Opinion

Editorial cartoon for Feb. 26, 2026

Opinion

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS files EIC’s track record is ‘exceptionally rare’ and supported ‘by a good business model that’s well executed,’ says Michael Pyle, CEO of Exchange Income Corp.

Berkshire Hathaway, Manitoba-style

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview

Berkshire Hathaway, Manitoba-style

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read 2:02 AM CDT

Omaha, Neb., has its “Oracle,” but Manitoba has its market miracle.

The legendary Warren Buffett transformed Berkshire Hathaway Inc. from a textile company into a wildly successful conglomerate that acquires great companies and generally takes a hands-off approach, letting them do what they do best.

And it’s been a very profitable strategy.

Manitoba’s market miracle is Exchange Income Corp. (TSX: EIF). A publicly traded conglomerate on the Toronto Stock Exchange, it has a similar strategy.

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2:02 AM CDT

Opinion

Magnific HR professionals discuss leadership, recognition, communication and employee engagement — but every successful stat holiday is built in the break room.

While the rest of us sleep in …

Tory McNally 7 minute read Preview

While the rest of us sleep in …

Tory McNally 7 minute read 2:02 AM CDT

There is something a little unfair about waking up early on a statutory holiday.

The alarm goes off. You briefly forget what day it is. Then it hits you. Everyone else is sleeping in, planning a barbecue, packing the kids into the car for a trip to the beach or deciding whether they should mow the lawn today or put it off until tomorrow.

You, on the other hand, are putting on a uniform and trying to convince yourself coffee really can solve anything.

If you’ve ever worked retail, health care, emergency services, hospitality, public transit, utilities, manufacturing, airports, long-term care, broadcasting, customer service or any of the countless jobs that keep our communities running, you know exactly what I mean.

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2:02 AM CDT

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Opinion

Free Press files Winnipeg’s famous Portage and Main intersection reopened to pedestrians on June 25, 2025.

Anything seems possible now

4 minute read Preview

Anything seems possible now

4 minute read 2:02 AM CDT

For the sake of history, and accuracy, it’s important that Winnipeggers should record and reflect on all of the bad things that did not happen when the City of Winnipeg finally, thankfully, re-opened Portage and Main to pedestrians just over one year ago.

Traffic did not gridlock.

Pedestrians were not mowed down like traffic cones.

It did not divert much-needed financial resources away from more important infrastructure projects.

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2:02 AM CDT

Opinion

THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Prime Minister Mark Carney’s climate action strategy for Canada is less ambitious, more realistic.

‘Forward guidance’ on Canadian climate targets

David McLaughlin 6 minute read Preview

‘Forward guidance’ on Canadian climate targets

David McLaughlin 6 minute read 2:02 AM CDT

At last, some honesty in Canadian climate policy

Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke the truth last week about where greenhouse gas emissions were going in Canada: up, not down. This is the first time any prime minister has stated the reality of the country’s emissions trajectory. Until now, it’s all been about putting a positive gloss on far-off reduction goals and unrealistic ambitions.

The prime minister’s second instalment of “forward guidance”, as he calls it, focused on what’s ahead on energy and climate. It was a refreshing and overdue pivot in crafting a more realistic and durable climate policy for the country.

Here’s what he said: “I want to be clear on this point. The changes we have made will mean that our emissions will be higher in the next few years than they were projected to be under the previous government’s plan. But in my judgment, that plan was not sustainable over the long term.”

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2:02 AM CDT

Opinion

Derek Ruttan / London Free Desk files Swing sets are for everybody, no matter their age.

The dream of the ’90s is alive in summertime

Jen Zoratti 5 minute read Preview

The dream of the ’90s is alive in summertime

Jen Zoratti 5 minute read 2:02 AM CDT

This is a ’90s summer, from someone who was five in 1990 and 14 in 1999:

Bikes. Scraped knees. Playing mermaids. Running through sprinklers. Going outside in the morning and returning when the streetlights came on. Staying awake at sleepovers until the streetlights went off again. Hydrating not via garden hose, but by spraying water directly into your mouth with one of those translucent green plastic waterguns. Chasing down a Dickie Dee bike.

Thunderstorms, streaking the sky with lightning. Watches and warnings in white text on the red, green and blue Environment Canada weather channel.

