Group files constitutional challenge of ArriveCan app in Federal Court

The Leaf at Assiniboine Park welcomes first visitors

The parking lot was full and Winnipeggers came out in droves Saturday morning for the public opening of The Leaf, the new indoor horticultural attraction at Assiniboine Park.

Brandon manufacturer says Canadian steel in demand, but high costs, long delivery times hit hard

Something’s different in a Brandon plant.

Building envelope panels — or shells for homes and commercial buildings — keep being produced at Greenstone Building Products.

But the galvanized steel used by workers has been arriving later and the price is constantly increasing, according to company leadership.

“It’s just a little bit nerve-wracking for us to hear the opposite narrative,” said Tilda Fortier, Greenstone Building Products’ business manager.

Third fire hits troubled Manitoba Housing apartment block

Residents of a North End Manitoba Housing apartment block with a long history of trouble say they’re shaken after the building was hit with its third fire in eight months Friday night.

An apartment complex at 145 Powers St. was evacuated by firefighters after a fire broke out at around 7:45 p.m.

When longtime resident Sharon Markwell heard the fire alarm go off, she chalked it up to a false alarm — kids will get into the building and pull the fire alarm around once or twice a month, she said — until smoke began billowing into the hallway of her fifth-floor apartment.

“Once I realized that I could smell smoke very, very strongly, and the smoke was seeping into my room, into my apartment, I said to myself, ‘This is no false alarm. This is the real thing,’” Markwell, 64, told the Free Press Sunday.

Expect a reasonable approach to keep Manitoba’s minimum wage out of cellar

The devil will be in the details when it comes to how much the Stefanson government will increase the minimum wage in 2022 under proposed legislation that’s expected to become law this week.

My prediction: government will boost the base wage by at least $1.10 an hour this year.

As expected, the Stefanson government plans to alter its inflation-based formula for setting the minimum wage, which now stands at $11.95 an hour. Normally, the base wage is indexed to the previous year’s rate of inflation. That’s sound policy during normal times. However, with inflation growing at rates not seen in more than 30 years, an immediate adjustment is required to ensure minimum-wage earners don’t lose purchasing power.

Conservative governments in Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick have all announced significant increases to their base wages in 2022, putting pressure on the Stefanson government to follow suit. Failure to do so would see Manitoba’s minimum wage (previously scheduled to rise 40 cents an hour to $12.35 on Oct. 1) rank lowest in the country.

Oleksiak makes history with seventh Olympic medal

TOKYO - The Canadian women finished their impressive medal haul in the pool – including a record-setting performance from Penny Oleksiak – and Andre De Grasse finally got Canada's men on the board with his second consecutive Olympic bronze in the men's 100 metres.

After finishing third in the medley relay, Maggie Mac Neil draped a bronze medal brimming with significance around Oleksiak's neck as their teammates Kylie Masse and Sydney Pickrem celebrated on the podium.

"Most decorated," they chanted in unison with their arms around each other during post-ceremony interviews with reporters.

On the final day of swimming competition at the Tokyo Olympics, Toronto's Oleksiak took her place at the top among Canada's greatest Olympians. In helping the medley relay team win bronze, she earned her seventh career Olympic medal, and at just 21 became the most decorated Canadian Olympian of all time.

WRHA moves to cut growing echocardiogram wait list

Manitobans are waiting a year or more to receive a key test that detects and tracks heart disease.

As of June 15, there were about 6,500 Manitobans on the wait list for an echocardiogram, and the list is growing at a rate of about 265 per month.

Patients facing heart emergencies are receiving tests immediately, while most of those whose conditions are considered urgent or semi-urgent are getting them within established Canadian benchmark times -- about a week, officials say.

However, thousands of patients who are considered candidates for "elective" tests are waiting anywhere from 10 to 15 months, with a median wait of 12 months, according to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.