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Winnipeg Free Press
20-05-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ground squirrel cull in city parks put on hold
The City of Winnipeg campaign to kill ground squirrels, which was scheduled to begin on Tuesday and continue until fall in eight parks and community centre fields, has been put on hold. 'The program is slightly delayed,' public works spokeswoman Julie Horbal Dooley said on Friday, adding she couldn't say why it was postponed. Horbal Dooley said the program had not been scuttled and would begin at some point. TIM SMITH / THE BRANDON SUN FILES The city has said it explored using other methods, including live traps, but found it would be impractical because it estimated the number of animals was in the thousands. Danae Tonge of the Manitoba Animal Save said she hopes city councillors can be convinced to stop the practice. 'It's spring and the squirrels are with their young,' Tonge said. 'One of our members has seen (Giant Destroyer) used before. 'The squirrels would crawl out of their burrows. They are dying and they are suffering. It's a horrible way to go and it could take up to an hour before they die.' The city used sulphur gas more than a decade ago, but discontinued the practice after public pressure. Last year, the squirrel management program was put on hold after concerns were raised that the carbon monoxide machines being used were unsafe for employees. The city will continue researching other methods, including carbon dioxide, but will use sulfur gas in the meantime. The parks to be targeted are: Charleswood Place, Theodore Niitzhotay Fontaine Park, Fairgrove Bay Park, Shaughnessy Park, Weston Memorial Community Centre, St. James Memorial Sports Park, Beryl Watts Park, and Vince Leah Community Centre. City crews will revisit each park monthly to repeat the program. Horbal Dooley said the city doesn't know which order the parks will be treated. 'We will post signs 24 hours in advance to advise the public of planned treatment,' she said. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. 'We may be required to close a park to facilitate a safe and effective treatment, but this will be site-dependent. That said, the gas will primarily remain below ground. Any that escapes will quickly dissipate and not cause a detectable odour in the vicinity.' Horbal Dooley said not all holes will be treated — because the tunnels are connected — and multiple staff will be on site to treat multiple holes at a time. The city has said it explored using other methods, including live traps, but found it would be impractical because it estimated the number of animals was in the thousands. Tonge said she doesn't understand why the city isn't using more humane options including live trapping and relocation or drugs to prevent them from reproducing. 'It just feels we are going to use the cheapest, quickest, cruelest option,' she said. 'We shouldn't be letting them be born only to kill them. This is cruel and inhumane.' Kevin RollasonReporter Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press's city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin. Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
17-05-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘Completely blindsided us'
Cottagers and business owners are angry after Parks Canada flip-flopped and announced a motorized boat ban on Clear Lake this summer to help prevent the spread of zebra mussels. Parks Canada said Friday it made the 'difficult decision' to restrict the use of motorized watercraft in the Riding Mountain National Park lake in 2025. 'This approach is a continuation of Parks Canada's attempts to reduce zebra mussel spread in Clear Lake and the potential damage that may be caused to downstream water bodies and related infrastructure,' the government agency said in a bulletin. TIM SMITH / THE BRANDON SUN FILES Kayakers paddle through the cool water of Clear Lake while a boat passes behind them in Riding Mountain National Park on a hot Thursday in 2023. Scenes like this will not take place this summer as the federal government has banned boats from Clear Lake for the 2025 season. The federal government said in January watercraft, including motorized vessels, would be permitted, as long as they were only used in Clear Lake. That edict was reversed Friday. People are allowed to use non-motorized watercraft — including kayaks and canoes — provided they have an annual permit for use only on Clear Lake or other bodies of water in Riding Mountain National Park. The bulletin said all non-motorized watercraft, fishing equipment, wetsuits and inflatables would have to be inspected. The lake was closed to all watercraft in the summer of 2024. In January, the federal government announced a 'one boat, one lake' policy for Clear Lake, the same policy that was adopted in 2023. Parks Canada said at the time that decision was made after determining it was no longer feasible to attempt to eradicate zebra mussels because they had spread past the lake's marina. The policy change prompted anger Friday. Kelsey Connor, president of the Clear Lake Marina, which offers boat rentals and cruises on the Martese ship, said Parks Canada told him about the reversal an hour before the public release went out. 'This news has completely blindsided us,' he said. 'We were planning to open our business in the coming days. We've hired dozens of excited, eager staff for the summer, made bookings and reservations for families and groups on the Martese, and spent significant sums of capital preparing to reopen the business for 2025.' Connor said his company lost money when the lake was closed in 2024, and they were hoping to bounce back this year. 'Parks Canada managers and staff have straight up lied to and misled me over the phone, face to face, and eye to eye leading up to this announcement,' he said. 'No warning. No heads up. No reasoning. Now what… I must ruminate on this until Tuesday when Parks Canada staff are back at work. I sure hope that they have a great long weekend. Frankly, I'm disgusted with the Parks Canada organization and those who conduct it.' A local Parks Canada official referred questions to officials in Ottawa. No one from Ottawa responded before deadline. Tory MP Dan Mazier, who represents the Riding Mountain riding, which includes the park, called the decision unacceptable. 'Earlier this year, Parks Canada indicated the ban would be lifted, yet now, with no warning or clear explanation, they've reversed course during one of the busiest weekends of the year…. the constant flip-flopping has created chaos and deep uncertainty in a community that deserves timely answers — not surprise announcements buried on a holiday weekend,' Mazier said in a statement. Mazier vowed to bring the matter up with newly appointed federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin. Cottager David Bastable said he held off paying thousands of dollars to buy a boat until Parks Canada announced motorized watercraft would be allowed this summer. 'They said one boat, one lake and literally the next week I bought the boat,' Bastable said. 'We were so excited. The kids couldn't even use the kayaks and paddleboat we bought last year. 'I probably spent six grand on accessories alone to go with the boat, including insurance for the boat and the trailer, and then they changed their decision. Now I'm wondering if I'm going to sell the boat. It is so ridiculous — the zebra mussels are already in the lake.' Bastable blames Parks Canada for helping to spread zebra mussels last summer because, at first it told people they could swim and use flotation devices only around the marina — where the aquatic pests were first found — before telling people that was the only place they couldn't use them. 'So people ended up going all over the lake. This couldn't have been managed worse.' Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Another cottager, Kyle Bazylo, said he doesn't own a boat, but he empathizes with people who do. 'People last year with boats didn't even come back to their cottages last year,' Bazylo said. 'People thought this year it would be back to normal, but it isn't. 'It was disappointing last year, but at least we knew what was happening so we adapted to it, but this has come at the last minute… between last year and now this, you lose complete faith in the park and the government.' Parks Canada had said it engaged with stakeholders, Indigenous partners and the public on how to best manage water activities at Clear Lake in 2025. Kevin RollasonReporter Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press's city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin. Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
