The World Series final, Bruno Mars and Inter Miami versus TFC.

For the Toronto Transit Commission, they were all dress rehearsals. Some went better than others, but each offered lessons on the road to hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Now that test — new TTC CEO Mandeep Lali’s biggest since taking over the system — is just days away.

“Not only are we ready, we’ve practised that, demonstrated that year after year,” he told Global News, sitting in an upstairs office of the transit agency’s control centre, its nerve system.

“All of the accumulation of all our experiences now is what we’re going to demonstrate. We’re going to demonstrate our serviceability, we’re going to demonstrate our customer service perspective and we’re going to demonstrate our resilience.”

The World Cup officially kicks off in Toronto on Friday at 3 p.m. when Canada hosts Bosnia and Herzegovina in the nation’s opening match, taking place at the newly-renamed Toronto Stadium.

A total of six games will take place in the city from June 12 to July 2.

The city’s plan to get thousands of fans around relies almost entirely on transit.

A staff report drawn up in the spring assumes 70 per cent of people will travel to the stadium or fans zones by either TTC or GO Train. Thirteen per cent will walk and another 10 will cycle.

Many of those will be new to transit in Toronto and unfamiliar with its stations. That’s a reality that’s pushing the TTC to send out waves of ambassadors and representatives to help get people around stations and onto vehicles.

And it is effective, nimble communication, one expert says, that could make or break the World Cup transit plan.

“The World Series seemed like a failure of planning,” said Matti Siemiatycki, director of the infrastructure institute at the University of Toronto, referring to the chaotic scenes after the Toronto Blue Jays’ historic run last year.

“You can have a plan, but you know, to use that old Mike Tyson quote, ‘Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face.’ And Toronto’s plans have been brittle, and the way that we communicate when things go wrong is not very good.”

To try and keep a handle on communications, and because the system will also rely on police for road closures and Metrolinx to handle GO Trains, a centralized command centre has been set up.

If a subway train breaks down or a streetcar is stuck behind a parked car, the urgent alternative arrangements will be communicated through that central team.

“There’s a joint information control communication group which manages all the information in respect to service closures, diversion, incidents,” Lali said.

“It will be filtered through that mechanism in real time so we can make dynamic decisions, decisions which are fully understood through the plethora of agencies.”

At the heart of Toronto’s plan to get people in and out of the World Cup zone are its iconic streetcars.

The bright red light rail vehicles may be synonymous with the city, but they also boast the worst on-time performance of any mode of transit and repeatedly prove to be the least popular with riders.

The streetcar from Union Station to the stadium will complement the Bathurst streetcar, which is set to be a key spine of the World Cup transit plan.

To accommodate massive crowds, the TTC has set up a new loading and unloading zone for the vehicles, which it plans to run every five minutes.

To keep the Bathurst streetcar running amid congestion, Lali said traffic agents will be on hand to stop cars driving into priority lanes following a detailed, line-by-line review of the route.

“We’ve broken every single intersection down,” he explained.

“Within that intersection, we’ve ranked them in terms of rating, in terms of impact upon performance. And following that, we also then put that within our plan. Then we allocated officers or traffic agents during the peak times for the matches to ensure we have seamless service.”

The move could be critical because streetcars across the city often suffer delays due to drivers, pedestrians or crashes blocking their route, rather than purely a mechanical breakdown.

Toronto’s World Cup matches are different from many games that came before them for one key reason — there’s no new stadium being built and precious little infrastructure will be left behind when the full-time whistle goes.

For the TTC, however, the games represent a major legacy moment.

If the agency can prove its enhanced streetcar plans are a success or reap the benefits of months of closures to get the system ready for the games, there could be a positive effect for the city.

“One of the questions is, what’s the legacy of these works? And I’m very keen to ensure that we capture that,” Lali said.

“Whether it be performance, whether it be reliability, whether it be asset improvements, we’re doing that in an incremental manner with respective (key performance indicator) metrics. So post the World Cup, we can look at the actual cost and the performance benefits of. And then we’ll see what we can do and how we can flourish the entire system.”

Siemiatycki said the benefit of the World Cup is that it has set Toronto a deadline to get its transit system in order — a deadline that will hopefully be marked by a massive, city-wide celebration.

