Brandon Sun – Breaking News, Sports, Manitoba, Canada

Kesler Brown of Virden competes in the junior high chute dogging event at the Brandon High School Indoor Rodeo at the Keystone Centre on Thursday. The high school rodeo continues today. The Wheat City Cowtown Eastern Circuit Finals rodeo also kicked off Thursday evening and runs again tonight and tomorrow evening. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

Serious bulldogging

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City payroll issues flagged for over a year

By Rylee Gerrard 5 minute read Preview

City payroll issues flagged for over a year

By Rylee Gerrard 5 minute read Yesterday at 10:09 PM CDT

Former City of Brandon employees have been raising concerns over payroll discrepancies and staffing issues for more than a year, the Sun has learned.

Documents obtained by the Sun show that two former payroll employees warned city manager Dave Wardrop and director of human resources Lola Oyeladun in July 2025 about inadequacies within the department.

“It has become clear that the existing structure no longer adequately supports the scope or complexity of payroll operations within the City of Brandon,” a business proposal from former city employees said.

The former employees — who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions — said their warnings to management were not acted on and the problems they identified have gotten worse.

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Yesterday at 10:09 PM CDT

Local

Flowers bloom outside Brandon City Hall. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun files)

Bylaw would establish learning sessions for council

By Alex Lambert 3 minute read Preview

Bylaw would establish learning sessions for council

By Alex Lambert 3 minute read Yesterday at 11:09 PM CDT

Brandon city council has given first reading to a bylaw that would pave the way for informal council “educational sessions.”

The sessions, which were described last month by the city’s director of legislative services, would be used to provide information, training, background, legislative updates or subject-matter briefings to council members.

The bylaw’s first reading was passed unanimously at last week’s meeting with no debate — as is standard for first readings.

“We didn’t have a platform to provide education or orientation, much like a new employee would be onboarded,” acting city clerk Alexis Sukaroff said on Wednesday.

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Yesterday at 11:09 PM CDT

Local

Bond-rating agencies have express skepticism over Manitoba's Budget 2026, which includes an optimistic prediction for Manitoba Hydro, even though recent dry years have dampened its performance. (File)

Crypto levy aims to lower Hydro bills

By Chris Kitching 4 minute read Preview

Crypto levy aims to lower Hydro bills

By Chris Kitching 4 minute read Updated: 9:06 AM CDT

WINNIPEG — Revenue from the province’s new electricity levy on cryptocurrency businesses and large AI data centres will go toward offsetting residential bills, rather than the coffers of cash-strapped Manitoba Hydro.

The levy is expected to generate $20 million annually, which would take about $50 per year off every household’s electricity bill starting in 2027, Finance Minister Adrien Sala told reporters Thursday.

“This is one step that we can make as a government to make life more affordable for Manitobans,” Sala said.

The default levy is set at 100 per cent of the current rate charges, with $20 million in revenue equivalent to a one per cent rate increase, Sala said.

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Updated: 9:06 AM CDT

Local

The water tower in Rideau Park overlooks the park and Brandon’s east end. Glen Parker, the outgoing councillor for Ward 9, wants to see it completely lit up. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)

Parker to make pitch for Rideau Park

By Alex Lambert 3 minute read Preview

Parker to make pitch for Rideau Park

By Alex Lambert 3 minute read Yesterday at 11:10 PM CDT

Outgoing Brandon Coun. Glen Parker plans to bring forward a motion at his final council meeting on Monday for staff to look at lighting up Rideau Park.

Parker first floated the idea to the Sun in a May interview, when he announced he would not seek re-election after 10 years as the Ward 9 and Riverview councillor.

“I want administration to take a serious, hard look at doing something here,” Parker said on Thursday.

“I’d like to see the park lit completely with some version of LED lighting, some white lights, and to dress it up.”

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Yesterday at 11:10 PM CDT

Local

A voter places their ballot in the ballot box at the polling station in the East End Community Centre in Brandon during the 2022 municipal election. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun files)

Technical glitch fixed after votes rejected in advance poll

By Alex Lambert 3 minute read Preview

Technical glitch fixed after votes rejected in advance poll

By Alex Lambert 3 minute read Yesterday at 10:04 PM CDT

A small number of ballots were rejected from a vote-counting machine during the first advance polls in Brandon on Wednesday.

Twenty-one of the 708 votes cast at city hall were rejected by the electronic machine before staff fixed the problem, the city’s senior election official, Heather Ewasiuk, said Thursday.

