For the first time in roughly three decades, Manitoba’s real estate industry has updated key documentation in the homebuying process.

Proponents are touting new offer to purchase forms as more easily understandable and better for consumer protection.

“You don’t have to go through that ‘Choose-your-own-adventure contract’ that we had before, where you had to read it really carefully and fill in the blanks,” said Erika Miller, Manitoba Financial Services Agency’s communications manager.

A committee — including the MFSA, Manitoba Real Estate Association and Manitoba Bar Association — spent two years crafting the updated offer to purchase forms.

Boyd Group’s latest expansion involves a US$1.3 billion deal and 258 collision centres across the southeastern United States.

The Winnipeg-based corporation said it will buy Joe Hudson’s Collision Centre, a chain that’s added 123 locations over the past five years alone.

Simultaneously, Boyd Group — which houses brands like Boyd Autobody & Glass — is reporting surging profits. It expects its third-quarter sales to range from US$787 million to US$792 million — approximately five per cent higher than the previous year.

Boyd Group circled the U.S. Southeast as a “key growth region” in its go-to-market strategy, the company’s chief executive said in a news release.

The province has signed a five-year agreement with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority to “strengthen economic corridors” and connect Manitoba businesses to the Port of Vancouver.

The western Canadian port announced the memorandum of understanding Tuesday. It was signed Monday in Winnipeg.

Manitoba businesses shipped more than $4.5 billion worth of goods through the B.C. port last year. The Port of Vancouver is Canada’s largest such facility.

The new agreement will see Manitoba and the port authority collaborate to strengthen trade infrastructure, align policies and grow Manitoba’s international market access, a news release reads.

A drop in the number of Manitoba apprentices has reignited industry debate over best practice construction apprenticeship ratios.

On Tuesday, the Winnipeg Construction Association and the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba jointly called for the province to return to the two-to-one model: two apprentices per journeyperson.

The New Democrat government changed it to one-to-one last year. At the time, it cited workplace safety and a way to attract skilled workers.

Government statistics show new apprentice registrations, including non-construction positions, fell to 2,730 in 2024-25 from 3,128 in 2023-24 — a 398-person difference.

The Manitoba government has inked a $12-million food supply contract with Aramark Canada, the Canadian arm of a multibillion-dollar United States firm.

Meanwhile, local businesses have contacted provincial government officials, worried as rumours of a future U.S. deal spread through the industry.

Firms pitched themselves for multimillion-dollar contracts in October 2024. The Manitoba government had released a request for standing offers to cover food supply and delivery to Shared Health, Red River College Polytechnic and other government entities.

The province valued its ongoing contracts — cumulatively — around $45 million, the RFSO document reads.