The Manitoba government will outline its plans for the coming year in a throne speech this afternoon. It’s expected to include the creation of a Crown-Indigenous corporation to help ensure Indigenous involvement in a future expansion of the Port of Churchill – and will also reportedly have plans for an overpass at Highways 1 and 5 near Carberry. In 2023, 17 people were killed in a bus-semi trailer crash at that intersection.
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There will be no federal election this winter. Mark Carney’s minority Liberal government survived a non-confidence vote and its budget passed. Five MP’s abstained from the vote, including 2 New Democrats and 2 Conservative MP’s, which was key to preventing the government from falling. Canadians were just at the polls this past April.
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The Brandon Salvation Army’s 2025 Christmas Kettle Campaign is underway, and they could use your help – donations are down from last year. The goal is to raise $110,000. They’re also in need of volunteers, and if you can donate some time, please contact the Salvation Army.
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Several non-profit organizations in Manitoba oppose Hydro’s proposed 3.5% rate hike for 2026 saying it’s ‘higher than necessary’ and will hit low income earners the hardest. At a hearing on Monday, Hydro told the Public Utilities Board it needs the increase because low water levels have reduced revenues, and major investments have to be made to upgrade or replace aging infrastructure.
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A 20-year-old God’s Lake Narrows man is dead and two teenage boys, aged 15 and 17, were sickened after reportedly drinking what they thought was smuggled alcohol, but was actually windshield wiper fluid. Police say possibly 10 others drank the substance and received medical treatment. God’s Lake Narrows is located in northeastern Manitoba.
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Manitoba Public Insurance has introduced a new online licence lookup tool. It allows employers, non-profits, and others a faster way to ensure workers and volunteers are properly licenced without visiting a service centre. Searches can only be made by licence number – no personal information is displayed.
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Harvest Manitoba’s Meals2Go student nutrition program has kicked off for another year. The program benefits 21 schools in the province including Betty Gibson and King George in Brandon. Last year, it provided 600 essential weekend and summer meal kits for kindergarten and Grade 8 students at the two schools.
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Meat from the offspring of cloned animals could soon enter the Canadian food supply – and a food expert says we may not know we’re buying it. Health Canada is looking at ending mandatory labelling for cloned animals. Dalhousie University’s Sylvain Charlebois says there’s no difference between conventional or cloned meat – while others say people deserve to know if their meat is a product of cloning.
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Canada and South Africa are talking about a “gas-for-wine” deal that could see more goods and services exchanged between the countries. Under a potential agreement, Canada would sell liquefied natural gas to South Africa – while that country would ship us high-quality wines. The G20 Summit is being held in Johannesburg this week.
