Ottawa earmarks another $60M for national sport organizations

Another chunk of cash earmarked to increase participation in sport and develop homegrown athletic talent is being wired across the country.

On Thursday, the federal government announced an additional $60 million in financial backing for national sport organizations (NSOs).

Some extra wiggle room on mid fiscal-year budgets was not expected by Canada’s 63 NSOs, which were slated to receive a combined $112 million in core Sport Support Program (SSP) funding, and will now see north of $150 million in total.

“Sport has the power to shape lives and bring people together in a way few things can. Today’s announcement reflects a new era for sport in Canada, one where more kids have the opportunity to get out and play, and Team Canada athletes have the support they need to compete and win,” Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden said in a statement.

The best of the best in Blue and Gold

No one would use the word “outstanding” to describe this year’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Their inconsistent ways have them on the ropes heading into the regular-season finale in Vancouver. The Bombers (8-9) must beat the B.C. Lions (10-7) on Friday to advance to the playoffs.

Nevertheless, it’s an annual tradition across the three-down loop for each team to have nominees for the CFL Most Outstanding Player Awards.

And while the Bombers have not lived up to expectations through 17 games, there are a few players who have shined through the ups and downs of the 2026 campaign.

Winnipeg-shot biopic as daring as its subject

Simultaneously huge in its biographical breadth and intimate in its scale, Patrick Wang’s film A. Rimbaud is a portrait of the 19th-century poet Arthur Rimbaud, a grand, 175-minute biopic that eschews the genre’s convention with the adventurous spirit Rimbaud applied to the written word.

For example, while we follow Rimbaud travelling the globe, the film was shot entirely on a Winnipeg soundstage.

Also, Rimbaud (portrayed by charismatic Australian actor Blake Draper) is always alone on camera. The voices of other characters are filled in by a series of musical instruments, inevitably recalling how the same technique was employed by Bill Melendez in Peanuts cartoons, wherein adult voices were portrayed by a muted trombone.

The film ended up being shot in Winnipeg thanks largely to producer Evan Johnson, a filmmaker in his own right with shared directing credits on various films with his brother Galen Johnson and Guy Maddin, including The Green Fog (2017) and Rumours (2024).

Researchers: lights at Henderson crossing ‘long overdue’

Six months after a fatal collision at a crosswalk on Henderson Highway, two traffic safety researchers question why the intersection remains an outlier that is missing key flashing lights.

The City of Winnipeg is being urged to install “backflashers” to better protect road users moving in all directions at the intersection where a 32-year-old father died in the spring.

“It’s these little, mundane, non-sexy engineering problems that can cause everything right up to fatality,” said Curt Pankratz, an associate professor at the University of Winnipeg who studies traffic engineering and policymaking.

On April 19, shortly before sunrise, Gabe Beardy was struck when he was crossing the six-lane thoroughfare at Neil Avenue.

Hydro eyes EV charging mitigation amid electricity shortfall forecast

Manitoba Hydro is looking to stagger electric vehicle charging as it anticipates future electricity shortages.

The Crown corporation is considering “managed charging” pilot projects. Details aren’t available; Hydro is in exploratory phases, spokesman Peter Chura wrote in a statement.

Alex Chiang, Hydro’s vice-president of customer solutions and experience, addressed dozens of electric vehicle industry members during a national conference at The Fort Garry Hotel on Wednesday.

Around 300 people registered for the conference, hosted by Electric Mobility Canada.

Thompson terminal ‘will help unlock’ North

After decades of planning and years of construction, Thompson Regional Airport has opened its new terminal building.

At 40,000-square-feet, the structure is almost three times larger than the facility it replaced. The project cost approximately $125 million, which included the terminal building, a new parking lot, apron and water treatment facility.

Airport staff began operating out of the terminal on Oct. 4.

“It’s a special moment for us all to be in this space,” said James Lindsey, president and CEO of the Thompson Regional Airport Authority. “There’s a lot of opportunity in the North and this is the right piece of infrastructure at the right time that will help unlock the North.”

Mayoral candidates snipe over safety during radio debate

Public safety took centre stage during a sometimes fiery mayoral debate Wednesday in which Kevin Klein revealed he would have to raise property taxes to fund his plan to make Winnipeg safer.

The CJOB debate also included candidates Scott Gillingham and Mike Vogiatzakis, who were selected as the top contenders in the race based on polling data.

Klein noted he has promised to strike a task force on public safety and to hire more police, if he’s elected Oct. 28.

“We are 100 police officers short of the very bare minimum of the per capita (number) right now. We have to replace those officers,” said Klein, a former city councillor and Tory cabinet minister.

Suspect with lighter, torch arrested, released four days before accused charged with murder in fatal arson, trial told

Four days before Alex Courchene was charged with murder for a North End blaze that killed two people, police arrested another suspect who was released that same day without charge, a jury heard Wednesday.

Courchene, 30, has pleaded not guilty to arson and two counts of second-degree murder in the Sept. 14, 2024, deaths of Zenabu Gula, 38, and Geda Wodisso, 49.

Prosecutors allege Courchene set a fire shortly before 3 a.m. in the stairwell of a building at the corner of Main Street and Atlantic Avenue that housed a church and apartment suites.

Gula and Wodisso were unable to escape their second-floor suite and died from smoke inhalation.

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.

E.K. resident able to get away after confrontation with knife-wielding thief who broke into his truck

Winnipeg Police Service property crime investigators are searching for a suspect potentially tied to several concerning incidents in East Kildonan in recent days.

Doug Vance, a homeowner on Dunrobin Avenue who lives with his wife and two sons, woke early Tuesday and noticed the lights were on in his truck, which was parked at the rear of his home.

He was soon face-to-face with a man armed with a large knife.

“Something, I figured, was up, so I went to go find my keys and lock the (truck) door… the light didn’t go out, so that meant the door was ajar,” said the 47-year-old.