Editorials – Brandon Sun

Roll with the changes on Brandon Transit

5 minute read Yesterday at 9:51 PM CDT

“What we’re doing is trying to increase how fast service can be delivered. We’re hoping we can get to faster service, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”

— Greg Brown, City of Brandon acting director of transportation

The City of Brandon will be playing the long game when it comes to implementing new Brandon Transit bus routes, even as the first of two new routes come into effect next month.

And while there are reasons for the decision to slow-roll the rollout, the situation will likely not satisfy those pushing for faster change when it comes to city Transit services.

Advertise With Us

Weather

Sep. 16, 12 PM: 13°c Cloudy Sep. 16, 6 PM: 9°c Light rain

Brandon MB

3°C, Cloudy

Full Forecast

Tariffs give rise to growth, innovation

4 minute read Preview

Tariffs give rise to growth, innovation

4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:13 AM CDT

There is no doubt that several Manitoba companies have been negatively affected by the unjust tariffs imposed upon our country by the Trump administration.

This was true even before Canada and the U.S. became officially mired in a trade war earlier this month when Canada moved forward with retaliatory tariffs targeting $20 billion of U.S. exports.

While U.S.-Canada trade relations have become even more fraught and frosty over the past several weeks, and the business climate highly strained due to the escalating trade war, it’s reassuring to see that there can still be solid opportunities for growth, even in bad situations.

In February 2025, shortly before Trump imposed his first round of tariffs — 25 per cent to the cost of all steel and aluminum imports into the United States — Atom-Jet Group owner Barry LaRocque was bracing for the potential impact.

Read

Updated: Yesterday at 9:13 AM CDT

Opinion

The Port of Churchill in Churchill, Manitoba is shown on Wednesday, July 4, 2018. While there is renewed talk of transporting Western oil through the port in Churchill, Manitoba, any such project is likely to run into opposition from environmentalists and some who live in the region. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

The Port of Churchill — but done right

4 minute read Preview

The Port of Churchill — but done right

4 minute read Sunday, Sep. 13, 2026

The seagoing grain carrier wasn’t christened with a champagne bottle. There was no confetti or streamers. Nevertheless, the Aug. 31 event marking the first shipment of grain to be loaded at the Port of Churchill since 2020 was celebrated like the launch of a brand new vessel.

The presence of the federal minister of northern and arctic affairs, provincial cabinet ministers and leaders and elders from several northern First Nations signalled that the fast-tracked process of refurbishing and buffing up Manitoba’s deep-water seaport gem is gaining momentum.

For OneNorth, the partnership of 29 First Nations and 12 northern communities, which owns the Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Railway (both operated by the Arctic Gateway Group), the event heralded a new beginning. It’s been eight years since OneNorth purchased the port and railroad and six years since grain was moved by rail through Manitoba and then by ship to European markets. Two more grain shipments, plus shipments of potash and critical minerals, will continue through the fall.

When Prime Minister Mark Carney solicited the premiers to suggest “nation-building” projects following his election in 2025, Premier Wab Kinew pitched a Manitoba trade corridor that would move wheat, critical minerals, potash and energy (oil or liquid natural gas) through the Port of Churchill.

Read

Sunday, Sep. 13, 2026

Opinion

A tornado is visible near Rossburn along Highway 16 in July 2026. (Barb Inkster)

Tornado-battered Manitoba starting to feel like Kansas

5 minute read Preview

Tornado-battered Manitoba starting to feel like Kansas

5 minute read Thursday, Sep. 10, 2026

Is southern Manitoba the new “tornado alley?”

There’s a famous fictional story in which a ruby-slippered, tornado-tossed traveller takes a wide-eyed look around and declares, “I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

There are probably some residents of south River Heights in Winnipeg, on the other hand, who looked out their windows last Sunday and felt as if Kansas — the U.S. state that lies smack-dab in the middle of meteorological maps outlining the area known as “tornado alley” — was exactly where they’d somehow ended up.

