Editorials – Winnipeg Free Press

Christinne muschi / The Canadian Press files
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith

Time to limit the notwithstanding clause

Editorial 4 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

You can perhaps better understand why the federal government has asked Canada’s Supreme Court to rule on whether there should be guardrails on how the notwithstanding clause can be used.

The clause enables provincial governments — and theoretically, even the federal government — to bring in legislation that violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

It’s easier to understand why the federal government wants the Supreme Court’s ruling when provinces like Alberta are using the clause for things as common as imposing contracts on its employees — thereby giving those employees no ability to strike or challenge the imposed contracts in court.

The Alberta government took such an action against its striking teachers on Monday despite having other options, and despite recognizing that the law it brought in likely not only violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but the Alberta Bill of Rights and the Alberta Human Rights Act as well.

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Province has to do more than talk the talk

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Province has to do more than talk the talk

Editorial 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:25 AM CDT

The breakdown of mediation between the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys (MACA) and the provincial government should alarm anyone concerned about public safety.

This is not just a labour dispute, it’s a crisis that strikes at the core of Manitoba’s ability to prosecute crimes fairly, efficiently and effectively.

For months, prosecutors have been raising the alarm about crushing workloads, burnout and chronic understaffing in the Crown’s office.

Some have left for other jurisdictions or for less stressful work in the private sector. Those who remain are often stretched to the breaking point, juggling dozens of files at once, with little time to properly prepare cases or argue bail hearings.

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Updated: Yesterday at 7:25 AM CDT

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Premier Wab Kinew

American doctors a welcome addition

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American doctors a welcome addition

Editorial 4 minute read Monday, Oct. 27, 2025

Manitoba’s NDP government should be applauded for recruiting 33 new physicians from the United States. At the same time, Premier Wab Kinew and all the people in government — from ministers to recruiters working in the Health Care Retention and Recruitment Office — should be urged to double down on existing efforts to help ease the doctor shortage.

Just about every province is suffering a physician shortage and that means just about every province is competing with Manitoba for estranged and disillusioned health-care professionals who may seek an escape from the war on health care and science triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump. Complicating matters is that there is a lot more tire-kicking than actual recruitment going on.

The Medical Council of Canada has reported on a huge increase in the number of U.S. medical school graduates opening an account on physiciansapply.ca, a recruitment portal for international medical graduates (IMGs) who are considering a move to Canada. Just about every province is reporting that those expressions of interest are translating into at least some confirmed recruitments.

Nova Scotia has licensed 19 U.S physicians this year, a nearly 75 per cent increase from the year before. Alberta has received about 75 applications for a medical licence, nearly double its normal intake. British Columbia, long a destination for American expats, has done a bit better, with 130 health-care professionals of all designations coming to the province. And Ontario, our largest province, has seen 251 American physicians relocate, the most of any province.

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Monday, Oct. 27, 2025

Mikaela MacKenzie/Winnipeg Free Press files
Premier Wab Kinew

Metaphor is dead as Trump ‘renovates’

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Metaphor is dead as Trump ‘renovates’

Editorial 4 minute read Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025

It appears U.S. President Donald Trump will not stop until he has rendered literally every metaphorical description one could give for his presidency.

Case in point: he’s tearing the White House apart.

Trump, as part of a lifelong effort to make everything about himself, has torn down the entire East Wing of the presidential building as he moves ahead with construction of an ornate, US$350-million ballroom. The demolition was carried out without the approvals that are normally required. He already had the Rose Garden paved over, he evidently needs more change than that.

One could have made the argument during his first term that Trump had already rewritten American politics in his image, an image which persisted through others even during his four-year absence from the Oval Office during former president Joe Biden’s term. Republican policy revolves around his whims. Democrats were, and still are, defined by how hard they will work to oppose him. When he leaves the office one day, his spectre will likely endure, hovering over the American body politic for a generation.

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Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025

The Associated Press
A window dangles as work continues Tuesday on the demolition of a part of the East Wing of the White House before construction of a new ballroom.

Dealing with CRA more gruelling than necessary

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Dealing with CRA more gruelling than necessary

Editorial 4 minute read Friday, Oct. 24, 2025

It’s unacceptable.

Earlier this week, federal Auditor General Karen Hogan released startling numbers about the accuracy and availability of information provided by the Canada Revenue Agency to Canadians looking for tax help.

What she found? During the last fiscal year, only 18 per cent of those who contacted CRA received timely information — and worse, only 17 per cent of general inquiries made in a series of test calls actually received an accurate answer.

