WINNIPEG — A series of public consultations are set to take place to address rail relocation and derailments following an incident with CN Rail last month.

Lloyd Axworthy, who’s leading the two-year study on rail relocation in Winnipeg, said his team plans to hold the consultations to gather feedback on the response to the Dec. 28 derailment in Fort Rouge.

“We prepared a report for the premier’s office and others about what are the actual sort of rules that can be applied and requirements (of CN) to notify,” Axworthy said. “Let’s find out exactly what is going on and also consult directly with the community.”

The derailment happened on a CN Rail main line section that is wedged between newer condos and the Jubilee rapid transit station to the east, and businesses near Pembina Highway and Taylor Avenue to the west.

WINNIPEG — Firefighters from West St. Paul spent hours Thursday battling a blaze inside a two-storey home, with the public asked to avoid the area as crews worked into the evening.

The West St. Paul Fire Department was alerted to a structure fire on the 800 block of Rossmore Avenue shortly before 10 a.m., and arrived to find the home engulfed in flames.

Two people self-evacuated from the home before firefighters arrived.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, and no injuries were reported.

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Redblacks re-signed American defensive back Bennett Williams to a one-year contract Thursday.

Williams, 26, was slated to become a free agent next month,

Williams registered 26 total tackles (17 defensive) and two forced fumbles in nine regular-season games last year.

The six-foot, 200-pound Williams enters his third campaign with Ottawa, having recorded 55 total tackles (44 defensive), one sack and two forced fumbles in 20 regular-season appearances with the Redblacks.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum "political noise"   on Thursday and criticized Canada's recent deal with China.

"Give me a break," Lutnick said on Bloomberg TV. "They have the second best deal in the world and all I got to do is listen to this guy whine and complain."

In his Tuesday speech at the WEF summit in Davos, Switzerland — which was applauded internationally — Carney warned that the old world order is dead and urged middle powers to band together as larger ones try to pressure them through economic coercion.

Canada has been shielded from the worst impacts of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA.

OTTAWA - China's envoy in Ottawa is casting doubt on Prime Minister Mark Carney's claim that Beijing is about to lift its visa requirement for Canadians, and he's suggesting the move is still under consideration.

"I did notice that Prime Minister Carney made it public that the Chinese side told him that China is actively considering giving unilateral visa-free treatment to Canadian citizens," Chinese Ambassador to Canada Wang Di told The Canadian Press in an interview Wednesday.

"In terms of what specific visa policy that will be, we need to wait for the official announcement of the Chinese side," Wang said through his interpreter.

At a Jan. 16 press conference in Beijing, Carney stated that President Xi Jinping "in our meeting today has committed to ensuring visa-free access for Canadians travelling to China."

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed Denmark's military presence in Greenland consists of "two dogsleds." While Denmark does have a special dogsled unit that operates in remote areas of Greenland, it is one part of a larger Arctic presence. Denmark has increased its military capabilities in the Arctic in recent months amid Trump's threat to take control of Greenland. Canada last year also announced plans to bolster its Arctic defences.

THE CLAIM

U.S. President Donald Trump's insistence on owning Greenland dominated headlines this week as he claimed the Danish territory of Greenland as "part of North America" during a speech in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.

While Trump urged NATO to stand aside and let the U.S. take control of Greenland, he said his country wouldn't use force, instead calling for "immediate negotiations."

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

Carney cabinet meeting in Quebec City today

Prime Minister Mark Carney is gathering his cabinet in Quebec City today for two days of meetings focused on the economy, affordability and security.

The cabinet retreat begins the day after Carney's return from a nine-day overseas trip to drum up new investment for Canada. It also comes just ahead of the return of Parliament on Monday.

A British Columbia judge has rejected a bid by prosecutors to have a man who was convicted of attempted robbery jailed indefinitely as a dangerous offender, a designation typically reserved for violent criminals and sexual offenders.

Crown lawyers had argued that Christopher Prokopchuk, with a 30-year record of robbery, parole offences and assaults while in custody, deserved an indeterminate sentence after he pleaded guilty to an attempted robbery committed in Surrey, B.C., in 2021.

Justice Barbara Norrell's ruling, posted online on Wednesday, describes Prokopchuk's criminal history, including "purposely" leaving behind fingerprints at robbery scenes so he would be caught, and waiting for police to arrive after smashing a window.

She says prosecutors believed Prokopchuk's issues were "intractable," and the "only path forward to adequately protect the public" was for him to earn release under an indeterminate sentence.

MONTREAL - A Montreal man has been found not criminally responsible for stabbing his parents and grandmother to death in their home in 2023.

Arthur Galarneau, 22, was impassive today in Quebec Superior Court as Justice Annie Émond agreed with a joint submission from the Crown and defence that had been presented during a trial in December.

Psychiatrists had recommended that Galarneau be found not criminally responsible for the crimes because he was suffering from schizophrenia with delusions, hallucinations, and psychotic symptoms.

Galarneau had been charged with second-degree murder in the March 2023 stabbing deaths of his mother Mylène Gingras, 53, father Richard Galarneau, also 53, and his grandmother Francine Gingras-Boucher, 75.

TORONTO - Marineland has presented a plan to the federal government to ship the last remaining captive whales and dolphins in Canada to several institutions in the United States, The Canadian Press has learned.

But the theme park also gave Ottawa an imminent deadline to issue export permits or it will proceed with its backup plan to kill 30 belugas and four dolphins, said several sources with Marineland who added that a euthanasia plan for the animals has been prepared.

The sources were granted anonymity because they are not allowed to speak publicly about the ongoing situation at the shuttered Niagara Falls, Ont., attraction.

Marineland confirmed in a statement to The Canadian Press that it presented "a definitive and urgent rescue solution for the whales" directly to Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson on Wednesday, but it did not provide details.