The Manitoba government has banned trapping in all heavily-used provincial parks.

Trapping is also banned within 50 metres of developed areas and designated trails.

The ban comes after two incidents where dogs were killed in traps in parks.

The first dog was killed in late November at Grand Beach Provincial Park when it wandered a short distance off a main trail.

Manitoba conservation confirmed Thursday a second dog was recently killed, but would not give any other details.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2012/12/06/mb-ban-trapping-provincial-parks-dog-killed.html

The head of the Pembina Valley Tourism Association thinks the concept of a travel tax credit wouldn't do much to encourage tourism in rural Manitoba.

A private members bill in the house of commons is proposing a tax credit for Canadians who travel within Canada. The bill proposes a tax credit for air, bus or train fares on non-business trips that cross at least three provincial borders.

Penny Schoonbaert says tourists using those modes of travel generally end up in larger centres like Winnipeg, which does very little to promote tourism in rural areas such as the Pembina Valley.

http://www.pembinavalleyonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30143&Itemid=425

Complete: RAINBOW Stage has a new executive director -- its first one ever, in fact.

Julie Eccles, the outdoor theatre's general manager since 2010, will assume the role immediately, according to a release.

The position was created as part of the restructuring process following the death of Ken Peter, Rainbow's executive producer for nearly two decades.

The organization has also just hired its first artistic director. Ray Hogg, a Toronto musical theatre director, teacher and performer has taken on the task of guiding Canada's longest-running outdoor theatre into its 59th year and beyond.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/arts/rainbow-stage-names-executive-director-182496291.html

WHITE POINT — Nova Scotia’s new tourism strategy will spend more money attracting Ontario and Quebec visitors and heavily focus on drawing first-time visitors, says the head of the province’s new tourism agency.

“We have been muddling through for an awful long time. What we need to be is strategic,” said Patrick Sullivan, chief executive officer of the Nova Scotia Tourism Agency.

Sullivan was addressing delegates Thursday at the annual Events Nova Scotia conference, held at White Point Beach Resort.

“We need to be more effective.”

Tourism has declined nine per cent in Nova Scotia in the past 10 years, compared with the national average of 18 per cent.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/225864-province-hones-tourism-strategy

Canada’s pro golf tour could return to the National Capital Region as early as next August if it can reach an agreement with the City of Gatineau and if additional government and corporate financial support can be secured.

Those are big “ifs” and there’s little time remaining to get things done, but the process moved ahead this week, when Gatineau city councillors approved a resolution to negotiate with PGA Tour Canada and to spend up to $50,000 a year on such a tournament for five years

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Tour+Canada+eyes+Gatineau+tournament/7662900/story.html#ixzz2ENeTrbiK

SPARKS, Nev. - The founder of Travelocity.com told leaders of Nevada's hotel-casino and tourism industry the explosion of information available to consumers on the Internet and through social media makes it more important than ever to listen to what they want.

Terry Jones, now the chairman of Kayak.com, also told about 250 business leaders at the tourism conference in Sparks on Wednesday they will have to get over the fear of failing when attempting innovative changes if they are going to succeed in the evolving economic landscape.

"You have to realize customers are Internet empowered, technically savvy, time-starved and information rich. That's a different kind of customer," Jones said in the keynote speech on the second of the two-day conference at John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel-casino in Sparks.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/travelocitycom-founder-tells-nevada-tourism-leaders-listen-to-consumers-change-inevitable-182365981.html

KEY WEST, Fla. - Mosquito control officials in the Florida Keys are waiting for the federal government to sign off on an experiment that would release hundreds of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes to reduce the risk of dengue fever in the tourist town of Key West.

If approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it would be the first such experiment in the U.S. Some Key West residents worry, though, that not enough research has been done to determine the risks that releasing genetically modified mosquitoes might pose to the Keys' fragile ecosystem....        ...Real estate agent Mila de Mier has collected more than 117,700 signatures on a petition she posted on Change.org against the trial. Most come from outside the Keys, which de Mier says shows that tourists don't support the mosquito control district.

"We are dependent here on our tourists, and people from all over the country have been sending the message," de Mier said.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/health/fla-officials-consider-using-genetically-modified-mosquitoes-in-battle-against-dengue-fever-182339971.html

(A complete article published originally in the WFP, Dec.  '18)

Toronto. Dec. 6.—Canadian Northern railway employees, through their representatives before the Dominion  labor appeal hoard at the city hall today, asked that they receive the same rates of pay as obtained on the Canadian government railways. The brotherhood was represented by R. Dyken, general chairman of the grievance committee, CNR,  A. L. Lydiard, chairman of the dining car branch, CNR;  and E. Robertson general organizer. The company was represented by A.T. Hillis, assistant to the president;  H. B. Wollaston, superintendent of dining- cars;  A. C. Egan, and F. Stephens. A. R. Mosher, representing- the waiters, contended that tips should only be reckoned at about 50 cents a day, whereas the representatives of the company held they averaged about $2 per day. The falling off In travel  of the wealthy tourist traffic had been hard on the waiters, said Mr. Mosher. "A man should be paid a living wage and should not have to depend on tips." he concluded.