“Canadians are expected to provide their tax returns on time and with accurate information. And I think, in return, they should expect that the Canada Revenue Agency will be available in a timely fashion and provide them with accurate information, and I would say this is not the case,” Hogan said.

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Friday, Oct. 24, 2025

PATRICK DOYLE / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES
Auditor General Karen Hogan

The CBC: trying hard to define its future

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The CBC: trying hard to define its future

Editorial 4 minute read Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025

The CBC has a plan. Or so it says.

The public broadcaster, faced with continuing questions about its relevance and ongoing threats of defunding from Canada’s federal Conservative Party, last week released its blueprint for the next five years. The goals are lofty in terms of the CBC’s expressed intention to grow its audience by reaching segments of the public that currently do not consume its content, but what remains unclear is whether the plan’s desired outcomes are realistic or just fancifully aspirational.

Like all traditional media outlets, the CBC is struggling to maintain its footing in an environment in which massive global social-media entities have become dominant players, using their digital might to become primary sources of information, while at the same time demonstrating no care or compunction regarding whether their algorithm-driven streams purvey is reliable information or corrosive misinformation and/or disinformation.

In seeking to “allocate resources to address gaps in its service delivery” the plan states, the CBC “cannot afford to rely solely on existing users and fans as confirmation of its value to the public.”

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Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025

Spencer Colby / The Canadian Press
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation president and CEO Marie-Philippe Bouchard

A clarification that still leaves things muddy

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A clarification that still leaves things muddy

Editorial 4 minute read Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025

Sometimes, even a clarification doesn’t do much to actually clarify things.

On Monday, federal Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre did his best to walk back his recent criticism of the RCMP.

Maybe he’s hoping the clarification won’t be read too closely. Or maybe, because he released it as a written statement from his office, instead of actually saying it out loud, it won’t be read at all by those he was trying to reach during his appearance on the Northern Perspectives YouTube channel last week.

His complete statement is devilishly difficult to track down online. It doesn’t appear in his X feed — and it doesn’t appear among the recent statements that the Conservative Party has posted online over the last few days, but sections of it have been reported.

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Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre

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Finding way forward for Canadian youth

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Finding way forward for Canadian youth

Editorial 4 minute read Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025

It’s tough out there for a young Canadian looking for work.

That’s the picture painted by recent Statistics Canada data, which shows unemployment for youth aged 15 to 24 increased to 14.7 per cent in September. On top of that are other problems; 18.2 per cent of young people with a post-secondary degree are not working in the field for which they trained, a small (1.6 per cent) increase over last year — indicative of a slowly growing divide between the education people are seeking and what the market needs and desires from its workers.

The numbers are similar to what national charity The King’s Trust Canada discovered in a report released in November of last year, which found Canadians aged 15 to 24 were disproportionately among the ranks of the unemployed. Unemployment for youth was at 14.2 per cent in July last year, the highest in a decade.

Federal Liberals and Conservatives are clashing over what to do about it.

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Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESs fileS
Construction on the 200 block of Portage Avenue.

Stefanson and a fine — was it suitable punishment?

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Stefanson and a fine — was it suitable punishment?

Editorial 4 minute read Friday, Oct. 17, 2025

There is something utterly unsatisfying about the political epitaph that has been written about former premier Heather Stefanson.

Manitoba’s first female premier resigned her seat in the spring of 2024, seven months after she and her Progressive Conservative party were thumped by the NDP in the 2023 election. The insult to the injury came in June 2024, when the NDP captured Stefanson’s Tuxedo seat in a byelection.

If that was the last we heard of Stefanson, it would have been a sufficiently tragic end to her long career in public service. Unfortunately for Stefanson, that is not the last we heard.

In May, Jeffrey Schnoor, Manitoba’s ethics commissioner, found that Stefanson, former deputy premier Cliff Cullen and former economic development minister Jeff Wharton, violated the Conflict of Interest Act by trying to get an environmental licence for the controversial Sio Silica sand mining project following the 2023 election. The transgressions occurred during the so-called caretaker period, in which an ousted government must not undertake any consequential decisions or actions while it hands over the reins of power to a new government.

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Friday, Oct. 17, 2025

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS PC’s Heather Stefanson is interviewed by the media after the debate. Leaders of the three main provincial parties, PC’s Heather Stefanson, NDP’s Web Kinew, and Liberal’s Dougald Lamont, take part in a debate hosted by the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce at the RBC Convention Centre Wednesday afternoon. 230920 - Wednesday, September 20, 2023.

