Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 17, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Innovation HSC Radiothon Presented by: JANUARY 17, 2025 DONATE TODAY AT HSCFOUNDATION.MB.CA Listen live starting at 6 am OPEN DAILY 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. $12 TUESDAYS AT THE ZOO! JAN 21 - MAR 25, 2025 Go wild this winter at the Zoo with this limited-time offer! All admissions every Tuesday from Jan 21 to Mar 25 are only $12 Plan your visit now! 4.00% * *Rate subject to change. Conditions apply. SCU.MB.CA/GICS 14-MONTH | 28-MONTH | 54-MONTH Limited-time GIC specials SERVING MANITOBA SINCE 1872. FOREVER WITH YOUR SUPPORT. FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 2025 WEATHER FLURRIES. HIGH -4 — LOW -22 WORLD GAZA PEACE DEAL A REALITY, FINALLY / A3 Carney kicks off with jabs at Poilievre O TTAWA — Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney officially kicked off his bid to replace Justin Trudeau on Thursday by launching barbs at Pierre Poilievre and describing the Conservative leader as a dangerous, sloganeering populist. Carney launched his Liberal leader- ship campaign at a community centre in Edmonton that was packed with roughly 200 supporters — some wear- ing SFX buttons representing the local St. Francis Xavier high school Carney attended when he was a teenager. Former mayor of Edmonton Don Iveson was there and Carney pointed out his brothers Brian and Sean in the audience. As Carney spoke, he was flanked by several Liberal MPs endorsing his bid, including George Chahal, Sameer Zuberi and Brendan Hanley. “I’m back home in Edmonton to declare my candidacy for leader of the Liberal party and prime minister of Canada,” Carney said to applause at the Laurier Heights Community League. Carney grew up in the city’s west end before he left to study economics at Ivy League universities abroad. In his speech, he recalled lacing up his skates next door to play hockey. “I can still hear the blades of the skates tapping on the floor as we try to get the blood flowing into our toes,” he said, joking about the Edmonton weather. Carney had a gold-plated career in global finance that eventually saw him setting national interest rates as the head of the Bank of Canada and later the Bank of England. KYLE DUGGAN Proposal would have delayed clearing efforts City hall feels heat, will bury snow plan JOYANNE PURSAGA A PILOT project to increase the amount of snow needed to trigger residential street clearing appears set to be dumped from the city’s budget, after public backlash piled up. City council will be asked to delete the project from the 2025 financial blueprint, which was proposed to raise the threshold to plow residential streets from 10 cm to 15 cm, starting in October. That change would have affected snow clearing throughout next winter. Council’s public works committee voted unanimously in favour of a motion to scrap the pilot project on Thursday. Mayor Scott Gillingham said he will support the motion, noting residents expressed concerns the threshold in- crease would compromise road safety and accessibility. “We had more feedback concerned (with) the snow-clearing pilot idea than we did about the (proposed 5.95 per cent) property tax increase … We have a very high standard of snow clearing and the public has said very clearly that they want that maintained,” said Gillingham. The mayor said some residents complained it currently takes too long to clear residential streets and the change would extend that wait, while others suggested it would make travel more difficult for people with mobility devices. “Even though I tried to express there’s not a service cut, we’re just doing a pilot project, people, I think, really did see it as a service cut,” said Gillingham. The city’s snow-clearing budget is slated to increase by $5.3 million to $45.7 million this year. Actual spend- ing is tied to the work required to fol- low snow-clearing policies and varies widely depending on weather. The mayor stressed the city must seek out other ways to keep snow-clearing costs under control as inflation boosts the price of snow removal contracts. Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of council’s public works committee, said mobility concerns led her to raise the motion to cancel the project. Gazan boy in city for medical treatment AN 11-year-old boy who has a genet- ic condition that requires complex medical treatment has made the har- rowing journey from the war-rav- aged Gaza Strip to Winnipeg, where he was welcomed with open arms at the airport Thursday by Premier Wab Kinew. The premier said the boy was accompanied by his mother, who expressed gratitude for Manitoba’s willingness to step in and help her family. Kinew said the province is proving it’s a “human rights beacon” by providing urgent medical attention to two Palestinian children who can’t get the help they need in Gaza. “I think that people across Man- itoba have all been moved by what we’ve seen in Gaza and the region,” Kinew told reporters at a news conference later in the day. “I want the good people to be able say, ‘We did what we could. We did not look away.’” The two children were chosen be- cause Manitoba’s health-care system has the capacity to provide the type of care they need, said the premier, who wouldn’t provide details out of to respect for their personal health information. “This is in keeping with the hu- manitarian spirit that our province has been founded and built on,” said Kinew, who presented the boy with a small Canadian flag at the airport. “I’m asking you, my fellow Mani- tobans, to set out two more place-set- tings at the table of our Manitoba family,” Kinew said later at the legislature. He reiterated his government’s No. 1 commitment is to fix the health- care system. The premier was joined at the news conference by federal Immi- gration Minister Marc Miller, Win- nipeg South MP and Sport Minister Terry Duguid, pediatric surgeon Dr. Melanie Morris, Doctors Without Borders representative Dr. Jason Nickerson, who helped connect the young patients with the province, and several caucus members. CAROL SANDERS ● SNOW, CONTINUED ON A2 ● BOY, CONTINUED ON A2 ● CARNEY, CONTINUED ON A2 Liberal leadership contender, Conservative leader trade barbs JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and his wife Dr. Lisa Monkman welcome a Palestinian mother and her son from Gaza at Winnipeg’s airport. He’s here for medical treatment. Kinew calls Manitoba ‘human rights beacon’; second child chosen to be treated ;