The Canadian Press

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says thousands more evacuees are expected and the city of Flin Flon is virtually deserted as wildfires continue to rage in his province.

Kinew told a Friday news conference that the mayor, councillors, health-care staff, and other officials have had to depart Flin Flon.

"The only folks remaining on the ground are firefighters and folks in the office of the fire commissioner and RCMP, who are there to battle the blaze," Kinew said.

"We do expect some very, very challenging conditions in Flin Flon and in the surrounding community."

The mayor of Flin Flon, Man., says fierce, shifting winds are threatening to propel a nearby raging wildfire into the city and begin burning structures.

"Unless we get one heck of a boost, it's projected to take chunks out of our town and surrounding areas," George Fontaine said in an interview Friday morning.

"It's looking very ugly right now."

Fontaine added, "We're trying to manage and maintain and keep our crews.

"We're begging for air support (to help douse the fire). It's really crucial."

More than 67 per cent of the drugs seized during a month-long cross-country Canada Border Services Agency operation were coming into Canada from the United States, the agency says.

Operation Blizzard took place from Feb. 12 to March 13 and targeted illegal drugs and precursor chemicals transported by mail, air cargo or marine container, the CBSA said in a news release Wednesday. The agency said it focused on shipments going to the United States.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says widespread wildfires have the city of Flin Flon on the verge of evacuation while officials work to find places to put thousands more possible evacuees.

The city's 5,000 residents were told Tuesday to be ready to flee at a moment's notice. Hospital patients are being moved to safety.

Officials say the fire, threatening Flin Flon from the north, began Monday in the Saskatchewan town of Creighton and crossed the Manitoba boundary. The town's 1,200 residents have been asked to pack essentials and fuel up in case they’re told to leave.

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.

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.

Seated in a brand-new throne and surrounded by dignitaries, King Charles opened Parliament Tuesday with a show of royal tradition — the first throne speech delivered by a reigning monarch in Canada in nearly half a century.

Reading from the speech — which is drafted by the federal government and lays out its policy priorities — the King proclaimed the "True North is indeed strong and free" and reaffirmed Canada's sovereignty while underscoring the "unprecedented" challenges the nation faces.

Prime Minister Mark Carney's vision for nation-building and economic growth is expected to form the main thrust of the throne speech when King Charles reads it today in the Canadian Senate.

Alberta is bringing in new rules this fall to ensure that only what it calls “age appropriate” books are available in school libraries.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says the move was spurred by four graphic coming-of-age novels depicting sexual, LGBTQ+ content found to be in circulation in public schools in Edmonton and Calgary.

Nicolaides says he was extremely concerned to learn such novels were available.

The union representing about 55,000 Canada Post employees has called for a countrywide halt to overtime work, saying its negotiators will continue to review the latest contract offers from the mail carrier.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said late Thursday that members were being told to refuse any work beyond eight hours in a day and 40 hours in a week.