Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 6, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba SERVING MANITOBA SINCE 1872 PROUDLY CANADIAN THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2025 WEATHER MIX OF RAIN, SNOW. HIGH 4 — LOW -5 COMMUNITY GUIDE TO REMEMBRANCE SERVICES MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS SPECIAL TEAMS The new mural celebrating the Winnipeg Victorias hockey team, three-time winners of the Stanley Cup in the first decade it was awarded, is officially unveiled Wednesday on the Palomino Club building downtown. See story on D1 72-hour detention bill passes after weeks of sparring T HE acrimony and finger-pointing that gripped the Manitoba legisla- ture over a proposed law to allow for the 72-hour detention of people intoxicated by meth, ended with a whimper Wednesday as the bill passed with near unanimous support. Bill 48 passed third reading late in the afternoon following a hastily called news conference in which Pre- mier Wab Kinew accused the Progres- sive Conservatives of playing politics with legislation that he said is critical to addressing Manitoba’s meth crisis. “We’ve been calling this bill over and over and they keep wasting time. I’m not playing games,” Kinew said, standing in front of more than a dozen law enforcement officials, first-re- sponders and other backers of the bill who gathered at the legislature. “I think everybody in Manitoba knows that meth is causing a ton of damage out there and we need to do something about it.” The legislation allows for a person in a meth-induced state to be held for as long as 72 hours. Currently, the time allowed is 24 hours. The Tories, who raised concerns about the implementation of Bill 48, appeared poised to oppose it, but then threw their support behind it. The bill passed with support from 51 of 57 MLAs. Mark Wasyliw, the lone independent, was the only member to vote against it. Five other MLAs did not participate in the vote. The legislation has been a subject of debate since the NDP introduced it Oct. 2; the PCs accused the gov- ernment of trying to rush it through without proper consideration and community consultation. The NDP threatened to extend the fall legislative session, slated to end today, if the bill did not pass in time. Kinew had called it a “game of chicken.” Debate over the bill continued during question period immediate- ly before the vote, with Opposition Leader Obby Khan accusing Kinew of “failing to listen to Manitobans” about changes proposed by his party. He referenced a consultation session in mid-October, in which a legislative committee studying the bill listened to hours of feedback from the public. The Tories had demanded a handful of amendments, such as prohibiting a 72-hour detention site from being located within 500 metres of a school, child-care centre, personal care home, playground, park or community centre. TYLER SEARLE Budget of Winnipeg-based federal water agency to take hit THE fledgling Canada Water Agen- cy, based in Winnipeg, is about to get its funding reduced just two years after the federal Liberal government unveiled it. The freshwater management agency confirmed Wednesday $3.8 million will be cut by 2030 if the Liberal budget is passed by the House of Commons. Canada Water Agency spokesperson Joseph Péloquin-Hopfner said in an emailed statement the department is still assessing the potential impact of the cuts on the agency’s operations, including where the spending will have to be scaled back, but there was “no indication” the program as a whole would cease to exist. The federal budget contains one line that says $3.8 million in cuts over four years has been earmarked and there’s $1.2 million in “ongoing” pruning. It doesn’t mention which aspects of the program will be affected. The agency had a budget of $52.1 million in the last fiscal year, including for staff posi- tions, operations and grant programs. “In the interim, the agency remains fully committed to delivering on its mandate to improve freshwater management in Canada,” the emailed statement said. The union that represents scientists and other staff at the agency said the budget is silent on funding for federal science departments and research laboratories. “Vague language in the budget leaves room for concern in most sci- ence-based departments and agencies, and many non-science based ones. We need more information,” Profession- al Institute of the Public Service of Canada president Sean O’Reilly said in an email. The national water agency celebrat- ed its one-year anniversary in mid-Oc- tober and announced $1.6 million for projects and organizations that support the health of Lake Winnipeg. Several organizations that received the recent funding did not respond to requests for comment about the hit to the budget. At the Oct. 18 news conference, Winnipeg Liberal MP Terry Duguid, who was instrumental in establishing the water agency, told reporters he had been advocating to keep it well-funded and that “nothing is more important than fresh water.” On Wednesday Duguid called the cuts a “minor reduction” and said he isn’t worried about the long-term future of the program. “I think the agency did well in the budget given the context (of its age),” Duguid told the Free Press. Duguid served as parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, under Justin Trudeau, and special adviser on water at the time the agency was launched. “I’m pleased that the agency has been left more or less intact and will be able to do its good work this year and into the future,” he said. O’Reilly said the federal budget has significant gaps when evaluated against federal science capacity and called the government’s plan to reduce the public service to save money a “major red flag.” The budget proposes cuts amounting to about 16,000 jobs by next year and 40,000 by 2028-29 to create a “sustain- able” workforce. NICOLE BUFFIE Province makes quick U-turn on sex criminal name change legislation CAROL SANDERS A LAW passed last year to prevent convicted sex offenders from chang- ing their names is now in effect, the province said Wednesday. The announcement came hours after the Free Press reported the case of a repeat offender who legally changed his name and was then charged with committing more sex crimes. “If you commit a sexual offence against a child, you cannot change your name in Manitoba,” Premier Wab Kinew told the house Wednesday in response to questions about why the legislation passed more than a year ago, but wasn’t in force yet. The Free Press reported Tuesday about a mother who learned that a man she came to trust and allowed to spend time with her preteen son was a convicted child sex offender who had changed his name. Ryan Knight was charged in July with allegedly making and possessing child pornography, sexual interfer- ence and aggravated sexual assault between Aug. 1, 2024, and March 1 this year. Knight, 44, was born Ryan Gabourie, and under that name was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2005 for sexu- ally molesting five young boys after he entered their homes through unlocked windows and doors. Bill 23, the province’s Change of Name Amendment Act, received royal assent in June 2024, but did not go into effect, awaiting the establishment of regulations. Asked Tuesday why the regulations were not in place more than a year after the legislation was passed, Public Services Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu said in a prepared statement that his department “is working hard to develop the regulations required to proclaim the amendments…. Once consultations are complete, we intend to have a spring 2026 proclamation.” On Wednesday, Sandhu said he spoke to his department about getting the law into force “as soon as possi- ble.” ● WATER, CONTINUED ON A3 ● NAME, CONTINUED ON A2 ● METH, CONTINUED ON A2 ● MORE BUDGET COVERAGE / A3, A4 Tories vote with government; legislation extends time person in meth-induced state can be kept in care centre ;