‘Last chance’ clearance U.S. booze punted from Liquor Marts

American alcohol that returned to Manitoba Liquor Mart shelves in May as part of a “last chance” sale is headed back to storage or will be destroyed.

“We are removing U.S. liquor products from Liquor Mart shelves,” a spokesperson for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries said Thursday. The Crown corporation had been pushing to off-load its stockpile of U.S. booze.

Premier Wab Kinew launched a provincewide boycott of American alcohol in March 2025 to fight back against tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries has not placed new orders since the boycott began, but it still had inventory.

As of early May, the U.S. inventory had a value of roughly $3.4 million, which is roughly one-third of what was removed from shelves and placed in storage, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries has said. It was unable to provide an inventory update on Thursday.

Late founder of Canad Inns celebrated with honorary street name

The founder of Canad Inns will be remembered through an honorary street name, alongside his homegrown hotel chain’s Garden City location.

On Thursday, the city installed a sign to mark “Leo Ledohowski Way” on Jefferson Avenue between McPhillips and Watson streets.

“It is a lasting tribute … to a man who devoted so much of his life to this city and province and whose legacy will continue to inspire those who travel the road for years to come … From this day forward, Leo’s name will be part of Winnipeg’s landscape,” said Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West), city council’s acting deputy mayor.

Ledohowski died last year at the age of 81. He started the Canad Inns hotel chain in the 1970s. At an event to unveil the street sign, he was described as a tireless entrepreneur, philanthropist and hospitality leader, as well as a cheerleader for both Winnipeg and Manitoba.

Doctor pays $500K to revamp courtyard at care home where he works

Fifty years after Dr. Pravinsagar Mehta began caring for residents at Actionmarguerite, a courtyard he had long watched deteriorate is getting a new life after he and his wife committed $500,000 to its redevelopment and long-term maintenance.

The renewed courtyard at Actionmarguerite St. Boniface on Despins Street will officially open Friday, giving its 299 residents an accessible place to spend time outside.

When Mehta, now 80, began working at St. Boniface Home in 1976, the new courtyard reminded him of a park near his childhood home in Uganda — one of the highlights of his upbringing.

“I said, ‘Wow, isn’t it amazing that I can go out, sit outside, and relax there?’” Mehta recalled.

Former care home nurse fined $8,000 for ‘disturbing in the extreme’ 2025 incident

A former nurse has been fined $8,000 and is facing numerous restrictions after making a mistake “no registered nurse should have made” by inserting 10 centimetres of gauze into a patient’s anus instead of dressing a nearby wound.

Kamaljeet Kaur Dherdi entered a guilty plea to professional misconduct as part of an inquiry committee panel of the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba on June 2.

The incident took place on March 6, 2025 at the Holy Family Care Home on Aberdeen Avenue.

The inquiry panel’s decision, posted online Thursday, called Dherdi’s behaviour “disturbing in the extreme.”

Ottawa funds sentencing program for northern Manitoba offenders

The federal government has put up $5 million for a Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak project to provide culturally connected sentencing options for First Nations offenders in northern Manitoba.

Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand announced the funding, alongside MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee and Manto Sipi Cree Nation Chief Michael Yellowback, in Yellowback’s northern community on God’s River on Thursday.

“For too long, decisions about justice and community and safety have been made far… from the places people call home,” said Chartrand. “But today, we are beginning to change that.”

The funding, to be spent over five years, will support MKO’s Gladue pathways to healing initiative, in which as many as 500 people will participate annually in up to 26 MKO member First Nations in northern Manitoba.

‘Not his best work,’ Kinew says of Trump’s order to rename Lake Ontario

An executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America is “sad,” Premier Wab Kinew says.

“You know, when a rock band is really over the hill and you see them in a casino playing some song from 50 years ago? I think that’s the part of Donald Trump’s presidency we’re at now,” the Manitoba premier said Thursday.

The Republican president signed an executive order Thursday directing his Interior Department to update the lake’s name in the U.S. geographic naming service. Canada is not bound by the name change.

Trump had been floating the idea of the renaming in recent days as the U.S. announced it was imposing 50 per cent tariffs on $27 billion worth of Canadian goods over the weekend after trade talks between the countries broke down.

Premier, mayor support decision to end police officers’ OT retail-security shifts

Premier Wab Kinew and Mayor Scott Gillingham are backing the police chief’s decision to end the option for officers to work overtime shifts providing security at retail stores.

Chief Gene Bowers informed officers about the change Monday in a memo that cited the recent inability to fill key vacancies and the need to “protect the service’s ability to staff critical positions.”

“The operational decisions, it’s up to Chief Bowers and the other folks that are part of the force, but we’re happy to support their efforts,” Kinew told reporters Thursday. “We know there’s a lot of need out there in the community. Manitobans want to have police officers in so many different places for that reassurance, for the community impact and also in case something bad happens.

“I think this is part of the chief’s area of interest, his decision-making jurisdiction and, for us, we support them.”

‘Moving on is the best path forward’

Connor Hellebuyck has broken his silence in an effort to expedite his departure from the Winnipeg Jets.

In a statement released by agent Ray Petkau on Thursday afternoon, Hellebuyck confirmed he has asked to be moved by the team that chose him in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL draft.

“I have never forgotten June 23, 2012. That’s the day the Winnipeg Jets took a chance on a goalie playing in Odessa, Texas. I gave everything I had from that moment to prove the Jets made the right decision,” Hellebuyck said in the statement.

“Several months ago, I privately requested a trade. I have tried to handle the situation quietly and respectfully, while giving the organization time to explore its options. With training camp approaching, I felt it was important to publicly confirm my request. My position has not changed and I believe moving on is the best path forward for me and my family.”

Owners, agents reviewing bids to purchase Fort Garry Hotel

Downtown Winnipeg’s Fort Garry Hotel is a step closer to a potential sale.

The four-star, 113-year-old hotel’s owners and their agents have been reviewing bids from potential buyers, including the Manitoba Métis Federation, which has confirmed it submitted an offer.

“We are in the process of selecting a buyer for the hotel, as this premier hospitality opportunity has been well received by the investment community,” Curtis Gallagher, principal and Canadian hospitality lead with Avison Young said in a statement to the Free Press.

Multiple bids were received from prospective domestic and international buyers.

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.

Physical activity ‘for every single child’

Manitoba is overhauling phys-ed class and requiring all high school students to regularly work up a sweat on school grounds to graduate.

Premier Wab Kinew announced on Thursday that a new curriculum is being piloted across the kindergarten to Grade 12 system this fall.

Changes to phys-ed and health education — which apply to all grades, but Grade 11 and 12 students, in particular — will ensure these mandatory subjects are delivered entirely in-person, starting in the 2028-29 school year.

The policy is called “Every Body, Every Day.”