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RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES Trade Minister Jamie Moses speaking at the event. Federal and Provincial governments announce funding for airside development at the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport for trade infrastructure Friday. Federal minister, Dr. Doug Eyolfson, Trade Minister Jamie Moses, Mayor Scott Gillingham, Nick Hays, president and CEO, Winnipeg Airports Authority and Carly Edmundson, CEO of CentrePort Canada Inc. gathered with other key players to speak about the development at the airport at the event. See story. Feb 27th, 2026

Manitoba to open India trade office

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Wednesday, May. 20, 2026

Instead of being stationed on Broadway, a Manitoba government employee will set up their own office — in India.

The New Democrats will today announce their plans to open a trade office in the South Asia country.

“We’re going to be continuing to expand our global presence,” said Business Minister Jamie Moses.

Government has slated $150,000 for the trade office, including the representative’s salary. A request for proposal will be posted online Tuesday, Moses said.

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MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Premier Wab Kinew has been a vocal opponent of Alberta separating from Canada, repeatedly calling for national unity.

‘Canada is the best.’ Kinew applauds separatists’ failure in Alberta

Scott Billeck 3 minute read Preview

‘Canada is the best.’ Kinew applauds separatists’ failure in Alberta

Scott Billeck 3 minute read 4:35 PM CDT

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew threw both hands in the air Tuesday, celebrating Albertans’ rejection of separation from Canada in a referendum one day earlier.

“Yes. Canada is the best,” Kinew said from behind a podium at an unrelated press conference. “Hallelujah. It’s great.”

While votes were still being tallied on Tuesday, about 75 per cent of those who voted in Monday’s referendum in Alberta supported remaining in Canada, while about 25 per cent backed beginning a process that could lead to separation, preliminary results showed on Tuesday.

Kinew had been a vocal opponent of Alberta separating from Canada, repeatedly calling for national unity.

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JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Christopher Kyle Wattman, 38, Hazel Flett, 38 and Victoria Lee Andrews, 28, are on trial charged with first-degree murder in the December 2023 killing of 20-year-old Brooklyn Elijah Hiebert.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of wounds inflicted on man, murder trial told

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read Preview

Dozens, if not hundreds, of wounds inflicted on man, murder trial told

Dean Pritchard 4 minute read 4:03 PM CDT

The body of a Winnipeg man beaten to death in a North End drug house was outside a Flora Avenue church for nearly a week before it was discovered, a court has been told.

Christopher Kyle Wattman, 38, Hazel Flett, 38 and Victoria Lee Andrews, 28, are on trial charged with first-degree murder in the December 2023 killing of 20-year-old Brooklyn Elijah Hiebert.

Prosecutor Theresa Cannon laid out the Crown’s theory of the case in an opening address before Court of King’s Bench Justice Joan McKelvey on Monday.

Hiebert and the three accused were at a Selkirk Avenue “trap house” on the evening of Dec. 24, 2023, when Hiebert got into an argument with Flett and a number of unidentified people.

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MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Premier Wab Kinew announced Tuesday his government is aiming to strengthen protections for renters.

Renters get break from proposed hikes

Scott Billeck 6 minute read Preview

Renters get break from proposed hikes

Scott Billeck 6 minute read Updated: 5:33 PM CDT

Aidan Wilson said he was reduced to tears after getting a call from Premier Wab Kinew’s office.

He’d just learned tenants of a West Broadway apartment, including himself, would no longer pay a hundreds-of-dollars monthly rent increase as of Nov. 1.

“It’s been a lot to deal with, it’s a lot to push for, and it’s a lot to speak up. All of these emotions just kind of came flooding out,” Wilson said Tuesday at a news conference alongside Kinew.

The premier announced that renters will not have to pay the increases until the provincial Residential Tenancies Branch hears landlords’ arguments and issues its decisions.

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Updated: 5:33 PM CDT

Civic Election

(Matthew Frank / Free Press) Mayoral candidate Kevin Klein holds attack ads by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500 during a press conference Tuesday.

Klein calls union’s attack ads ‘dirty politics,’ urges Gillingham to reject support

Matthew Frank 5 minute read Preview

Klein calls union’s attack ads ‘dirty politics,’ urges Gillingham to reject support

Matthew Frank 5 minute read 1:16 PM CDT

Mayoral candidate Kevin Klein said attack ads from Winnipeg’s largest union are an example of “dirty politics” and verge on United States-style campaigning.

