Latest news with #ManitobaHydro
CBC
a day ago
- Business
- CBC
Technical, administrative support staff at Manitoba Hydro vote for strike action
Technical and administrative support workers at Manitoba Hydro have voted in favour of strike action after their union says negotiations with the Crown utilities corporation reached a stalemate. CUPE Local 998, the chapter of the union representing about 870 Manitoba Hydro workers, said the strike vote comes months into bargaining in which the Crown corporation has failed to present an offer that is consistent with other bargaining units. The vote in favour of the strike mandate happened on Friday. The union said in a statement Monday that it is filing for conciliation services in an attempt to reach a deal before setting a strike date, which could happen within a few weeks. The union said the Crown corporation was mismanaged by the previous PC government and the NDP government has failed to "right the ship," despite its promises. A spokesperson for Manitoba Hydro said the Crown corporation remains committed to the collective bargaining process with hopes of reaching a fair settlement consistent with agreements reached with other bargaining units. Manitoba Hydro workers represented by Unifor ratified a new contract with the Crown corporation earlier this year and a tentative agreement with workers from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union's local chapter in 2023. CUPE said it is bargaining for wage increases equal to other bargaining units, the reversal of privatization efforts and addressing union recognition issues by Hydro management. The union said its Local 998 chapter is the second-largest bargaining group at Manitoba Hydro, representing IT, the customer engagement centre and other technical and administrative support staff.
Globe and Mail
3 days ago
- Climate
- Globe and Mail
Manitoba evacuates hundreds more as wildfires rage in Western Canada
Hundreds of new evacuations were ordered Saturday in Manitoba as raging wildfires in Western Canada have already forced thousands of people to leave their homes. Residents of Cranberry Portage in the rural municipality of Kelsey, Man., close to the Saskatchewan border, were ordered to head toward Winnipeg, where more than 17,000 evacuees from other areas in the province are already being housed in arenas and soccer fields converted into shelters. Both Manitoba and Saskatchewan declared provincewide states of emergency earlier this week. Saskatchewan declares state of emergency as wildfires force evacuations in western and central Canada Lori Forbes, co-ordinator for the Kelsey area, where more than 430 people live, said a large fire has knocked down many hydro lines. She urged residents to pack kits and drive toward safety by Saturday afternoon, as gas and other supplies in the region, 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, are running out. She urged residents to stay in safer zones with friends and family if possible. 'Power may be out in the Cranberry Portage area for multiple days,' she wrote on social media. A spokesperson for Manitoba Hydro said it was hard to determine when power will be restored in Cranberry Portage. 'It's still an area of active wildfires, so we can't safely access the area,' said Peter Chura in a statement. More than 180 wildfires were burning across Canada on Saturday, with dozens spanning from northwestern Ontario through to large regions of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, along with northern areas in Alberta and British Columbia. At least 90 of those are considered out of control and six new fires have started since Friday. The situation this week has been so severe that Manitoba was forced to call upon the Canadian Armed Forces to rescue residents from several communities. The province is contending with at least 25 active wildfires, with 106 in total this year. Before this week, the 20-year average for the region was 78 annual fires. Near Cranberry Portage, in Flin Flon, Man., more than 5,000 residents have left the mining city, with only firefighters and a few officials staying behind. Many patients have been transferred to Saskatchewan-area hospitals, while most of the evacuees are now staying in Winnipeg. Officials worry the wind in the area may shift in the wrong direction over the weekend, bringing the out-of-control flames right into Flin Flon, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said late Friday. 'Please pray for rain,' he said. Wildfires force thousands to flee homes in Western Canada At least five more planes, including two military aircraft, are expected to transport evacuees from Pimicikamak Cree Nation in Pukatawagan, Man., on Saturday, said Chief David Monias. Wildfires have left that community's nearest airport non-operational, forcing residents to rely on the few roads that can lead them to a ferry toward Norway House Cree Nation, about 800 kilometres north of Winnipeg, where they are departing on flights. 'This is the most unstable and unpredictable situation I have ever been in,' Mr. Monias said in an interview Saturday. 