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MPI lowers speed limit on tech upgrade with ‘IT roadmap’ following Project Nova debacle

Manitoba Public Insurance is now using an “IT road map” and phasing in new technology and systems after pulling the plug last year on its failed $164-million overhaul known as Project Nova, its annual report says.

The Crown corporation’s 2025-26 just-released annual report says lessons learned from Project Nova helped shape its “new path forward for modernization,” calling it an “IT road map” allowing systems to be changed in “smaller, lower-risk increments.”

Chief executive officer Satvir Jatana said in the report that the public auto insurer is in “a favourable position” — reporting $55.6 million in net income after losses of $19.7 million in 2024-25 and $130 million the previous fiscal year. Jatana said income would have surpassed $100 million if not for writeoffs related to the closure of Project Nova, which was intended to modernize outdated business and information technology systems, with a projected cost that climbed from $85 million in 2019 to an estimated $435 million in March of 2025, before it was cancelled.

Jatana has stated previously that Project Nova was doomed from the start with ineffective governance, major changes in MPI leadership, a global pandemic and a labour dispute that led to delays and cost overruns with many starts and stops to the project.

Canadian labour market still tight as economy sees slight bump in employment

OTTAWA - After sustaining three consecutive months of job losses and propelling fears of an economic slowdown, the Canadian economy posted a modest bump in employment in September, suggesting the labour market is still exceptionally tight.

The unemployment rate for the month fell to 5.2 per cent as fewer people looked for work, down from 5.4 per cent in August, Statistics Canada reported in its labour force survey released on Friday. Meanwhile,the economy added 21,000 jobs.

Economists say the latest jobs report shows employers are still eager to hire, and wages are growing accordingly.

The report showed wages were up by 5.2 per cent in September compared with a year ago, with the average hourly wage at $31.67. It marked the fourth straight month of five per cent or higher wage growth, but still falls short of the rate of inflation.

Norway's Ruud wins Olympic gold year after father's death

The decorated alpine athlete was disqualified from her first two races in Beijing, but still has plenty of events to come.

Ducks Unlimited makes province’s largest-ever conservation-land purchase

A Manitoba landscape that helped save the Giant Canada goose from extinction has now been permanently protected in the province’s largest conservation land purchase in history.

Ducks Unlimited Canada announced Tuesday in a virtual press conference that it has acquired a conservation easement for East Meadows Ranch, a more than 8,000-acre property near Lundar in Manitoba’s Interlake region, about 80 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, that includes wetlands, native prairie and bur oak savannah.

Ducks Unlimited called the property, now known as the Kennedy Field Station at East Meadows, one of Manitoba’s most ecologically diverse landscapes and said protecting it will contribute to the long-term health of Manitoba’s wildlife, biodiversity and natural heritage.

“The sheer size of the property is not that common in private ownership here in Manitoba, and to have that in a complete connected tract is just something that we’re not likely to see again or come available anytime soon,” said Mark Francis, Ducks Unlimited Canada’s manager of provincial operations.

Not making the grade: rethinking student assessment

As most students in B.C. began the new school year without traditional grades, a former Manitoba teacher living in that province is urging colleagues here to do their homework on modern assessment and experiment with marking.

Starting this year, public and private school teachers in British Columbia are assessing kindergarten through Grade 9 with a scale describing a student’s level of understanding — “emerging,” “developing,” “proficient” or “extending” — instead of letter grades.

Grade 10, 11 and 12 students will continue to receive traditional letter grades and percentages.

“What’s wrong with percentages? There’s nothing wrong with them. They are a wonderful little tool, as long as they stay in their lane,” said Myron Dueck, an education consultant who was born in Winnipeg, where he graduated from teachers’ college in 1994.

Ottawa commits $8.1 million for downtown Y redevelopment

The federal government is backing a major redevelopment of Winnipeg’s Downtown Y that will expand community programs and update the century-old Vaughan Street building.

On Monday, Ottawa committed $8.1 million toward the Y’s plans to expand newcomer and mental-health programs.

The project will also upgrade elevators, change rooms, aquatics and fitness areas and energy systems. Construction is expected to begin in October, according to the Y’s website.

The YMCA-YWCA is contributing $3.5 million to the project.