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Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
More crews, firefighting vehicles headed to Cross Lake
A cavalry of firefighters and equipment is being sent to the Cross Lake area to help battle a wildfire that is threatening two neighbouring communities in northern Manitoba. Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief David Monias said Thursday that 30 to 35 structural firefighters, six pumpers, tankers and command teams were being mobilized. '(This) morning, I received direct communication from Premier Wab Kinew, who shared the full scope of the manpower, equipment and determination being deployed to protect our homeland, our community, our homes and the infrastructure we've built together with love and sacrifice,' Monias wrote in a Facebook post. The fire near Pimicikamak Cree Nation as seen in late May. (Submitted) He said the additional crews will join 30 firefighters from Cross Lake and Jenpeg, 40 from the province and 30 from the United States. The Manitoba government is scheduled to provide an update on wildfires at 12:45 p.m. Thursday. Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures Minister Ian Bushie Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor are among the scheduled speakers. Two fires are burning near Pimicikamak and the incorporated community of Cross Lake. One of the fires had jumped to a nearby island as of Wednesday. Earlier this week, Monias and other First Nations leaders called on the federal and provincial government to send more equipment and resources to northern First Nations threatened by fire, including Pimicikamak and Mathias Colomb (Pukatawagan). 'This is no ordinary response. This is a coalition of nations, communities and protectors coming together in unity, shoulder to shoulder, to confront the threat that has uprooted lives, chased families from their homes, and loomed over our lands for more than two weeks,' Monias wrote Thursday. 'We are not alone.' The U.S. is sending about 100 firefighters and 25 managerial or support staff to Manitoba. They were expected to arrive Thursday and head to their assignments Friday. Pimicikamak and Cross Lake were previously evacuated. Monias has said six residents remain in the area after refusing to leave. The Manitoba Wildfire Service said 27 fires were burning as of Wednesday. The vast majority of Manitoba's roughly 17,000 wildfire evacuees are from northern communities, including Flin Flon and several First Nations. The Winnipeg Police Service, alongside an RCMP representative and Garrison Settee — the grand chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak — will hold a news conference on 'WPS response to fire evacuee safety' at 1 p.m. Additional firefighting crews are being sent to Flin Flon, where a fire was burning on the perimeter of the evacuated city. Tuesdays A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world. In a Facebook post, the City of Flin Flon said 260 'dedicated and experienced' personnel are holding back the fire. Neither Flin Flon nor neighbouring Creighton, Sask., have lost structures so far, the Thursday post stated. 'The fire has moved further into Manitoba, to the southeast of Flin Flon and Creighton,' the post said. 'Asset protection is being implemented in the Channing area and the southern parts of Flin Flon.' Crews from Parks Canada and the U.S. are headed to the Rural Municipality of Kelsey. Parks Canada staff will set up a command post at Grace Lake in The Pas, while American firefighters will be extra boots on the ground, said Lori Forbes, the RM's emergency co-ordinator. Chris KitchingReporter Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris. Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Global News
3 days ago
- Climate
- Global News
Manitoba to provide wildfire update Thursday afternoon
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook The Manitoba government is set to provide the latest update on the province's ongoing wildfire situation. A number of provincial officials will speak to media at 12:45 p.m. Thursday, including Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Lisa Naylor, Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister, Manitoba Wildfire Service and Conservation Officer Service, and Christine Stevens, assistant deputy minister, Manitoba Emergency Management Organization. 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 By Wednesday, there were 27 active fires across Manitoba, putting the year's total so far — 111 — well above the average of 88 at this time of year. Global News will stream the news conference live on this page.
CBC
28-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
What's another word for budget 'cut?' How about a 'shift?'
