Brandon city council passed its 2025 budget which calls for a 6.9% property tax increase, down from a proposed 11.7%. They saved the average homeowner just over $100. Council said an increase in surplus funds from the 2024 budget, and a million dollar boost from the province for the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium partly helped to reduce the budget. The budget features funding for several major projects including improving wastewater infrastructure, and refurbishing the Transit fleet.
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Peavy Mart, which has a location in Brandon, has announced its shutting down 22 stores across Ontario and Nova Scotia. It says the move is part of a “critical first step” in restructuring the company. So far, no stores on the prairies have been slated for closure.
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About 750 employees at CN Rail, who work in signals and communications, will be on strike as of tomorrow. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers says it’s pushing for better work-life balance and higher pay.
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Manitoba is getting ready in case the U-S decides to levy tariffs on Canadian products next month. Last Friday, the province announced a 16-person U-S Trade Council to look at possible solutions to Trump’s tariffs – and the government is preparing two budgets; one where everything’s status quo – and the other with plans to deal with tariffs and an economic slowdown.
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Roughly 746 Westman residents are on wait lists because of a shortage of occupational therapists. The Manitoba Government Employees Union says there are 12 health-care facilities in Prairie Mountain Health that are either
without or have limited services. PMH says it’s actively working to recruit and retain occupational therapists.
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To try and boost its ranks, the Manitoba RCMP has issued a countrywide callout for assistance. The province currently has about a 15% vacancy rate as it deals with a growing number of complex investigations – including a nearly two-fold jump in homicides last year. Nationally, the force remains unable to keep up with processing prospective recruits – over 19,000 are still waiting to join the academy.
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Today, the world will mark eight decades since the liberation of Auschwitz. More than a million people, most of them Jews, were murdered by the Nazis in the camp during the Second World War. Meanwhile, a survey suggests a growing number of Canadians believe the Holocaust has been been exaggerated – mostly among younger people. Last December, the government launched a a five-year, $5 million fund to help promote Holocaust education.
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Brandon University’s ‘New Music Festival’ returns this week with concerts Tuesday and Wednesday. It promises a groundbreaking showcase of electro-acoustic and multimedia works. Tickets for each concert are available at the door. They’ll cost you $20.
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Mel Gibson’s ‘Flight Risk’ managed to open number one at the box office with a modest $12 million this weekend. It stars Mark Wahlberg as a pilot flying an Air Marshal and a fugitive, played by Topher Grace, across Alaska. In second place was “Mufasa: The Lion King’ followed by ‘One of Them Days’, ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ and ‘Moana 2’.
