Latest news with #ConnectingWinnipeg
Global News
29-07-2025
- General
- Global News
A month into new transit system, Winnipeg councillor says city wants rider feedback
The City of Winnipeg says it's encouraging more feedback on its transit overhaul, which launched a month ago Tuesday. Coun. Janice Lukes, city hall's public works chair, told 680 CJOB's Connecting Winnipeg the comments she's received so far have been a mixed bag, with a lot of them coming from frustrated bus riders, but said the feedback is necessary to help the city make tweaks to the system. 'People send me a lot of feedback. I know (Winnipeg) Transit has received a lot of feedback through 311 … and transit's analyzing all this data,' Lukes said. 'We've always said, all along, there's going to be some humps and bumps in the transition, and sometimes the only way you find out what those humps and bumps are is to make the transition and then deal with it. 'It's been a bit of a rough ride, I'd say. Change is not always rapidly embraced. Change for some is positive, and change for others … not so positive.' Story continues below advertisement 0:42 Winnipeg mayor responds to transit network complaints Lukes said the city will likely refine aspects of the system, like bus stop locations and transit hours, but one key element of the new spine-and-feeder model that won't change is the emphasis on transfers. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'The backbone, the foundation of this model, is it's based on transfers, and I know a lot of people are worked up about that,' she said. 'I'm hearing that they come out of their residential neighbourhoods, and then they transfer to get on a main line, to get on the spine. This is something that won't change … we're going to be making some adjustments, but the essence of transfers won't change.' Lukes said members of council will meet on Wednesday with transit officials to discuss the feedback they've received and start working toward improvements, noting that any changes will happen throughout the year as the city's bus usage tends to be seasonal, with fewer riders in the summer and the heaviest usage beginning in the fall, when students return to school. Story continues below advertisement 'Come fall, it's a completely different game. I expect people will be seeing changes throughout the year. To what degree? I don't have any answers for that yet. 'But please, please send in the feedback. It's one thing to complain, it's another to be doing constructive complaints and send it in.' 4:00 Testing the new transit system
Global News
11-06-2025
- Climate
- Global News
‘Too hot, too dry': Manitoba looking at more of the same in summer outlook
Winnipeg has been warmer than usual already this season, a trend forecasters say is set to continue. That's great news for beachgoers, but not for the ongoing fight against wildfires. Climatologist David Phillips told 680 CJOB's Connecting Winnipeg that the Prairies are leading the country in terms of days where the mercury has risen above 30 C. 'You've had about seven, eight days where the temperature's been above 30. That's over half of what you normally would see for the entire year and yet summer hasn't really begun,' Phillips said. 'In Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, we've had one day above 30. The west has been too hot, too dry for too long… in the east, we're saying, 'where is it?'' Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Phillips said the weather agency's summer outlook is showing this trend is likely to continue in Manitoba and throughout the West, with potentially lower-than-average levels of precipitation. Story continues below advertisement That's not ideal when there are more than 200 wildfires currently raging in the west — 25 of which are here in Manitoba. 'Look at the forest fires. I counted this morning … there's one fire in Eastern Canada, it's burning in Quebec, and it's probably a campfire,' he said. 'West of Lake Superior, we have 225 fires.' Phillips said June is usually the wettest month on the Prairies, but not a lot of rain is expected in Manitoba for the near future. Over the next week, there's only one day where there's a 60 per cent chance of rain. 'In Winnipeg, for example, since Jan. 1, you've only had 45 per cent of what you normally would get with precipitations, and it's been worse in other areas,' he said. 'This is the beginning of the lightning season — 70 per cent of your lightning strikes in Manitoba come in June of July.'