'The smoke here is so thick, and conditions are so bad, we're actually having trouble even with the planes.' People from two more areas in Manitoba that were ordered to evacuate Friday – around Bakers Narrows in the north and Bissett in the east – began to arrive Saturday in the province's reception centres. Others in the northern region - Pimicikamak Cree Nation, Cross Lake, Norway House and Mathias Colomb First Nation in Pukatawagan - are also being evacuated. The province, with the support of Red Cross, opened a handful of large evacuation shelters in Winnipeg this week. As of Saturday, however, it is now opening spaces in other areas as well, including Winkler and Brandon. In Saskatchewan, 16 fires were actively burning Saturday, seven of which were uncontained. The province has recorded 211 wildfires this year – well over its five-year annual average of 128 and the 169 fires recorded this time last year. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has ordered evacuations for the communities around Pelican Narrows, Hall Lake, Brabant Lake, Canoe Lake, Lower Fishing Lake, Piprell Lake, East Trout Lake, Little Bear Lake, Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and Whiteswan Bay. Residents of other communities have also been told to be ready to flee at a moment's notice this weekend. In northern Ontario, roughly 400 people from Webequie First Nation were being transported Saturday to Barrie, Ont., as the province faced 14 active wildfires, three of which were newly discovered Friday. Warnings about extreme smoke in the air have been issued in most of Alberta this week. There were at least 53 active wildfires as of Saturday morning, with 29 deemed out of control. Evacuations in the province are taking place near Chipewyan Lake, Red Earth Creek, Loon Lake, Peerless Lake and Trout Lake. B.C. grappled with at least 63 wildfires, with more than half out of control – mostly in the northeast. Rural communities were being evacuated in the Peace River Regional District, where the fire quickly quadrupled in size within a single day this week.
CBC
3 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
Residents forced out of Cranberry Portage after wildfires knock power, close highway, cripple air quality
Hundreds of people are being forced out of their homes in the northwestern Manitoba community of Cranberry Portage after a wildfire knocked out power overnight. The entire population of Cranberry Portage should evacuate by 3 p.m. on Saturday and go to Winnipeg, said Lori Forbes, the municipal emergency co-ordinator for the Rural Municipality of Kelsey, which includes the community. Cranberry Portage, about 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, was put under a voluntary evacuation order earlier this week after supplies and gas started to run out. Wildfires also closed down a stretch of Highway 10 — the main access route for the community. The situation worsened after several hydro poles were burned, leaving the community without power on Friday. Forbes said the longer the electricity is out the greater the risk operations at the water treatment and sewage plants might be compromised. "The decision is made based on general services human beings need to be healthy," she said. Manitoba Hydro said the extent of damage to power infrastructure is unknown at this time. The R.M. of Kelsey said the community might be without electricity for several days. At least 430 people are believed to be in Cranberry Portage, Forbes said, but the number can be as high as 600 given there's a number of cottagers and seasonal visitors this time of the year. Before the mandatory evacuation was declared, 87 people who left from their homes had registered with the R.M., Forbes said. Evacuees from Cranberry Portage are being asked to make their way out using Highways 39 and 6 to Winnipeg's Billy Mosienko Arena at 709 Keewatin Street. "We need people to get up and move, to be safe and out of the dangers up here right now," she said. Another consideration for the mandatory evacuation is the smoke billowing from a wildfire burning about 35 kilometres northwest Cranberry Portage. Forbes said heavy plumes are choking the air with heavy plumes of smoke crippling air quality. That wildfire prompted the mandatory evacuation of Flin Flon earlier this week, forcing its roughly 5,000 residents out of their homes. The blaze was 40,000 hectares in size and less than 400 metres from the edge of the city by Friday.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Climate
- Winnipeg Free Press
Jenpeg employees evacuated