The rejected ballots will still be counted.

“We had a couple of issues with the tabulator because it wasn’t balanced, it wasn’t tied down to the ballot box properly, but we got that rectified,” Ewasiuk said.

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Yesterday at 10:04 PM CDT

Business

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds perform at the Aero Gatineau-Ottawa air show in Gatineau, Que., on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Patrick Doyle

‘Goodbye to a good friend’: Snowbirds’ final show to be livestreamed today

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

‘Goodbye to a good friend’: Snowbirds’ final show to be livestreamed today

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Updated: 9:05 AM CDT

OTTAWA - Members of the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds aerial aerobatics team are set to perform their final air show Friday in Moose Jaw, Sask., before their decades-old Tutor jets head into retirement.

The RCAF is set to livestream the annual season home closer online at 2 p.m. ET on its Facebook page.

There will still be one more chance to see the CT-114 Tutors in action before they are sent to the airbase in Trenton, Ont., for disposal.

The Snowbirds are scheduled to perform a flyover at the Canadian Football League Grey Cup game in Calgary on Nov. 15.

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Updated: 9:05 AM CDT

Local

Christie Zebrasky, whose daughter Eishia Hudson was shot dead by police on April 8, 2020, holds a photo of her daughter in Winnipeg, Friday, December 11, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

‘Replace some of the pain’: Inquest in fatal police shooting of Manitoba teen ends

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

‘Replace some of the pain’: Inquest in fatal police shooting of Manitoba teen ends

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: 9:07 AM CDT

WINNIPEG - A First Nations ceremony consisting of prayer, smudging sage and sweetgrass, and a drum song closed out a lengthy inquest on Thursday into the fatal police shooting of a 16-year-old Ojibwa girl in Winnipeg.

The conclusion of the fatality inquest comes more than six years after Eishia Hudson was shot and killed while police were responding to a liquor store robbery.

"I hope at the end of the day that your memories and what you take with you, all of the positive things that Eishia was, rise above what happened on this last day that she was here," inquest Judge Margaret Wiebe told the family.

"I hope that eventually all of those memories replace some of the pain that I know that you must feel."

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Updated: 9:07 AM CDT

Local

The Brandon Police Service crest. (File)

Break-in; stolen ID

2 minute read Preview

Break-in; stolen ID

2 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 11:08 PM CDT

'APARTMENT' IN MALL

A 48-year-old man was arrested after Brandon police received a report of a “makeshift apartment” in the basement of The Town Centre on Rosser Avenue.

Security staff at the downtown mall called police at 2:35 p.m. on Wednesday to report that a man had damaged a door to get into the building and set up a living space in the basement, police said in a news release Thursday.

The man was arrested and charged with breaking, entering and committing mischief.

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Updated: Yesterday at 11:08 PM CDT

Business

MP Patty Hajdu speaks ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, during a visit to the Alstom Plant in Thunder Bay, Ontario, on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Jackson

Liberals announce $258.6M fund for skilled worker training in critical sectors

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press 1 minute read Preview

Liberals announce $258.6M fund for skilled worker training in critical sectors

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press 1 minute read Updated: 9:05 AM CDT

For the second day in a row, the federal government is announcing plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to train more skilled workers in Canada.

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu is in her home riding of Thunder Bay today rolling out a plan to spend up to $258.6 million over the next five years to train workers in critical sectors, with annual funding of $50 million in the years to follow.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the creation of a Sectoral Workforce Innovation Fund a little over a year ago and the government opened applications for the program in August.

The fund aims to fill the gaps between workers' skills and industry requirements in sectors like energy or critical minerals by funding projects that could speed up training or certification.

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Updated: 9:05 AM CDT

Business

Chrystia Freeland leaves the West Block of Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Canada must diversify trade away from the U.S. for security reasons: Freeland

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Canada must diversify trade away from the U.S. for security reasons: Freeland

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Updated: 9:06 AM CDT

OTTAWA - Former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland says it's important for national security reasons that Canada do everything it can to diversify trade away from the United States.

During a discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Thursday, Freeland said it's dangerous to deepen or maintain a close economic relationship with a partner who "openly says they want to take you over."

"Unfortunately, tragically, that's where we are today," she said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly mused about turning Canada into the 51st state and, while he ruled out using military force to annex the country in January 2025, has said he would consider using "economic force."

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Updated: 9:06 AM CDT