Portage

Canada Post on Wednesday laid out its "final offers" to the union representing 55,000 workers after negotiations resumed Wednesday morning, as tensions run high over the future of the beleaguered institution.

Included in the proposal are an end to compulsory overtime, a signing bonus of $1,000 for urban employees and $500 for rural and suburban ones, cost-of-living payments that are triggered at a lower inflation threshold.

Parliament gets back to work Wednesday with a new Speaker, a new prime minister and plenty of new faces in the House of Commons.

Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia will preside over the House of Commons for the first time today, while his office has confirmed that all 343 members of Parliament have now been sworn in.

Roughly a third of those MPs, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, were elected for the first time in April and will face their first question period today.

A judge in Minnesota has sentenced a man to 10 years for his role in a human smuggling operation that saw a family freeze to death in southern Manitoba near the Canada-U.S. border.

Harshkumar Patel, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, did not address the court.

A co-accused in the case, Steve Shand, was to be sentenced later Wednesday.

Judge John Tunheim described the crimes as "extraordinarily serious.”

A jury convicted the two men last fall on four charges related to bringing people illegally into the United States from Canada.

The City of Portage la Prairie is rolling ahead with its annual street line painting program this week, and local drivers are asked to take extra care while crews are on the roads.

The work is expected to take five to seven days to complete, with crews operating daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The goal is to freshen up road markings across the city to help improve safety and visibility for drivers.

Stay back and let the paint dry

City councillor Faron Nicholls says it’s a simple request that goes a long way.

InteliRain is like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but for irrigation farmers — getting their fields “just right” for water distribution.

The Calgary-based company uses an automated variable rate irrigation system that allows growers to maximize yields, minimize workloads and conserve water.

A 64-year-old man is dead and another man is seriously injured following a two-vehicle collision early yesterday morning in the RM of Stanley.

Around 6:15 a.m. on May 26th, Carman and Manitou RCMP responded to a report of a crash at the intersection of Road 5N and Road 25W. Upon their arrival, they found local fire crews and EMS already on scene, tending to the occupants of two vehicles, which were found in the ditch.

From Alberta to Manitoba, residents across the Prairies are out of their homes, while others remain on edge as wildfires inch closer to their communities.

The Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in Saskatchewan has imposed an evacuation order for more than 1,800 residents of Pelican Narrows, 412 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.

They are to flee to PAGC Urban Services, also known as the Margo Fournier Centre, in Prince Albert.

Gregory Keith McLeod
October 12, 1960 – May 23, 2025

After a 19 month, hard fought battle with pancreatic cancer, Greg McLeod passed away on Friday, May 23, 2025 at the age of 64 years.

Kristine Hannah, a cabin owner in Poplar Bay Provincial Park, is keeping a close eye on wildfire activity in eastern Manitoba.

The Portage la Prairie resident and her family were at their property over the weekend.

The evacuation order for the area has since been lifted, but caution remains high.

“The evacuation order lifted from the Provincial Road 313 up until just past Poplar Bay Provincial Park on 315,” notes Hannah. “Our [cabin] is in Poplar Bay Provincial Park, and so the roadblock there is just past the park.”

A Portage la Prairie high schooler is trading prairie horizons for Japanese cityscapes next school year.

Oliver Bures, a Grade 12 student at PCI, will spend 10 months in Japan through the Rotary Club Exchange Student Program, immersing himself in language, culture, and music while retaking his final year of high school abroad.

A year of cultural immersion — and karaoke

Oliver’s fascination with Japanese music sparked his decision to choose Japan.