“That’s why we’re hosting this thing and spending all of this money — because this is meant to be fun. And the transit should be the afterthought,” he said.

“It should be crowded, but not chaotic. We do this regularly. And I think what I would love is for the TTC and transit just to show confidence and perform and just do this like it’s the backbone, so that it doesn’t have to become a talking point.”

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

At the height of concerns over foreign interference in 2023, Canada’s spy agency started adding blanket warnings to assessments of foreign nationals seeking security clearance to work for the federal government.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) started by warning federal departments about China’s national security laws, which allow Beijing to compel Chinese nationals to provide the state with information.

The spy agency expanded the warnings to include an undisclosed number of other countries, attaching the general warnings to foreign nationals applying to work in sensitive positions with the federal government.

An independent federal review agency is now warning that the practice risks stereotyping foreign nationals and denying them federal work based on their country of origin — but CSIS says they will continue to include the “Non-Canadian Citizen Briefs” in their security screening process.

In a recently released report, the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) warned that CSIS risks biasing departments against clearing foreigners who pose no national security threat.

“Integrated into the person’s security assessment, the brief is not bespoke to the individual. It contains threat-related information about the country with the individual’s citizenship being the only connection between the individual and the country,” the agency wrote.

“No further information or analysis is included to tailor the information to the individual security screening applicant.”

As of 2025, foreign nationals who are not Canadian citizens are no longer eligible to obtain top secret or enhanced top secret clearance, NSIRA noted. So CSIS’s “Non-Canadian Citizen Briefs” are only applied to applicants for “secret” or “site access” clearance.

Paul Champ, an Ottawa-based human rights and labour lawyer, has represented clients denied employment for failing to obtain security clearance.

In one ongoing case, Champ said his client had worked for the UN, dealing with highly sensitive material for years, but Global Affairs Canada denied his application for higher clearance.

Champ contends that was based on his client’s country of origin.

“I think it is a problem. Canada, we’re definitely a pluralistic society and democracy … but the reality is, unless you are born here, you’re always inherently suspect in some way when it comes to employment with the federal government,” Champ said in an interview Friday.

CSIS did not say how many of those applicants had been cleared by the departments and agencies ultimately responsible for granting or denying security clearance.

But the spy agency disagreed with NSIRA’s warning, calling their country-specific warnings “fact-based information about national security risks associated with certain countries.”

“CSIS’ special country briefs are designed to reflect the current threat landscape, without bias or discrimination, and are updated regularly to ensure that they accurately capture evolving risks and threats posed,” the agency wrote in response.

“Security assessments are just one component of sources of information a government department may consider in its decision-making process on a security clearance application.”

The country-specific warnings started in 2023 with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Despite Prime Minister Mark Carney’s overtures to Beijing to improve diplomatic and trade relations, the PRC has long been viewed by the Canadian intelligence community as the country’s largest national security threat.

That threat includes foreign interference and influence campaigns, economic espionage and more traditional forms of spying that would interest CSIS in the security screening process.

Under the PRC’s wide-reaching national intelligence laws, Chinese nationals can be induced to provide information to Beijing. The PRC has also been accused of leveraging friends and family still in China to coerce expats into working for the state.

But since 2023, CSIS has expanded the briefings to include an undisclosed number of other countries where no similar national security laws are cited, NSIRA noted.

“While the brief states that the CSIS ‘has not identified specific adverse or threat-related information regarding the subject,’ they continue that the individual ‘may be at risk of being induced to cooperate with a hostile foreign state in a way that constitutes a threat to the security of Canada,’” NSIRA reported.

“The fact that a certain country of origin may be viewed as suspect … that’s fine, we get that. But it just means that (CSIS) needs to be thoughtful and deliberate in terms of looking at other collateral sources (to assess) reliability,” Champ said.

“If you don’t do that, you’re basically saying ‘we have a discriminatory policy.’”

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Fraser Health says services at the emergency department of Mission Memorial Hospital will be temporarily interrupted due to “physician staffing challenges” until Monday morning.

Fraser Health says in a statement that the service interruption will last from 5 p.m. Sunday until Monday morning at 8 a.m.

It says the measure means anyone already waiting to see a doctor at 5 p.m. will be seen before their shift ends at 11 p.m.

