Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 24, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba A2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2025 VOL 154 NO 137 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2025 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published six days a week in print and always online at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204-697-7000 CEO / MIKE POWER Editor / PAUL SAMYN Associate Editor Enterprise / SCOTT GIBBONS Associate Editor News / STACEY THIDRICKSON Associate Editor Digital News / WENDY SAWATZKY Director Photo and Multimedia / MIKE APORIUS NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL The Winnipeg Free Press is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to determine acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please send them to: editorialconcerns@freepress.mb.ca. 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INSIDE Arts and Life C1 Business B5 Classifieds D7 Comics C5 Diversions C6-7 Horoscope C4 Jumble C6 Miss Lonelyhearts C4 Opinion A6, 7 Sports D1 Television C4 Weather B8 COLUMNISTS: Dan Lett A4 READER SERVICE ● GENERAL INQUIRIES 204-697-7000 CIRCULATION INQUIRIES MISSING OR INCOMPLETE PAPER? Call or email before 10 a.m. weekdays or 11 a.m. Saturday City: 204-697-7001 Outside Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 press 1 6:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.; 7 a.m. - noon Saturday; Closed Sunday TO SUBSCRIBE: 204-697-7001 Out of Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 The Free Press receives support from the Local Journalism Initiative funded by the Government of Canada ‘Instead of walking Maven through life, I had to walk him to the morgue’ THE mother of a three-month-old boy fatally assaulted by his father told a court Tuesday she was gripped by thoughts of suicide after her son was “senselessly and cruelly” killed. “I truly felt there was no purpose for me left” and that death would reunite her with her child, Evelyn Gillis said at a sentencing hearing for her former partner Mathieu Moreau. Moreau, 35, was found guilty of manslaughter after a judge last year rejected his testimony at trial claim- ing he found the child in his crib in un- explained medical distress. Moreau’s son Maven was rushed to hospital with a traumatic brain injury on Jan. 11, 2020, and was taken off life support six days later. Gillis cried as she recounted the grief and pain she and her family live with every day, her voice rising in anger as she frequently turned to look at Moreau seated in the court gallery with his family. “We trusted that Mathieu was telling us the truth that night it happened,” Gillis said. “The extent of the betrayal didn’t end there. You watched us suf- fer, mourn, grieve, and you attended Maven’s funeral planning. You ma- nipulated and disrespected us when we were in our most fragile state. “I had to go through my first Moth- er’s Day without my son,” she said. “In- stead of walking Maven through life, I had to walk him to the morgue. The tre- mendous void will never be filled and our heartbreak will never go away.” Prosecutors are urging King’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond to sentence Moreau to 10 to 12 years in prison. “Instead of loving and protecting Maven, Mr. Moreau did the opposite, committing a violent act that resulted in several fractures and a catastrophic brain injury, killing him,” Crown attor- ney Jennifer Mann said. Mann said there was no evidence Mo- reau was “overwhelmed” by caring for Maven, noting his in-laws were always available to help and lived just a short walk from his home. “To this day we have no explana- tion for his behaviour toward Maven,” Mann said. Court heard at trial Gillis was out for dinner in Osborne Village when Moreau called her parents, then 911, to report their son was having trouble breathing in his crib in their Nassau Street apartment shortly after 9 p.m. Moreau testified he had gone for a nap, then heard Maven gurgling in his crib when he went to the washroom after waking up. He burped him after seeing infant formula come from his mouth and nose, he told court, before calling for help. Prosecutors alleged Moreau was fi- nancially stressed, tired from working two jobs and upset that he had to return home to care for Maven when he “lost control” and assaulted the child, caus- ing the fatal head injury and shin frac- tures. Bond, in a written decision con- victing Moreau last April, said medical evidence provided to court indicated Maven would have shown immediate signs of having suffered a brain injury, which Moreau testified he did not see when he arrived home to care for the child. Moreau was acquitted of an addition- al count of assault relating to a mouth injury the baby suffered while in his care a day before he was rushed to hos- pital. Defence lawyers Wednesday rec- ommended Moreau be sentenced to no more than five years in prison, arguing his assault on the child was a “spontan- eous action” and “momentary lapse” and that he has good prospects for re- habilitation. Moreau was found criminally respon- sible for Maven’s death, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t grieving, said defence lawyer Bruce Bonney. “He also feels terrible for what