Rivers teen remains in custody as bail ruling postponed

The Rivers youth accused of plotting to attack his high school remains in custody after a bail hearing in Brandon provincial court Thursday.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta reserved her decision on the bail application following submissions from the Crown and the boy’s lawyer.

The matter will next appear in provincial court on June 15.

The 14-year-old boy is being held at the Manitoba Youth Centre in Winnipeg.

Daudrich says PCs didn’t want him to win

Wally Daudrich said he’s “not surprised” by the Manitoba Progressive Conservative party’s decision not to let him run for the Tories in Turtle Mountain.

Late Wednesday, the PCs announced that Daudrich “will not be permitted” to seek the party’s nomination in the Westman riding.

“I’m shocked at what happened, but I’m not surprised,” Daudrich told the Sun on Thursday.

Daudrich, who owns a tourism company in Churchill, the former party headquarters in Winnipeg and lives just east of the Turtle Mountain riding, narrowly lost the party’s leadership last year to Obby Khan. Daudrich received more votes, but Khan won because the ballots were weighted by constituency.

Carberry focus group to create ‘road map’ for town

The Town of Carberry is hosting a public meeting tomorrow to collect resident feedback on the future of the community.

Facilitator Cheryl Christian of GovFox Municipal Consulting is hoping to hear from residents at the focus group from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Carberry Community memorial Hall at 224 Second Ave.

“Where do (people) see Carberry five, 10 years from now? What are the things in the community that are working well that we want to make sure continue and the town continues to focus on, areas of improvement and really some future visioning?” Christian said.

The meeting is meant for business owners, residents and stakeholders, she said.

Semi-retired truck driver emotional over $46M lotto win

WINNIPEG — Earl Giesbrecht was thrilled when he checked his lottery tickets at a local grocery store and initially thought he was $46,000 richer.

The Whitemouth grandfather was stunned a few seconds later when he counted the zeroes on a display and realized the windfall was $46 million — the biggest Lotto 6/49 prize ever awarded in Manitoba.

“I was disappointed and frustrated that I never win. I went into the store (to scan tickets), and it said, ‘Not a winner,’ ‘Not a winner,’” Giesbrecht, 70, said at a news conference in Winnipeg on Thursday. “And then it said, ‘Free play,’ and the other one came up and I thought I won $46,000.

“I said, ‘Thank goodness.’ When the (employee) checked, she told me how much I won, and then I had to call my brother, who thought I was having a heart attack.”

Manitoba pharmacists seek dose of new powers

WINNIPEG — When patients come to Britt Kural to assess a sore throat and ask for medicine, she has to tell them no.

Kural, a practising pharmacist for 27 years in Winnipeg, was trained to help — but regulations in Manitoba bar her from treating the common ailment.

“I get questions regularly from patients who want (care) and it’s quite disappointing when I have to say, ‘No, I’m sorry, we can’t do that in Manitoba,’” Kural said Thursday, noting she’s forced to send people to a doctor instead.

Pharmacists Manitoba is calling on the government to expand the scope of health services and bring care up to par with other provinces, better co-ordinate patient care and retain and recruit pharmacists.

Too soon to call recession, says Canadian authority on economic downturns

OTTAWA - The unofficial authority on recession calls in Canada says it's too soon to use that word to describe the sluggish economy.

Debate has raged on Parliament Hill over whether the country is in a recession since Statistics Canada reported last week that the economy contracted for two quarters in a row.

The C.D. Howe Institute's Business Cycle Council is traditionally viewed as the arbiter on calling a recession in Canada.

The council said in a bulletin Friday that two quarters of declining GDP in a row are not sufficient to call a recession and urged against reading too much into the recent data.

Solid May jobs report ‘should silence the recession crowd’: BMO economist

OTTAWA - A surprisingly strong May jobs report has reinforced many economists' views that the Canadian economy is not in a recession.

Statistics Canada reported Friday that the economy added 88,000 jobs in May, topping economists' expectations for a gain of 10,000 positions.

The agency said the unemployment rate fell to 6.6 per cent last month, down from 6.9 per cent in April.

The gains for May were the first significant increase in employment since November. The economy had shed 112,000 net jobs in the first four months of 2026.

Truck breakdown in Niger strands passengers and leaves at least 49 dead in the Sahara Desert

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — At least 49 people died of thirst after a truck broke down and they were stranded for days in the Sahara Desert in northern Niger, authorities said.

The victims, all Nigeriens, were returning home from a religious festival in Mali when the truck stopped running more than 80 kilometers (49 miles) west of Assamaka, near the borders with Mali and Algeria, Niger's Agadez region governorate said in an online post late Thursday.

Two men survived after trekking more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) to a water source and then continuing to Assamaka, where they alerted authorities, the governorate said.

A delegation sent to the scene by the Agadez Region Governor Gen. Ibra Boulama Issa learned the truck had traveled for several days from the Malian town of Talhandek about 300 kilometers (187 miles) from the Nigerien border.

Liberals’ grocery benefit payments start for eligible Canadians today

OTTAWA - One of the federal Liberals' flagship affordability measures will land in the bank accounts of eligible Canadians starting today.

First announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney in January, top-up payments for the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit will start going out today.

The program previously was called the GST/HST credit and is usually paid out on a quarterly basis to lower-income households to help them keep pace with the rising cost of living.

An estimated 12 million Canadians are eligible for the one-time benefit and amounts vary based on the size of the household, with a single adult with no children getting up to $267 and a couple with two kids receiving a maximum of $533.

Grads liven up Cruise Night

Car enthusiasts gave high school graduates a warm applause during Brandon Downtown Grad Cruise Night on Thursday evening. The event was part of the monthly Brandon & Area Car Enthusiasts and Downtown Biz cruise night and celebrated the accomplishments of Brandon and area’s 2026 high school grads.

The graduates paraded along Rosser Avenue in Downtown Brandon, and young women in their dresses posed for photographs with classic cars and motorcycles.

» Photos by Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun