Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press

The number of Manitobans concerned about crime and public safety has risen steadily, an opinion poll done for the Manitoba government suggests.

The Benchmark poll by Leger is commissioned by the province and conducted every few months to gauge public concerns. The latest available survey, done in October and obtained by The Canadian Press under Manitoba's freedom of information law, suggests affordability and health care remain the most popular concerns.

Residents of two communities were preparing to head home Tuesday, while another community was being evacuated, as crews continued to battle wildfires across a large swath of the Prairies.

Some of the 2,400 residents of Tataskweyak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba started making their way back, two months after they were forced to leave by encroaching fire.

"It's very good news this week," Chief Doreen Spence said in a video posted to Facebook on Monday night.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew called a byelection Friday that will test whether his NDP government’s popularity can spread to a longtime Progressive Conservative stronghold.

Voters in the Spruce Woods constituency will go to the polls Aug. 26 to choose a replacement for Grant Jackson, a Tory who resigned in March to run federally. Jackson garnered more than double the votes of his closest opponent in 2023, and the Tories normally get well above 60 per cent of the vote in the area.

Const. Moshe Linov said he was simply doing his job, but the Manitoba officer who rushed to a high school and stopped a sword attack before more students could be hurt was celebrated Thursday for his heroic actions.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew awarded Linov of the Brandon Police Service — representing himself and other first responders in the June emergency response — the Order of the Buffalo Hunt. The award recognizes people who make outstanding contributions in areas such as community service and leadership.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew was hopeful after meeting Tuesday with the prime minister and other premiers about the potential for a large Arctic trade corridor through the Port of Churchill on Hudson Bay.

But some provinces are also supporting a trade route through a port on James Bay in northern Ontario that would also serve the Arctic. The two megaprojects are among many being pitched as part of a national effort to diversify trade and protect the Canadian economy from U.S. tariffs.

Manitoba's ethics commissioner has ruled Mike Moroz, the minister of innovation and new technology, did not break the province's conflict of interest law.

The Opposition Progressive Conservatives had accused Moroz of being in a conflict by answering questions about a 9-1-1 service outage while owning shares in Telus.

The Tories also accused Moroz of using inside information that criticized the phone company for the outage and selling company stock.

Some Manitobans appear willing to pay higher electricity rates and shift their energy use to nighttime, an opinion poll commissioned by Crown-owned Manitoba Hydro suggests.

The findings come as the utility is asking the provincial regulator to approve rate increases in each of three next three years in order to replace aging infrastructure, avoid an increase in power outages and bring new generating power online.

The company that owns a rail line and port in northern Manitoba has increased its capacity to transport goods, as governments eye potential growth in trade through Hudson Bay to overseas markets.

Officials with Arctic Gateway Group said Tuesday a new dedicated critical mineral storage facility has been built at the Port of Churchill, tripling the port’s storage capacity for critical minerals.

Evacuees from northern Manitoba continued to pour into Winnipeg Friday as a renewed round of wildfires threatened communities and shrouded much of the province in smoke.

"It's been rough," Misty Harper said, as she and her partner walked outside of a large indoor soccer complex set up to house evacuees, along with her one-year-old daughter in a stroller. 

Some people sat at picnic tables under small canopies or on grass in an adjacent field. Buses filled with more evacuees arrived a few times each hour.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew again declared a provincewide state of emergency Thursday, as renewed wildfires forced thousands out of their homes, some for the second time in weeks.

Kinew said the order, the second since late May, is critical to rally resources.

"We're going to be asking Manitobans to be helping out in a number of ways," Kinew told a news conference. 

"We want to underscore just how serious this wildfire season is."