hap- pened, he loved his child,” Bonney said. Bond will sentence Moreau on May 30. He remains free on bail. dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca DEAN PRITCHARD U of W English language cutbacks condemned S UPPORTERS of study-abroad lan- guage programs are warning that cutbacks at the University of Win- nipeg and related closures on other campuses across the country will have wide-ranging consequences. Languages Canada, an organization that represents post-secondary institu- tions with language programs, said this week it has lost 16 members since the start of the year. Those include a mix of public and private schools that run English and French courses targeted at immigrants. “This is a country of immigrants and what unites immigrants coming here is our shared language. Canada cannot sustain, never mind grow, without an effective official languages education sector. It is an impossibility,” said Gon- zalo Peralta, executive director of the industry association. Peralta said he’s “extremely con- cerned” about losing 10 per cent of his organization’s membership in one quar- ter and Manitobans should be, too. Participants in these programs not only power local economies by paying tuition — they also frequent coffee shops and their homestay fees help families make mortgage payments, he said. U of W charged $5,500 for its 14-week English programs, the last of which ran from Jan. 6 to April 17. The post-secondary institute was an affiliate of Languages Canada before administrators announced in January they were putting an end to the courses due to budgetary challenges. For nearly 60 years, U of W’s Eng- lish language program was available to students wanting to improve their oral and written language skills and at- tracted temporary visitors from across the globe. It will cease to exist by the summer. U of W president Todd Mondor said in a news release enrolment “dropped dramatically” because of recent chan- ges to federal policies affecting inter- national student mobility. Program reports show there was an average of 215 registrants annually during the three school years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. Enrolment plummeted amid travel restrictions, but the average nearly tri- pled to 632 in 2022-23. Last year, there were 507 students. The final figures for the current academic year were unavailable Wed- nesday. Mondor said in September en- rolment among new non-Canadian stu- dents had dropped 50 per cent for the fall term. Post-secondary leaders on the down- town campus and elsewhere have raised concerns about the fallout of new federal caps on international stu- dents and related policies since Ottawa announced them in early 2024. Immigration, Refugee and Citizen- ship Canada’s stated goal is to stabil- ize immigration levels and target “bad actors” who are overcharging inter- national students for shoddy programs. Peralta and his colleagues take issue with the claims that international stu- dents are putting a severe strain on affordable housing stock and social ser- vices. Language program students, only 30 per cent of whom arrive with the inten- tion of continuing their education local- ly and staying in Canada on a long-term basis, create jobs and vibrant commun- ities, he said Wednesday. Last year, the top countries of origin for international student registrants across the Canadian Prairies were Japan, China, South Korea, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, per Languages Canada. Manitoba-based Heartland Inter- national English School, Winnipeg Global Education College, Robertson College and St. Boniface University continue to accept applicants from these nations and elsewhere. The industry association’s calcula- tions suggest its members, including the four remaining local ones, contrib- uted a combined $335 million to Mani- toba, Saskatchewan and Alberta’s econ- omies last year. That’s down from $563 million in 2019, per an analysis its leadership team said was done by a senior econo- mist who drew on data from Statistics Canada. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca MAGGIE MACINTOSH MANITOBA Health announced two new confirmed cases of measles in the province Wednesday. That brings the total number of confirmed and probable infections reported in Manitoba to 12 since Feb.10. Both individuals attended Southwood School in the Rural Municipality of Stanley during the infectious period, a news release late Wednesday stated. The cases were confirmed after recent travel to Mexico. Public health officials asked anyone who may have been exposed at the school on April 14-15 or on school buses servicing South- wood and Prairie Dale schools on those days to contact Health Links at 204-788-8200 in Winnipeg or toll-free in Manitoba at 1-888- 351-9257. The measles virus spreads through close contact with an infected person and through the air via cough or sneeze. The virus can be spread by droplets that can stay in the air for several hours. Infection can result in serious illness or death. Symptoms generally appear 21 days after exposure. Public health officials urge Manitobans to stay up to date on immunization, the only means of protection from measles. TWO NEW CASES OF MEASLES ANNOUNCED White House spokesperson Kush Desai responded to Newsom’s lawsuit, saying the Trump administration “remains committed to addressing this national emergency that’s decimating America’s industries and leaving our workers behind with every tool at our disposal, from tariffs to negotiations.” Trump has imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian-built automobiles and Canadian steel and aluminum, and threatened a baseline tariff of 10 per cent on all exports to the U.S. Canada retaliated with similar tar- iffs on U.S.