The health authority says nurses will still be on site to provide patients with basic care and also assist with potential transfers to another hospital for those in need of urgent care.

Fraser Health says it’s working with B.C. Emergency Health Services to direct patients to other facilities if they require a higher level of care.

Fraser Health says people with potentially life-threatening ailments such as chest pain, breathing difficulties or severe bleeding should call 911 and they’ll be taken to the nearest available and appropriate facility.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Iran launched missiles at Israel in the first such bombardment since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early April, raising the possibility of a return to heavy fighting and complicating mediation efforts to end the war.

Iran’s state broadcaster confirmed the launches, and Iran closed its western airspace to brace for a possible response. Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning earlier Sunday in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down. Israel said the Iranian-backed Hezbollah fired at northern Israel earlier in the day.

“Should these acts of aggression be repeated, the responses will be broader in scope and will encompass all American and Zionist targets throughout the region,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said in a statement that referenced attacks in Lebanon and on Iran’s coast and vessels around the Strait of Hormuz.

Sirens sounded in several areas of Israel, sending millions running for shelter. Israel’s military said it intercepted the missiles, and multiple explosions were heard in the north. Less than an hour later, the military said people could leave areas reinforced against missile attacks.

“Iran has made a grave mistake,” Israel military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said. The military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said it will “strike the enemy with determination as soon as the order is given.”

But Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, said U.S. President Donald Trump told it that he doesn’t think Israel needs to respond further.

Iran had warned that an attack on Beirut would renew full-scale war across the Mideast, even as Pakistan and other mediators try to restart talks between Tehran and Washington.

“U.S. forces across the Middle East remain vigilant and ready,” the U.S. Central Command posted on X shortly before the missile launches.

Israel’s attack on Beirut came a few days after the Lebanese and Israeli governments agreed to a ceasefire in U.S.-hosted talks, though Hezbollah rejected the deal. The strike on a residential building killed two people and wounded 20, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

“The army will continue to act in all of Lebanon,” the Israel military spokesperson said.

Israel’s strikes and ground invasion in Lebanon in pursuit of Hezbollah, and the militant group’s resistance to disarming, have complicated an overall deal to end the war in the Middle East.

Iran says any deal must include an end to fighting in Lebanon.

Trump told a Fox News Channel reporter that he wanted the Iranians to stop firing missiles and return to the negotiating table. He also said that Israel’s strikes earlier Sunday were not coordinated with the U.S. and “I’m not happy about it.”

Israel on Monday had announced it would strike the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, but urgent talks via Washington halted that on the condition that Hezbollah stop targeting Israeli border towns.

Hezbollah, which claimed responsibility for firing at Israel earlier Sunday, wants the direct talks between Lebanon and Israel to end. Instead, it supports Iran’s stance that an overall ceasefire deal between Tehran and Washington include the situation in Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who seeks reelection later this year, is under heavy domestic pressure to respond to both Iran and the Hezbollah threat, which has paralyzed life for thousands of residents along Israel’s northern border.

But Trump has made clear he does not want to see the war resume.

Trump said earlier Sunday in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he would like to see a “more surgical attack on Hezbollah.” He also said he was “not demanding” that Lebanon be part of an overall ceasefire deal in the Iran war.

Iran continues to assert its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. continues its blockade of Iranian ports, with shipments of oil, natural gas and fertilizer affected and the global economy in pain.

Iran since the ceasefire took effect has launched missiles and drones at Gulf nations and said it was targeting the U.S. military presence. After its launches against Israel, Iraq’s Civil Aviation Authority announced that the country’s airspace would close for 72 hours and Syria’s aviation authority announced a 12-hour airspace closure.

Diplomacy continues before and after missile launches

Pakistan’s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, was in Tehran on Sunday delivering a message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei from Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. There were no details on the message’s contents.

Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was named the Islamic Republic’s ruler after his father was killed on Feb. 28 as Israeli and U.S. strikes sparked the war.

Pakistani authorities have said Islamabad, with support from regional countries including Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, is working to help bridge differences.

In Cairo, the Egyptian and Qatari foreign ministers discussed “proposed elements” of a potential agreement between the U.S. and Iran, the Egyptian foreign ministry said, without details.

