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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 6 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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Supplied

Brian Cornick, president and CEO of Cando Rail & Terminals Ltd.
Supplied Brian Cornick, president and CEO of Cando Rail & Terminals Ltd.

Picking up speed in first-, last-mile sector

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Preview

Picking up speed in first-, last-mile sector

Aaron Epp 4 minute read 10:47 PM CST

In a move the company’s chief executive describes as “transformative,” Cando Rail & Terminals Ltd. has acquired a leading rail provider in the United States.

The Brandon-based company, which owns and operates first- and last-mile rail infrastructure, announced on Monday its acquisition of Utah firm Savage Rail.

Savage Rail is part of Savage Enterprises LLC, a family of companies headquartered in Salt Lake City.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close April 30, were not disclosed.

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10:47 PM CST

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

‘Diversity is strong,’ says Carla Velho, co-owner of Heavenly Coco Cafe.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS ‘Diversity is strong,’ says Carla Velho, co-owner of Heavenly Coco Cafe.

Heavenly Coco Cafe owners order up Chilean, Portuguese pride

Toni De Guzman 3 minute read Preview

Heavenly Coco Cafe owners order up Chilean, Portuguese pride

Toni De Guzman 3 minute read 10:46 PM CST

A taekwondo lesson and a chat — that’s how a new Chilean- and Portuguese-owned café was born in Winnipeg.

Heavenly Coco Cafe is a new eatery that opened in the North Kildonan area in late January. Its owners, Carla Velho and Stephanie Maldonado, first met during a martial arts lesson and joked about merging together their individual sweet treat businesses.

A little more than a year later, Velho combined her Heavenly Cakes and Tarts with Maldonado’s Coco Loco Treats to make Heavenly Coco Cafe.

“It started off as a joke and became the best adventure I’ve ever been on,” said Velho.

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10:46 PM CST

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

Bound to Please Books owner Dylan Yeun on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. For Malak story. Free Press 2026
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Bound to Please Books owner Dylan Yeun on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. For Malak story. Free Press 2026

Local booksellers ride genre-specific wave

Malak Abas 7 minute read Preview

Local booksellers ride genre-specific wave

Malak Abas 7 minute read 12:35 PM CST

If you walk into the provocatively-named Bound to Please bookstore on Valentine’s Day, you’ll get the chance to tell a romantic story of your own — or a not-so-romantic one.

“If you come in on a date, you get 10 per cent off, and if you come in with a break-up story, you get 15 per cent, because you need the romance books more,” owner Dylan Yeun told the Free Press with a laugh.

Yeun, 23, opened Bound to Please at 995 McPhillips St. last month with the dream of joining Winnipeg’s collection of genre-specific bookstores after studying romantic literature in university.

“I took a lot of classes in university where we talked about what is and isn’t valued as a genre. And a lot of the time, romance isn’t valued as a genre worth studying because it’s kind of viewed as less serious, less important than a lot of other genres — and that primarily has to do with the importance of it for women,” she said. “So that was something that I was really interested in.”

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12:35 PM CST

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS

Brian Scharfstein, owner of Canadian Footwear, is one of the Exchange District business owners who have been pushing the government for increased security measures in the neighbourhood.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS Brian Scharfstein, owner of Canadian Footwear, is one of the Exchange District business owners who have been pushing the government for increased security measures in the neighbourhood.

Exchange District businesses push for additional security

Gabrielle Piché 6 minute read Preview

Exchange District businesses push for additional security

Gabrielle Piché 6 minute read 12:35 PM CST

Selling shoes isn’t the only thing on Brian Scharfstein’s mind.

The owner of Canadian Footwear, an Exchange District business, has spent a lot of time thinking about security.

His bottom line has been hurt by the homeless and mental illness crisis, which has kept customers away, he said.

He’s not alone: a handful of Exchange District business owners have been pressing the government for increased security measures, such as patrols, in the area.

