WestCentral

A drive-in style movie night hosted by the Kindersley Tourism Centre brought residents together last week for an outdoor screening of The Wild Robot.

The event, which took place August 23, began with gates opening at 9 p.m. and the film starting half an hour later, was free to attend and encouraged families to bring their own snacks and drinks. Space was limited, with parking spots arranged in advance to fit as many vehicles as possible.

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.

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.

The governments of Saskatchewan and Canada are investing $10.8 million to expand child care services at post-secondary institutions across the province.

The funding, through the federal Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Infrastructure Fund, will create 450 new spaces at Saskatchewan Polytechnic campuses in Regina, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw and Saskatoon, and another 90 at Northlands College in La Ronge.

The federal and provincial governments are investing more than $470,000 over two years to support services for children and youth who are victims of abuse in Saskatchewan.

The money will help fund the newly opened Moose Jaw Little Oak Child and Youth Justice Centre and expand the province’s Victim Services Responder program.

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.

Massive storm in southeastern Alberta causes significant damage to crops and reported deaths of livestock

The numbers are still coming in for the cost of the damage caused by a huge hail storm that hit various areas of Alberta Aug. 20.

The storm ripped its way through vast swaths of land from Cayley, Milo and Brooks to the Saskatchewan border, as well as Camrose to the Viking, Edberg, Sedgewick, and Hughenden areas.

Manitoba Agriculture released its latest weekly crop report on Tuesday, offering a snapshot of harvest progress and crop conditions across the province. Cereal crop specialist Anne Kirk, who is compiling the reports this month, says harvest operations are moving forward despite recent weather challenges.

West Central might be burning like a furnace this week, but it's not quite record-breaking heat according to Environment Canada.

"Some of these records, I was looking at Kindersley and the record is sort of 34,35 degrees," shared meteorologist Crawford Luke. "I guess today (August 27) is 33, so we might come close to some of them for sure."

There’s a hint of fall in the air. Not from leaves on the ground or pumpkin spice on the shelves, but from the thud and bang of football pads on the local field as local student athletes gear up for the season ahead.

The Kindersley Kobras got things underway with two practices last week, before hitting the field on Saturday for a hot and steamy double-practice that kicked off their season for real.