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SUPPLIED Julie Regner loves to see Canadians tackle the slopes or après-ski at North Dakota’s Frost Fire Park.

Manitobans continue to draw line in sand, choose not to cross once-neighbourly line on land

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Monday, Feb. 23, 2026

Julie Regner loves to see Canadians tackle the slopes or après-ski at North Dakota’s Frost Fire Park, which has drawn skiers and snowboarders across the border for decades.

While there hasn’t been an official tally of visitors this season, the park’s general manager doesn’t think she’s seeing as many Manitobans amid the steep decline in Canadians venturing south.

“I would say it’s maybe decreased some from last year. They’re definitely still coming down to ski,” Regner said from the park, which is close to Walhalla, just 10 kilometres south of the border.

“We just love having them come down. They’re super nice people.”

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A city committee heard a report Tuesday on the planned development of Winnipeg Airports Authority land. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)

Jet to the west

A city committee heard a report Tuesday on the planned development of Winnipeg Airports Authority land. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)

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MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Rebecca Schneider worked at the Health Sciences Centre between 2009 and 2014.

Health-care ‘frustration’ keeps Manitoba nurse away

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Preview

Health-care ‘frustration’ keeps Manitoba nurse away

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Monday, Feb. 9, 2026

A former Manitoba nurse working in Minnesota says despite political turmoil she won’t return home to practise due to the state of the province’s health-care system.

Rebecca Schneider has considered moving back to Manitoba since November 2024, when Donald Trump was re-elected.

As the U.S. has stepped up immigration enforcement raids to seek out undocumented immigrants, Schneider said she feels unsafe in her own city.

“I have felt more unsafe in the last month with all the (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) activity in Minneapolis than I ever felt during COVID, during the riots with George Floyd’s incident in 2020,” she told the Free Press, referencing the Black man murdered by a white police officer. “There’s areas of the city you just can’t go anymore.”

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Monday, Feb. 9, 2026

Local

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES City council’s community services committee is set to revisit fireworks restrictions next March.

Councillors push decision on new fireworks restrictions to next spring

Malak Abas 4 minute read Preview

Councillors push decision on new fireworks restrictions to next spring

Malak Abas 4 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2026

Fire prevention officers will meet with cultural groups and fireworks sellers to talk about conducting safe celebrations, but the city won’t impose any bans or create new bylaws before next year.

City council’s community services committee heard from the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service Tuesday and from speakers arguing both for and against additional fines, enforcement or restrictions around the sale and use of fireworks.

The committee was split on how to approach new fireworks bylaws and eventually voted to revisit the issue next March, promising to create a working group to explore the issue further, in the meantime.

“I think it’s a very complicated file, and it’s important that we’re able to hear from the councillors on what direction they want this to take for the city,” Lisa Gilmour, the WFPS’ assistant chief of community risk reduction, said after Tuesday’s meeting.

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Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2026

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Opposition house leader Derek Johnson, right.

Health care at heart of spring session as MLAs head back to legislature

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Preview

Health care at heart of spring session as MLAs head back to legislature

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Wednesday, Mar. 4, 2026

Health care bills top the NDP government’s legislative agenda as MLAs return for the spring session Wednesday.

Premier Wab Kinew said Tuesday that a patient safety charter, nurse-to-patient ratios “and then ending mandatory overtime” are his government’s priorities.

“Those are the ones I really want to see,” Kinew told reporters Tuesday, echoing messages contained in November’s throne speech.

The Manitoba Nurses Union said it supports bills to strengthen health care but isn’t sure how and when they can be enforced.

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Wednesday, Mar. 4, 2026

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‘The fireman grabbed me… and pulled me out’

‘The fireman grabbed me… and pulled me out’

Survivor recounts horror of losing granddaughter, cousin; within four minutes, small West End fire became fatal inferno

Chris Kitching 5 minute read Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

Local

Manitoba speeds up process for international pharmacists to work here

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Friday, Feb. 6, 2026

Manitoba wants to attract more qualified pharmacists from outside Canada by making it easier for them to practise here, the health minister said Friday.

A new streamlined registration and licensure pathway to remove unnecessary barriers for qualified health professionals took effect in December.

“We’ve been working with our partners to make sure that we have an expedited and clear pathway for pharmacists,” Asagwara said. “They are a big part of our primary care teams.”

They are often the most accessible health-care providers in rural and underserved communities, they said.

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SUPPLIED Barret Miller, manager of education and programming at Assiniboine Park Conservancy, holds up a piece of European buckthorn, an invasive species plaguing the park and the city. On Saturday May 2, members of the public are invited to help fight the invasion at the park by removing the plant, a first for the APC.

Thorn in their side: Assiniboine Park asks for help to remove invasive plant

Morgan Modjeski 2 minute read Preview

Thorn in their side: Assiniboine Park asks for help to remove invasive plant

Morgan Modjeski 2 minute read Friday, May. 1, 2026

Assiniboine Park Conservancy is rallying the troops to stop the invasion.

Saturday will be a bad day for European buckthorn at the park, as forestry staff are hoping 100 volunteers will show up to help clear the problematic plant.

“It’s a big issue and there’s a lot of it,” said Barret Miller, the park’s manager of education and programming.

This is the first time the conservancy is asking for help from the public to remove the invasive weed from the Winnipeg green space. The section being targeted is in the heart of the park, just south of the cricket fields.

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Friday, May. 1, 2026

Local

Ruth Bonneville / Free Press Scott Gillingham and his wife Marla are all smiles after he officially registered his bid to be re-elected to a second term as Winnipeg mayor at city hall, Friday.

Gillingham lists first-term mayoral accomplishments on way to register for Round 2

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Preview

Gillingham lists first-term mayoral accomplishments on way to register for Round 2

Joyanne Pursaga 5 minute read Friday, May. 1, 2026

Mayor Scott Gillingham says he’s the right candidate to provide consistent leadership for Winnipeg over the next four years, amid affordability and crime concerns.

“I know I have the team and the experience to continue to provide that stable leadership in times that are uncertain,” said Gillingham.

The incumbent candidate spoke with reporters Friday afternoon, just before registering his bid to be re-elected to a second term as mayor.

Gillingham credited the first city council he led with taking action on several long-standing issues, such as furthering work on the North End sewage treatment plant upgrade, the redevelopment of Portage Place and the reopening of Portage Avenue and Main Street to pedestrians.

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Friday, May. 1, 2026

Opinion

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES The facility that supported the search for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran at the Prairie Green Landfill has been removed.

One small step forward — and a challenge to take another

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read Preview

One small step forward — and a challenge to take another

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read Friday, May. 1, 2026

The Manitoba government said this week it had completed the removal of all material and structures that supported the search for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran at the Prairie Green Landfill.

The remains of Harris and Myran, Indigenous victims of a serial killer, were found there in February 2025, a few weeks after the search began.

A 2023 feasibility study funded by the federal government and spearheaded by an Indigenous-led committee suggested the search could take up to three years, be extremely dangerous and cost about $184 million. This meant many thought the search should not — or even could not — be done.

Members of the Winnipeg police — including then-chief Danny Smyth previously said a search was “unfeasible,” as did then-Tory premier Heather Stefanson.

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Friday, May. 1, 2026

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