There is now confirmation of a tornado touching down within Winnipeg, after several residents reported seeing funnel-shaped clouds during the intense thunderstorm, and the magnitude and extremely localized nature of the damage — including felled trees, snapped hydro poles, scattered fences and the deposit of a random automobile on one resident’s front lawn — certainly shows forces more formidable than strong wind gusts were at play.

Read

Thursday, Sep. 10, 2026

Opinion

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The ‘plane’ truth about a dangerous president

4 minute read Preview

The ‘plane’ truth about a dangerous president

4 minute read Wednesday, Sep. 9, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump has crossed firmly into cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face territory.

Earlier this week, the president — who seems to set policy by spontaneous social-media eruption — announced his plans to halt the sales of Bombardier aircraft in the United States, spouting his usual complaints about Canadians and Canadian producers not playing fair.

As usual, the complaint seems to be rooted in the now-usual process: someone close to the emperor whispered in his ear that Canada had treated a Bombardier competitor — in this case, Gulfstream — badly, so Trump responded with a pronouncement of broadly agreed doubtful legality. Presidents don’t actually have the power to single out individual companies and ban them from doing business.

Nevertheless, the threat alarmed Bombardier executives, customers, employees and government officials. Not only in Canada — more particularly, in Wichita, Kan.

Read

Wednesday, Sep. 9, 2026

Opinion

Double climate whammy really starts to hit home

4 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 8, 2026

It’s a bit of a one-two punch.

First, the show-and-tell of what global warming could be bringing us. Then, the fact we’ve already failed our best chance of halting climate change.

On Sept. 3, the World Meteorological Organization released its forecast of the potential effects of the rapidly developing super El Niño phenomenon. El Niño is a recurring natural phenomenon whereby the surface of the Pacific Ocean warms significantly, then sheds that heat into the atmosphere, affecting weather patterns.

But this year, the amount of heat building up in the Pacific is extraordinary. As ocean temperatures peak in the Pacific in November through February, dramatic changes are expected in the weather in much of the world — changing rainfall patterns, extreme and damaging ocean temperatures, and alterations in traditional wind patterns.

Opinion

The Brandon Police Service has notified the public to slow down to help keep kids safe as the school year begins. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun files)

School zones there to keep kids safe

4 minute read Preview

School zones there to keep kids safe

4 minute read Monday, Sep. 7, 2026

As September brings students back to classrooms across the city, it’s worth reminding motorists that the 30 kilometre per hour school zones are back. They restarted on Sept. 1.

While the Brandon Police Service has not officially said they will be out in force at school zones this season as a means of enforcement, they have notified the public to slow down to help keep kids safe as the school year begins. So it’s a fair bet that police will step up enforcement and radar traps will be out at various locations during the next week or two.

Of course, police aren’t setting up speed traps to ruin your morning commute — they’re out there because our school divisions continue to report high traffic congestion and risky near-misses during drop-off hours.

Remember that driving 50 kilometres per hour in a school zone could result in a fine of more than $300, and failing to stop could result in a fine nearing $700.

Read

Monday, Sep. 7, 2026

Learn more about Advertising solutions

Opinion

The Brandon Land Titles Office on Princess Avenue will close on Tuesday and move to C–155 18th Street, near Brandon University. (Abiola Odutola/The Brandon Sun)

Downtown needs definitive action

5 minute read Preview

Downtown needs definitive action

5 minute read Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

With news this week that Teranet Manitoba is relocating the Brandon Land Titles office to 18th Street near Brandon University, it’s clear that the exodus of viable businesses out of downtown Brandon continues apace.

In 2014, the Manitoba government sold its property registry — which includes the Land Titles and Personal Property registries — to Teranet Manitoba for a cool $75 million in a deal that was finalized toward the end of the Selinger government mandate in 2014.

As part of the deal, Teranet Manitoba received an exclusive 30-year licence to operate the registries on behalf of the province.

But as a private business, Teranet has no government mandate to stay downtown, and will leave its 705 Princess Ave. address, where Brandon’s land titles offices have been operating from since 1890. The Manitoba Historical Society notes that the building had a modern upgrade from its original ornate Victorian Gothic style, and opened with a more “modern” look in 1958.