The wildfire threat in the northern part of the province has prompted the evacuation of Manitoba Hydro's Jenpeg generating station. The precautionary evacuation occurred late Wednesday afternoon when an advancing 3,290-hectare out-of-control wildfire reached a point five kilometres away. 'All Manitoba Hydro employees have safely left the area,' Peter Chura, spokesman for the publicly owned power utility, said Thursday. The 174-megawatt facility constructed in 1972 and completed in 1979 has been undergoing maintenance and was not generating electricity, so there is no effect on customers, Chura said. Normal staffing at Jenpeg — located where the west channel of the Nelson River flows into Cross Lake, about 135 km south of Thompson — is close to 30 people, he said. Its powerhouse and spillway structures are also used to regulate about 85 per cent of the water flowing out of Lake Winnipeg. All hydro employees have safely been moved from any areas under evacuation orders, he noted. The fire forced the evacuation of the nearby Pimicikamak Cree Nation; residents were among more than 17,000 people evacuated from several northern communities, including the City of Flin Flon and Town of Lynn Lake and the Mathias Colomb First Nation. Pointe du Bois and Slave Falls generating stations have returned to routine operations and staffing levels, Chura said. On May 14, Manitoba Hydro announced the imminent evacuation of workers from those two stations on the Winnipeg River as wildfires threatened to cut off road access. 'We continue to monitor the situation in case it changes, or new fire starts are observed,' Chura said. 'Power is mostly restored from wildfire-related outages in eastern Manitoba except for part of Nopiming, which is de-energized as a safety precaution due to fires in the area. He said fire and smoke conditions are currently preventing hydro from assessing damage or restoration of power outages — likely fire-related — in several communities. Out of firefighters, looking abroad The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre has called on its international partners for backup as Canada has run out of wildland firefighters. As of Thursday afternoon, every wildland firefighter and resource in Canada was spoken for due to increased fire activity across the country. 'We just raised the national preparedness level from a Level 4 to a Level 5 — which is the highest level — and essentially what that means is that all Canadian firefighting resources that are otherwise available have all now been committed,' said Alex Jones, the acting communications manager at CIFFC. The non-profit is owned and operated by the federal, provincial and territorial governments. It co-ordinates and allocates wildfire resources across Canada and, when called upon, internationally. Manitoba currently has personnel from Alberta, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Parks Canada, as well as support personnel from CIFFC itself, but still have more requests for help in the queue. CIFFC must now ask for help from outside partners, such as the U.S., Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Costa Rica, Portugal, Chile and France. Response to that call is based on availability and how quick help can get here. Jones couldn't say whether Manitoba would accept help from the U.S. amid current cross-border trade tensions. 'We do have a really strong, really long-standing agreement with the United States. It's been in place since 1982 and we just re-sign the agreement this spring and so right now essentially it's business as usual and they're ready to support if they can,' she said. 'We try and maintain those relationships with fire as much as possible because at the end of the day, public safety is No. 1.' At a Wednesday news conference, Premier Wab Kinew wouldn't comment on whether the province would ask its neighbours to the south for additional resources. Mining company lends hand A Toronto-based mining company operating in northern Manitoba is working to ensure its employees remain safe. Hudbay Minerals Inc. has ongoing care and maintenance activities in Flin Flon following the closure of the 777 mine in 2022 as well as services to support its Snow Lake operations, the company said in a news release Thursday afternoon. The company is securing additional accommodations in Snow Lake for its evacuated employees and their families; deploying trained emergency personnel to aid firefighting efforts; maintaining communication with local communities and provincial authorities about the resources it has available to support emergency-response efforts; and providing facility infrastructure information to assist with planning and response. Hudbay is continuing operations in Snow Lake, approximately 200 kilometres east of Flin Flon, and expects temporary reduced production levels, as a large portion of its workforce lives in Flin Flon. Hudbay is a copper-focused critical minerals mining company with three long-life operations and a pipeline of copper growth projects in Canada, Peru and the United States. — Compiled by Nicole Buffie, Carol Sanders and Aaron Epp
Winnipeg Free Press
17-05-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Bear cub rescued from Lac du Bonnet fires dies
