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To contribute last-minute or not?

It’s RRSP season again — is it worth additions amid other ways to save?

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026

Canadians have great tools to save tax-deferred or tax-free for the future — and the granddaddy of them all is the registered retirement savings plan.

The calendar now turned to February, RRSPs are on the minds of many, with the March 2 deadline looming for the last contributions for 2025.

Yet in the context of the other ways to save — the tax-free savings account (TFSA) and the newer, first home savings account (FHSA) — the RRSP is not always the most attractive place to park, invest and grow money.

The ideal is to fund all of these savings vehicles, based on need, to their annual maximums.

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Tim Smith / Brandon Sun files

Cereals Canada staff are in Singapore this week for the Canada-in-Asia Conference. ‘We definitely support building relationships with these trading hubs like Hong Kong,’ said V-P Leif Carlson.
Tim Smith / Brandon Sun files Cereals Canada staff are in Singapore this week for the Canada-in-Asia Conference. ‘We definitely support building relationships with these trading hubs like Hong Kong,’ said V-P Leif Carlson.

Hong Kong-Canada Business Association, Hong Kong Trade Development Council sign letters of co-operation with Manitoba

Gabrielle Piché 4 minute read Preview

Hong Kong-Canada Business Association, Hong Kong Trade Development Council sign letters of co-operation with Manitoba

Gabrielle Piché 4 minute read Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026

On Alfonz Koncan’s agenda: get more Manitoba businesses into Hong Kong.

Koncan is Winnipeg chapter co-president of the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association. The group recently signed a letter of co-operation with the Manitoba government.

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council, a statutory body, also signed a co-operation letter with the province.

“We’re not focused hard enough,” Koncan said of local trade with Hong Kong (a special administrative region of China) and Southeast Asia. “We have too much of our trade going south (to the U.S.) and it’s vulnerable.”

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Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026

AgWest Brandon branch manager Derek Papineau (right) stands in front of the new facility with his assistant, Mike Noto. (Abiola Odutola / The Brandon Sun files)
AgWest Brandon branch manager Derek Papineau (right) stands in front of the new facility with his assistant, Mike Noto. (Abiola Odutola / The Brandon Sun files)

Agriculture equipment dealer AgWest opens new Brandon-area location

Abiola Odutola 2 minute read Preview

Agriculture equipment dealer AgWest opens new Brandon-area location

Abiola Odutola 2 minute read Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026

BRANDON — AgWest Ltd. has opened the doors of its new Brandon-area location, citing the Westman city’s role as a central agricultural hub and a growing customer base.

The Canadian ag equipment dealer’s new facility, located at 1 Rusty Way in the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis, just south of the Trans-Canada Highway, brings parts, service and operations together in a purpose-built space.

It was designed to improve efficiency and reduce downtime for producers during critical seasons, such as seeding and harvest, chief executive officer Neil Douglas said in an email.

“Brandon has long been a key hub for agriculture in western Manitoba and our customer base in the Westman region has continued to grow,” Douglas said. “The timing was driven by the need to better support producers with faster service turnaround, improved parts availability and a facility that reflects how modern farm equipment is serviced today.”

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Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026

MALAK ABAS / FREE PRESS

Michael Coutts, Manitoba Possible’s director of social enterprise, will lead a presentation on the non-profit’s platform that connects home-care workers to local families on Feb. 23.
MALAK ABAS / FREE PRESS Michael Coutts, Manitoba Possible’s director of social enterprise, will lead a presentation on the non-profit’s platform that connects home-care workers to local families on Feb. 23.

Focus on local ‘fertile ground’ at 3rd annual MbTech Week

Malak Abas 3 minute read Preview

Focus on local ‘fertile ground’ at 3rd annual MbTech Week

Malak Abas 3 minute read Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

A weeklong tech “festival” is ready to celebrate made-in-Manitoba innovation later this month.

