WINNIPEG — The province must take immediate action to increase low staffing levels that are putting Selkirk emergency room nurses at risk, a letter sent to the premier and health minister says.

The letter, sent by the Manitoba Nurses Union and signed by 35 ER nurses, detailed multiple recent incidents at the Selkirk Regional Health Centre. In one case, a nurse was stabbed with a pen by a patient who had been waiting 24 hours for care. In another case, a nurse was bitten by a patient.

“Nurses in that emergency department are extremely frustrated,” said Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson. “This is not something that happened in the last month — or overnight — these are problems that have been growing.”

The five-page letter was sent Tuesday to Premier Wab Kinew, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara and leaders of the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority. It contained 10 requests to improve safety inside the emergency department, including establishing safer nurse-to-patient staffing levels, eliminating the practice of “single physician coverage” in the emergency department and implementing an institutional safety officer around the clock.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s non-partisan elections management agency could help its Alberta counterpart with that province’s October referendum — an event one political expert expects to be a “shemozzle.”

Elections Alberta has asked Elections Manitoba to send staff to assist with the vote, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Manitoba confirmed Wednesday.

The Oct. 19 referendum will ask Albertans 10 questions, including whether that province should remain part of Canada.

Each of the referendum questions will be on separate numbered and colour-coded ballots, which will be counted by hand. With an estimated 2,966,192 voters in the province — registered as of May 2025 — there could be as many as 30 million ballots to count.

The Brandon golfer who played for the University of Texas San Antonio is Tom Relf. Incorrect information was provided to the Sun and appeared on Page B1 of Wednesday’s paper.

ON TELEVISION

TENNIS — Cincinnati Open, WTA Quarterfinals, 12 p.m. (TSN3), ATP Quarterfinals, 2 p.m. (TSN3)

GOLF — CPKC Women’s Open, First Round, 5 p.m. (TSN1)

MLB — Blue Jays at Rays, 12 p.m. (SNW), Yankees at Orioles, 5:30 p.m. (SNW)

Intoxicated person

Brandon police arrested a highly intoxicated woman downtown on Tuesday evening.

Officers were called to a duplex on the 200 block of Louise Avenue for a report of a 19-year-old woman causing a disturbance, police said Tuesday.

Relatives told police they did not want the woman to be in the home in the condition she was in at the time. Police arrested the woman under the Protective Detention & Care of Intoxicated Persons Act.

Woman stabbed

Manitoba RCMP charged a 14-year-old boy with aggravated assault after a woman was stabbed on Saturday in Sapotaweyak Cree Nation.

Mounties were called to a residence around 11 a.m. in the community northeast of Swan River for a report of a stabbing, RCMP said in a news release on Monday.

When police arrived at the scene, they found a 19-year-old woman who had been stabbed multiple times.

WINNIPEG — Powerhouse investors may hear pitches on Manitoba mines, silica sand projects and a massive greenhouse in Dauphin during Canada’s first major investors summit.

The Manitoba government is finalizing its list of projects to pitch at the Canada Investment Summit next month.

“The conversations that’ll be had … will be about investments in the billions of dollars,” Premier Wab Kinew said Friday.

“It’ll be one step among many that we take to build a bright future in Manitoba.”