Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 7, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba A2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2025 VOL 154 NO 148 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 Obituaries D6 Opinion A6,7 Sports D1 Television C4 Weather B8 COLUMNISTS: Peter Denton A7 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 Carney also said he feels better about America’s trade “posture” com- ing out of the meeting, although he did not offer details of what was discussed and said this is only the beginning of talks. “The breadth of the discussions and how concrete the discussions were — these are the discussions you have when you’re looking to find solutions, rather than laying down terms, if you will,” Carney told reporters. The prime minister is expected to brief Canada’s premiers today about his first in-person meeting with Trump. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday Carney appeared to have “held his own” with Trump, while Al- berta Premier Danielle Smith said she hopes this is a chance to reset relations with the U.S. When reporters questioned Trump in the Oval Office about his past comments about annexing Canada, he adopted a starkly different tone and even downplayed the suggestion. “It takes two to tango,” he said. Trump also added it would be a “wonderful marriage if it could hap- pen.” Carney put it in black-and-white terms to the president, pointing to the White House and saying, “As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale.” Trump still wouldn’t close the door on annexation entirely, adding he would “never say never” — prompting Carney to look around the room and say “never” multiple times. “I’ve had many, many things that were not doable and they ended up being doable,” Trump said. “If it’s to everybody’s benefit. You know, Canada loves us and we love Canada. That’s, I think, the No. 1 thing that’s important. But we’ll see. Over time we’ll see what happens.” “Respectfully, Canadians’ view on this is not going to change,” Carney said later in the Oval Office meeting. While Trump and his surrogates suggested in advance that Carney might face a confrontational meeting, the tone of what transpired was a stunning change from the way Trump addressed former prime minister Jus- tin Trudeau just a few months ago. The president repeatedly needled Trudeau by calling him the “governor” of what could become the 51st state. Trump made a few disparaging references to Trudeau and the last Liberal government on Tuesday. “I won’t say this about Mark, but I didn’t like his predecessor,” he said. Trump said he “had a lot of fun” calling Trudeau “governor” but Car- ney’s election was “a good step up” for Canada. The public portion of the high-stakes meeting was largely cordial, if tense. Trump leaned in at one point and — citing the combative Oval Office meeting in February which saw him publicly berate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — said the meet- ing with Carney would remain “very friendly.” “We had another little blow up with somebody else,” Trump said. “That was a much different... This is a very friendly conversation.” Carney matched Trump’s body language throughout their meeting and even mirrored the president’s fist pump to the cameras when he greeted Carney at the entrance to the White House. Trump said that regardless of what happens, the United States is always going to be friends with Canada. He also said there was nothing Carney could say to him Tuesday that would convince him to immediately drop tariffs on Canada. Carney later said that was to be expected and that this dispute would not be resolved within a day. At the outset of the meeting in Wash- ington, Carney called Trump a “trans- formational” president focused on the economy and tackling illegal opioids. He said he hoped to adopt a “similar focus” on the economy and border se- curity and place a “much greater focus on defence and security.” Trump said Canada chose a “very talented person” in its recent election and described the Liberal win as one of the greatest political comebacks of all time, since the party was on track to lose badly back in January. Trump even agreed that Canada is “stepping it up” on its military spending. “That’s a very important thing,” he said. Just ahead of Carney’s arrival at the White House, Trump repeated his criticisms of Canada on social media and insisted the U.S. does not need Canadian cars, energy or lumber. Trump wrote that his “only question of consequence” for Carney would be about why America is propping up the Canadian economy and providing “free” military protection. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went on Fox News the day before and accused Canada of being a “socialist” freeloader riding on Ameri- ca’s coattails. Before arriving in Washington, Car- ney framed the meeting as the begin- ning of talks on a larger economic and security agreement between Canada and the United States. The Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, referred to as CUSMA in Canada, was negotiated during the first Trump administration. Trump went ahead with economy- wide tariffs against Canada in March, only to partially walk back the duties a few days later on imports compliant with CUSMA rules. Canada was also hit by steel, aluminum and automobile tariffs. Trump’s recent actions, however, suggest he and his team recognize the importance to the U.S. of trade with Canada. The president left Canada and Mexico out of his global tariff agenda and provided further CUSMA carveo- uts for the North American automobile industry. Carney said Tuesday in front of Trump that the two will have to discuss changing some aspects of Canada’s trade pact with the U.S. and Mexico. He pointed to the national security exemptions in trade law that allowed Trump to slam Canada with tariffs — based on baseless claims about fentanyl trafficking over the Canadian border into the U.S. — The Canadian Press CARNEY ● FROM A1 “It’s (now) one month before the anniversary of Rob Jenner’s death and there’s no sense (that) the urgency to fix a hole in our infrastructure as significant and deadly as Wellington Crescent is shared by our city leaders … We won’t see action until past the time of year when Rob needed it,” said Andrew Kohan. Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, said future changes must be thoroughly studied before the city proposes a plan to alter Wellington. “It is a very, very high volume regional road, so the public service wants to make sure it’s safe and they’re going to take their time … They’re taking their time to do a proper, comprehensive outreach and review,” said Lukes. The Waverley West councillor said she expects city staff may recommend converting a lane of Wellington Cres- cent into a bike path and lowering the speed limit. Lukes said the city has spent mil- lions of dollars on safer active trans- portation routes in recent years. “Is it balanced right now from vehic- ular use to active transportation? I’d say absolutely not. But we’re evolving. We can’t do it overnight,” she said. The cycling advocates did support a city staff recommendation to rule out setting a speed limit along active transportation paths for electronic bikes, scooters and other similar devic- es. Public works cast a final vote to fol- low that advice on Tuesday afternoon. According to a city report, the mu- nicipal government lacks the authority to set separate speed limits on paths that form part of a road, highway or street under the Manitoba Highway Traffic Act, meaning speed limits could only be added on completely separated paths. The report suggests any such speed limits would be difficult to implement. “(That) would require significant new signage, be difficult to enforce, and likely have low compliance among higher speed users,” it notes. Councillors ordered the report after some residents complained a growing number of motorized bikes were rush- ing past pedestrians at unsafe speeds, creating a growing safety hazard, said Lukes. She agreed a bike speed limit isn’t a promising option to address that concern. “I think we can use our police service for better things that are more urgent,” said Lukes. The report notes most bikes aren’t even equipped with speedometers and don’t require registration, making tickets difficult to issue. Instead, city staff plan to create an educational program to teach all users how to safely share active transpor- tation paths, with a focus on bicycles and electronic devices yielding to pedestrians. The city’s pedestrian and cycling strategy may also be updated to require new paths to have separate spaces for electronic devices/bicycles and pedestrians “when possible and feasible.” If the above measures don’t work, the report suggests the city could start making paths wider to better accom- modate multiple modes of travel. joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca X: @joyanne_pursaga CYCLING ● FROM A1 Multiple sources told the Free Press that Collège Sturgeon Heights Collegiate has limited available bathrooms during the 2024-25 school year in a bid to deter similar behaviour. One Grade 10 student said he has started avoiding the facili- ties altogether — he walks home for lunch daily — because they are hubs for vaping via weed pens and other devices. “I don’t want to be near something that can put my life in danger or my future in danger,” said the 15-year-old, who asked that his name be withheld due to concern about backlash from his peers. Stalls are a popular place for teenagers to privately hit their vapes, he said. The teen noted he holds his breath when someone vapes in class — a semi-regular occur- rence, given the devices are often USB-sized and easy to hide when a user exhales into their sweater when a teacher’s back is turned. The St. James-Assiniboia School Division repeatedly denied that Sturgeon Heights washrooms have been closed for any reason other than mainte- nance and repairs. Assistant superintendent Jordana Buckwold said in a statement that schools handle in- cidents, ranging from firsthand observations of vaping to devices clogging toilets, on a case-by- case basis. “(Administrators) have been consistently advising and reminding students that con- gregate vaping in bathrooms is inappropriate, against policy and a nuisance to other students,” Buckwold said. She noted that students who vi- olate rules are asked to consider reaching out to a trusted school employee for support with cessa- tion or other resources. The Lungs Are for Life program includes a curricu- lum-based vaping resource designed for grades 5 to 12 class- rooms that is free to download via the provincial lung associa- tion’s website. Coleman said the advocacy organization is preparing to roll out a new “safe spaces” toolkit for teachers. The initiative aims to help high schools set up a discreet area, such as in a library corner, to support student mental health and addiction recovery, with a particular focus on nicotine dependence, she said. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca VAPING ● FROM A1 Renaming school erases history, Métis tell division T HE Manitoba Métis Federation made a case Monday against trustees renaming a city school honouring a military leader who has gained infamy in recent years. Wolseley School is the latest subject of debate over educational sites named after historical figures whose actions do not align with 21st-century values. Col. Garnet Wolseley (1833-1913) played a key role in the colonial crusade against Louis Riel and the Métis people who lived under his provisional govern- ment in the Red River Settlement. “(He did) horrible things to our people, to our nation — murders, rapes, the reign of terror, burning homes down to the ground, chasing us away…. We need to make sure that the atroci- ties of people like Wolseley are never forgotten,” the MMF’s Will Goodon told a school board meeting. The Winnipeg School Division has — at the request of the nursery-to-Grade 6 building’s parent council — spent more than a year collecting community feed- back on the commander’s legacy. Goodon, speaking on behalf of the national government of the Red River Métis, made a presentation to the super- intendent’s team and board of trustees Monday challenging their decision. The MMF housing minister was joined by the MMF education minis- ter Joan Ledoux and a handful of other Métis supporters. Goodon warned about racism in the form of denialism related to Can- ada’s historic treatment of Indigenous people. “We need to fight hate with educa- tion,” he said. Goodon noted MMF president David Chartrand’s concerns that renaming landmarks — streets, statues or other- wise — can erase history. If the school division cannot preserve Wolseley’s history via the school name, there needs to be another way to do so, he added. The school’s online biography states he led troops tasked with an 1870 ex- pedition “to quell the Riel insurrection” but does not mention the accompanying bloodshed and impact on Métis people. Goodon suggested one option could be adopting a phrase in Michif as the school name. Board chair Kathy Heppner thanked Goodon for his input. WSD initially asked the community to submit ideas that represented the neighbourhood and “connect to learn- ing for students” online before April 8. Suggestions for the facility at 511 Clifton St. “must avoid the names of people,” states a March 28 social media post about the initiative. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca MAGGIE MACINTOSH RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS CENTENARIANS COME IN PACKS OF EIGHT One centenarian celebration is rare but on Tuesday, the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre celebrated eight residents 100 years of age or more. Miriam Brown, who is coming up on her 101st birthday June 30, is among the combined celebrants. Her granddaughter Jenna Sawyer leans in to show pictures of her daughter, Brown’s great-grand- daughter Michelle Sawyer. ;