Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 3, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba ZOolllTS " ESENTED BY (CO^O^ Red RiverON NOW UNTIL JAN 5 ASSINIBOINE PARK ZOOTONIGHT IS ADULTS NIGHT!Don't Miss the Magic!There's just a few days left to experience the magic of a wintery wonderland filled with over a million dazzling lights. XGet your tickets before they're gone! Tickets on sale until Jan 5 | assiniboinepark.ca Free Press SERVING MANITOBA SINCE 1872. FOREVER WITH YOUR SUPPORT. 24-MONTH GIC (RRSP/RRIF/TFSA/FHSA*) 3.70%' ( SCU.MB.CA/GICS ) *Rate subject to change. GICs require a $500 minimum deposit 8SCU FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2025 Province, Ottawa helping boost amount to $5.25M but doubts emerge over whether owner will accept richer dealSweeter offer on table for Lemay Forest JOYANNE PURSAGA AND KEVIN ROLLASON T ^ HE federal and provincial governments are set to help Manitoba Habitat Conservancy sweeten an offer to buy Lemay Forest from a developer, increasing the amount to more than $5 million. However, emails indicate those representing the owner deem the amount too low and are concerned it lacks final approval. Winnipeg South Liberal MP Terry Duguid, who was recently named minister of sport, said the new offer was being sent to the developer. “I’ve been involved with this issue for the better part of a year. _ There is a new offer being made to the landowner today,” he said Thursday. “My understanding is there has been a reassessment of the property, and (the new bid) will be higher than the last offer.” Duguid said the land would be expensive to develop because there are no services there and the conser- vancy’s bid would protect biodiversity at the site, as well as a possible Métis gravesite. In an email exchange obtained by the Free Press, the conservancy’s real estate agent discussed a $5.25-million offer to buy the land with lawyers representing Mazyar Yahyapour, president of Tochal Development Group. Lawyer Kevin Toyne suggested in the exchange that the potential deal is tentative and was confirmed to media before being sent to the owner. He urged the conservancy to “stop playing games.” “The MHC board has not approved this offer, and it appears MHC doesn’t even have the funds to purchase the property with the proposed significant discount on (fair market value),” Toyne wrote. The email states MHC’s offer would be subject to its board’s approval by March 21 and come with a condition that no more tree cutting take place once it is conditionally accepted. The potential deal is listed as “open for acceptance” until the end of day on JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS JOYOUS GAME FACES Winnipeg Jets fans enjoy Ukraine Heritage Night dancing by the Troyanda Ukrainian Dance Ensemble before the game against the Anaheim Ducks at the Canada Life Centre Thursday / D1 Fire destroys historic St. Andrews home Building once owned by member of Louis Riel's provisional government MALAK ABAS A historic home in St. Andrews once owned by a member of Louis Riel’s provisional government burned down Thursday. The rural municipality’s firefighters rushed to the Firth House at 546 River Rd. just past 8 a.m., and quickly had to call in crews from Clandeboye and West St. Paul. The home is privately owned. No one was inside at the time of the fire. The Firth House had been deemed a total loss by the afternoon and crews had knocked down whatever was left of the structure after the fire. “It’s down now. That’s it — it’s done,” St. Andrews deputy fire chief Joe Carreiro said from the scene. The cause of the fire is under investigation and the property was taped off by fire crews. The fire might still be smouldering and residents should avoid the area, Carreiro said. The home was built in 1861 and given historical designation in 1987. It was built for Thomas Firth, a retired fur trader with the Hudson Bay Company. Firth was one of many traders who built homes along the Red River, but few remain today. It might have been built by notable stonemason Duncan McRae, who built multiple landmarks in the area, including St. Andrew’s-on-the-Red. The house was also known as the Hay House after E.H.G.G. Hay, who bought it in 1911. He served in Manitoba’s first legislative assembly as a member of Riel’s government. Manitoba Historical Society head researcher Gordon Goldsborough said privately owned homes with provincial heritage designation are more common than some might expect. There are guidelines owners have to follow when renovating historic buildings but no real protections to ensure the sites are kept in good condition, he said. “Provincial historic sites do not receive any special protection,” Goldsborough said. “There’s no heritage police that go around and say, ‘Oh, you must maintain your house better because it’s not being well maintained.’ There’s no such thing.” • HISTORIC, CONTINUED ON A2 Jan. 9. Past offers to buy and preserve Lemay Forest ranged from $1.9 million to $2.9 million, which the developer also said fell short of the property’s value. Toyne said an appraisal found the property was worth about $8 million. The conservancy submitted an offer late Thursday afternoon, chief executive officer Stephen Carlyle confirmed. • FOREST, CONTINUED ON A2 New Orleans rampage '100%' inspired by Islamic State group ERIC TUCKER, JIM MUSTIAN, KEVIN MCGILL AND JACK BROOK NEW ORLEANS — The Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans acted alone, the FBI said Thursday, reversing its position from a day earlier that he likely worked with others in the deadly attack that officials said was inspired by the Islamic State group. The FBI also revealed that the driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an American citizen from Texas, posted five videos on his Facebook account in the hours before the attack in which he proclaimed his support for the militant group and previewed the violence that he would soon unleash in the famed French Quarter district. “This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act,” said Christopher Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, calling Jabbar “100 per cent inspired” by the Islamic State. The attack along Bourbon Street killed 14 revellers, along with Jabbar, 42, who was fatally shot in a firefight with police after steering his speeding truck around a barricade and plowing into the crowd. About 30 people were injured. It was the deadliest IS-inspired assault on U.S. soil in years, laying bare what federal officials have warned is a resurgent international terrorism threat. It also comes as the FBI and other agencies brace for dramatic leadership upheaval — and likely policy changes — after president-elect Donald Trump’s administration takes office. Raia stressed that there was no indication of a connection between the New Orleans attack and the explosion Wednesday of a Tesla Cybertruck filled with explosives outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel. The person inside that truck, a decorated U.S. Army Green Beret, shot himself in the head just before detonation, authorities said. The FBI continued to hunt for clues about Jabbar but said that a day into its investigation, it was confident he was not aided by anyone else in the attack, which killed an 18-year-old aspiring nurse, a single mother, a father of two and a former Princeton University football star, among others. • NEW ORLEANS, CONTINUED ON A3 WEATHER PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH -18 — LOW -28 CITY PROMISING MUSICIAN GIVEN 12-YEAR SENTENCE / B1 ;