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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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Job-site policy cited in cost of Brandon school construction

Connor McDowell 5 minute read Saturday, May. 9, 2026

BRANDON — The Construction Association of Rural Manitoba has said it will cost as much as 20 per cent more to build a school in Brandon because of the labour policy introduced by the provincial government in 2025.

The regulations include prioritizing union workers when adding extra staff and paying a fee of 85 cents per worker per hour, executive director Shawn Wood said.

“We know from talking to our members: if they’re going to bid on a project, just the additional admin costs and the additional cost of that 85 cents per man hour puts them anywhere from a five to 20 per cent increase in cost,” Wood said.

“I believe the Brandon school will be closer to the 20 per cent.”

Local

NFI Group net earnings up in Q1 on similar revenue

Free Press staff 2 minute read Friday, May. 8, 2026

NFI Group Inc. has reported a 40.8 per cent increase in gross profit in its first quarter, compared to a year earlier.

The Winnipeg-headquartered bus manufacturing company (which keeps its books in U.S. dollars) posted US$132.3 million in gross profit in the first three months of 2026, impacted by the firm working through a backlog of higher-margin units.

Its overall revenue in the same quarter was US$842 million, similar to the previous year.

NFI said its net earnings were US$11.5 million, an increase of US$18 million year-over-year.

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Opinion

JEFF MCINTOSH / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes hands with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Calgary on May 15. The most disappointing aspect of the Smith-Carney deal, Dan Lett writes, is not their stated intentions to build another pipeline.

Carney, Smith all smiles while time runs out on climate change

Dan Lett 5 minute read Preview

Carney, Smith all smiles while time runs out on climate change

Dan Lett 5 minute read Monday, May. 18, 2026

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney were all smiles last week when they signed an agreement to begin construction of a new oil pipeline by 2027, while also delaying and softening an industrial carbon pricing regime that would apply to producers.

Both Alberta and Ottawa portrayed the deal as a victory: an agreement to fulfil one of Alberta’s principal economic development ambitions while also allowing Ottawa to claim it had agreement from Smith and the oil and gas industry to invest more in carbon capture systems in exchange for less punitive carbon pricing.

Those smiles were evidence both political leaders had erased from their memories a late 2025 report from the Parliamentary Budget Office. The report warned governments of all levels to brace for a rapid rise in the costs of mitigating and repairing damage from severe weather events triggered by climate change.

The PBO projected federal costs related to the Disaster Financial Assistance (DFAA) program, which provides financial support to provinces and territories to help pay for costs related to “natural hazards,” were going to double on an annual basis, starting this year.

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Monday, May. 18, 2026

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John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES

Rural resident wins court battle against ban from council meetings

Kevin Rollason 3 minute read Preview

Rural resident wins court battle against ban from council meetings

Kevin Rollason 3 minute read Monday, Apr. 20, 2026

A Manitoba judge has told a rural municipal council it can’t issue a blanket ban on people attending council meetings.

Justice Sadie Bond, of the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench, said the Rural Municipality of Alexander has to allow resident Aaron Wiebe to attend council meetings.

“The banning resolutions are neither an exercise of the RM’s authority under the (Municipal) Act, nor under the RM’s procedures bylaw,” Bond said in her 14-page decision, which was released on Monday.

“In passing them, the council acted in excess of its jurisdiction… I find that the council’s interpretation of its authority to pass banning resolutions is both incorrect and not reasonable.”

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Monday, Apr. 20, 2026

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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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Tim Smith / The Brandon Sun Files A pickup trucks sits partially submerged in floodwaters along Highway 83 south of Swan River last Wednesday after sustained rainfall earlier in the week caused widespread flooding.

Kinew vows financial aid on way for rural Manitobans, but Winnipeggers may not be covered after flooding

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Preview

Kinew vows financial aid on way for rural Manitobans, but Winnipeggers may not be covered after flooding

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 5:48 PM CDT

Premier Wab Kinew announced Tuesday the province is changing rules to give disaster financial assistance to victims of last week’s flash floods in rural Manitoba, while Winnipeg residents may be out of luck.

Kinew encouraged applicants to ignore the standard terms on the government’s website and forms that state insurable damages are not eligible for provincial aid.

“If you have somebody who’s lived in a community for eight or nine decades and they’ve never seen this kind of flooding, it’s reasonable to expect that folks in that area wouldn’t put up flood protection or they wouldn’t purchase overland flood insurance,” he told reporters at an event in Selkirk.

“Because of that reality of a changing climate bringing forward impacts we’ve never seen in certain parts of the province before, that’s why we’re looking at ensuring this DFA program is going to be there for people so that no one in rural Manitoba gets left behind, and we’re not going to let the rules, as posted on the website, stand in the way of doing the right thing.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 5:48 PM CDT

Local

LANDMARK PLANNING AND DESIGN The Waters Urban Village project.

Mayor’s cabinet signs off on proposed 110-acre neighbourhood on Dugald Road

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Preview

Mayor’s cabinet signs off on proposed 110-acre neighbourhood on Dugald Road

Joyanne Pursaga 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 6:02 PM CDT

A major development proposes to create nearly 3,000 homes, ample commercial space and a possible school at a mostly vacant industrial park.

The Waters Urban Village project would transform 110 acres (44.5 hectares) of employment and industrial land at 1390 and 1470 Dugald Road in the St. Boniface Industrial Park by creating 2,946 residential units, a commercial town centre, a central park and six business park buildings, pending final city council approval.

The largest high-rise residential buildings would be close to key Winnipeg Transit routes.

The substantial addition of infill homes and businesses fits well with the city’s goals to make use of existing infrastructure, said a proponent of the project.

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Updated: Yesterday at 6:02 PM CDT

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SUPPLIED Michael Koncur’s basement shower flooded with sewage — again — after heavy rainfall Monday.

‘Here we go again’: North Kildonan homeowners throw up hands after basements swamped by sewage — for second time in week

Morgan Modjeski 5 minute read Preview

‘Here we go again’: North Kildonan homeowners throw up hands after basements swamped by sewage — for second time in week

Morgan Modjeski 5 minute read Yesterday at 5:30 PM CDT

A North Kildonan resident thought he was having a heart attack Monday as he watched feces-filled water enter his home for the second time in less than a week.

Michael Koncur, 56, has lived on Oakland Avenue for approximately 15 years, but it was only last week when the city was swamped by storms did sewage in his basement become a problem.

Koncur has $10,000 in insurance coverage but an adjuster estimated the damage at $25,000. He’s already spent $3,000 on cleanup. When his toilet started to gurgle again on Monday, he was horrified.

“I figured ‘Oh my God. Here we go again,’” he said. “I walked into my bathroom just in time again to see feces coming up my shower drain.”

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Yesterday at 5:30 PM CDT

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