Farmer Gathering Calls for Return of Single-Desk Wheat Board
A meeting of Prairie farmers has called for the return of a single-desk system for grain marketing.
The Canadian Wheat Board Alliance says more than 50 farmers from the Swan River and Pelly areas of Manitoba and Saskatchewan met last week and unanimously passed a resolution calling for the re-establishment of the Canadian Wheat Board.
The group says the loss of the single-desk system has resulted in an increasingly dysfunctional rail system, reduced grain quality guarantees to other nations and an overall loss of $6.5billion in income to farmers over the last two years.
Former agriculture Minister Ritz passed legislation ending the Canadian Wheat Board, and last year half of its assets were sold to Saudi-owned G3 Global Grain Group.
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Walk for Missing and Murdered Women
Dozens gathered in Vermillion Park on Sunday to pay homage to missing and murdered indigenous women.
Those in attendance walked, sung, and released balloons into the sky, sharing their stories about how they've been affected.
Rainbow Chartrand, one of the organizers for the walk, says it's no coincidence that they met on Valentine's Day.
"Valentine's Day is about love and we want to honour and share the love of our missing and murdered loved ones with the world, and it's a great opportunity to raise awareness for them. That's why we honour them on this day."
Chartrand says seeing hundreds of indigenous people talking about their experiences at a meeting in Winnipeg last week was "powerful."
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Fire in Winnipeg Industrial Building
City officials in Winnipeg say everyone who was inside an industrial building that was destroyed by fire yesterday made it out safely.
Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service acting platoon chief Morris Semkowski says the building was used for storage by a renovations company.
There were plenty of flammable materials inside but officials says no dangerous chemicals.
Streets in the area were closed for at least six blocks from the fire scene and some homes downwind were evacuated due to smoke.
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Low Loonie Hurting Business South of the Border
Long weekends aren't what they used to be in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Historically this may have been a prime time for Manitoba families to load up the van and head south of the border for a few nights.
But Ryan Kuntz, who's the general manager of C'mon Inn in Grand Forks, says they've been noticing declining numbers of Canadian visitors since last January due to the slumping loonie.
Kuntz says in 2013, roughly 70 per cent of their visitors were from Canada. Last year it dropped below 50 per cent.
