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Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba premier eyes northern development that could include a pipeline
WINNIPEG – Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew promoted his province Friday as the route for a future trade corridor, which could include a pipeline, in order to get goods from Western Canada to overseas markets. 'The politics are (that) something needs to get built in Western Canada. I think everybody understands that,' Kinew told a breakfast meeting of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce. 'And if you've been following the news, B. C.? Ontario? Maybe. We'll see. But Manitoba's open for business, and I think in time Manitoba will show itself as a path to getting natural resources to tidewater across Canada.' The Alberta government has been pushing for a pipeline across northern British Columbia, but the idea is not supported by the B.C. government. Kinew said Manitoba is looking at boosting shipments through Hudson Bay, currently served by the Port of Churchill, which is ice-free for only a brief period every year. There have been calls for a second port on the bay, further south at Port Nelson, combined with more rail service and a pipeline, in order to boost exports to Europe and other destinations. Kinew said he's open to different options, but the private sector has to put forward ideas. A trade corridor could ship Manitoba's low-carbon hydroelectricity westward to the other Prairie provinces, he said. And a pipeline heading the other direction is a possibility. 'What is the product that makes sense? Are we going to be looking at liquefaction and then maybe it's a (liquefied natural gas) thing?' Kinew told reporters after his speech. 'Are we looking at oil and gas projects? Are we looking at something novel like green hydrogen or maybe a potash slurry? These are the things that we can signal to the private sector we're open to having a discussion about.' Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. Pipeline development in the north could face opposition from environmentalists and others. Much of the area near the coast of Hudson Bay is protected, including Wapusk National Park. Kinew also told the business crowd Friday his NDP government is finalizing a memorandum with British Columbia to cut trade barriers between the two provinces. Similar to a recent deal with Ontario, it's aimed at allowing more goods and services to flow freely. Kinew said it will give Manitobans access to another big Canadian market. Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to break down internal trade barriers by Canada Day, and Ontario, Nova Scotia and other provinces have been working on reciprocal agreements. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025
Winnipeg Free Press
28-05-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
The community is not just the majority
Opinion Know your audience — every member of it. The City of Winnipeg is planning to remove its parking purchase stations, making those who want to park in the downtown use a smartphone app instead. But what if you don't have a smartphone? You can buy vouchers for parking in a limited number of locations — hardly an ideal solution. What's also important to think about in that equation is not who, like you, has a smartphone and the ability to use a parking app, but those who don't — and what it would mean to them. BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS The City of Winnipeg will remove its parking pay stations between July 2 and Aug. 31. That's worth thinking about, not only for parking, but even as people think about the future of the public service of Canada Post. Our national mail carrier is once again in labour trouble — and critical financial trouble as well — and is shedding users as a result of the variety of hurdles it's facing. As customers leave, the financial picture grows even more dire. An industrial inquiry into the service has come up with a variety of potential solutions to the fiscal problems, among them, ending daily delivery to residential customers (but keeping it for commercial customers). The belt-tightening would mean more community mailboxes, different delivery schedules and a resumption of small postal office closures, among other things. On the face of it, it probably looks attractive. After all, much more written communication is dealt with now over email than with paper, envelopes and stamps, and the vast majority of Canadians would probably respond to the loss of door to door delivery with little more than a shrug: flyers and direct advertising mail probably outnumbers arriving first-class mail by a handy margin. But that's not the case for everyone. There is still a significant minority that depends on paper mail as a public service — and just like removing credit card access to parking stations — see a critical loss in losing regular mail service. The national mail carrier for Denmark and Sweden, PostNord, plans to stop all lettermail in Denmark by the end of 2025, because users are dwindling and most services — including government services — are primarily available digitally. But that leaves a remarkable number of Danes — 270,000 people, or 4.5 per cent of the population — who still depend on lettermail out in the cold. As The Parliament Magazine points out, 'this includes the chronically ill, the elderly and people with disabilities. These groups are already at risk of social isolation, and cutting mail service could add one more factor.' Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. The effect is much the same as the fallout from Winnipeg's parking app decision — yes, you can go to one of three locations and buy paper parking vouchers, so there is at least lip service to a workaround. But that hardly provides an equal opportunity of access to everyone who may need to park at places like the downtown Manitoba Clinic for a diagnostic medical procedure. Instead, the marginalized, quite simply, grow even more marginalized. And feel even more like they are not considered as a part of decisions that are meant to reflect the needs of the entire community, not simply what is the majority of a community at any given time. There's a clear message in that about lettermail, and about parking apps, and about any number of other decisions that may be made with the majority in mind, and the minority ignored. When you make changes to a public service, you have to consider not only the people that are happy to be under the new umbrella, but also the number that you're leaving out in the rain. Access means that you don't build more hurdles for those who already have them. The community is everybody.
