New overpass, ban on sick notes promised in Manitoba throne speech

The Manitoba government is re-thinking its plan to improve the intersection where a 2023 bus crash killed 17 people following feedback.

The Manitoba government is promising to build an overpass to improve safety at an intersection where 17 people died in a bus crash.

Premier Wab Kinew said Tuesday the overpass will replace the current at-grade intersection of Highways 1 and 5, where drivers on the latter road have a stop sign as they approach and then must obey a yield sign in the median.

A bus carrying seniors crossed through the intersection in June 2023 and collided with a semi-trailer that had the right of way.

Earlier this year, the provincial Transportation Department suggested keeping the intersection at-grade and banning left turns off Highway 5 to reduce the chance of collisions.

Area residents opposed the plan and the government said in the summer it would reconsider.

“This intersection is different now than any other intersection in Manitoba because of the loss of life and how sad it was to see those seniors passing away,” Kinew said Tuesday.

The mayor of Carberry was pleased and surprised with the reversal.

“The Town of Carberry is over the moon over this,” Ray Muirhead said.

“It was a long time coming ... it’s been decades we’ve been trying to get something done with that intersection.”

• RELATED STORY: No charges for driver in 2023 Manitoba bus crash that killed 17 seniors: RCMP

The new overpass is one of many promises contained in the NDP government’s speech from the throne, which outlines the government’s agenda for the coming year.

The province is also planning to stop provincially regulated employers from requiring workers to get sick notes for absences of less than a week, a move doctors have demanded as a way to free up time to treat patients.

The government is also promising to launch a study on ways to keep groceries affordable, implement digital health cards and launch a patient portal where people can see their lab results.

Also on health care, the province is planning to ban mandatory overtime for health-care workers, starting with nurses, and to set up a charter of patient rights.

Kinew is also making another attempt at setting up Manitoba’s first supervised drug consumption site. He backed off plans when residents near the first proposed site in Winnipeg opposed the project, and is now eyeing another location nearby.

To address crime, the government is planning to ban machetes in some public areas and ban the sale of them on Facebook Marketplace.

“It seems like a no-brainer, but you shouldn’t be able to have these things in a public place like a park,” Kinew said.

To tackle the growing demand for energy, the government is planning an additional turbine — on top of two already proposed — in Brandon.

They will burn natural gas initially, but Kinew said they could be converted in the future to other fuels such as hydrogen.

Kinew said the government remains committed to balancing the budget in 2027 and promised there will be no tax increases in the spring budget.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2025.