PembinaValley

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he left Washington Wednesday with a sense that progress was made after a meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

"It was constructive in the sense it was an exchange of views that I think helped both us and the Americans understand the work we need to do to get, we hope, to an agreement," LeBlanc said in an interview with The Canadian Press after arriving in Montreal.

Manitoba's ethics commissioner has cleared Premier Wab Kinew of any wrongdoing after he accepted and paid for private travel with Winnipeg's professional football team to go to two Grey Cup games.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers invited Kinew on a private charter to the 2023 Grey Cup game in Hamilton and the following year to the football finals in Vancouver. The Bombers were playing both years.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Wednesday accused the federal Liberals of allowing temporary foreign workers to take jobs away from young Canadians while youth unemployment is high.

"As our young people have a quarter-century high in their unemployment, Mark Carney this year is expected to bring in a record number of temporary foreign workers to take the jobs of Canadian youth," Poilievre said. 

Statistics Canada data shows unemployment for youth, aged 15 to 24, hit 14.6 per cent in July. This is the highest it's been since 2010, outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Can you help solve a trailer theft which occurred over the weekend in Morden?

Morden Police Service is hoping you can, after releasing surveillance video images of a truck of interest and it pulling the trailer that was stolen.

Sergeant Chris Flook says, as the investigation continues, they are especially interested in anyone or business within the area of Jefferson Street and 9th Street South that has video and would be willing to share it with police.

It was a full test of capabilities as Altona/Rhineland Emergency Services (ARES) partnered with Imperial Oil for a live training exercise at the tank farm near Gretna last week.

Fire Chief Greg Zimmerman explained, they ran through a fuel tank over-fill scenario in real-time.

"Imperial Oil employees notified everybody at the company and had that line shut down so it would stop over-filling. They called 9-1-1 which paged out to ARES and we responded."

Growing up in Souris, Emily Tuttosi loved rugby, and the star has taken that love of the game around the world, and is representing Canada at the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup.

Starting in Souris

Going back to the beginning of her journey, Tuttosi can't remember a time where she didn't love the game of rugby. "Thankfully, Souris school had a youth rugby program," she says with a smile. "My older brother played, and I have a twin sister, and we both were pretty aggressive, so it seemed like a good sport to try. 20-some years later, here I am."

In the Pembina Valley, summer means festival season. 

From the early favourite, the Carman Fair, to the Harvest Festival in Winkler and the Altona Sunflower Festival (to name a few), each weekend-long occasion provides opportunities for bustling community spaces, lively music, and the food that defines summer.  

Something else the region’s festivities share is that they couldn’t happen without a large number of volunteers and workers who are instrumental to their processes. 

Greenvalley Equipment is inviting the community to sing loud and proud this fall with the launch of the GVE Anthem Contest, starting September 1. The contest, called “Your Voice, Our Song,” encourages local musicians, families, choirs, and anyone who loves music to put their own spin on the official Greenvalley Equipment anthem.

Winkler Police responded to a report on August 2nd of fireworks being launched from a vehicle travelling along Main Street. 

Police Chief Ryan Hunt said officers were initially tied up with another traffic stop when they first heard fireworks in the area. A short time later, a report came in of a vehicle driving down Main Street and shooting fireworks out the window. The complainant was able to provide a description and licence plate number. 

Canada changed its BSE surveillance after lower global incidence of ‘mad cow disease’ led to international standards shift

Canada’s agency for food safety is encouraged with cattle industry response to a new, more farmer-friendly approach to BSE surveillance.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) updated national bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) surveillance program — put in place earlier this year to meet new international standards — has received 152 samples of risk material as of Aug. 11, it recently said.