Read

Friday, Sep. 4, 2026

Opinion

A customer shops at a grocery store in Toronto on Thursday, March 12, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

The ‘Buy Canadian’ trade war challenge

4 minute read Preview

The ‘Buy Canadian’ trade war challenge

4 minute read Thursday, Sep. 3, 2026

“Buy Canadian,” they tell us, as trade tensions escalate between Canada and the United States. “Elbows up,” the pithy slogan advises again and again, in response to the latest daily affront from increasingly unbalanced U.S. President Donald Trump.

And there’s no question Canadians from coast to coast to coast have bought into the patriotic mindset that politicians, from Prime Minister Mark Carney right on down to elected officials at the municipal level, have implored us to adopt.

“We were attacked,” is how Carney described the Aug. 21 unravelling of trade talks, after U.S. negotiators reportedly inserted last-minute demands the Canadian side viewed as both unreasonable and unacceptable. “You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked.”

The breakdown led to the immediate imposition by Trump of steep new tariffs on $29 billion worth of Canadian goods headed to south-of-the-border markets. A targeted, dollar-for-dollar Canadian tariff response will take effect after the Labour Day weekend. In the meantime, Canadians are more motivated than ever to stand firm against Trump’s tyrannical tactics.

Read

Thursday, Sep. 3, 2026

Opinion

The Brandon University campus, as seen from the top of the Brodie Science Building. The Renew BU fiasco warrants a closer look at how the university is run, and an overhaul if necessary. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun files)

BU aids hike in Indigenous enrolment

3 minute read Preview

BU aids hike in Indigenous enrolment

3 minute read Thursday, Sep. 3, 2026

If education paves the road to success, it’s a path that increasingly leads to Brandon University for Indigenous students.

The school announced this week that it has a 12.5 per cent increase from last year as of Sept. 1, which is an outstanding achievement for everyone involved, with about 17 per cent of the total student population self-declared as Indigenous, the BU website says.

Indigenous is defined as Métis, Inuit, First Nation status and First Nation non-status.

The latest numbers bring the total count to 570 with Brandon, Winnipeg, The Pas, Dauphin and Thompson driving the rise as the university sees increased applications from high schools in communities with larger Indigenous populations. BU does not conduct its final enrolment census until Nov. 1, so that number is likely to change.

Read

Thursday, Sep. 3, 2026

Opinion

Liberal MP-elect Daniel Gobeil, right, reacts to winning in the byelection in the riding of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord in Saguenay, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. Minister of Public Works and Procurement Joel Lightbound looks on. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Bad news continues to pile up for Poilievre

5 minute read Preview

Bad news continues to pile up for Poilievre

5 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 1, 2026

If there’s one thing to take away from the Liberal Party’s sweep of three federal byelections on Monday evening, it’s that the federal Conservative Party may be in the market for a new leader.

Well, among other things, of course.

Prime Minister Mark Carney secured his government’s majority on Monday, with all three Liberal candidates securing resounding wins. Not only did the Liberals hold onto the ridings of Beaches-East York in Ontario and North Vancouver-Capilano in B.C., but they also scored another win against the embattled Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre by taking Chicoutimi-Le Fjord in Quebec.

Ordinarily, byelections are not considered a reliable sign of overall government popularity. They tend to suffer from chronically low voter turnout, heavy protest voting and a complete lack of high-stakes general election dynamics.

Read

Tuesday, Sep. 1, 2026

Opinion

In the photo of a computer screen, a Google map showing Lake Ontario renamed as Lake America is seen Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Hydronyms just one way countries vent frustration

4 minute read Preview

Hydronyms just one way countries vent frustration

4 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 1, 2026

“I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I’ve never been able to believe it. I don’t believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.”

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

U.S. President Donald Trump finally cracked the code on international diplomacy, trade wars and cartography by signing an executive order on Thursday to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”

And the rationale behind this sudden act of geographical manifest destiny?

