Urgent apartment block evacuation triggers provincial, municipal talks on possible policy changes

The municipal and provincial governments are discussing the potential for policy changes in the wake of the emergency evacuation of the Birchwood Terrace apartment block.

“There is ongoing discussion between the City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba related to this site… to see if anything needs to change, needs to change in legislation, needs to (change) in city bylaws,” Mayor Scott Gillingham told reporters at an unrelated press conference Wednesday.

“This is an opportunity for us to take a look at what we do.”

Some 250 residents living in the five-storey apartment complex at 2440 Portage Ave. were given 12 hours notice to move out May 9, after engineers identified rotting structural support beams placing the building at risk of collapse.

Manitoba government plans new rules for rent increases and incentives for new housing

The Manitoba government is planning new rules for landlords who want to raise rents.

A bill now before the legislature would set down a few conditions for landlords who want to raise rents above the annual provincial guideline, which is tied to inflation.

Currently, landlords can apply to a residential tenancies director for a higher rent increase and make their argument.

The bill would limit such applications to cases where landlords face a sharp rise in taxes, utilities and security costs, or where they invest in capital projects such as plumbing and heating.

Mayor’s office confirms police board member resigned

The mayor’s office has confirmed a member of the Winnipeg Police Board has resigned.

A motion to replace Kyle Mason will be reworded to better reflect the need for the change, Scott Gillingham’s office said Thursday morning.

A motion that passed at executive policy committee Wednesday called to officially revoke Mason’s appointment, alleging he had breached the board’s code of ethical conduct, though it noted no details.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Mason told the Free Press he had already resigned after the board questioned him about a driving offence.

Man nearly drowns, pledges to wear life-jacket every time he’s on the water

Harry Nott Jr. thought he was going to die just because he had neglected to do one, simple thing. He failed to put on a life-jacket.

Freedom Mobile enters Manitoba wireless market

Freedom Mobile, the wireless service provider Montreal-based Quebecor Inc. acquired from Shaw some 13 months ago, is launching its service in Manitoba on Thursday.

The availability of Freedom Mobile will give Manitobans a fourth major wireless option (the others being Bell MTS Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp.) for the first time since Bell acquired MTS in 2017.

Freedom Mobile operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Videotron Inc., itself a subsidiary of Quebecor. Videotron operates Quebecor’s wireless service in Quebec.

Before Thursday, Freedom Mobile was only available in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

Time served, probation for Winnipeg woman who hired men to assault husband

Melanie Chromy, who had binged on crack cocaine for months and was mired in marital strife over her drug habit, gave her husband of nearly 30 years an ultimatum: sleep in a tent in the yard or we’re done.

Then, she went a step further. She called an acquaintance and asked that her husband be roughed up to intimidate him into leaving her.

While he slept in the backyard at around 2:30 a.m. on June 20, 2023, three or four men entered the tent and assaulted him with an unidentified object. His ear was almost severed from his scalp.

Mike Cook, the lawyer for Chromy, told a provincial court sentencing hearing on Wednesday that her husband’s ear was dangling from a flap of skin as the men escaped from the East Kildonan property.

Subsidized housing supply can’t meet rising demand, advocates say

Manitoba Housing’s wait list has grown even though vacancies have been slashed by the hundreds this year, signalling a rising need for publicly subsidized rental units, advocates told the Free Press.

The NDP government is facing calls to significantly add more homes for people on lower incomes to keep up with demand amid housing and homelessness crises.

“There is increasing need, because the cost of housing in the private market has grown,” said Christina Maes Nino, executive director of the Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association. “We need to repair and build to catch up with demand.”

Manitoba Housing’s wait list had 6,079 applicants Tuesday, up from 5,822 on Jan. 1, a provincial spokesperson said. It is up from 5,423 in February 2023, but down from more than 9,000 in 2020.

Conflicting info about police board member’s impending exit

A member of the Winnipeg Police Board seems poised to be replaced, though there’s confusion about the reason for the change.

A motion at Wednesday’s executive policy committee meeting called to officially revoke Kyle Mason’s appointment, alleging he had breached the board’s code of ethical conduct. It did not reveal any details.

In an interview late Wednesday afternoon, Mason said he had resigned after the board questioned him about a driving offence.

“A few months back, when it was colder, I was apparently inadvertently driving without my vehicle being insured. I got my renewal date mixed up and during that time I got pulled over and received a ticket for that. And that is technically a break of the code. So, after discussing it with the board, I decided to resign,” he said.

Government sues Ticketmaster owner and asks court to break up company’s monopoly on live events

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department sued Ticketmaster and its parent company Thursday, accusing them of running an illegal monopoly over live events in America and asking a court to break up the system that squelches competition and drives up prices for fans.

Filed in federal court in Manhattan, the sweeping antitrust lawsuit was brought with 30 state and district attorneys general and seeks to dismantle the monopoly they say is squeezing out smaller promoters, hurting artists and drowning ticket buyers in fees. Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation Entertainment, have a long history of clashes with major artists and their fans, including Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.

“It's time for fans and artists to stop paying the price for Live Nation’s monopoly,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “It is time to restore competition and innovation in the entertainment industry. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster. The American people are ready for it.”

The government accused Live Nation of tactics — including threats and retaliation — that Garland said have allowed the entertainment giant to “suffocate the competition” by controlling virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing. The impact is seen in an “endless list of fees on fans," the attorney general said.

Takin’ care of bridges: BTO name floated for city span

A Winnipeg city councillor says when it comes to the Disraeli Bridge, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Coun. Ross Eadie is leading a motion to temporarily rename the bridge — which connects downtown Winnipeg, over the city’s Red River, to Elmwood — the Bachman-Turner Overdrive Bridge.

“It’s recognizing Randy Bachman, who contributed to the music scene in Winnipeg and put it on the map. Everybody knew where Winnipeg was because of the Guess Who, because of Bachman-Turner Overdrive,” Eadie said by phone Wednesday.

Randy Bachman, a former Winnipegger, founded Bachman-Turner Overdrive with his brothers, Robbie and Tim Bachman, along with Fred Turner. Bachman formed the band after splitting from the Guess Who.