The pamphlets, signed by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500, show a United States flag draped behind Klein, with text stating he has sided with “the broader alt-right political movement” and defends the U.S.

“As Canadians we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard. This is not the politics that we have experienced in the City of Winnipeg. This is not the type of politics we want to experience in Canada,” he said during a Tuesday news conference at his campaign headquarters.

He called on incumbent candidate Scott Gillingham to denounce the ads and reject the union’s campaign support.

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CHRISTOPHER KATSAROV / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Firefighters work along a firewall next to CFB Wainwright, south of the town Wainwright, Alta., on Monday.

Winnipeg soldiers help search and rescue efforts in Wainwright

Kelly-Anne Riess 5 minute read Preview

Winnipeg soldiers help search and rescue efforts in Wainwright

Kelly-Anne Riess 5 minute read Updated: 6:39 PM CDT

Eleven military search and rescue technicians from Winnipeg were deployed to Wainwright, Alta., following the fire that killed four soldiers and injured 39 others during a live-fire training exercise Saturday.

It was the largest mobilization of SAR techs, elite primary-care paramedics in the Royal Canadian Air Force, in recent memory, a military spokesperson told the Free Press.

Every SAR tech available from 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron, located at 17 Wing Winnipeg — even those off duty — were sent to CFB Wainwright.

The technicians, who are trained to jump from aircraft into extreme environments, parachuted onto the scene from a CC-130H Hercules airplane to provide care for those injured in the fast-moving grass fire that had engulfed a training area.

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Updated: 6:39 PM CDT

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MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Teacher commissioner Noni Classen said both teachers who were stripped of their licences sent messages to students during the day and late at night.

Inappropriate late-night texts to students costs teachers their jobs

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Preview

Inappropriate late-night texts to students costs teachers their jobs

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Updated: 5:41 PM CDT

Manitoba’s independent teacher commissioner has cancelled two certificates this month because of inappropriate late-night messaging with minors.

Robert Gregoire is no longer permitted to teach in the River East Transcona School Division or elsewhere in the province after he was found to have called a student “my beautiful” and “princess,” among other pet names he used in online communications over multiple years.

Brady Nurse, who became the subject of a workplace probe after RCMP contacted the Portage la Prairie School Division about his actions, was also recently stripped of his licence.

New consent resolution agreements — public documents outlining agreed-upon facts and consequences in disciplinary cases — reveal the men in both cases repeatedly engaged in boundary-crossing behaviour.

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Updated: 5:41 PM CDT

Local

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS The Innovation Drive plasma donation centre where person died in January after making a donation.

Grifols plasma collection centre reopens

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Preview

Grifols plasma collection centre reopens

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Updated: 5:12 PM CDT

One of Grifols’ two clinics in Winnipeg resumed taking plasma donations Tuesday as part of the pharmaceutical giant’s phased reopening in Canada, while the other location remains closed with a suspended licence.

The company temporarily halted paid plasma collections at its clinics across Canada on Aug. 14 amid scrutiny after two people died following donations at the Taylor Avenue and Innovation Drive sites.

Grifols said in a news release the Innovation Drive location, near the University of Manitoba, and a clinic in Edmonton reopened Tuesday with a limited number of appointments that will gradually increase.

Health Canada suspended the Taylor clinic’s licence Sept. 23 for non-compliance with regulations. Terms and conditions were placed on Grifols’ 16 other donation centres in Canada. The Innovation Drive clinic’s licence was not suspended.

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Updated: 5:12 PM CDT

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Canadians from coast to coast are finding and displaying patriotic pride

TIM SMITH / THE BRANDON SUN FILES A Canadian flag is see affixed to the side of a barn along Grand Valley Road west of Brandon on Thursday. In the wake of U.S. tariffs against Canada and comments by President Donald Trump about Canada becoming the 51st state, Canadian flags and other displays of patriotism have been much more visible in Brandon and across the country. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

The week that was: July 12-18

The week that was: July 12-18

Listen: Niigaan and the Lone Ranger podcast

Niigaan and the Lone Ranger podcast

Old barn reconstructed in Lego, brick by brick

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The Jets salute the crowd after the final game at Winnipeg Arena, a 4-1 loss to Detroit. Norm MacIver scored the final Jets 1.0 goal.

