Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 21, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba A4 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM M ANITOBA is lobbying the fed- eral government to reconsider its decision to slash by half the number of skilled immigrants the prov- ince is allowed this year, as business leaders say the economy cannot afford the cut. The province was informed last week its allocation of skilled workers under the nominee program would be cut to 4,750 this year, from 9,540 in 2024. Manitoba’s immigration and labour minister, Malaya Marcelino, is negoti- ating for more. Marcelino said after national immi- gration levels were rolled out in late October, she and members of the Mani- toba Business Council, Manitoba Cham- bers of Commerce and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities advocated “with one voice” for federal Immigra- tion Minister Marc Miller to increase the province’s allocation to 12,000 nom- inees. “He knew fully well that that’s what we need as a province,” Marcelino said Monday. “At the very least, do not cut what we had, which was 9,500.” In October, the federal government announced it would cut immigration levels across the board in 2025, includ- ing a 50 per cent drop in the provincial nominee program to help relieve pres- sure on the housing market. Marcelino spoke to Miller about the matter last week when he was visiting the Manitoba legislature. “I was able to secure his commitment to Manitoba to continue negotiating an increase to that allotment,” she said. “He explained that this was the start- ing point for all provinces and then you go from there.” The Manitoba Chambers of Com- merce vice-president of policy and gov- ernment relations said the cut will hurt businesses. “What this will mean, practically, for Manitoba companies is that jobs may remain unfilled, and without the requisite workforce, it will be difficult for Manitoba companies to grow,” said Elisabeth Saftiuk. “… while businesses have already been facing concerns over labour shortages, now we hear of a re- duction of immigration coming into our province.” When Miller was in the city last week, he praised the provincial govern- ment for offering medical treatment to two children from Gaza. Marcelino said she couldn’t divulge any details about the “ongoing” ne- gotiation with Ottawa concerning the provincial nominee numbers, or what Manitoba must do to convince the fed- eral government to increase Manitoba’s allocation. “We do not get interprovincial migra- tion like Alberta,” she said. “We do not get the federal government immigra- tion-stream people that choose Mani- toba first. No, they go to Vancouver and Toronto. The other provinces get their immigration that way.” The nominee program allows Mani- toba to attract immigrants who have work experience and ties to the prov- ince who stay in the province, Marcel- ino said. “That’s why this is our bread and but- ter,” she said. Cam Dahl, general manager of the Manitoba Pork Council, said he was disappointed the concerns of Mani- tobans hadn’t been taken into consider- ation. “These are people that are coming into Manitoba to make it their perma- nent home and filling key needs for labour in the province,” said Dahl. He wrote to Miller on Oct. 28 after the announced cuts to immigration across the country, saying he understood the pressures on housing and public servi- ces in large urban centres. “However, pressures in rural Can- ada are not the same as in our large cities,” the letter said. “New Canadians are a critical part of the labour force in places like Notre Dame de Lourdes, Neepawa, Brandon and even in Winni- peg.” Marcelino said it’s urgent to boost this year’s number of nominees. “We have to get that very soon — like in the next month or so — because there’s a federal election coming up,” Marcelino said. Wayne Ewasko, the interim leader of the Manitoba Progressive Conserva- tives, who is a former immigration min- ister, said the NDP government should have been negotiating harder and soon- er for more provincial nominees. “At the 11th hour, I wouldn’t be stat- ing my case now,” Ewasko said. “The federal government has been signalling this for months.” The provincial nominee program was slashed to 55,000 spots across Canada this year, down from 110,000 in 2024. The federal government said it was lowering overall immigration targets to 395,000 in 2025, 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027. That’s down from 485,000 in 2024. Canadians are “increasingly seeing (immigration) as having a negative impact on access to health care and the availability of affordable housing, signalling the need to stabilize levels,” the federal department warned Nov. 7, 2023. “It seems the Kinew government and his minister were fine waiting until this actually happened,” Ewasko said. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca NEWS I LOCAL TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2025 Manitoba drops ball on overseeing animal breeders: rights group THE MANITOBA government has been accused of a “chronic” lack of oversight of animal breeders after ac- tivists allegedly uncovered “horrific” conditions at a ferret-breeding mill near Melita. Kaitlyn Mitchell, a Winnipeg law- yer and director of legal advocacy for Animal Justice, called on the province to close the mill and resume enforcing licensing requirements for breeders of dogs, cats and other small animals. “It’s really important that Manitobans see what’s happening here,” she said Monday. “This is a result of the province failing to oversee breeding facilities. “These conditions are horrific and causing animal suffering. That is what happens when governments walk away