Social Sharing After six years of criticizing Progressive Conservative spending cuts, you can understand why some Liberal cabinet ministers are having trouble using the word when talking about their own budgets. "I'm not sure it's a cut but it's a shift here and there," Tourism Minister Isabelle Thériault said this week of a $900,000 reduction in her budget. Faced with questions about an eight per cent cut to his road-maintenance budget, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson declared that the cut may not end up being a cut. WATCH | 'I'm not sure it's a cut': Liberals try to avoid the word: What's another word for 'budget cut?' Liberals have a few 22 minutes ago Duration 2:36 "If we need to spend more money to repair the roads, we will spend the money as needed to make sure that the roads are safe," he said during question period. It's another example of an odd dynamic as each of the two main political parties try to shape a narrative about themselves. To listen to PC Leader Glen Savoie tell it at times, Premier Susan Holt's first provincial budget is about breakneck spending. "Given that we know she isn't going to cut spending, the only alternative is for her to raise taxes," he said in question period Wednesday. Just a few minutes later, however, three of Savoie's own PC colleagues attacked not Liberal spending but Liberal cutting. Kings Centre MLA Bill Oliver denounced "reckless" cuts. Sussex-Three Rivers member Tammy Scott-Wallace declared herself "shocked" that $900,000 was cut from the tourism budget at the very moment the province might lure travellers who have cancelled trips to the United States. And Arcadia-Butternut Valley-Maple Hills MLA Don Monahan, the party's finance critic, asked why the province was slashing, "of all things," the road maintenance budget. Liberal ministers were clearly reluctant to acknowledge spending restraint, instead arguing that the previous PC government had been far worse. "Their neglect has left me with a mess to clean up, and I can tell you that I am doing my best with the funds we have to clean up the mess that they left," Chiasson said. In a scrum with reporters on Wednesday, Thériault gamely skated around the word "cuts" for several minutes, calling the $900,000 reduction "the number that we're going to shift around" in the coming year. Asked whether the March 18 budget estimates recorded the figure as more money or less money, she called it "a different approach." In fact, those documents confirm it's less money — from about $20.6 million in fiscal 2024-25 to about $19.7 million in fiscal 2025-26. The road maintenance budget is being slashed from $114.8 million to $106.6 million. "Hopefully it's going to be enough," Chiasson said Friday of the money for road repairs. "If it's not, then we look at the overall operation budget and see if there's something we can do somewhere else to maintain the same level of roads that we've had." Their boss, Premier Susan Holt, is, however, more willing to make a virtue of cutting — as long as it's smart cutting in keeping with her vow of "transformational change" to government services. "We're doing this really carefully," Holt said in a speech Friday to close the debate on her budget before a final vote of approval. "I like to say we're going to measure twice and cut once, to know that we've done things right. "It's important to us that we choose to spend money on what is most important to New Brunswickers, and we seek savings in the places where we can get creative and innovative." Savoie, when asked to reconcile his accusations of Liberal spending with his team's criticism of Liberal cuts, said New Brunswickers should get the services they need but "in a fiscally responsible manner." As for Holt's comment about measuring twice and cutting once — smart cuts, in other words — the PC leader said the comments by Thériault and Chiasson show the Liberals will inevitably abandon whatever fiscal discipline they've adopted. "I think we've unfortunately already seen the lie put to that because we've seen two of their own members say they're going to blow past their departmental budgets already," he said. The legislature adjourned Friday for five weeks, during which a committee of MLAs will pore over individual departmental budgets — a chance to debate the issue even more. If Holt is sincere about pushing what she calls "transformational change" to government services, including new ways to deliver health care and education, that debate is likely to go on for the rest of the Liberal mandate — whatever word they choose to use for cuts.
CBC
08-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Access P.E.I. opening another office Monday, this time in Cornwall
Social Sharing People living in the Town of Cornwall are getting their own Access P.E.I. location to serve the municipality's growing population. Opening Monday morning, it will be located at 638 Main St., beside the Murphy's Pharmacy in Cornwall. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Ernie Hudson said the population of Cornwall is increasing quickly, so much so that it is now the 14th most rapidly growing community in Canada. "It was deemed that it was necessary," Hudson said of the new office, which will let Islanders apply for driver's licences, building permits, health cards and marriage licences, among about 420 in-person and online services. The minister said the Cornwall location should lead to wait times at other Access P.E.I. locations going down. The most recent location added before the Cornwall office was a site at Royalty Crossing mall in Charlottetown, about two years ago. "That did certainly... take a certain amount of wait times away from the location on Riverside Drive," Hudson said. Islanders requested services from Access P.E.I. roughly 186,000 times last year, which Hudson said was a major increase of 42,000 compared to two years earlier.
Reuters
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Congress to hold hearing on air traffic control after safety incidents
WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives panel will hold a hearing next week on air traffic control issues after a series of incidents highlighted concerns about persistent staffing shortages. The Transportation and Infrastructure's aviation subcommittee will hold a hearing on Tuesday titled "America Builds: Air Traffic Control System Infrastructure and Staffing" that will include the head of Airlines for America, General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Government Accountability Office as well as the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and Professional Aviation Safety Specialists unions, officials said. Get weekly news and analysis on U.S. politics and how it matters to the world with the Reuters Politics U.S. newsletter. Sign up here.
