A Brandon family’s Halloween attraction surpassed its fund-raising goal. The Mitchell’s ‘Scare Away Hunger’ haunted house gathered over 1,500 food items for the Samaritan House food bank – that’s up 500 from last year.
Local need for the food bank has increased significantly this year.
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Trick-or-treaters may find more fruity candy than chocolate in their ‘loot bags’ this Halloween, and there are a couple of reasons for this. Kids have already been gravitating towards gummies and freeze-dried treats for years –
and a spike in cocoa prices has made chocolate candy more expensive. Last year, 52% of the Halloween candy sold was chocolate – so far, this year it’s at 44%.
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Manitoba’s largest all-breed cattle show takes over Brandon’s Keystone Centre this week. Manitoba Ag Ex begins Wednesday featuring cattle and sheep competitions, an interactive trade show, MooMania and EweMania school tours – and the always-popular ‘Party in the Dirt’. This week – it’s on Halloween night.
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The City of Brandon has been awarded Manitoba’s prestigious Order of the Buffalo Hunt. Premier Wab Kinew says the award is a thank-you to the city, first responders and residents for helping wildfire evacuees during the summer. More than 32,700 people were displaced during this year’s wildfire season.
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Manitoba has received a D-minus for fiscal accountability. The CD Howe Institute says its report compares how clearly and quickly senior governments relay what they plan to spend – and what they actually spend. Alberta is at the top – Manitoba and NWT are at the bottom. The Institute says budgets should be accessible, timely and reliable.
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There’s support from Manitoba parents for mandatory screenings for learning disabilities in schools. The province is currently piloting early reading screening tools in several schools, but a private members bill would establish universal screenings twice every school year in kindergarten to Grade 3. Other provinces have reportedly seen literacy rates rise because of universal screenings.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump are both in Asia, but Trump says he won’t meet with Carney “for a long time.” Trump was angered by an anti-tariff TV ad, produced by the Ontario government,
and has threatened Canada with another 10% tariff on top of existing levies.
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If you’ve got the money, you can put your name on a Saskatchewan town. Duck Lake, northeast of Saskatoon, is putting the town’s name up for sale, but there’s a minimum price of $10-million. Some residents say the idea could help businesses, while others say Duck Lake is already known as the site of a significant battle during the North-West Resistance in 1885.