Winnipeg Free Press
26-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘An execution, plain and simple': man who killed neighbour sentenced to life
A Manitoba man convicted of murdering a neighbour allegedly caught stealing from him on his rural property has been sentenced to mandatory life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Eric Wildman, 38, was convicted of first-degree murder following a jury trial earlier this year for the June 2021 killing of 40-year-old Clifford Joseph. 'The facts are horrific and whatever version of facts the jury accepted, it amounts to an execution, plain and simple,' said King's Bench Justice Rick Saull. JASON PARKS / PICTON GAZETTE FILES Eric Wildman leaves the Picton, Ont. Superior Courthouse in November 2024, where he was found guilty of attempted murder of an Ontario police officer prior to his first-degree murder conviction in Manitoba. Wildman's sentencing was adjourned following the February jury verdict in part for the preparation of victim impact statements, but none were ultimately provided to court. Wildman and Joseph lived on neighbouring properties near Stead, about 90 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. Prosecutors argued Wildman caught Joseph stealing a winch from his property in the early hours of June 7, ran him down with his vehicle, breaking his jaw, leg and ribs, then moved him to a bushy area a few kilometres away, where he shot him at least two times, including once in the back of the head. Wildman called RCMP from his mother's Winnipeg home on June 9 and claimed that on the night of Joseph's disappearance, he had been staying at a friend's home, a claim the friend later refuted, jurors heard. Investigators found Wildman's Chevrolet Impala outside another friend's house in Winnipeg. Inside the car, police found an empty gun case and a receipt from an auto parts store dated June 9, where jurors heard Wildman had purchased a hood and replaced it in the parking lot. Prosecutors alleged Wildman replaced the hood to cover up the damage that occurred when he ran over Joseph. After RCMP towed Wildman's vehicle, he called Mounties from his mother's home to report a handgun missing from his Stead property. Prosecutors allege Wildman knew police would have found the gun case in his car and claimed it was stolen to divert suspicion. SUPPLIED Clifford Joseph, 40, was killed by his neighbour in June 2021 in what a judge described as a horrific execution. Police told him he was a suspect in Joseph's killing and to stay where he was. Instead, Wildman took a taxi to the airport, rented a car and drove to Belleville, Ont., where police arrested him June 18. Jurors were not given details about Wildman's arrest, which came after he shot at police who were executing an arrest warrant at the home where Wildman was staying. Last November, an Ontario jury convicted Wildman of one count each of attempted murder and possession of a restricted firearm with readily available ammunition. He was sentenced in March to 10 years in prison Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. Wildman testified at the Ontario trial, claiming he thought police were home invaders and that he was protecting himself. 'If ever there was post-offence conduct that would suggest somebody's… guilty of the charges, this is pretty convincing,' Crown attorney Chris Vanderhooft told Saull on Monday. 'It's as if the murder wasn't bad enough, he could have killed police officers, too.' Wildman's Ontario sentence will effectively be served concurrent to his murder sentence and have no impact on when he is eligible for parole, court heard. Wildman will be eligible for parole in June 2046. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES After Manitoba police told Wildman he was a suspect in Joseph's death, Wildman fled to Ontario, where he was ultimately arrested. Wildman first stood trial for Joseph's killing in 2023, but it ended in a mistrial after defence lawyer Martin Glazer fell ill and was unable to continue. Dean PritchardCourts reporter Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean. Every piece of reporting Dean 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.