Read

Tuesday, Sep. 1, 2026

Opinion

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara says the province realizes that hiring more nurses “has to be our top priority.” (Mikaela MacKenzie/Winnipeg Free Press files)

Health care needs long-term planning

4 minute read Preview

Health care needs long-term planning

4 minute read Monday, Aug. 31, 2026

If there’s been a throughline in the past 30 years of Manitoba politics — apart from the fact the electorate has bounced between NDP and Progressive Conservative governments — it’s that the state of provincial health care is almost always in the headlines.

Remember the “hallway medicine” catchphrase used by Gary Doer’s New Democrats in the 1999 provincial election campaign? It’s not that far removed from the “ER bottlenecks” that Manitobans, especially Winnipeggers, must deal with today.

In a recent Winnipeg Free Press examination of emergency room medicine (Condition critical, Aug. 22), Dr. Alecs Chochinov, a former director of emergency medicine at St. Boniface Hospital, attributed the bottleneck problem to “access block,” meaning that more personal-care home beds and home-care services are needed to free up acute-care hospital beds and enable patients to move more quickly through emergency rooms.

So, how should access block be addressed, and who should direct the implementation of long-term investment and solutions?

Read

Monday, Aug. 31, 2026

Opinion

Current and former members of the Brandon Wheat Kings U18 AAA organization pose with MLA Glen Simard, third from left, Keystone Centre CEO and general manager Connie Lawrence, in white, and Mayor Jeff Fawcett, right, at the announcement of the 2027 Telus Cup coming to Brandon in April. The seven-day national championship will include the Wheat Kings as the host club. (Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun files)

City has to live up to host status again

4 minute read Preview

City has to live up to host status again

4 minute read Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

Brandon will once again be able to prove its bona fides as a national-event host in 2027, with a pair of high-level events being held in the city.

With the recent announcement that the Telus Cup is coming in April and the older news that Softball Canada’s under-17 national girls championship will be here from Aug. 11 to 15, the Wheat City will once again be called upon to deliver.

Happily, it’s a city that believes it has a uniquely good group of volunteers and facilities that make events here a success.

It may be worth considering the idea is a universal conceit. If you were to ask the good folks of cities like Red Deer or Kamloops or Fredericton or Charlottetown, they would also likely tell some version of the idea that their volunteers are universally recognized as among the best in Canada and that’s why so many events keep coming to their city.

Read

Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

Opinion

Meta settlement should be only the first of many

4 minute read Preview

Meta settlement should be only the first of many

4 minute read Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026

Who knew? A massive company knew its products were harmful to children and teens, and not only kept its products on the market, but worked to make it more addictive to build their own profits.

Welcome to social media, and a huge settlement in a case against online giant Meta.

First, the cash in the settlement: Meta will pay US$12.1 billion to settle suits by 47 U.S. states, which had argued Meta knowingly exploited teenage weaknesses. (A lot of money, until you consider that Meta’s revenues last year were US$200 billion.)

Meta is promising to limit teens’ access to social media platforms to two hours a day (unless parents allow more), block sites between midnight and 6 a.m., block notifications during school hours and stop allowing image modifications for teens, among other things.

Read

Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026

Opinion

Brandon city councillors debate around the council table during the 2025 budget deliberations. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun files)

Running for office comes with a cost

5 minute read Preview

Running for office comes with a cost

5 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026

When it comes to our elected officials, we often forget that the extra work that they take on in order to serve their community always comes at a personal cost. And sometimes a professional one, too.

That is true whether you’re a longtime councillor at city hall or taking a run for a seat around the school board table. Sure, some candidates may have personal agendas when they throw their names into the hat for election day.

Some look at small-town politics as a stepping stone to bigger seats at bigger tables. Others may be driven to run because of a single issue that they are passionate about.

But most anyone who runs for councillor or trustee believes that they have the time and the experience to help grow their community, and do some good. And while members of the community can often lose sight of this reality when their streets aren’t cleared of snow, or there’s a broken water main on their street causing them irritation, it’s important to remember that every locally elected official is a human being with families, friends and failings like the rest of us.

Read

Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026

September 16, 2026

Notification Settings