On Tuesday, Tech Manitoba held a launch event for its third annual MbTech Week. More than 50 events will be held across Winnipeg, Winkler and Morden from Feb. 22 to 28, including panels, business tours, activities for children and students, and showcasing tools for manufacturing, health care and other sectors.

A focus on Manitoba businesses is the common thread among the events, said Kelly Fournel, CEO of Tech Manitoba.

“Our focus was to make sure that we brought attention to local companies who are doing good work through technology and innovation, and we felt that having a festival, for lack of a better term, was a great way,” she said.

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Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

Newspaper websites display fewer stories, more curation

5 minute read Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

A city subcommittee was provided with a routine update on the status of an ongoing administrative process Thursday, in accordance with standard reporting procedures.

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES

Taiv Inc. CEO Noah Palansky (left) and chief technology officer Jordan Davis.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES Taiv Inc. CEO Noah Palansky (left) and chief technology officer Jordan Davis.

Winnipeg-based tech firm Taiv closes US$13M growth round

Aaron Epp 3 minute read Preview

Winnipeg-based tech firm Taiv closes US$13M growth round

Aaron Epp 3 minute read Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

Taiv Inc. may rely on AI, but there’s nothing artificial about the Winnipeg company’s progression.

The tech company has closed a US$13 million growth round fewer than nine months after raising US$10.5 million in series A financing.

The latest round is a combination of debt and equity, and brings the total capital raised to more than US$30 million. The company’s latest valuation is just under US$100 million, said Taiv co-founder and CEO Noah Palansky.

“This is really a growth round,” he said. “It’s about hiring people and really investing in our product. We want to make something that’s amazing.”

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Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026
Building new foundations in world of trade

Building new foundations in world of trade

Laura Rance 4 minute read Preview

Building new foundations in world of trade

Laura Rance 4 minute read Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026

It wasn’t so much the deals that emerged that signalled a significant shift in Canada-China relations after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meeting with People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping last month.

It was the fact their working lunch ran long, just like the 20-minute meeting scheduled between the two world leaders in October in South Korea ran for 43 minutes, “which is quite unusual for the Chinese,” said Chris White, Beijing-based president and CEO of the Canadian Meat Advocacy Office, during a webinar this week.

“Not every world leader who has that opportunity to meet with President Xi gets both a working lunch and then that (gets) extended.”

White has been the Canadian meat sector’s boots on the ground in China for less than a year, but his presence underscores a growing recognition among industry leaders that being present in key markets matters — even more so when the relationships are complicated.

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Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026

More Business

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS

Marro Tumaca, owner of Maro Matcha, is breathing a sigh of relief after a $12,000 tea order from Japan, held up at the Canadian border for months, has arrived in Winnipeg.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Marro Tumaca, owner of Maro Matcha, is breathing a sigh of relief after a $12,000 tea order from Japan, held up at the Canadian border for months, has arrived in Winnipeg.

Importing frustration: niche business vs. CBSA online portal ‘case study’

Malak Abas 5 minute read Preview

Importing frustration: niche business vs. CBSA online portal ‘case study’

Malak Abas 5 minute read Monday, Feb. 2, 2026

A local matcha maven is breathing a sigh of relief after receiving a $12,000 tea order from Japan after it was held up at the border for three months.

Maro Matcha has specialized in matcha and hojicha green tea sourced directly from Uji, Japan, since it began hosting pop-ups and collaborating with local businesses in June. As the Winnipeg business grew, their regular order of around 10 kilograms of tea would only last around a week, said owner Marro Tumaca.

With Maro Matcha operating out of downtown Hawaiian restaurant Honu Poké for the winter, Tumaca decided to take the leap and order a 77-kg shipment of matcha. It arrived in October, but was held up at the border.

It was only then when he learned federal guidelines require an import licence for large shipments of tea for commercial use. He was told he had 40 days to procure a licence.

