Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 6, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2025 B2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I MANITOBA BRIEFS WINTER ROUTE PARKING BAN ENDS THE annual winter route parking ban has been lifted, the City of Winnipeg announced Wednesday. The ban prohibits overnight parking on designated streets from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. It began on Dec. 6, with an undetermined end date. U.S. FLAG REMOVED FROM EAST END ARENA A community club has removed the U.S. flag after the area’s councillor called for them to be removed from city-owned facilities. Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt made the request to Mayor Scott Gillingham shortly before U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods took effect late Monday night. He said Wednesday that the Transcona East End Community Club has removed the flag from inside its arena. Wyatt has cited U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated statements that Canada should become America’s 51st state, the tariffs and how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was treated during a recent meeting in the Oval Office as reasons for his request. DUPLEX TO BE TORN DOWN AFTER FIRE A vacant two-storey duplex on Manitoba Avenue will be demolished after a fire Wed- nesday morning. Crews were sent to the building on the 600 block at 10:34 a.m. and used aerial ladder trucks to spray water on the fire. The building partially collapsed because of significant fire and water damage, the Win- nipeg Fire Paramedic Service said in a news release. An emergency demolition of the rest of the building is being arranged, the WFPS said that afternoon. Road closures are in place in the area, which is slippery from fighting the fire. The duplex was previously damaged in a fire on the night of Oct. 8. People lived in the building at that time, but no one was injured. DRIVER OF STOLEN TRUCK FLEES, CRASHES A man is facing charges after the driver of a stolen pickup truck fled from police before crashing. Patrolling officers noticed a 2017 Dodge Ram 1500 with an improper licence plate being driven in the area of Logan Avenue and Sherbrook Street at about 2:10 a.m. Wed- nesday. Police tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver sped off and the Winnipeg Police Service’s helicopter was used to monitor the truck. The driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed at the intersection of Higgins Avenue and Main Street, then ran from the inoperable truck. Officers arrested a man after a brief foot chase and seized a canister of bear spray. The truck was stolen from the 3100 block of Pembina Highway on Monday. A 29-year-old Winnipeg man is facing charges of possession of a weapon, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 and failing to comply with conditions of a release order. Liberals promise annual funds for Winnipeg Transit THE federal government is promising Winnipeg Transit $11.5 million annual- ly to support its infrastructure, start- ing in 2026. Terry Duguid, the federal minis- ter responsible for Prairies Econom- ic Development Canada, told a news conference Wednesday the funding would continue for 10 years as part of a broader program, if the Liberals re- main in power. “To be truly successful in building strong and resilient communities, we need reliable transit that connects people to jobs, schools and essential services,” Duguid said. Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of city council’s public works committee, said the money can be used to fund transit planning and infrastructure, such as bus shelters and digital signs. Mayor Scott Gillingham said the money is greatly needed as the city prepares to overhaul its transit net- work by the end of June. “This federal funding could not come at a better time for Winnipeg Transit,” Gillingham said. “Over the next decade, this funding will assist the City of Winnipeg to roll out this new network and modernize Transit and keep our system advancing as our city grows.” As is the case with recently an- nounced federal funding for sewage upgrades, the mayor confirmed Ottawa will require the city to make key zon- ing changes to claim the cash. In this case, Winnipeg is required to: eliminate all mandatory minimum parking requirements for housing de- velopments built within 800 metres of a high-frequency transit line; allow high- density housing within 800 metres of a high-frequency transit line; and al- low high-density housing within 800 metres of post-secondary institutions, according to the federal government’s website. The federal pledge will depend on the result of the next federal election, expected in short order following the Liberals’ selection of a new leader Sun- day. joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca X: @joyanne_pursaga JOYANNE PURSAGA MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES The new federal funding could help Winni- peg Transit modernize, including adding to its fleet of zero-waste buses. THE chief executive officer of a Manitoba pool company who was al- ready facing multiple counts of fraud was arrested again this week and charged with 11 additional offences. Kurt Wittin, who was arrested by the RCMP cyber and financial crime unit Nov. 5 after an initial investi- gation by Headingley RCMP, was charged with nine counts of fraud greater than $5,000 and was released from custody with conditions. After a second arrest Monday, Wit- tin was charged with 11 additional counts of fraud. The financial losses suffered by the victims is more than $700,000, RCMP said in a news release. Police said in November that Wittin — 55 at the time — had been under investigation since 2023 in numerous fraud complaints involving his com- pany, Seventeen Pools. “In each instance, customers sent payment for products that were never received,” RCMP said in a news re- lease then. The victims are from across Can- ada and the United States. Police said in the fall that there might be others who had not yet spoken with investigators and asked anyone with information regarding Wittin or his companies — Seven- teen Pools Inc., Seventeen Pools, 204 Container Pools and Kustom Contain- er Builders — to contact the RCMP. They repeated that request Wednes- day. Seventeen Pools, located in Oak Bluff, started building pools out of shipping containers in 2012, its web- site states. Wittin and his companies have faced a slew of lawsuits and small claims in Manitoba, many of which remain before the courts. Most recently, a man from Mal- ibu, Calif., self-filed a statement of claim against Wittin and Seventeen Pools in Court of King’s Bench last August. The man alleges he entered into a contract with