New stamp book immortalizes Chinese Canadian war hero

Gordon Lee did not talk about his service in the Second World War.

Terry Lee says he knew his dad, who died in 2005, had served in some capacity, but he didn’t say much, so Terry didn’t ask.

In March, Terry got a phone call from Canada Post asking if it could use his father’s image.

The spokesperson said Gordon and several others would be honoured on this year’s Remembrance Day stamp booklet for their service on Force 136, a military crew whose mission was to infiltrate enemy lines in Japanese-held territories, train resistance fighters and carry out sabotage operations.

Bombers not tipping their hand on starting quarterback

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are going to keep the Montreal Alouettes guessing for as long as possible.

The Blue and Gold aren’t offering any clues about who will be under centre in Saturday’s East Division final at Percival Molson Stadium (3 p.m. kickoff).

The Bombers practised in an official capacity on Wednesday — their first since a stunning 25-22 win over Toronto in the East Division semifinal on the weekend.

They typically start the week with an open session, but the practice was closed to the general public and media.

Kinew congratulates Democrats for ‘dominating Trump’ in U.S. midterms

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is celebrating the Democratic party’s stunning victories over Republican candidates — many of whom were hand-picked by President Donald Trump — in Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections.

Kinew posted a photo on social media of himself with Minnesota senator-elect Peggy Flanagan, the state’s former lieutenant-governor and a fellow Anishinaabe, congratulating her “and all the Democrats for absolutely dominating Trump in the midterms!”

After two years of unified Republican control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, the Democrats won both by wide margins Tuesday for a Congress poised to reassert itself as a co-equal branch of government ready to challenge Trump.

Manitoba’s New Democrat premier, who has openly mocked and criticized Trump over tariffs and trade issues, took a victory lap on social media Wednesday, saluting his left-of-centre counterparts south of the border.

In Manitoba, expectations high for federal budget

Additional funding for the Port of Churchill Plus project, more social housing and improvements to First Nations health services are among Manitoba organizations’ wishes ahead of Thursday’s federal budget.

While advocates gathered outside his Corydon Avenue constituency office Wednesday, Liberal MP Ben Carr told the Free Press the budget will contain “significant investments” for Winnipeg in relation to social housing.

“I have been myself advocating very strongly for many of the issues that I know they intend to raise, and I’m confident they are going to be satisfied with the measures the federal government will be taking in the budget,” Carr (Winnipeg South Centre) said from Ottawa.

About 15 people delivered hundreds of postcards, signed by Manitobans, to his office to call on the federal Liberals to build more social housing units in the province.

WestJet to make new hangar home near Winnipeg airport

WestJet will become the first tenant in a new development near the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport.

The Calgary-based airline plans to open a 73,110-square-foot aircraft maintenance hangar in West Lands, a sprawling site meant to boost business near the airport.

The hangar is expected to open at the end of 2028.

“Winnipeg is a very important market and city for WestJet,” said Alexis von Hoensbroech, WestJet’s chief executive officer. “We always had one missing piece of the puzzle, which is that we don’t have a hangar in Winnipeg.”

Mayor invites two council rookies into inner circle

Two newly elected councillors will be joining the mayor’s inner circle.

Mayor Scott Gillingham announced his appointments to city council’s executive policy committee Wednesday afternoon.

While Couns. Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan), Evan Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood) and Vivian Santos (Point Douglas) will be returning, new councillors Lora Meseman (Transcona) and Sara MacArthur (River Heights-Fort Garry) have been named chairwomen of the water and waste and community services committees, respectively.

“These are significant responsibilities, and I’m glad that you have agreed to step up to these roles,” Gillingham said at a news conference Wednesday.

Americans in Manitoba geared up for midterm results

Manitobans who voted in America’s midterm elections gathered to watch the outcome of the vote that is a referendum on the Trump administration.

Polls across the United States closed Tuesday night to determine which party will lead in Congress and Senate.

At the Boston Pizza on Taylor Avenue, more than 2,500 kilometres from Washington, D.C., a small group of people, some dual-citizens who cast their ballot in the race, watched — and sometimes applauded — as results rolled in over pizza and drinks.

“It’s been an anxious sort of day,” said Barb Coombs, organizer of the American-Canadian Expats in Manitoba.“It’s exciting. It’s always exciting whenever people exercise their Democratic right to vote.”

City blames massive sewage dump into Red River on equipment malfunction at North End plant

The federal and provincial government are investigating after two malfunctioning bypass gates at the updated North End sewage treatment plant released nearly 10 million litres of partially treated sewage into the Red River early Monday.

The gates, which are not fully operational and supposed to be opened manually during ongoing testing, opened automatically overnight, spilling 9.8 million litres, said Tim Shanks, the city’s director of water and waste.

“It’s a very complicated process, but unfortunately, there has been an issue here, and we’re working to investigate why it happened and prevent it from ever happening again,” he told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

The spill occurred from about 1:10 a.m. to 3:47 a.m. Shanks said the partially treated sewage posed no immediate risk to the public.

Accused drug dealer planned to build campsite, launder money there, lawsuit claims

As an alleged drug dealer drove an undercover Mountie to a plot of land in Tolstoi, he revealed that he planned to use it to further his criminal enterprise.

“While en route to the vacant lot, the defendant (Kelvin) Loewen told the undercover officer that he had six acres of property that he wanted to turn into a campsite with a pool and that he wanted a ‘good way to launder money,’” says a lawsuit filed by the province’s director of civil forfeiture that reveals details of the 19-month investigation into a drug ring in southern Manitoba.

RCMP and Winkler police said in August that officers had charged more than a dozen people in relation to the drug-and-gun trafficking network. The joint investigation began in December 2024, when officers from the Winkler Police Service asked the Mounties for help after they had learned kilograms of cocaine were being imported to a local truck repair business.

Police expanded the probe, dubbed Project Dolor, as investigators learned other types of illicit substances and firearms were being trafficked by the network in a number of communities.

Child care gap: 77K spaces needed to reach national benchmark

The province needs at least 77,000 more child care spaces to meet the national access benchmark — and a plan for getting there, the Child Care Coalition of Manitoba said Tuesday.

Licensed spaces currently serve only about 22 per cent of Manitoba’s estimated 207,336 children aged 12 and younger, the coalition said in a news release.

For Manitoba to reach the national benchmark of licensed spaces for 59 per cent of children, it needs 23,000 additional infant and preschool spaces and 54,000 school-age spaces, the release said.

There has been significant progress in recent years with the introduction of $10-a-day child care, thousands of new spaces created, higher wages for staff and increased operating funds for child care centres, the coalition noted. Still, families face long waits and limited options, particularly for parents working evenings, weekends, and rotating shifts, it said.

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.