And after Iran’s missile launches at Israel, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with counterparts in Britain, Egypt and Turkey as well as Pakistan’s army chief of staff, Iran’s state TV said.

—Chehayeb reported from Beirut, Magdy from Cairo, Lidman from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Anna from Lowville, New York. Associated Press writers Hassan Ammar in Lebanon, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Matthew Lee in Washington, Abby Sewell in Beirut, and Michelle L. Price in Bridgewater, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to Europe on Thursday, visiting Ireland and France for the G7 summit.

The summit is running from June 15 to June 17 in Evian-les-Bains and France says the focus will be on reducing global inequalities.

The summit was delayed by a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the White House would host a UFC fight on June 14, which is Flag Day in the United States and Trump’s 80th birthday.

Fen Osler Hampson, an international affairs professor at Carleton University, told The Canadian Press the leaders will have to focus on “managing Trump” at the summit.

“The real discussions will be among the remaining G6 leaders when Trump isn’t in the room, in terms of how you deal with a president who is irascible, unpredictable and making life difficult for everyone,” he said, noting that the president has personally insulted several European leaders.

The government of France says priorities at the summit will include settling major geopolitical crises, including through G7 support to Ukraine, online protection for children, crime and “the new rules of play of global governance.”

However, Hampson said the official agenda generally doesn’t reflect what the key issues of discussion will be. He said those are likely to include conflict in the Middle East, energy security and U.S. tariffs.

Canada hosted the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., last year. Trump left a day early due to the conflict in the Middle East.

The G7 includes Canada, France, the United States, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and Italy. The European Union also participates in talks, though the bloc isn’t counted in the group’s name.

Before the summit, Carney is making stops in Paris and Dublin, Ireland.

A news release from the Prime Minister’s Office says Carney and Macron will discuss deepening ties in sectors such as defence, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and critical minerals.

Ireland, which has become a major centre for foreign investment and businesses, is set to assume the presidency of the Council of the European Union in July.

The PMO notes Carney’s visit will be the first official trip for a Canadian prime minister to Ireland in nearly a decade. Carney will meet with the Taoiseach of Ireland, Micheál Martin and Irish President Catherine Connolly as part of talks to deepen cultural and trade ties between the nations.

Carney met with 150 Irish business leaders in Ottawa last month. The embassy said on social media that the discussion focused on economic opportunities for the countries, innovation, investment and growth across sectors.

Bilateral merchandise trade between Canada and Ireland reached $6 billion in 2025. Canadian exports of $1.1 billion to Ireland were led by cereals and imports of $4.9 billion were led pharmaceutical products.

Trade between the countries is underpinned by the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, known as CETA, which has been provisionally applied but has not yet been ratified by several states, including Ireland.

Martin met with Carney in Ottawa in September. At the time, he said Ireland would be ratifying the CETA deal. A joint statement from the leaders said they agreed on the importance of Ireland’s full ratification of the agreement by 2026.

The Irish Times reported late last month that the Irish government was set to approve new legislation to accelerate ratification of the trade deal to reduce the country’s reliance on the United States.

There are an estimated 4.5 million Canadians that have Irish ancestry, representing almost 15 per cent of the country’s population.

Carney also has deep ties to Ireland, with his grandparents immigrating from County Mayo in the early 1920s.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2026.

— with files from Craig Lord

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Rihanna may sing about Diamonds, but a meeting with an Air Canada flight attendant from Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) in the Quebec area shone far brighter than the jewel.

During a recent flight on Monday, Lily Kahnerahtiio Dailleboust of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) on Montreal’s South Shore, gifted the award-winning singer with a set of beads from her community.

“This sweet lady gifted me with something very special that I will never forget and I will never lose,” Rihanna said in a Facebook video posted on Dailleboust’s page.

In the video, Rihanna then asks Dailleboust to introduce herself who says the beads were a present.

She then teaches the artist how to say “thank you” in her language, which is “Niá:wen.” Rihanna then repeats it, with Dailleboust telling her she said it correctly.

The Air Canada flight attendant told Global News Rihanna had boarded a flight from Toronto’s Billy Bishop to Montreal.

“You don’t even know how to react because it’s not my first time having a VIP, but on a small airplane from Billy Bishop, like the Dash-8 Q400, it’s just a regular aircraft, there’s no business class, there’s no separation,” she said.