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12:35 PM CST

Ruth Bonneville / Free Press

Oakwood Cafe owner Wendy May, with longtime server is Kendra Menard, in the restaurant Friday. The Oakwood Cafe is closing after over 30 years because the restaurant lost its financial footing during the pandemic and was never able to fully recover.
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press Oakwood Cafe owner Wendy May, with longtime server is Kendra Menard, in the restaurant Friday. The Oakwood Cafe is closing after over 30 years because the restaurant lost its financial footing during the pandemic and was never able to fully recover.

‘Neighbourhood staple’ Oakwood Cafe to shutter

Malak Abas 5 minute read Preview

‘Neighbourhood staple’ Oakwood Cafe to shutter

Malak Abas 5 minute read 12:34 PM CST

At one of the Oakwood Cafe’s last lunch rushes, one might guess the restaurant packed full of diners was influenced by the announcement a day earlier the decades-old South Osborne neighbourhood institution would be closing its doors for good.

That’s partially true — some customers beeline to veteran server Kendra Menard with questions, well-wishes and hugs — but every time it happens, a chain reaction follows: diners just here for lunch, shocked, ask their companions if it’s true, if the Oakwood is really closing.

Menard has been a server at the Oakwood for 23 years, almost half her life. It shows: while speaking with the Free Press on Friday, she welcomes guests by name and preps drinks at tables reserved by regulars before they show up.

Pointing to a single-seat table, she tells a story of a regular, Bob, who was at that table for breakfast nearly seven days a week for years. Menard’s children shovelled his snow and staff would call to check on him if he didn’t show up.

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12:34 PM CST

Consortium plans bold investment in Thompson nickel mine

Aaron Epp 6 minute read 12:33 PM CST

A newly formed company said it expects to invest as much as $280 million in nickel mining activity in Thompson.

Vale Base Metals, which owns the nickel mining operation, announced on Thursday it has partnered with three companies — Exiro Minerals Corp., Orion Resource Partners LP and Canada Growth Fund Inc. — to create a new business that will be known as Exiro Nickel Company.

The new owners aim to double production in five years and add to the operation’s current workforce of 700.

“We want to ramp up production and we want to get back to what peak periods of production were in the past,” said Shastri Ramnath, CEO of the new consortium, on Thursday.

More Business

Access Credit Union to close six branches

Malak Abas 2 minute read Friday, Feb. 20, 2026

ACCESS Credit Union is closing six of its branches across Manitoba and opening a new one in Winnipeg.

Branches in Moosehorn, Sanford and at 850 Regent Avenue in Winnipeg will close June 18, and Access’ locations in Plum Coulee, Emerson and at 720 St. Anne’s Road in Winnipeg will close Oct. 21. All six will consolidate with nearby larger locations.

The closures come just over a year after Access Credit Union announced it would be shuttering branches in Birds Hill, Gretna, Lowe Farm and Miami, all communities where Access was the sole financial institution in their location.

The same reasoning was given for both closure announcements: a drop in in-branch traffic and more use of online and mobile banking.

Richard Buchan / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES

Real estate market insiders believe Winnipeg will likely remain a seller’s market in 2026 with the price of a typical house in the city expected to surpass $400,000 this spring.
Richard Buchan / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Real estate market insiders believe Winnipeg will likely remain a seller’s market in 2026 with the price of a typical house in the city expected to surpass $400,000 this spring.

Price of typical Winnipeg home expected to blast past $400K

Malak Abas 4 minute read Preview

Price of typical Winnipeg home expected to blast past $400K

Malak Abas 4 minute read Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026

The price of a typical house in Winnipeg is expected to surpass $400,000 this spring and the city will likely remain a seller’s market in 2026, real estate professionals heard at a market insight event Thursday.

The Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board predicts strong housing demand and rising prices, but a low number of active listings compared to much of Canada.

In 2025, $6 billion worth of housing sold in Winnipeg — second only to 2021, but the current five-year average number of listings is the lowest it has been in 13 years.

“We can see very clearly that our market region is in need of more supply,” said Jeremy Davis, the board’s director of external relations and market intelligence.

