Legislature

Legislature

Province looks to future with AI

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

The Manitoba government is scouting a leader to oversee artificial intelligence use within the public sector.

A new executive director of AI and data will be tasked with promoting AI, machine learning and analytics in government and business, a job posting reads.

“It was really important, with an emerging technology like this, that we have our own in-house expertise,” said Innovation Minister Mike Moroz.

Resumes are incoming, he said, noting there is no timeline for the new hire.

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Deadline for sprinkler systems in health facilities delayed by years

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

Sprinkler systems won’t be in place in all of Manitoba’s personal care homes until the end of 2028 — 13 years after legislation was passed requiring them for all care homes, hospitals and health-care facilities.

The provincial government said Tuesday the Jan. 1, 2026 deadline for completion has come and gone and sprinkler systems are still required at fewer than half of the sites.

Sue Vovchuk, executive director of the Long Term and Continuing Care Association of Manitoba, said the group is concerned the important work hasn’t been completed.

“Fire safety in personal care homes is critical, and timely completion is necessary to protect residents, staff, and first responders,” Vovchuk said. “We urge continued focus to ensure these installations are completed without further delay.”

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES

Eric Robinson, a former deputy premier under the NDP, is calling for mandated cultural awareness training for security guards in Manitoba.

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS FILES
                                Eric Robinson, a former deputy premier under the NDP, is calling for mandated cultural awareness training for security guards in Manitoba.

Former cabinet minister takes shot at NDP over cultural training for guards

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Preview

Former cabinet minister takes shot at NDP over cultural training for guards

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

A former NDP deputy premier is calling on the Kinew government to move quickly on proposed cultural awareness training for security guards after many months of delay.

Eric Robinson and a group of Indigenous Manitobans met with bureaucrats and private security firms last year to lobby for mandated cultural awareness training in the sector.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said, last July, an advisory committee had been struck and regulatory changes were on the table.

Robinson said Monday little appears to have been done since then.

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Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

Rebecca Schneider worked at the Health Sciences Centre between 2009 and 2014.

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

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES

Manitoba Health minister Uzoma Asagwara extended the province’s self-imposed deadline to reduce its reliance on for-profit nursing agencies in January.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
                                Manitoba Health minister Uzoma Asagwara extended the province’s self-imposed deadline to reduce its reliance on for-profit nursing agencies in January.

No deadline to part ways with most private nursing agencies: province

Carol Sanders 3 minute read Preview

No deadline to part ways with most private nursing agencies: province

Carol Sanders 3 minute read Monday, Feb. 9, 2026

The province is taking its time in reducing its reliance on for-profit agency nurses to staff the public health system.

After staffing struggles prompted the government to backpedal on a Jan. 15 deadline for health regions to sever ties with all but four private nursing agencies, the province isn’t committing to a new target date.

“The transition to the selected nursing agency model remains underway, and timelines are being guided by operational readiness and patient safety needs across regions,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara’s press secretary said Monday.

Anja Sadovski said in the email health regions are being given flexibility to work with a larger number of agencies to maintain care.

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Monday, Feb. 9, 2026

SUPPLIED

Adam McAllister is seeking the Progressive Conservatives’ nomination in Springfield–Ritchot.

SUPPLIED
                                Adam McAllister is seeking the Progressive Conservatives’ nomination in Springfield–Ritchot.

Ex-People’s party hopeful eyes provincial Tory run

Staff 2 minute read Preview

Ex-People’s party hopeful eyes provincial Tory run

Staff 2 minute read Monday, Feb. 9, 2026

A former candidate for the People’s Party of Canada is hoping to carry the Tory banner in Springfield-Ritchot in the next provincial election.

Adam McAllister said he’s seeking the nomination for the Progressive Conservatives in the constituency held by PC MLA Ron Schuler, who said he won’t seek re-election.

The St. Adolphe resident, 31, ran unsuccessfully for the PPC in St. Boniface-St. Vital during the 2019 federal election against incumbent Liberal MP Dan Vandal.

The right-wing populist People’s Party was formed by Maxime Bernier in 2018 after he lost his bid for federal Conservative leader. In 2019, the PPC formed electoral district associations in 326 ridings, and unsuccessfully ran candidates in 315 of Canada’s 338 ridings.

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Monday, Feb. 9, 2026

ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Prime Minister Mark Carney jokes with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew at the end of a news conference following the First Ministers Meeting in Ottawa on Thursday.

ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS
                                Prime Minister Mark Carney jokes with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew at the end of a news conference following the First Ministers Meeting in Ottawa on Thursday.

‘Manitoba’s time is coming’: Churchill port expansion draws interest from major energy company, premier says

Tyler Searle 6 minute read Preview

‘Manitoba’s time is coming’: Churchill port expansion draws interest from major energy company, premier says

Tyler Searle 6 minute read Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026

Premier Wab Kinew’s dream of seeing a major nation-building project realized in the Port of Churchill has apparently piqued the interest of a major player in Canada’s energy sector, which is now negotiating with the province.

“It seems that Manitoba’s time is coming, and that Churchill will play an important part in that,” Kinew said Thursday, speaking to reporters after a meeting of Canada’s first ministers in Ottawa.

“There is a major energy company interested in what we’re working on with Churchill. Some officials from our government are very soon going to sign a (non-disclosure agreement) so that we can dive into some of the details effectively.”

The premier did not reveal which company is eyeing the port, but said it has been looking into the project. The non-disclosure agreement would allow the company to share “internal corporate info” with the province, without risk of it being disclosed to competitors, Kinew said.

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Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba is investigating a complaint regarding improper storage of medical records after documents were discovered outside a medical clinic on Henderson Highway.

A spokesperson said the college, which regulates the medical profession in the province, became aware of the incident Friday, “thanks to the quick thinking of the individual who spotted the records and immediately contacted us.”

“Our role is to work with the physician and/or clinic responsible to ensure this is corrected.”

The spokesperson said no determination of wrongdoing has been made as the investigation into what occurred is ongoing.

INSTAGRAM

In a video published Thursday, Premier Wab Kinew attempted to publicly appeal to Ontario Premier Doug Ford to reconsider pulling Crown Royal whisky from the shelves in that province next month.

INSTAGRAM
                                In a video published Thursday, Premier Wab Kinew attempted to publicly appeal to Ontario Premier Doug Ford to reconsider pulling Crown Royal whisky from the shelves in that province next month.

‘That’s the good stuff’: Kinew turns to social media in response to Ford’s whisky threat

Tyler Searle 4 minute read Preview

‘That’s the good stuff’: Kinew turns to social media in response to Ford’s whisky threat

Tyler Searle 4 minute read Friday, Jan. 23, 2026

Wab Kinew sent another jab at Ontario Premier Doug Ford Thursday, as the provincial leaders duel over Ford’s threat to pull Crown Royal whisky from the shelves in that province next month.

The premiers, who have each repeatedly touted their friendship, have found themselves at odds over the potential boycott of the Canadian liquor, which is mashed, distilled and aged in Gimli. Diageo, the company behind the product, announced a plan to shutter a bottling plant in Ontario, prompting the reaction from Ford.

In a video on social media Thursday, Kinew poked fun at a September news conference in which Ford emptied a whisky bottle onto the ground — splicing in footage of him pretending to catch the spilled whisky in a glass.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa… don’t waste that — that’s the good stuff,” a smiling Kinew said in the video, before raising the glass to the camera.

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Friday, Jan. 23, 2026

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