Wittin and the company in May 2022 to have a container pool built on his property for US$35,000, which he paid in two lump sums that year. The company didn’t deliver the pool and refused to reimburse him. The filing is seeking judgment for $35,000, plus interests, damages and court costs. fpcity@freepress.mb.ca BORIS MINKEVICH / FREE PRESS FILES Kurt Wittin is facing multiple fraud charges with financial losses north of $700,000. Man dies after being attacked by pack of dogs on First Nation A 56-year-old man has died after being attacked by dogs on Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation. Yellowhead RCMP were contacted about a man being attacked by five dogs at a home on the First Nation, which is located about 110 kilometres north of Brandon, at about 3:10 p.m. on Feb. 21. A man was seen “lying motionless face down in the snow being attacked by the dogs” when an officer and emer- gency crews arrived, Manitoba RCMP spokesman Sgt. Paul Manaigre said. Emergency crew members could not get out of their vehicle because of the danger posed by the dogs, Manaigre said. Multiple attempts were made to distract the dogs using a siren and air horn, the spokesman said. The police officer yelled at the dogs to try to direct their attention away from the victim and the dogs became aggressive toward the officer. The Mountie drew his gun as he was trying to get close to the man and fired several shots in the direction of the dogs, striking and killing two of them, Manaigre said. Emergency crew members were able to reach the injured man, who had suf- fered serious injuries, when the three other dogs ran towards the home’s backyard, Manaigre said. The 56-year-old man did not own the dogs and did not live at the home, Man- aigre said Wednesday. The dogs lived at the home, he said. The man was transported to Brandon Regional Health Centre and later trans- ferred to a health-care facility in Win- nipeg, where he was treated and then released. RCMP said they were told the man died while at a Winnipeg hotel on Feb. 23. Police did not say whether he died from his injuries, something related or from causes unrelated to the attack. No charges have been laid in connec- tion with the attack. The bodies of the two dogs that were killed were seized and will be exam- ined, Manaigre said, adding officers are not certain of their breed or breeds. Manaigre said he’s not aware of what, if anything, happened to the other three dogs. — the Brandon Sun, with files from Adam Treusch MICHELE MCDOUGALL Tory leadership hopeful blames NDP for cancellation of his tourism permits A LEADERSHIP candidate for the Manitoba Tories has vowed to sue the provincial government after it cancelled two polar bear view- ing vehicle permits for his tour com- pany in Churchill. Wally Daudrich, who is battling Obby Khan for the party leadership, said he met with a lawyer and court documents will be filed in the next few days. “I joined this race to fight corrup- tion and that’s what I’m fighting right now,” Daudrich said on Wednesday. “Why are they singling my permits out and not somebody else’s?” He blamed NDP Premier Wab Kinew. “I believe that our provincial gov- ernment, under the present admin- istration, is weaponizing the bureau- cracy in an attempt to hurt the leading contender in the PC race… Mr. Kinew has weaponized the bureaucracy against me.” Daudrich’s company, Lazy Bear Lodge and Expeditions, has operated hotel rooms and tundra buggy tours of polar bears and other wildlife in Churchill for years. He said the province told him it can- celled the permits because of concern the bear population’s feeding habits were negatively affected by the num- ber of vehicles that encroach on their habitat. Not only does he dispute that claim, but questioned why the province would cancel permits at a time when Canada is in a tariff war launched by the United States. “Why would our government all of a sudden try to destroy a part of the economy which is actually tar- iff-proof?” he said. “There is ample evidence the bureaucracy is being weaponized against my company and only my company.” Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie insisted politics played no part in the decision. “We are not politicizing this in any way,” Bushie said, adding the depart- ment had recommended the permits be cancelled. “It is the department doing its due diligence and having the recommen- dation of walking back the limits to 2018, which was the norm that had been happening for quite some time. “There was no political interfer- ence or political decision-making that had a political kind of reference what- soever. This is doing right by the habi- tat, doing right by the tundra, doing right by Churchill.” In 2020, the Tory government under Brian Pallister added two polar bear viewing vehicle permits to the 18 which had been allowed since 1984 and awarded them to Lazy Bear. Daudrich, who has run for the fed- eral Conservative party twice and once for the Reform Party of Canada, said that decision had nothing to do with him or other family members do- nating more than $86,000 to the prov- incial Tory party since 2016. Almost $60,000 of that was donated between 2016 and 2020, when the permit was awarded. “You can argue I’m hated in Church- ill because I’m a Conservative,” he said. “I give my max to the federal party as well and I have for decades… I have a long history of being a con- servative. “I’m a leadership candidate and the timing of it is done to try to pull me aside my campaign. I will deal with this as leader.” A provincial spokesman confirmed two polar bear viewing vehicle per- mits have been cancelled to get back to the number of licenses recom- mended by the 2013 Churchill Wild- life Management Area plan. “This decision is intended to protect the sensitive tundra ecosystem,” the spokesman said in a statement. “The (plan) represents a fragile eco- system and after extensive engage- ment in the fall of 2024, the province determined that polar bear viewing tourism is saturated and the province needed to return to the previously set limit of 18 vehicles within the (plan).” The spokesman said the two per- mits which were cancelled, had been the last ones granted. Daudrich said he will continue to run tours, using four permits he was given in 2004, which allow him to drive in smaller areas near Churchill. “There won’t be less vehicles; they will be vehicles limited in the terri- tory they can cover.” The Tory party will announce its next leader at a convention on April 26. kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca KEVIN ROLLASON GREG VANDERMEULEN / THE CARILLON FILES Wally Daudrich says he met with a lawyer and court documents will be filed in the next few days. Pool company CEO faces more fraud charges ;