Boyfriend invite doesn’t bode well for girl time

Physician watchdog under fire for ‘outrageous’ policy

The Manitoba physician watchdog’s policy of deferring its own investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct while a police probe is ongoing is “outrageous” and is further evidence an independent review is needed into the regulatory body, critics say.

Rural Canada sees uneven population change: census

Kelly Rae, the administrator of Arran, Sask., says the denizens of dwindling rural communities like her own are clinging to a vanishing way of life in Canada.

Between 2011 and 2021, the village west of the Manitoba border saw its population slashed in half to just 20 people,Statistics Canada reported on Wednesday, as it released the first tranche of data from last year's census.

The share of Canadians living in rural areas has declined for the ninth census in a row, the agency said, dropping from 18.7 per cent in 2016 to 17.8 per cent in 2021.

However, the count showed that Canada's rural population grew faster than any other G7 country, ticking up 0.4 per cent over the five-year period to 6.6 million people in May 2021.

Russian missile strike hits crowded shopping mall in Ukraine

KREMENCHUK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian long-range bombers struck a crowded shopping mall in Ukraine's central city of Kremenchuk with a missile on Monday, raising fears of what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an “unimaginable” number of victims in “one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history.”

Zelenskky said that many of the more than 1,000 afternoon shoppers and staff inside the mall managed to escape. Giant plumes of black smoke, dust and orange flames emanated from the wreckage, with emergency crews rushing in to search broken metal and concrete for victims and put out fires. Onlookers watched in distress at the sight of how an everyday activity such as shopping could turn into a horror.

The casualty figures were changing as rescuers searched the smoldering rubble into early Tuesday. Ukraine's emergency services reported late Monday that at least 16 people were dead and about 60 wounded.

Soldiers worked into the night to lug sheets of twisted metal and broken concrete, as one drilled into what remained of the shopping center's roof. Drones whirred above, clouds of dark smoke still emanating from the ruins several hours after the fire had been put out.

Tories’ big Hydro lie just got fatter

The Manitoba Hydro pig has been back to the salon for a whole new shade of lipstick.

Subject to months of increasingly shrill criticism, the Progressive Conservative government has unveiled new political spin on Bill 35, the controversial proposed law that re-invents the process of setting annual electricity rate increases.

A coalition, which includes consumers groups and the province's biggest industrial power users, is united in its condemnation of Bill 35, portraying it as a dangerous and needless disembowelling of the Public Utilities Board that will ultimately push the cost of electricity in Manitoba to historic heights.

On Thursday, the Pallister government decided to make an attempt to meet the criticism head on. Finance Minister Scott Fielding and Crown Services Minister Jeff Wharton announced amendments to Bill 35 that they said would ensure predictable, affordable electricity rates for at least the next three years, at rates that are slightly below the average rate increases approved by the PUB over the past decade.

Slaying 19-year-old ‘caring soul’ during drug binge worth 11 years, judge rules

Jordan Belyk may have been in the grip of a drug-induced psychosis when he stabbed 19-year-old stranger Brittany Bung to death, but he knew full well his drug binge could have tragic consequences, a judge said Tuesday before sentencing him to 11 years in prison.

“There is no question this offence was shocking in its violence,” said Queen’s Bench Justice Joan McKelvey. “A significant sentence is appropriate in order to have denunciatory and deterrent effects on those who voluntarily intoxicate themselves with mind-altering drugs.

“Mr. Belyk was aware of the effect such drugs had on his life and indeed recognizes that he may continue to struggle with substance abuse once he returns to the community,” McKelvey said.

McKelvey credited Belyk for time served since the Oct. 3, 2017 killing, reducing his remaining sentence to just under six years.

‘It will probably be in the best shape that it’s ever been in’: Mantario Trail to reopen in June

The Mantario Trail is anticipated to reopen at the end of June, owing to volunteers’ “remarkable progress” on restoring the popular route that had been devastated by wildfires.

Outdoor enthusiasts are celebrating the province’s latest update on the roughly 62-kilometre trail in eastern Manitoba that’s been closed for more than a year.

“It will probably be in the best shape that it’s ever been in because of the new stuff that’s going to be put up — the signage and everything,” said Gilles Boulley, president of the South Whiteshell Trail Association.

Boulley called the multipurpose trail that straddles the Manitoba and Ontario border, “one of the gems of the (local) trail system.”