from all animal licensing.” Mitchell said unlicensed breeders, including irresponsible backyard dog breeders and puppy mills, have flour- ished amid the “chronic” lack of over- sight since Manitoba stopped licensing companion animal breeders more than a decade ago. A government spokesperson said Manitoba Agriculture’s animal welfare branch has launched an investigation into claims about the ferret mill. “No further information is available at this time as the investigation is on- going. This location has not been subject to previous complaints or inspections,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. Manitoba Agriculture’s animal wel- fare branch conducted 755 inspections in 2024 in response to 951 “concerns” that were reported, government data showed. Of those, 24 tickets were issued and four prosecutions led to an order barring a person from owning or pos- sessing more than a specific number or type of animal. About 275 inspections resulted in recommendations to owners to gain compliance under the Animal Care Act, while 92 resulted in animals being surrendered. In 90 cases, the branch issued or- ders of seizure or distress. The latter is issued when animals in the province’s custody die or a distressed animal is eu- thanized to “relieve distress.” Animal Justice, which advocates for stronger animal protection laws across Canada, shared video it said had been recorded by an activist who went under- cover at the ferret mill near Melita, a town in the southwestern corner of Manitoba. The mill is the largest of its kind in Canada, the organization said. The activist arranged a tour of the mill while posing as a prospective busi- ness partner. Animal Justice recently filed a com- plaint with Manitoba’s chief veterinary office in which it alleged numerous vio- lations of the province’s Animal Care Act were observed when the video was recorded in December. The organization said the operator did not appear to be intentionally harm- ing animals. The mill’s owner told the Free Press he was not aware of the complaint. The owner, who claimed he was “set up,” said he is looking for a business partner because he plans to quit. Animal Justice said the mill had about 500 ferrets, and sells the animals to pet stores or via websites. The group claimed ferrets were kept in barren, feces-covered wire cages in uninsulated sheds that had piles of ex- crement on the floor. “We are really hoping these animals can be seized and re-homed,” Mitchell said. Animal Justice claimed a homemade carbon monoxide “gas chamber” was used to kill sick and injured ferrets, and those no longer used for breeding. The wooden box did not appear to be airtight or adequate for euthanasia, and it did not appear to be legal, she said. “Use of gases such as carbon monox- ide, or more commonly CO2, in a con- fined chamber is recognized as an ap- proved, humane method of euthanasia for a variety of species, if constructed following recommended designs and operated correctly,” the provincial spokesperson wrote in an email. Mitchell said the lack of government oversight put the animals at risk of dis- ease or attacks from wild animals, in- cluding raccoons, which have entered the shed and ripped the legs off of baby ferrets. Animal Justice claimed the mill re- cently had an outbreak of distemper, a highly contagious virus, which killed numerous ferrets. Dr. Jonas Watson, a veterinarian at Grant Park Animal Hospital, reviewed the undercover video after it was pro- vided by Animal Justice. “Animals that are mass produced tend to not be afforded adequate levels of care in general, and human prior- ities are always placed above those of animals,” he said. “If the province fails to close this (mill) down, they have once again failed animals in this province.” Watson said he was concerned about what appeared to be a lack of biosecur- ity at the mill. People who decide to get a ferret should acquire one from a rescue or- ganization or a shelter, he suggested. Those who decide to buy from a breeder should visit the breeding site to speak to the operator and inspect the animals’ living conditions, Watson said. chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca CHRIS KITCHING Bowers, who joined the police service in 1989, has held a low profile as deputy chief. He has worked in several sections, including specialized investigations, where he implemented the counter-exploitation unit, his online biography reads. He was front and centre late last year when he spoke at a news confer- ence regarding three officers who’d been charged following an internal investigation into breach of trust allegations. Chambers said the board doesn’t want to embarrass the individual, or themselves, by failing to vet the latest information. “We understand what this means for the Winnipeg Police Service,” Cham- bers said. “We want to take our time and do it right, do it diligently, make sure we leave no stone uncovered to make that right decision.” Asked if the need to bring in external legal counsel might be a sign the police board should look for a different can- didate, Chambers said that wouldn’t be fair to the candidates who applied. “We want to make sure, again, that we’re doing this in the fairest possible way,” he said. The Winnipeg Police Association did not respond to a request for comment. Meantime, the next chief will need to find savings regarding the city’s 2025 budget. The police operating expenditures are projected to rise to $352 million this year, which is $20 million higher than 2024. The service will grow by 36 general patrol officers over the next two years if city council approves the 2025 preliminary budget on Jan. 29. scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca POLICE CHIEF ● FROM A1 Manitoba fights for more skilled workers after Ottawa cuts immigration program CAROL SANDERS TIM SMITH / BRANDON SUN FILES Malaya Marcelino, provincial Minister of Labour and Immigration, said there is ongoing negotiation with Federal Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller (below) to increase the number of skilled workers under the nominee program allowed in Manitoba this year. JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Federal immigration department to cut more than 3,300 jobs over three years OTTAWA — The federal immigration department is set to cut roughly 3,300 jobs over the next three years. The Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Canada Employment and Immi- gration Union said in a joint statement issued Monday that Immigration, Refu- gees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has not said who will be affected by the cuts. The unions said more information is expected in mid-February but the cuts were brought up in a union-manage- ment meeting before staff were noti- fied. Both unions are urging the govern- ment to cut down on outside contracting instead of downsizing staff. In an internal memo obtained by The Canadian Press, the IRCC’s deputy minister Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar and associate deputy minister Scott Harris told employees that some permanent positions “will be eliminated,” along with “many” term positions. “Although the affected functions have been identified, the individuals have not,” the memo said. The memo said around 3,300 jobs will be cut over the next three years, with 20 per cent of the reductions hitting permanent employees. Letters will be sent to affected employees beginning in mid-February. There will also be “significant re- ductions” in the department’s term workforce, the memo said, adding some term contracts will not be renewed or will end early. Affected term employ- ees will be given at least 30 days’ no- tice, likely also in mid-February. “We are building an organization that is fit for purpose, fit for capacity and fit for our budget,” the memo said, add- ing that changes to funding have added pressure “in an already constrained budgetary situation.” Jessica Kingsbury, a spokesperson for the IRCC, said in an email Mon- day that budget decisions will focus on “maintaining border security and en- forcing immigration laws, while evalu- ating how best to deliver our programs and services.” Public service employees have been braced for layoffs since the govern- ment launched efforts to refocus fed- eral spending in 2023, looking for $15.8 billion in savings by 2027-28 and $4.8 billion per year after that. The memo said planned spending re- ductions at the departmental level start at $237 million in 2025-26 and are pro- jected to reach $336 million by 2027-28. It means every sector and region will be affected across the department. “It’s clear our department will be smaller in the future,” the memo said. “We’ve been working under an ever-in- creasing budget and need to learn to live within a defined — and reduced — budget moving forward.” The department said it has reduced its workforce through attrition and re- deployment of employees and has intro- duced staffing controls to limit exter- nal hires and evaluate all appointments based on budget and operational needs. The PSAC and CEIU said staff at the department are essential to the work of processing citizenship and permanent residency applications, issuing pass- ports and conducting interviews. “Last month, immigration process- ing wait times continued to reach rec- ord-breaking backlog levels, and these cuts will only worsen an already dire situation,” said CEIU national president Rubina Boucher in a media statement. According to the Government of Canada website, 13,092 public servants worked at IRCC in 2024. The total popu- lation of the public service in 2024 was 367,772. — The Canadian Press CATHERINE MORRISON Man dies after being handcuffed, IIU investigating THE PROVINCE’S police watchdog is investigating after a man died in a Manitoba hospital after being in RCMP custody. The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba said RCMP in Kamsack, Sask., were told about a missing man in the Madge Lake area at about 7 p.m. Sunday. The lake is in Duck Mountain Provincial Park, near the Manitoba border. The report suggested the man was not dressed for the weather. RCMP members from Kamsack and four Manitoba detachments — Swan River, Russell, Roblin and Dauphin — and conservation officers from both provinces went to the area to search for the man. A drone determined he was in the bush, about 200 to 300 metres from officers. Police travelled through difficult ter- rain to the location, where they found the man, searched him and placed him in handcuffs “for officer safety” be- cause “there was an indication the male may have a weapon,” the IIU said in a news release Monday. The man was breathing as he was carried from the bush, but officers checked him again in a police vehicle and determined he no longer had a pulse. Officers gave the man CPR, and emergency crews transported him to a hospital in Swan River. He later died. A spokesperson for the provincial government said they could not say whether the man was found in Sas- katchewan or Manitoba. They quoted the news release, which said “the inves- tigation is ongoing so no further details will be provided at this time.” The death is the third involving Manitoba RCMP in a matter of days. A woman died in Ashern’s hospital Wed- nesday after being arrested in Vogar. On Jan. 14, a 33-year-old father of sev- en, Cory Wiebe, was fatally shot by a Manitoba RCMP officer outside his family’s home in Dominion City. ;