Portage

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.  

A slow start and a rough third period hurt the Portage Terriers on Wednesday night as they fell 6-2 to the Niverville Nighthawks.

Nighthawks forward Bryce Warkentine opened the scoring in the first five minutes of the game when he snapped a nice shot over the shoulder of Terrier goalie Ryan Velan. The goal seemed to wake up Portage and Adler Johnston cleaned up a rebound to tie the game at 1.

The Parole Board of Canada says it is now working to allow victims’ families to attend Paul Bernardo's parole hearing and deliver their victim impact statements in person.

A lawyer representing the families of two teenage girls murdered by notorious killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo said they had been denied the right to deliver their statements in person at Bernardo's upcoming parole hearing. The issue was raised by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre during question period in the House of Commons Wednesday.

Portage la Prairie residents are halfway through their chance to help shape the city’s 2025 budget. The City Council’s first-ever budget planning survey has been live since October 29, and closes on November 30. With only a couple of weeks remaining, city officials are urging everyone to take a few minutes to weigh in on how their tax dollars should be spent.   

Randy Boissonnault is leaving his post as employment minister in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet after weeks of questions about the Edmonton MP's shifting claims of Indigenous identity and his business dealings.