help protect the nation and help protect the world.”

Ottawa said the site — to be located next to the National Microbiology Laboratory’s Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health on Arlington Street, just north of William Avenue — draws on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canadian centre adds size to Sea Bears playoff push

The Winnipeg Sea Bears have added some size ahead of the playoffs.

The club announced the signing of 6-10 Canadian centre Ben Stevens on Tuesday. Stevens was released by the Montreal Alliance on July 30 and scooped up by the Sea Bears ahead of the Aug. 3 transaction deadline.

The 27-year-old from Halifax appeared in 10 games for the Alliance this summer, where he played a limited role off the bench, averaging 1.9 points and two rebounds per game in 7.5 minutes per game. Stevens had a more elevated role with Montreal in 2025, where he appeared in 20 contests, started five, and averaged 5.4 points and 3.8 rebounds in 13.2 minutes of action per game.

Stevens, at worst, adds some height and physicality off the bench that has been lacking for the Sea Bears this season. The club has struggled with rebounds for many stretches and appeared outmatched by teams with larger personnel.

Word test

TESTING

Premier Wab Kinew is an imported Manitoban, born in Kenora and raised on Onigaming First Nation in Treaty Three (in northwestern Ontario) before his family moved to Winnipeg. He’s the son of well-known Anishinaabe leader and traditional knowledge keeper Tobasonakwut Kinew and Kathi Kinew.

These are the words we provided feedback on: Boniface, Cockburn, Dauphin, Dene, Hellebuyck, Iafallo, Íslendingadagurinn, Kinew, Kildonan, Malak Abas, Métis, Newfoundland, Orlikow, Pembina, Portage la Prairie, Premier, Regina, St. Vital, Samyn, Schiefele, vínarterta, Wiebe, Generation Z.

Steinbach ER nurses ask for triage help as wait-averse Winnipeg patients strain hospital capacity

Nurses at Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach have called on the regional health authority and provincial government to hire an extra triage nurse for the emergency department as increased visits from Winnipeggers stress the rural hospital.

Forty nurses from the hospital’s emergency department signed an open letter stating because of the current staffing ratio, nurses are witnessing “excessive and unacceptable safety risks on a daily basis.”

“(Nurses) constantly fear for the safety of our patients and community,” said the July 28 letter, addressed to Premier Wab Kinew, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, Southern Health-Sante Sud interim CEO Dana Human and the health authority’s board chair, Adam Monteith.

It is common for patients at the hospital to wait more than an hour before being seen by a triage nurse after they arrive, and eight hours before their conditions are reassessed, the letter states, adding the emergency department’s sole triage nurse can be responsible for up to 30 patients at a time.