Happy Friday, Winnipeg!

Last weekend before the school chaos starts. Enjoy the quiet while you've got it.

Grab your coffee, settle in, and let's dive into what's happening around Winnipeg.

In today’s edition:

— Jas Singh

Out of more than 1,500 McDonald's across Canada, there's only one that looks like this…

No lobby, no dining room, and a building about half the size of a regular McDonald's.

And starting today, it's open to serve customers right here in Winnipeg.

Canada's first drive-thru-only McDonald's is officially open at Grant and Kenaston, and it's perfect for people who love a McDonald's run without leaving the car.

The site was too small for a full-size restaurant, so this was the workaround.

It's run by local franchise owner Amit Kapoor, whose company operates 14 McDonald's across the city and employs 900 people here.

The drive-thru-only idea has already been tried in the U.S., but Winnipeg is the first Canadian city to get one, with a second already planned for Regina.

Click here: To take a look inside Winnipeg’s new McDonald’s and see photos from the grand opening!

Trade war. Tariffs. Markets shaking. It's been on every screen for weeks.

And if you own a home here, or you're trying to buy your first one, it all lands the same way. Maybe now is a bad time to do anything.

So you wait. You'll look again in the spring. Then spring turns into next fall, and the house is still too small, or the stairs are still too much.

Here's what those headlines leave out.

Manitoba gets hit by this. Every province does. But tariffs land hardest on steel, auto and aluminum, and we were never built on one industry the way the rest of the country was. That squeeze doesn't hit us the same way.

We went through a round of this in 2025 and Winnipeg held.

Whatever you're weighing, you shouldn't be weighing it alone, and you shouldn't be weighing it against a headline about a different province.

That's why we partnered with Royal LePage Prime…

Close to 200 agents, all of them working right here in the city, all of them looking at Winnipeg numbers instead of national ones. If there's a decision sitting in the back of your mind, start with a conversation.

It costs you nothing to ask.

Click here: To view the full house & plan your showing!

Click here: To view the full house & plan your showing!

Click here: To view the full house & plan your showing!

MINISO is one of those stores you walk into for one thing. Then you spot the plushies, then the stationery, and somehow you're four aisles deep in stuff you didn't come for.

Now Polo Park is getting a bigger one.

A new Super MINISO is coming to the second floor, beside Build-A-Bear Workshop, with a larger version of the usual MINISO setup.

There's already a regular MINISO at Polo Park, but Super MINISO gives you a lot more room to wander.

There's no opening date yet, but signage and preparations are already underway.

So whether MINISO is already one of your Polo Park stops or you've never been in one, there'll soon be a much bigger one to get lost in.

Click Here: To browse MINISO and see what you might find when the new Super MINISO arrives!

Getting your first job comes with a frustrating little problem. Employers want experience, but you can't exactly get experience until someone hires you.

The Manitoba government is putting $630,000 into community programs that could help more young people get past that first hurdle.

Two Winnipeg organizations are among those getting funding, and they're putting it to work in different ways:

The money comes through a provincial grant called From the Ground Up, which gives up to $100,000 at a time to non-profits, municipalities and northern councils. Other funding is going toward leadership, cultural learning and wellness programs across Manitoba.

Getting that first yes from an employer can be the hardest part. This funding could help more young Manitobans finally get theirs.

Click here: Read the full announcement and hear from the organizations getting the funding!

For families with young kids, child care is one of those bills that never really goes away. Month after month, another expense that has to fit into the budget.

Manitoba's Child-Care Subsidy Program has been helping lower-income families cover some of that cost. But even with the subsidy, parents were still left with a piece of the bill to pay themselves.

Starting September 13, that piece disappears. Child care becomes completely free for roughly 4,100 children from 3,000 Manitoba families already eligible through the program.

For the families this affects, that's a saving of roughly $520 to $2,600 per child every year.

It's part of Manitoba's broader plan to reduce family and child poverty, taking one more expense off the budget and leaving a little more for everything else.

Click here: To see if your family qualifies and apply for free child care!

There are heroes all around Winnipeg, and most of them probably don't think of themselves that way.

Jayclyn Morrissette is this week's reminder.

She was walking with her neighbour at St. John's Park last month when she spotted a toddler in the Red River. The girl's father jumped in after her, and it quickly became clear he was in trouble too.

So Jayclyn went in.

Her neighbour helped her get the father out. Then she went back for the little girl, who had stopped moving. She brought her in and started CPR right there, because nobody else on that bank knew how. She kept going until she couldn't, and her neighbour took over.

The girl went to hospital in critical condition. She has since stabilized and is expected to make a full recovery.

Jayclyn doesn't consider herself a hero. She just hopes someone would do the same if it were her kid.

So we'll say it for her. Thank you, Jayclyn, for being one of Winnipeg's local heroes and showing us what looking out for your neighbours can really mean.

Click here: To find a CPR course in Winnipeg and be the person who knows what to do.

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