Portage

A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for the semi-driver involved in last weekend's fatal crash south of Plum Coulee.
    
According to RCMP, officers have been unable to locate 25-year-old, Navjeet Singh.
    
On Wednesday, authorities charged the Brampton, Ontario man with two counts of Dangerous Operation of a Motor Vehicle Causing Death and Obstructing a Peace Officer related to the crash at the intersections of highways 201 and 306 that killed a 35-year-old mom and her 8-year-old daughter.
    

The first major storm event of the season may be done but slippery highways linger in the area. Numerous reports continue to come in this morning about vehicles sliding into the ditch.

Motorists taking the bypass at the east of Portage la Prairie were slowed by an accident involving a semi that had jack-knifed. It travelled west and moved into the median between the east and westbound lanes just before Angle Road.

It was reported that traffic was slowed to about 10 km/h and backed up over the overpass behind the incident.

Following up on the accident at MacGregor earlier this week, the local Fire Department reported today that on November 19 at 2:09 p.m., emergency services responded to a two-vehicle collision at Road 58 by MacGregor. Seven people were transported to medical facilities for observation via EMS.

The incident necessitated the closure of Highway #1, as crews continued operations in the area. Fire department personnel remained on site, managing traffic flow.

Yash Patel had only been away from his native India for a few weeks when he was dropped off on the bald Canadian prairie in the middle of a nighttime blizzard and given vague instructions to walk in a straight line into the United States, he testified Wednesday.

The first winter storm of the season may be over, but parents and students are still dealing with what it left behind. With slippery roads in the area, clean up continues and some divisions are closed once again.

For the Portage School Division, Buses will not be running today although the city schools and Oakville School will be open for those who can attend. Hutterian schools are closed. For Pine Creek and Prairie Spirit School Divisions, all school will be closed today.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce on Thursday a temporary GST break for certain essential items to help ease affordability pressures.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says in a statement that the announcement is in response to his party's demands to permanently lift the goods and services tax on a range of expenses.

Wednesday, November 20th

Zone 4 High School Hockey League
Morris at Carman (ppd)

Manitoba Female U18 AAA Hockey League
Eastman 4 Pembina Valley 1

Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League
Wpg Bruins 3 Interlake 1
Central Plains vs Eastman @ Portage (ppd)

Manitoba RCMP is beginning the deployment of body-worn cameras for its police officers. As part of their ongoing efforts to be transparent and accountable to our communities, RCMP officers in Manitoba will start using body-worn cameras with Portage la Prairie scheduled for December 4. . 

Between November 22 of this year and April next year, it is expected that over 490 Manitoba RCMP officers in 44 detachments will be equipped with body-worn cameras. The news release stated that this includes detachments that provide policing services to first nations communities.

It was 1979 when shopping changed on the west side of Portage with the opening of the Portage la Prairie Mall. The switch to metric in the country was on and gas was selling at the new station on the mall lot for 23.1 cents per liter. Big Macs also became available to people in Portage when McDonald's opened their first franchise beside the mall in October of that year. What had been an empty field was becoming what we see on the west side of the city today.

Protein Industries Canada has put an open call out for projects exploring the blending of pulses and cereal crops to create new ingredients and plant-based food products as well as improve existing ones in store shelves.