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Monday, Feb. 2, 2026

Bioscience Association Manitoba event eyes ‘leader-to-leader’ talks

Free Press staff 2 minute read Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026

Bioscience companies will soon gather in Winnipeg to liaise with Manitoba institutions on research projects. They’ll do so, in part, at Bioscience Association Manitoba’s first research and industry forum, to be held March 9.

“Manitoba has world-class research capacity for human health,” said Andrea Ladouceur, Bioscience Association Manitoba’s president. “There are more partners that want to come to Manitoba and be a part of… current research projects (and) perhaps start new ones.”

The forum kicks off three days of events connecting bioscience researchers with post-secondaries, government and industry.

Eight companies — with research spanning diabetes, cancer and nutrition, among other things — will congregate at the forum. It’s an invite-only day to create “leader-to-leader” discussions with Manitoba players, such as universities, Ladouceur said.

JUSTIN TANG / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES

A person passes sunflowers growing at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, site of Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada’s headquarters.
JUSTIN TANG / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES A person passes sunflowers growing at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, site of Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada’s headquarters.

Agricultural innovation takes hit in federal cuts

Laura Rance 4 minute read Preview

Agricultural innovation takes hit in federal cuts

Laura Rance 4 minute read Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026

Everyone knew cuts to federal programs and jobs were coming.

Something must give if elected officials are to make good on promises to address what many characterized as Canada’s bloated bureaucracy and ballooning deficits, while boosting its military defence systems and protecting the economy from a neighbour gone rogue.

And while the Canadian effort to shrink the cost of governing is a little less dramatic than that in the U.S. a year ago, the application of across-the-board cuts has been anything but surgical.

Farmers and unions, who rarely agree on anything, are united in opposition to news Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is closing three research facilities and four research farms, and cutting around 650 positions. The cuts include a host of programs, including those focused on organic farming, regenerative agriculture and climate adaptation.

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Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026

Freepik
Freepik

When opinions collide: should we talk about global politics at work?

Tory McNally 6 minute read Preview

When opinions collide: should we talk about global politics at work?

Tory McNally 6 minute read Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026

At some point, almost every workplace ends up grappling with the same quiet question: should discussion of world events be on the daily menu?

It might start innocently in the break room — a comment about a headline or an election result, But it can quickly turn into tension, awkward silence or outright conflict.

In a time when global events feel immediate and personal, pretending they do not follow people into work is unrealistic. At the same time, work is not a dinner party, a family group chat or social media.

The challenge is figuring out what belongs where and how to navigate it when opinions collide.

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Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026

Sandra Monaco photo

‘If you say, “I want to have a better financial life,” but your self-talk is, “My family didn’t have any money; I grew up poor, and who am I really to save?” it will be very hard to change,’ says personal finance author Kelley Keehn.
Sandra Monaco photo ‘If you say, “I want to have a better financial life,” but your self-talk is, “My family didn’t have any money; I grew up poor, and who am I really to save?” it will be very hard to change,’ says personal finance author Kelley Keehn.

Money mind-shift New book from renowned Canadian financial author aims to help you ‘Save Yourself’

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview

Money mind-shift New book from renowned Canadian financial author aims to help you ‘Save Yourself’

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026

If your goal for 2026 is getting into better financial shape, one of Canada’s most renowned personal finance experts is throwing you a self-rescue line.

Kelley Keehn has recently published her 12th personal finance book in the last 20 years, Save Yourself: a New Approach to Thinking About Money and Taking Control of Your Financial Future. She spoke with the Free Press about taking a different tact to helping Canadians to make positive financial change.

Her new book comes at the right time, released in January when many make resolutions about being better with money.

As with past efforts, Keehn has sought to provide advice on the behavioural aspects of finance. But with Save Yourself, she upped the ante with neuroscience to help readers understand how human brains handle the subject of money. “My first book was over 20 years ago on the psychology of money, but it was anecdotal because there was little research on the psychology of money.”

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Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026

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