Manitoba sees reduced deficit

Finance minister Rosann Wowchuk announced last week that Manitoba’s 2009-10 public accounts fared well throughout the worldwide economic downturn. Manitoba’s 2009-10 deficits were $201 million, down from a $555-million projected loss. The province’s five-year economic plan is to invest in front-line services like health care, education and family support, continue to update infrastructure, keep Manitoba an affordable place to live and work and to return to a budget surplus by 2014. “Manitoba has shown its strength when times are tough ... Our province still continues to perform well on a number of key economic indicators,” Wowchuk said in a provincial government news release.

Curbing litter downtown

New trash “modules” have been placed in busy downtown areas to reduce the amount of litter thrown on streets. The Downtown BIZ unveiled five new stations with bright signage, featuring garbage bins, a cigarette butt disposal area and potted plants. The BIZ will monitor the bins for a month to see how they are received. It’s not unusual, the BIZ told the Winnipeg Free Press, for almost 660 kilograms of trash to be littered about the streets. Much of the litter is recyclable, and a BIZ representative said they would look at placing recycling bins with the modules in the future.

Manitoba: younger and growing fast

A Statistics Canada reports says Manitoba keeps growing and is the third-youngest province in Canada. The median age of Manitoban residents is 37.7, lower than last year’s median. As of July 1, 1,235,400 people were living in Manitoba. Since last July, Manitoba’s population grew by 15,850 people. The 1.3 per cent growth is the highest yearly increase since the early ‘80s. According to the report, most of the increase is due to the Provincial Nominee Program, which recruits skilled immigrant workers. Over three-quarters of new Manitobans in the past year come from the program. This increase also represents the largest immigrant arrival since at least 1971, a province of Manitoba news release stated.

Workers jobless as newspaper press closes

The Brandon Sun newspaper press shut down last Friday, Oct. 1, leaving 45 workers jobless. Instead of printing the Brandon paper locally, owners FP Newspapers will print it in Winnipeg and then ship it over 200 kilometers to be distributed. FP Newspapers owns both the Brandon Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press. “The move … ends more than 100 years of printing since the first Sun rolled off the presses on Jan. 19, 1882,” the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada said in a media release.

New amateur sports ice complex opens

The MTS Iceplex and Hockey Canada Centre of Excellence officially opened Friday, Sept. 24. The centre, located just west of the perimeter, features four NHL-sized ice rinks and will give amateur athletes up to 20,000 ice-time hours each year. It also houses training, restaurant and lounge, and seminar facilities. The Iceplex stems from a private-public partnership between the governments of Canada and Manitoba and True North Sports & Entertainment, the company that owns and operates the MTS Centre. The province of Manitoba will invest $1.8 billion this year into diverse infrastructure projects, the province said in a news release.