Festive feast of children’s books sure to please young readers

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Alexander Heather, 7, (left) and his nine-year-old brother Stewart get into the holiday spirit while poring through some of this year’s books for younger readers.

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MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Garth Smorang released his final report Monday from the public inquiry into the police headquarters project.

Prosecutions branch reviewing new evidence from police HQ public inquiry

Scott Billeck 4 minute read Preview

Prosecutions branch reviewing new evidence from police HQ public inquiry

Scott Billeck 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 5:42 PM CDT

Prosecutors are reviewing new evidence from the public inquiry into Winnipeg’s police headquarters project to determine whether criminal charges could be pursued.

The Manitoba Prosecution Service said Monday the review, launched in July, is examining whether evidence presented during the inquiry could change previous decisions not to lay charges in the scandal-plagued project.

The $2.1-million public inquiry took place over 27.5 hearing dates between February and May, and commissioner Garth Smorang released his final report Monday.

The prosecution service has twice previously explored criminal charges stemming from the project.

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Updated: Yesterday at 5:42 PM CDT

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MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Starting in mid-September, Winnipeg police responded to multiple commercial break-ins resulting in estimated losses of between $50,000 and $60,000.

Tire store theft sting nets four arrests

Free Press staff 3 minute read Preview

Tire store theft sting nets four arrests

Free Press staff 3 minute read Yesterday at 2:46 PM CDT

Four people have been arrested after the Winnipeg Police Major Crimes Unit launched an investigation into several break-ins and thefts targeting tire retailers in the city.

Between Sept. 12 and 29, police responded to multiple commercial break-ins resulting in estimated losses of between $50,000 and $60,000, police said in a news release.

During that time, retail stores in the 1600 block of Kenaston Boulevard and the 800 block of Leila Avenue also reported theft of merchandise valued at approximately $3,250 combined.

On the evening of Sept. 26, one of the suspects used false identification to rent a truck from a commercial rental company.

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Yesterday at 2:46 PM CDT

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SUPPLIED A rendering from the Naawi-Oodena master plan. The project is expected to provide about 5,000 homes.

Mayoral hopeful Woodstock promises to fast-track approvals for Indigenous-led projects

Matthew Frank 3 minute read Preview

Mayoral hopeful Woodstock promises to fast-track approvals for Indigenous-led projects

Matthew Frank 3 minute read Yesterday at 2:27 PM CDT

Mayoral candidate Don Woodstock promised Monday to create a new municipal office to “level the playing field” and fast-track city approvals for Indigenous led-projects.

The office would create a direct pipeline for those projects when undergoing zoning regulations and setting up municipal services, such as sewage, so development timelines can be met or sped up, he said Monday.

The office would also be an “important step” in restoring equity for Indigenous developments, Woodstock said.

“If you’re Indigenous, I’m going to make sure that I put in place something that will tell you that under no circumstances you’ll be discriminated against because of your nationality, race, colour, creed,” he said.

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Yesterday at 2:27 PM CDT

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RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Inquiry commissioner Garth Smorang’s report finds “fictional” invoices show Babakhanians’ actions amount to “misconduct.”

Katz ‘violated public trust,’ Sheegl lacked ‘moral compass,’ police HQ inquiry commissioner concludes

Joyanne Pursaga 9 minute read Preview

Katz ‘violated public trust,’ Sheegl lacked ‘moral compass,’ police HQ inquiry commissioner concludes

Joyanne Pursaga 9 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:29 PM CDT

The final report from the public inquiry into the scandal-plagued Winnipeg Police Service headquarters construction project concludes that former mayor Sam Katz and former city CAO Phil Sheegl broke public trust and engaged in unethical conduct.

And the report, released Monday by inquiry commissioner Garth Smorang, says the cost of the project — transforming a downtown Canada Post office tower and warehouse into the police HQ — soared, in part, because main contractor Caspian Projects overcharged the city by more than $40 million in expenses.

The project’s initial $135-million initial price tag rose to about $209 million in the end. The city purchased the complex in 2009; construction was completed in 2016.

Smorang’s report concludes Katz “violated the public trust” and council code of conduct, and Sheegl suffered from a “complete lack of a moral compass.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 7:29 PM CDT

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Homes for Sale: 11-1812 Portage Avenue

11-1812 Portage Avenue

$129,900

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