Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 19, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba PUBLIC NOTICE 2025 INSECTICIDE USE PROGRAM Mosquito larviciding • Targets mosquito larvae in standing water • Is done on both public and private property throughout Winnipeg and up to 10 km outside city limits • Expected to run April 7 to October 18, 2025 • Insecticide to be used: o Vectobac (Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis – Bti) o Altosid (Methoprene) Adult mosquito control • Targets adult mosquitoes on streets and lanes and in parks, golf courses, and cemeteries within Winnipeg • Expected to run May 26 to September 27, 2025 • Insecticide to be used: o DeltaGard 20EW (deltamethrin) Tree pest caterpillar control • Targets cankerworms, forest tent caterpillars, and fall webworm caterpillars on City-owned trees • Expected to run May 4 to September 5, 2025 • Insecticide to be used: o Foray 48B (Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki – Btk) Emerald ash borer control • Targets emerald ash borers on public property • Conducted by injecting insecticide into the trunk of ash trees • Expected to run June 2 to September 27, 2025 • Insecticide to be used: o TreeAzin (azadirachtin) o IMA-jet (imidacloprid) Wasp and ant control • Conducted on public property as needed • Expected to run April 7 to October 31, 2025 • Insecticide to be used: o Konk Foam Insecticide II (permethrin) o Konk Hornet and Wasp Killer (tetramethrin/d-phenothrin) o Drione (pyrethrins with piperonyl butoxide) Other pest control as needed Could be done between April 7 and October 31, 2025 Insecticides that may be used: • Foray® 48B (Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki - Btk) • Safer’s® Insecticidal Soap (potassium salts) • Ortho® Bug B Gon Eco Insecticidal Soap Concentrate (potassium salts) • DeltaGard SC Insecticide (deltamethrin) Objections If you object to the use of pesticide next to your property, please send a written submission within 15 days of this notice being published to: Manitoba Environment and Climate Change Environmental Approvals Branch 14 Fultz Boulevard, Box 35 Winnipeg MB R3Y 0L6 Buffer zones You can request a no-pesticide exemption (buffer zone) for your property by sending a letter with your name, address, and proof of occupancy (driver’s licence, utility bill, etc) by: • Mail: To Insect Control Branch 3 Grey Street Winnipeg MB R2L1V2 • Fax: To 311 • Online: At winnipeg.ca/311 We must receive buffer zone requests at least 3 days prior to the anticipated start date of the program. Registration must be renewed every year. Register for advance notification of insect control activities online at winnipeg.ca/insectcontrol or by contacting 311. Bugs are part of life in Winnipeg. Our job is to minimize their nuisance. Our insect control branch will be out again this year treating Winnipeg for common pests. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of our planned activities. Call for Nominations Board of Directors Established in the 1960’s, Meals On Wheels is a registered charity that delivers nutritious meals to the door for community members who are unable to prepare or acquire affordable meals on their own. Meals on Wheels allows clients to remain living independently and with dignity in their homes. Last year, over 160,000 meals were delivered by an extraordinary group of volunteers. The Board is currently accepting applications for volunteer Directors for a two-year term. The Board meets six times per year, with some committee work supporting the program. We are currently seeking board members with experience in the following fields: information technology, food service, non-profit management, strategic planning implementation, marketing and entrepreneurship. To apply, please reply in confidence with a resume to msomersall@mealswinnipeg.com by March 15, 2025. www.mealswinnipeg.com Donate Today www.movementcentre.ca/support WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2025WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● A5 NEWS I TOP NEWS Class-action lawsuit alleges northern grocer pocketed ‘millions’ from subsidy intended to lower food prices THE company with a grocery monopoly in many northern communities is being accused of profiting from millions of dollars in fed- eral food subsidies intended to lower food prices for remote residents. In documents filed in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench last week, lawyers for three current and former Nunavut residents are asking the courts to certify a class-action suit against the North West Company for alleged- ly keeping a portion of the money it received via Nutrition North Canada, instead of using it to reduce the price of groceries. The lawsuit is seeking damages for breach of contract, punitive damages and an order directing the company to pay back all of the subsidy money in restitution to northern residents who shop at the stores. “Despite making representations that it complies with the requirement to pass through the entire subsidy to consumer, and despite making a commitment to do so as (a) condition of receiving the subsidy, the (North West Company) has instead unlawfully re- tained millions of dollars of funding received through the program,” the lawsuit alleges. “This class proceeding is brought on behalf of northern residents to require (the North West Company) to return these misappropri- ated funds to their intended beneficiaries.” The lawsuit claims that because the full subsidy wasn’t used to reduce grocery prices, there were “poorer health outcomes in some of Canada’s most vulnerable and impover- ished communities” as well as “increased rates of malnutrition, obesity, cardiovascu- lar disease, diabetes and other morbidities associated with unhealthy diets, as well as increased rates of depression and suicidal ideation.” North West Company representatives could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The company’s roots go back to the fur trade and the Hudson’s Bay Company. According to the company’s website, a group of investors, including hundreds of em- ployees, bought the HBC’s Northern Stores Division in 1987 and three years later re- named its outlets under the Northern retail banner. The stores are usually about 7,500 square feet in size and operate in communities of between 500 and 7,000 residents. Some have been in operation for more than three centur- ies. Since the federal government began the program in 2011 with the goal of reducing the cost of healthy foods, it has paid