Wading pools. Hot plastic swing seats. The feeling of flight, metal chains snapping you to earth. Chalking out impossibly long hopscotch grids on the sidewalk. Daytime TV. Scandalous talk shows. Carrie and Austin. Bringing in groceries from the car wearing any shoes but yours.

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2:02 AM CDT

Opinion

AdobeStock A bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson stands inside the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

250 years ago Thomas Jefferson and the American Declaration of Independence

Allan Levine 6 minute read Preview

250 years ago Thomas Jefferson and the American Declaration of Independence

Allan Levine 6 minute read 2:02 AM CDT

In the 16th and 17th centuries, countries and territories such as the Netherlands and Portugal boldly declared their independence from Spain. But 250 years ago, on July 4, 1776, the American Declaration of Independence — marked in the U.S. by the semiquincentennial celebrations — was the first time an overseas colony (the 13 colonies, in this case) had set out in an official document its reasons for breaking away from its mother country.

Because the Declaration ultimately gave birth to the United States, it is considered one of the greatest of historical treatises. Thomas Jefferson, its primary author, later explained that his main aim was “not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of … but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject; in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent.”

He did so brilliantly, creating, in theory at least, an enlightened argument for American independence based on the political, economic, social and philosophical thinking of the era.

Influenced by such philosophers as John Locke and Montesquieu, Jefferson, then 33 years old, a lawyer, landowner, Virginia politician and a delegate to the Second Continental Congress which met in Philadelphia, passionately believed in natural law — that all human beings were born free and equal and that no king or ruler could abolish these rights. It was a key point he made in the Declaration’s well-known preamble.

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Opinion

The Associated Press Files Hurricane Ian, in 2022, was intensified by a strong El Niño system. Another El Niño is now underway and experts are saying it might be one of the most intense on record.

World gets glimpse of its climate future

Kyle Volpi Hiebert 5 minute read Preview

World gets glimpse of its climate future

Kyle Volpi Hiebert 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Midway through 2026, two major climate dynamics are emerging in parallel. One is a mass rollout of renewable energy. The other is an ominous El Niño brewing, likely to soon trigger fierce weather extremes.

How nations embrace the former and cope with the latter may offer clues to humanity’s fate in the coming decades as climate change intensifies.

The war in Iran has spurred a new rush away from fossil fuels. A common refrain in the capitals of energy importers has been that the wind and sun don’t need to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Even the fragile truce between the U.S. and Iran changes little — the war’s underlying issues remain unresolved. Plus, Tehran has learned it now has major leverage. Iran can extract concessions from its adversaries by shutting down the vital waterway. It’s a card the Islamic regime will surely reach for again.

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Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Opinion

We know who is at risk, but we wait anyway

Sherry Gott 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Children with disabilities are experiencing a mental health crisis and Manitoba’s systems are waiting for them to really struggle before they respond.

Across Canada, children with disabilities experience far higher rates of mental health challenges than their peers. Nearly three-quarters of children and youth with disabilities experience elevated mental health challenges. More than one-third score in the “very high” mental health difficulty category, a rate nearly 10 times higher than among children without disabilities.

Between 30 to 50 per cent of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities are diagnosed with mental health conditions, compared to eight to 18 per cent among typically developing children. This includes children with autism, ADHD, FASD, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities and communication disorders.

Children who struggle with communication, sensory regulation, mobility, executive functioning, or social interaction are often excluded long before systems recognize the emotional consequences of that exclusion. Loneliness and exclusion are not side issues — they are public health issues for children with disabilities.

Opinion

Police crackdown on Main a pointless, ineffective bit of street theatre

Dan Lett 6 minute read Thursday, Jul. 2, 2026

Winnipeg has just taken an enormous step backward in the ongoing challenge to address the growing homeless, mental-health and addiction crises.

In a campaign that began June 24 and 25, the Winnipeg Police Service deployed significant numbers of officers to some of the roughest spots along Main Street, confronting anyone who appeared to be engaged in open drug use. The WPS said that over the first two days, it “interacted” with more than 100 people, making 25 arrests — two for drug offences and 23 related to active warrants or breaches of court orders — and taking another 20 to hospital emergency rooms.

Three individuals were taken to the province’s controversial 72-hour detox centre but they weren’t admitted.

Senior WPS officials said the sweep was prompted by ongoing and increasing complaints about open drug use, homelessness and the collateral mess and mayhem from residents, business owners and workers commuting downtown.

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