RIVERTON -- The previous four bridges here, dating back 120 years, were all wiped out by floods. Those bridges spanning the Icelandic River were built in 1892, 1910, 1932 and 1974 -- the last one knocked out by flood and ice floes in 2011.

So when the fifth bridge -- it and the previous one have been pedestrian bridges -- was unveiled last week, people had to put it to the test. 

You have to see this bridge. Stantec engineers stop short of saying it's indestructible -- that's what people said about a certain ocean liner -- but claim it will "withstand whatever the river can throw at it." It's a $2-million state-of-the-art pedestrian bridge that lights up like a chandelier at night. LED lights are embedded in all the cross girders and into every second post along the decking. So at night, said resident Peter McCabe, "It's like you're in New York or someplace."...         ...Bjarnason said he feels the bridge helps put Riverton back into the tourist game. In earlier times, Riverton was a more important hub for Icelandic Canadians than Gimli. Plus, a town heritage group recently erected a bronze statue of Sigtryggur Jónasson, known as the Father of New Iceland.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/a-bridge--too-fine-177072891.html

There was more beef in Brandon than there has been in a long time, at the Keystone Centre, as the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba hosted the 2012 Manitoba Livestock Expo.

"It’s been a great week and we’ve had record numbers of cattle in the barns," expo co-chair Ron Kristjansson said. "We’ve had to squeeze the cattle in where ever we could find spots for them."

Registration numbers confirmed what Kristjansson believed, an almost 50 per cent increase in the number of registered competitors at the expo.

Kristjansson said it’s just part of the growing confidence in the beef industry within the province and country.

http://www.brandonsun.com/local/jump-in-competitors-thrills-organizers-177241041.html?thx=y

WINNIPEG — WestJet’s new regional air service could include flights between Winnipeg and Saskatchewan’s two biggest cities, Regina and Saskatoon, the Winnipeg Airports Authority’s top executive said this week.

“I’m certain Winnipeg will see some benefits from the launch of that service,” Barry Rempel said.

Included on the WAA’s wish list are regular flights to the two Saskatchewan cities, Rempel said, noting Air Canada is the only carrier that offers that service at the moment.

Brandon, which also has been lobbying hard for WestJet regional service, should have a good shot at getting it, he said.

However, Manitobans will have to wait a while to find out if Winnipeg and Brandon will be included in the new service. WestJet announced earlier this year it expects to launch its new Encore service in June of next year in one part of the country and in the rest of the country later. But it didn’t say which part of the country would get it first.

“If they launch in the east, we probably won’t see anything before 2014, at the earliest,” Rempel said.

http://www.brandonsun.com/local/westjet-noncommittal-about-new-service-for-manitoba-177064641.html?thx=y

Canadian officials worry that the poor quality of information routinely collected from airline passengers could hamper a key feature of the perimeter security deal with the United States.

An internal Canada Border Services Agency briefing note warns the lack of reliable data might be an obstacle to compiling a comprehensive record of almost everyone who enters and leaves the continent.

The entry-exit tracking system, to be phased in over the next two years, is a crucial feature of the perimeter security pact unfurled with much fanfare a year ago.

The deal is intended to help smooth the passage of travellers and cargo across the Canada-U.S. border while beefing up continental security.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/11/04/border-entry-exit-pact.html

Complete: The cancellation of the NHL's annual Winter Classic will deal an economic blow to Windsor, according to Mayor Eddie Francis.

For many visitors to Egypt, it is the definitive experience; to witness first hand Tutankhamun's tomb in Luxor's famous Valley of the Kings.

However, irreparable damage caused by decades of tourists flocking to see the boy king's burial chamber and other ancient tombs could mean visitors are soon banned from entering them.

The breath alone from people descending to see the chambers, say experts, is causing the intricately painted plaster to crumble away from the walls.

Future visitors to the tomb will have to be content with paying to see a carefully-crafted replica although Egyptian authorities have yet to make a decision on when that might be.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities has already commissioned a series of near-perfect fake chambers in conjunction with Switzerland's University of Basel and Madrid-based company Factum Arte.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2228120/Tutankhamuns-tomb-Luxor-closed-tourists-future.html

(An article published originally in the WFP, November '37)

Neepawa, Man., Nov. 5. (Special) --One of the largest delegations to the National Parks Highway association convention at Edmonton this week-end is that from Manitoba, headed by M. Baroni, of Neepawa. The association hopes to increase tourist traffic through western Canada by offering a scenic highway with attractions from Winnipeg, through Portage la Prairie, Dauphin, Yorkton, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, Bleu river, to the Pacific coast.