Global News
03-06-2025
- Climate
- Global News
‘They're in turmoil': Northern Manitoba leaders watching wildfires
The mayor of Flin Flon says the evacuation of his community feels like a family being ripped apart, but he hopes everyone will be back together again once the threat of wildfires is safely past. George Fontaine told 680 CJOB's Connecting Winnipeg that the situation facing the northern Manitoba city remains volatile but said, to his knowledge, no structures in Flin Flon have been destroyed by the blaze. Fontaine said he feels for the 5,000 residents who have been evacuated, as well as those in the surrounding communities, including Cranberry Portage, Man., and Creighton, Sask. 'They're not necessarily residents of Flin Flon, but they are Flin Flon society members. We all live together, we belong to the same organizations, the same churches, the same sports clubs, the arts communities,' he said. 'All those things are intermingled — they're all one group of people, and right now they're in turmoil.' Story continues below advertisement Fontaine learned Monday that a handful of officials will be allowed back into the city to support firefighters and get on-the-ground information about the ongoing crisis. While it's been difficult to get much in the way of updates so far, he said he understands that people on the front lines of the wildfire fight have a lot on their hands right now. 'People are trying, I'm sure, on their end … I'm not getting reports because they're too darn busy doing what they need to do to talk to me,' he said. 'What we're looking at right now is a situation where we just keep hoping.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Fontaine said he's thankful to the City of Winnipeg, more than 750 kilometres away, as well as other Manitoba communities, for opening spaces to support Flin Flon's evacuees. 1:35 Wildfire evacuees find support in Manitoba, Ontario While Flin Flon, so far, hasn't seen any damage to buildings within city limits, the town of Lynn Lake hasn't been quite so lucky. Story continues below advertisement Lynn Lake Mayor Brandon Dulewich told Global Winnipeg that a nearby wildfire did enter the town, although the vast majority of its 600 residents — aside from a few town officials and fire crews — had already been evacuated. 'Right in town we've lost four buildings. Two fairly large apartment complexes and two residential homes. There's some minor injuries of the firefighters,' he said. Dulewich said at one point Lynn Lake's hospital was threatened, but fire crews were able to hold back the flames. Fire departments from Morris and Brandon are on the ground to help combat the blaze, a situation the mayor described as touch and go. 'It's tough. The winds we've been seeing are unprecedented for our area,' Dulewich said. 'We're so heavily wooded up here that we don't typically get the 80-kilometre, 90-kilometre winds. We're standing there fighting fires and shingles are blowing off roofs — that's weather we don't see up here typically.' View image in full screen A wildfire burns in the Manitoba town of Lynn Lake. Submitted / Brandon Dulewich And while wildfire evacuees are spread across the province in hotels or other facilities awaiting the all-clear to return home, their pets are also getting a safe haven, thanks to the Winnipeg Humane Society, which has set up a temporary shelter at the St. Norbert Community Centre. Story continues below advertisement The humane society's Carly Peters told 680 CJOB's The Start there's currently space for about 60 animals. Pets will be housed in their own kennels, be fed and walked daily, and families will be able to visit at designated times. We will continue to work with the Red Cross on increasing capacity as needed,' Peters said. 'There's always ways to pivot and find extra space and hopefully we can support as many animals as we can.'
Global News
12-05-2025
- Climate
- Global News
‘Would have been devastating': Fire at Oak Hammock Marsh narrowly misses new building
A stray bolt of lightning could have caused disastrous consequences at a Manitoba wetland and wildlife management area over the weekend. Oak Hammock Marsh communications director Jacques Bourgeois told 680 CJOB's Connecting Winnipeg that the fire, which came close to consuming a new building, was spotted by birdwatchers on a trail at the sprawling marsh. 'We got lots of calls last night — there were people doing some birdwatching on the trails, and they smelled the smoke and saw large flames coming from the area around the building, so they called the fire truck,' he said. 'It was a lot closer than I thought — when I came this morning, it was about 300 metres from a building that we were just about to open in two weeks, so it would have been devastating.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Bourgeois said the building survived the blaze unscathed and that crews were on scene overnight battling the flames, but the situation is now under control. Story continues below advertisement For safety's sake, however, Oak Hammock Marsh is trying to crack down on anything that could spark another fire, given current dry conditions, as the area remains at risk for wildfires. 'We have cancelled all of the programs that require fire, for example, bannock baking,' he said. 'We're trying to encourage visitors not to smoke on the trail, because it's like a tinderbox right now…. We want to make sure nothing happens to the marsh.'
