Barring any huge dump of snow or torrential rain – the risk of spring flooding for most of Manitoba’s rivers is low to moderate. The province says there’s a moderate risk of flooding for the Assiniboine from Russell to Brandon,
and the Souris River, while the risk is low for the Red, Pembina and Saskatchewan Rivers. A system that could bring snow later this week, mostly to the Parkland, has been factored into the flood outlook.
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Construction has begun on Manitoba’s first new mine in more than 15 years. The gold mine is located near Lynn Lake – over 1,100 kilometres north of Brandon. Over the next two years, two mines sites and work camp will be built creating 600 construction jobs, and 450 steady jobs once the project is up and running.
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An open house was held in Carberry on Monday to discuss designs for a safer intersection at Highway 1 and 5 – there was a deadly crash there in 2023. Three options were presented including an RCUT which directs drivers
onto a main road to make a U-turn at a one-way median. The province will have the final say on the design.
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Workers with two Métis and Michif child and family services agencies in Manitoba are on strike. The union says they’re fighting for wage parity with other agencies, adding the gap in pay leads to high turnover rates. The employees want a raise similar to the 14% over 4 years other civil service workers got last year.
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A shortage of midwives is forcing Prairie Mountain Health to suspend at-home birthing services. Beginning April 1st, the region’s midwifery unit is pausing birth and on-call services – and is only offering prenatal, postpartum and newborn appointments until September 30th.
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Police will provide an update today on Buffalo Woman, an unidentified victim of Winnipeg serial killer Jeremy Skibicki. Few details about her have been released, but police believe she was Indigenous, in her mid-20’s, and likely killed in March 2022. Skibicki was found guilty of murdering Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and Buffalo Woman.
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After topping the charts for months, Manitoba premier Wab Kinew has slipped in the approval rankings – he’s now in second place at 65% down 2 points. Newfoundland and Labrador’s premier Andrew Furey is in top spot at 68%. Angus Reid says most Canadian leaders saw a rise in approval in the last quarter – calling it the ‘Trump bump.’
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is shifting his campaign to Quebec today. He held a rally in Hamilton last night that drew about about 4,500 people. Liberal leader Mark Carney has spent the last few days in Atlantic Canada and will be in Ontario today. The NDP’s Jagmeet Singh will also campaign in Ontario today after spending time in Montreal.
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Owning a vacation home is still a dream for many Canadians, and while fewer of us may be looking to buy one – prices are expected to increase this year as demand outpaces supply. Royal LePage says the average price of a ‘cabin in the woods’ is to rise 4% to almost $653,000. Alberta is the priciest province for a getaway property – averaging around $1.3-million. In Manitoba – the average cottage will cost you just over $310,000.