out more than $1.2 billion in subsidies. The lawsuit alleges the North West Com- pany itself received more than $163 million between 2018 and 2021. It also alleges the company misrepresented the savings received by northern residents when it put up posters in stores saying, “Mak- ing Healthy Choices More Affordable!” and when it put two price tags on goods — one of which was lower — “implying that the full subsidy has been passed along to consumers.” For years, northern residents have com- plained about high prices and that retailers weren’t passing on the full subsidy to them. Last year, then northern affairs minister Dan Vandal asked for an external review of the subsidy program. No statement of defence has been filed and the matter has not been adjudicated in court. kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca KEVIN ROLLASON ICE-CUTTING WORK STARTS ON RED WORK has begun to reduce the risk of ice-jam flood- ing on the Red River. The work was set to start Tuesday and is expected to be completed by March 15, the province said in a news release. The ice-jam mitigation program was launched in 2006. Amphibex icebreakers and remote-controlled units cut and break river ice on about 28 kilometres along the Red between Netley Marsh and Selkirk. Operations are planned on the Icelandic River at Riverton this year but not at the Portage Diversion. Notices will be posted in areas where the ice-cut- ting machines are operating. CREWS EXTINGUISH TWO FIRES A VACANT house in East Elmwood was set to be demolished after a fire Tuesday. Firefighters were sent to the two-storey house on Berlin Street at 6:40 a.m. An emergency demolition was being arranged because of structural concerns. Later Tuesday, at 8:51 a.m., crews were sent to a home on the 300 block of Lindsay Street after a pickup truck caught fire, threatening a garage. Crews declared the fire under control at 9:09 a.m. Preliminary observations suggest the fire was accidental, involving a plugged-in block heater, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said in a news release. FOUR ARRESTED IN ROBBERIES FOUR men have been arrested after a string of armed robberies around Manitoba, including one in Winni- peg at a business on the 500 block of Selkirk Avenue on Thursday. The Winnipeg Police Service’s major crimes unit investigated and determined the men were planning a robbery in Brandon, where officers arrested four men Sunday. Two of the men — ages 23 and 20 — are from Surrey, B.C. Another, 21, is a Winnipeg resident. The other, 26, is from Brampton, Ont. The men have each been charged with five counts of armed robbery, four counts of disguise with intent and theft under $5,000. The robberies happened between Feb. 7 and Friday in Teulon, Swan Lake First Nation, Winnipeg and the Rural Municipality of St. Laurent. On Feb. 12, RCMP asked for the public’s help in finding suspects in the Teulon and Swan Lake robberies. PRINCESS STREET STABBING ARREST A 26-year-old man has been charged in connection with a stabbing this month. Officers arrested him on the 300 block of Princess Street at about 1:15 p.m. Sunday. The man has been charged with assault with a weapon. A 37-year-old man suffered a stab wound to his “lower body” on the same block at about 2 a.m. on Feb. 5. IN BRIEF RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS The Tuesday morning truck fire on Lindsay Street is believed to have involved a block heater, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said. Man who suffered frostbite during chase was just out of jail A MAN who allegedly stole a snowmobile police used to track him and then fled from hospital despite suffering “extreme frostbite” had only recently been released from jail. Blake Beaulieu, 33, was sentenced last month to the equivalent of seven-and-a-half months in jail for a variety of offences, in- cluding theft of a motor vehicle, driving while prohibited and resisting arrest. Beaulieu had already served about six-and- a-half months in custody at the time of his sentencing hearing in Portage la Prairie on Jan. 24. Provincial court Judge Rob Finlayson, who was told Beaulieu has struggled with an ad- diction to methamphetamine, sentenced him to an additional year of supervised probation and ordered that he participate in a residen- tial treatment program, if a bed becomes available. “You get help before it’s too late,” Finlayson said. “You are going to go downhill fast if you continue to use (meth)… Get some help and get off this stuff.” RCMP asked for the public’s help Friday in finding Beaulieu after he left hospital. Ste. Rose du Lac RCMP received a report of a possible impaired driver in a pickup truck in Ebb and Flow First Nation at about 11:15 a.m. Thursday. Officers found the truck by the community’s arena and tried to stop the driver, who left the truck at a home on Lake Road Northeast The truck had been reported stolen from Austin. A sawed-off shotgun was found in the vehicle, police said. The suspect threw off some of his clothing while fleeting into the bush on foot, RCMP said in a news release. Safety officers from Ebb and Flow and the local fire department helped Mounties search for the man, who used a police dog, a drone and multiple snowmobiles. The man was found in deep snow by officers on a snowmobile, but he managed to escape and drive away on the machine, RCMP said. The man, who wasn’t wearing shoes, was arrested after the machine became stuck in snow a short distance away and began walk- ing towards a road. He was taken to hospital in serious condi- tion. RCMP were told at about 8 a.m. Friday that the man had left the hospital with the help of an unknown person, apparently earlier that morning. RCMP said at the time that his medical con- dition might be life-threatening. Police announced Saturday that the man had been found in Sandy Bay First Nation “thanks to tips from the public” and was re- turned to the hospital. Blake Beaulieu, 33, of Sandy Bay First Na- tion has been charged with theft, flight from a peace officer and possession of a firearm. RCMP said in a news release in 2023 that Beaulieu was one of two people arrested after a stolen off-road vehicle drove in and out of yards in the Municipality of Westlake-Glad- stone early on Nov. 8. He was charged with possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, mischief and two counts of re- sisting/obstructing a peace officer and was already wanted on warrants for a number of offences, including two assaults and robbery. fpcity@freepress.mb.ca DEAN PRITCHARD AND ADAM TREUSCH ;