The music artist was given the crew seats in the back to be more “comfortable,” saying the crew told her she’d be more comfortable and private in the back.

After seating her, Dailleboust introduced herself, offered her water and said she’d provide Rihanna with anything she needed. According to Dailleboust, Rihanna told her she was heading to an A$AP Rocky concert.

During the flight, Daillboust asked Rihanna’s bodyguard if she could give Rihanna a gift.

“Before I started anything I just took out the lanyard and I just presented it to her and said, ‘Oh I just want to offer you a gift,'” Dailleboust said. “You know in my culture we’re very giving. When somebody or something is very significant or meaningful we want to offer you something so I gave it to her. She was so happy.”

The lanyard of beads given to the singer was actually her personal keychain from a store in her community called “Traditions” that has local artists on display and for sale. She said the keychain was actually something she purchased some time ago.

The singer told Dailleboust she was the first Mohawk she’d ever met. They exchanged a bit of information but she had to start service for the flight.

Once the seatbelt sign had been turned off, Rihanna also offered to do autographs or a video.

“She was very nice and she did an autograph for me and then she offered to do a video about me gifting her the lanyard and she actually put it on her purse right away,” Dailleboust said.

Members of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) have sent her messages saying they’re proud of her for sharing the culture with Rihanna.

“It was just overwhelming for me because she is such an activist and she is really proactive in humanity itself, she is so lovely,” she added.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Just one day before tragedy struck, young Ava Ciampini was celebrating her third birthday with dozens of family and friends at her father’s Montreal-area business.

Now, one week after her death, her father is sharing memories of the little girl he says could light up any room.

“She was just so special to us and everybody that crossed paths with her,” Luca Ciampini said. “She just had so much character, so much spunk. She was really the light and joy of every day.”

On Sunday, May 31, Ava was enjoying a community event with her family at a park in Lasalle when the bouncy castle she was playing in was swept up by strong winds. Witnesses described a chaotic scene as the play structure rose dozens of feet into the air before being thrown back to the ground.

Urgences-santé said 11 people were injured. Six were transported to hospital, including two children. Ava was critically injured and later died. Another three-year-old remains in critical condition in hospital.

The incident occurred during a community celebration organized by the Madre dei Cristiani church. Environment Canada reported wind gusts of 50 kilometres per hour in the area at the time.

For Luca, it’s a reality that’s still impossible to comprehend.

“It’s just unimaginable,” he said. “We’re still waiting to wake up from this nightmare. It just doesn’t feel real.”

As family and friends struggled to process the loss, support began pouring in from across the country. A GoFundMe launched by Luca’s best friend and business partner, Stefano Giliati, has raised nearly half a million dollars. The response, they say, has been overwhelming.

“I just hope they know that they don’t have to go through this alone,” Giliati said. “(Luca) has a huge support community – people that love him – and that we’re all with him – we’re all there for them.”

Now, Luca says he visits the park where tragedy struck every day. Flowers, teddy bears and handwritten notes mark the place where hundreds have came to honour Ava.

Even now he says, she continues to make a difference. Her organs were donated this week helping save four other lives – something he calls her final act and her greatest superpower.

“That was the decision we had made because we know she’ll live life through others – by saving lives,” said Luca. “She’ll always live on and create a legacy.”

A public memorial is planned for Tuesday at Ouellette park.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is expected to argue a change in federal policies would ease separatist concerns in Alberta when he makes a speech in Calgary on Monday.

In an excerpt of that speech shared with Global News and The Canadian Press, Poilievre says separatist voices do not have an issue with their fellow Canadians, “they have a problem with the federal government.”

“We do not need a different country, Alberta. We need different government policies in Ottawa,” the speech reads.

The Conservative leader will argue in the address that Albertans could benefit from changes that prioritize unblocking resources, building pipelines, respecting provincial autonomy and relieving taxpayers.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said last month that her government will ask Albertans in October if they think the province should remain part of Canada or should begin the legal process for a separation referendum.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the Alberta referendum on separation could be a “dangerous bluff.”

Poilievre said last month that he and his caucus will be campaigning across Alberta over the summer and encouraging people to stay in “the Canadian family.”