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Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026

Ruth Bonneville / Free Press

NIBI Enviro Tech co-founder Robin Richards at the company’s Transcona facility.
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press NIBI Enviro Tech co-founder Robin Richards at the company’s Transcona facility.

Building sustainable, practical solutions

Aaron Epp 5 minute read Preview

Building sustainable, practical solutions

Aaron Epp 5 minute read Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026

When Robin Richards looks at a shipping container, he sees possibilities. It could be a freezer, backyard cabin or small storefront.

“The opportunities are endless,” Richards said.

The 40-year-old entrepreneur is the co-founder of NIBI Environmental Technologies Ltd., a Winnipeg business that recycles shipping containers and turns them into custom modular pods. The turnkey pods are designed to be mobile and durable.

Richards started the company in 2022 with business partner Kelsey Friesen. Last year, the company set up its headquarters in an industrial park in the Transcona neighbourhood of Winnipeg and began manufacturing pods.

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Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026
Food-culture extremes reverberate back to farm

Food-culture extremes reverberate back to farm

Laura Rance 4 minute read Preview

Food-culture extremes reverberate back to farm

Laura Rance 4 minute read Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026

The absurdity of our civilization’s extreme relationship with food hit me like a runaway snowboard the other night while watching the Ozempic Olympics in between commercials advertising pizza and french fries.

The relentless marketing, alternately promoting weight-loss support and foods that lean towards making us fat, isn’t aimed at the elite winter athletes strutting their stuff on the world stage in Italy. It’s a safe bet they didn’t achieve the peak of human fitness on a diet of pizza and french fries. It’s equally doubtful they require injections of the GLP-1 class of drugs to help manage their weight.

These athletes deserve our admiration and respect, but to be fair to the rest of us, most working stiffs don’t have the time, drive or resources to devote full-time to the pursuit of extreme fitness.

No, those commercials are aimed at the couch potatoes back home, subjecting us to both temptation and a shortcut to redemption as we bear witness to these feats of human endurance.

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Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026

Freepik

Given all the other needs of a couple — notably purchasing an increasingly pricey home — many Canadians are skipping traditions such as a pricey engagement ring.
Freepik Given all the other needs of a couple — notably purchasing an increasingly pricey home — many Canadians are skipping traditions such as a pricey engagement ring.

Value of Valentine’s Day money chat

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Preview

Value of Valentine’s Day money chat

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026

Valentine’s Day may be for lovers, and a chat about personal finance certainly risks dulling the passions of the day. That is unless you love money.

Yet it is a discussion that nonetheless should happen … eventually. Often sooner is better than later, hopefully, well before popping the big question.

That decisive question could be happening right now. Valentine’s Day is the premier day for couples to get engaged and that big ask (and hopefully affirmative answer) often comes with a hefty capital allocation for a sparkling speck of costly rock set in a ring made of an increasingly high-priced precious metal.

De Beers coined the notion of three months’ salary as the rule of thumb to spend on an engagement ring amid the Great Depression. At the time, diamonds weren’t common for engagement rings. Today, the world’s priciest gem is considered the norm — and the bigger the rock, the greater the profession of your love, according to the marketing.

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Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026

Supplied

Brian Cornick, president and CEO of Cando Rail & Terminals Ltd.
Supplied Brian Cornick, president and CEO of Cando Rail & Terminals Ltd.

Picking up speed in first-, last-mile sector

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Preview

Picking up speed in first-, last-mile sector

Aaron Epp 4 minute read 10:47 PM CST

In a move the company’s chief executive describes as “transformative,” Cando Rail & Terminals Ltd. has acquired a leading rail provider in the United States.

The Brandon-based company, which owns and operates first- and last-mile rail infrastructure, announced on Monday its acquisition of Utah firm Savage Rail.

Savage Rail is part of Savage Enterprises LLC, a family of companies headquartered in Salt Lake City.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close April 30, were not disclosed.

Read
10:47 PM CST

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