-built automobiles as well as targeted tariffs on key American industries such as wine, spirits, orang- es, orange juice, appliances and peanut butter, to name a few. Trumps “Liberation Day” April 2 outlined massive tariffs on dozens of countries, including two islands — Heard and McDonald — that are home only to penguins. He’s since put most of those tariffs on hold, but left in place up to 245 per cent tariffs on China, which has imposed stiff tariffs of its own and refused to negotiate. The moves put stocks around the globe into freefall, exacerbated by his musings about firing U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell. As well, the American tourism indus- try is suffering, as travellers from affected regions, including Canada and the European Union, choose alternate destinations in retaliation. NBC News said visits from Canada declined 18 per cent in March and travel from the United Kingdom and Germany have dropped as much as 29 per cent. Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates the loss of tourism and boycotting of U.S. goods abroad could cost the U.S. economy $90 billion in 2025. — The Associated Press TARIFFS ● FROM A1 DARREN CALABRESE / THE CANADIAN PRESS Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is standing behind his platform’s heavy reliance on economic growth. Conservatives, Liberals called out over lack of ‘prudence’ in platforms OTTAWA — Pierre Poilievre is de- fending the Conservative campaign platform’s heavy reliance on economic growth in a period of deep uncertainty, while the NDP and Liberals spar over cost-cutting. The Conservative leader was cam- paigning in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednes- day, with just days to go before the fed- eral vote on Monday and a day after he released the party’s costed campaign platform. That plan promises to reduce the fed- eral deficit to $14 billion in four years and banks on billions in unrealized rev- enues from cutting “red tape” and get- ting new projects built over that horizon. Poilievre was asked Wednesday whether those projections are realistic given Canada is just two months into a trade war with the United States — and as some economists predict the country could hit a recession if the trade uncer- tainty is not resolved quickly. “Now, you ask me in a period of eco- nomic weakness, after the Liberals have been in power for three terms, whether it is wise to campaign on eco- nomic growth? It’s not only wise, it’s essential for a change that we grow our economy,” he said. Poilievre said he would end Liberal laws that he claims are holding back economic growth and the ability to get resources to market. He also attacked the spending levels in Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s campaign platform. Carney returned fire Wednesday, call- ing the Conservative platform “a fantasy of fiscal tricks and phantom growth.” Carney said a day earlier that his “numbers are prudent” and the Liberal plan does not “rely” on rosy predictions in a global climate of economic uncertainty driven by the United States’ trade war. “We are in a crisis. In a crisis, you al- ways plan for the worst, you don’t hope for the best, and you don’t make those types of assumptions,” he said Tuesday. The Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, a non-partisan think-tank at the University of Ottawa, released its grades Tuesday for the three main parties’ platforms. It gave the Liberals a rating of “good” while the Conserva- tives and NDP both received a “pass.” The final scores for each of the par- ties were actually quite close: 35/44 for the Liberals, 33.5/44 for the Conserva- tives and 31/ 44 for the NDP. The institute criticized both the Lib- eral and Conservative platforms on the question of “prudence” — how they ac- count for fiscal and economic risks and unforeseen events. It said both platforms included “no consideration of prudence and risk” in their “optimistic” outlooks and gave both campaigns a score of two out of four on prudence. Commenting on the Conservative platform, the institute noted that the Government of Canada’s planning framework “does not typically book additional revenues for new measures and should not book efficiency savings before having been achieved, since past results have proven disappointing.” The NDP received a score of three out of four on prudence because its platform included a small contingency reserve and made use of the Bank of Canada’s recent economic scenarios for a wider range of tariff impacts. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was in Edmonton on Wednesday warning Can- adians about program cuts under a pos- sible Liberal government, and arguing that electing New Democrat members of Parliament would help keep the Lib- erals in check. — The Canadian Press CRAIG LORD ;