Sam Lilly, director of media relations for the Office of the Official Opposition, declined to provide more details on what that campaign would look like when asked Sunday. He deferred to Poilievre’s speech.

In the prepared remarks, Poilievre says the answer for Alberta is to band together with other provinces to push for federal policies that advance shared interests and support industries that cross provincial lines.

Repealing what he calls Liberal “anti-development laws” like bills C-69 and C-48 would help both Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, for example. Residents of Toronto as well as Albertan cities would benefit from a tougher criminal justice system, Poilievre argues.

He also calls for Alberta to “lock arms with Quebec” to regain provincial control over federal policies like immigration.

“Locking arms with other provinces is the practical, realistic path to a stronger Alberta within a united Canada,” the speech reads.

Carney said a referendum campaign isn’t helpful when Alberta is trying to woo investors for a pipeline. He pointed out that voters did not give Smith’s government a mandate to take this step.

Smith said in a televised address last month that not asking the question in a referendum would amount to “muzzling the voices of hundreds of thousands of Albertans,” something she said would be “unjustifiable” in a democracy.

A petition to trigger a referendum on Alberta separation was thrown out earlier this month by a judge, who cited the provincial government’s failure to consult Indigenous communities on the effect separation would have on their treaty rights. The Alberta government is appealing that ruling.

Carney said he plans to campaign for national unity and to show that co-operative federalism can work.

He pointed to a deal he signed with Smith earlier this month, which commits the two levels of government to working toward building a new oil pipeline to the Pacific coast, so long as industrial carbon price targets are met and carbon capture projects move ahead.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

A 23-year-old man was arrested after Quebec provincial police say he reached 217 kilometres per hour in a 70 km/h zone and fled from officers in the Montreal area early Saturday morning.

Police say they spotted a vehicle without licence plates on Highway 15 in Montreal around 2:30 a.m.

Police say the suspect was eventually located in a parking lot in Kahnawake with assistance from local Peacekeepers.

Police say the suspect tried to flee before colliding with a police vehicle.

He was arrested and could face several charges, including fleeing police and assault with a weapon.

His vehicle was impounded for 30 days and his driver’s licence was suspended for seven days.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

The Manitoba Nurses Union is urging the provincial government to immediately form the committee that will roll out nurse-to-patient ratios.

The call comes after the province’s legislation to establish the ratios passed earlier this week. It was originally introduced in March.

“The legislation is basically, you know, what I think of as a guarantee that nurse-patient ratios are going to continue once we set them up,” said Darlene Jackson, president of the union. “That’s good news for nurses in Manitoba. Now we just have to kind of get cracking on getting this implementation going.”

On Friday, a subcommittee that included representatives from the government, health system employers and the union released a summary report with recommendation that included suggested ratios for both acute and non-acute areas.

It also outlined a rural and northern framework.

One example of suggested ratios was one nurse for every two to three patients in the emergency department for general acute care. Adult intensive care, the report recommends, should have one nurse for every one to two patients.

Implementing the ratios will still fall on a separate committee, which Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said would be formed soon.

“It’s that committee that’s going to not only look at the recommendations that are part of the report, but look at the landscape of health-care in Manitoba, talk to nurses on the front lines, understand the dynamic and unique needs of different sites to replicate as well,” Asagwara said.

The minister acknowledged there’s a number of recommendations in the report and it will take time to implement them all.

But Asagwara also praised the passage of the legislation, noting it’s the first in the country to legislate ratios. British Columbia put in ratios in 2023, but that was done by policy changes, while Asagwara says having it done through legislation ensures the work needed “is embedded in law.

Establishing that implementation committee should have been “up and running already,” Jackson told Global News, adding the law doesn’t outline what those ratios could be.

“We are now into June and the implementation committee has not been finalized,” she said. “It’s taking longer than nurses wanted to because nurses are anxious for nurse-patient ratios to happen.”

By having ratios, Jackson said it allows for nurses to spend more time with their patients. She said this can improve quality of care, decrease the length of stay and reduce readmissions in patients because that extra time was given.

Jackson is hoping the committee will be established soon, though she’d like to see it as soon as next week.

“I want safer patient care in this province, so the sooner the better as far as I’m concerned,” Jackson said. “Next week, whatever happens.”

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.