A soot-covered, seven-pound black bear cub, who captured the hearts of Manitobans after being rescued from the wildfire northeast of Lac du Bonnet, has died. The tiny bear suffered smoke inhalation and severe burns to her paws, before she was brought to Black Bear Rescue Manitoba in Stonewall on Thursday evening. She was thought to have been alone for two days in the fire zone, separated from her mother, until a Manitoba Hydro sub-contractor found her alongside Wendigo Road. After her rescue, thousands rallied online behind the diminutive cub, offering their prayers and commenting on her 'survivor spirit.' On a Friday evening Facebook post, which has since been 'liked' by more than 15,000 people, one person wrote to the rescue, saying: 'My husband thinks this little one should be called Survivor.' Someone else suggested the name Phoenix. BLACK BEAR RESCUE MANITOBA Sayen, a black bear cub that was rescued from the wildfire northeast of Lac du Bonnet, has died. The rescue would decide on the name Sayen. Roger Stearns, who operates the bear rescue with his wife Judy, told the Free Press the cub died suddenly in the early hours of Saturday morning, likely due to smoke exposure, which a local veterinarian had told them caused swelling in her lungs. But they thought the featherweight bear would pull through. 'I was optimistic. We just thought this is going to be a big workload – but that's what we're here for. The care of all four feet and getting them healed up would have a months-long process of regrowing and cleaning and fighting off any infection,' said Stearns. 'My wife and I are both very shocked.' The 'Wendigo #62 fire' in the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet started Tuesday morning, resulting in the evacuation of hundreds of people, the destruction of at least 28 homes and the deaths of Richard and Sue Nowell. The couple was trapped by the out-of-control fire. The cub's death, meanwhile, was a reminder of the non-human toll of wildfires. On Thursday, Devon Griffith, who owns Griff's Repair, a heavy-machinery repair shop in Lac du Bonnet, was working as a sub-contractor with Manitoba Hydro. He was working to get burnt hydro poles hauled away, so new poles could be installed and power restored to the area. On one trip in, he spotted a baby bear running across the road into a ditch. Hauling heavy equipment, he was unable to stop, his wife Karlee Nardai told the Free Press Saturday, as Griffith was still out hauling downed poles. He saw the bear again on a second and third trip and alerted a nearby hydro worker and an employee of the rural municipality. The group caught the bear and placed her in a cat carrier Griffith had brought from home. He brought her home and into their barn. The bear drank some water and calf milk replacement they had on hand, after needing to bottle feed a calf last year. 'She wheezing pretty bad – you could tell she had taken in a bunch of smoke,' Nardai said. Not knowing how long the bear would be with them, Nardai went into town to buy some supplies for her – including whole milk and fish oil – and to pick up a dog crate from her mom. Soon after she returned, a provincial conservation officer came by to take the bear to the Stonewall rehab. 'The biologist told us that (the cub's mom) likely was trying to get out of the way and the little one couldn't keep up, so they got separated,' Nardai said. 'I'm sure there's a lot of other animals that are in tough shape out there, so he's got his eyes peeled every time he's in there now. He was saying last night, like, 'well, what if I find its brother?' I was like, well, 'pick it up.'' When the cub arrived at the bear rescue around 8 p.m., it was all hands on deck. BLACK BEAR RESCUE MANITOBA The first layer of the cub's paw pads had burned off from the fire. Within an hour, a vet had arrived and gave the bear pain medication. The vet inspected her feet and noted her cough, instructing the Stearns to turn up the humidity in her enclosure to try to loosen up what had gotten into her lungs. The first layer of her paw pads had burned off and they were banaged with gauze. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. 'She was running through embers, it was that hot, that on all four feet, she lost the layer of her pads, and she's breathing in that air,' Stearns said. 'When she was first taking water, there was soot coming out of her nose. The vet did listen to her chest, but you expect, if it's been through something like that, that the chest isn't going to sound normal.' On Friday, the cub was coming out of her den house, drinking some milk and walking around her enclosure. Her cough hadn't worsened. She was scheduled to be taken into the vet in Woodlands on Saturday morning for additional cleaning and treatment of her paws, as well as for an X-ray of her lungs. At 3 a.m., Stearns saw on a camera that she was curled up in a pile of straw in front of her den house, but when he came to check on her early in the morning, she was dead. Stearns said anyone who encounts distressed or injured wildlife should reach out to Manitoba Conservation's tip line or call 1-800-782-0076. 'We're all guests in wildlife habitat,' Stearns added. 'It was tragic, the loss of life out there, with that couple, but there's also hundreds or thousands of animals perishing as well.' Marsha McLeodInvestigative reporter Marsha is an investigative reporter. She joined the Free Press in 2023. 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