Concert hall to get $12.5-million renovation

‘You vote with your bike’: cyclists celebrate freedoms, call for increased safety

Patty Wiens got dressed up in her sparkly, hot pink cowboy boots to pedal and talk politics with more than 100 other people on Sunday.

The founder of Winnipeg’s Fancy Women Bike Ride called on attendees of the 2026 event to ask candidates in the upcoming civic election — a half-dozen of whom were in attendance — about their active transportation platforms.

“We’re here today, in an election year, to remind you that you vote with your bike,” Wiens told a crowd of nearly 120 cyclists gathered on the legislature grounds for the group ride.

“When (city council) candidates come to your door and ask what’s important to you, you’re going to say, ‘I want to ride my bike safely in the city. What are you going to do about it?’”

Shelley Cook

Shelley is a born and raised Winnipegger. She is a proud member of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.

WRHA directs three care homes to accommodate surge of hospital patients

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has directed three long-term care centres to make space for hospital patients, citing “exceptionally high demand for care across the health-care system.”

“Riverview Health Centre, Deer Lodge Centre and Misericordia Health Centre have been asked to identify additional temporary capacity for patients who no longer require an acute-care hospital bed but continue to need an appropriate level of care before they can transition to their next care setting,” a WRHA spokesperson told the Free Press Thursday.

“This whole-of-system response will help create additional capacity in acute-care hospitals, supporting patient flow and timely access to emergency departments and other hospital services.”

The spokesperson described the measures as part of “standard surge protocol,” atypical and temporary, but did not provide a timeline of how long patients would be staying at the health-care centres.

Cruise control: city mulls move to curb street noise levels

Sunday cruise nights on Portage Avenue are a Winnipeg tradition, but cavalcades of convertibles and muscle cars rolling down the street can come with a noisy byproduct.

Next week, the city's executive policy committee will discuss some changes — including noise cameras that capture licence plate data of particularly loud vehicles — aimed at keeping the volume down.

The recommendation, which would require provincial approval, comes on the heels of complaints from area residents about the Sunday night noise levels, says Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre).

"Most residents don't mind the cruise nights themselves," she said Thursday. "It's the revving and the screeching" and the modified mufflers.

A better approach, but not yet enough

In late June, when the Winnipeg Police Service launched a 10-day ‘crackdown’ on open drug use and illegal drug sales in areas in and around downtown, it did so without consulting or informing community outreach and social services agencies working in the targeted areas.

Inevitably, the WPS action drew criticism from several front-line agencies, which issued a collective statement just two days after the police operation began, pointing out that heavy-handed policing would drive vulnerable people away from the help they desperately need.

“Every day we work to build trust with people who have experienced trauma, discrimination, and barriers to care,” Kate Sjoberg, executive director of Resource Assistance for Youth, said at the time. “Actions that create fear around accessing services can undo months or years of relationship-building and place people at greater risk of preventable harm.”

At the time, WPS Chief Gene Bowers held up his hand and said, “That’s on me.”

Concert hall to get $12.5-million renovation

The Centennial Concert Hall is getting a $12.5-million facelift.

An iconic venue since its construction in downtown Winnipeg in 1967-1968, the concert hall has been home to local institutions such as the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Manitoba Opera and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, while welcoming scores of popular performers spanning half a century — from Johnny Cash to Dolly Parton to Drake.

But nearly 53 years since the hall held its opening ceremonies, the building is in need of some key upgrades — namely the removal and reinstallation of 40,000 square feet of stone cladding — hence the province’s award Monday of the hefty renovations tender to Bockstael Construction.

“The concert hall was built more than 50 years ago, and the time has come to restore and reinstall the building’s iconic Tyndall cladding and make upgrades to the roof system, windows and doors,” said central services minister Reg Helwer Monday in a joint release with sport, culture and heritage minister Cathy Cox.