Press freedom meets the Pentagon, and doesn’t surrender

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Press freedom meets the Pentagon, and doesn’t surrender

Editorial 4 minute read Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025

It’s safe to say the current U.S. administration has crossed a line when even Trump-toadying media outlets such as Fox News and Newsmax declare it has gone too far.

That’s exactly what happened this week as the Department of Defence — or, as U.S. President Donald Trump vainly/combatively prefers, the Department of War — sought to impose a new press policy on media outlets that cover the Pentagon.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth — himself a former Fox News personality — had demanded that all news outlets agree by Tuesday afternoon to abide by the policy, which states outlets must not solicit, obtain or use any unauthorized material, even if the information is not classified; in other words, never to accept or report “leaked” information, under threat that publishing of information not authorized by the Pentagon will result in revocation of press credentials.

Virtually every credible news outlet covering the Pentagon — along with some whose legitimacy is debatable — declined to sign the necessary pledge, meaning their personnel would be required to surrender their press badges and clear out their workspaces within the Defence Department headquarters.

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Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025

The Associated Press files
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth

Just how far will Donald Trump go?

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Just how far will Donald Trump go?

Editorial 4 minute read Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025

In a live interview last week with CNN, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller stopped talking in mid-sentence right after he uttered the phrase “plenary authority.”

Miller’s pause was so long, CNN took a commercial break. When the interview resumed, neither Miller nor the CNN host spoke of plenary authority again.

For those who have witnessed U.S. President Donald Trump’s first 10 months in power, Miller’s utterance was hardly shocking. But if asserted, plenary authority — defined as a complete and absolute power — could pave the way for Trump to fully transform the U.S. from a democracy to a country under authoritarian rule.

Trump officials have not formally argued in any court that the president has plenary authority. And yet, its spectre hangs over key legal disputes over the Trump administrations’ ongoing efforts to send in the military to suppress protests against the aggressive deportation of immigrants.

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Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025

SARAH L. VOISIN / THE WASHINGTON POST
U.S. President Donald Trump

Quebec law proves you can fix what’s broken

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Quebec law proves you can fix what’s broken

Editorial 4 minute read Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025

If you travel to Livermore, Calif., you can find proof that it’s possible to make something which lasts — the “Centennial Light” an incandescent light bulb which has been glowing pretty much continuously there since it was first turned on in 1901.

Turned off only for short periods over the past 124 years, its luminescence, though diminished over time, endures. The bulb’s longevity is attributed to a few factors, one of which is that, well, it was just built very well in the first place.

Those aware of the Centennial Light may find its example spring to mind as they change out inferior, modern bulbs, as well as toss microwaves, toasters, coffee pots and pricey electronics far too often after those products’ lifespans ended up being disappointingly short.

Fortunately for residents of Quebec, though, expectations for product quality — and for keeping those products running — are getting higher.

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Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025

Albertan when we want, Canadian when it suits us

Editorial 4 minute read Preview

Albertan when we want, Canadian when it suits us

Editorial 4 minute read Friday, Oct. 10, 2025

It’s an odd world Alberta Premier Danielle Smith inhabits: one where her province keeps the benefits of its natural resources, while other provinces should simply surrender the bounty of nature that may have fallen by chance in their jurisdictions to Smith’s Alberta needs.

Smith has been arguing that it’s “unCanadian and unconstitutional” for British Columbia to rebuff plans for an Alberta-sponsored pipeline to go to the British Columbia coast.

(B.C. Premier David Eby has said giving the pipeline proposal a green light when it’s merely in the planning process would upset a fragile consensus for other projects that are much further along.)

In her battle to determine just what should happen in British Columbia, Smith has gotten some help from a resource-rich neighbour, Premier Scott Moe of Saskatchewan.

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Friday, Oct. 10, 2025

Christinne Muschi / The Canadian Press
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith

Shutdown stalls many U.S. government functions

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Shutdown stalls many U.S. government functions

Editorial 4 minute read Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025

While the threat of an interruption of government services is a fairly common occurrence in U.S. politics — these days, it seems to be part of every federal budget cycle — actual full-scale shutdowns are quite rare.

Despite the seemingly unbridgeable chasm that exists between America’s two political parties in these deeply polarized times, Republicans and Democrats usually find a way to cobble together a deal to raise the government’s debt ceiling in a way that allows services to continue.

This time, however, no agreement could be found. The U.S. government went into shutdown on Oct. 1, bringing many government services to a halt. Those considered essential, such as border and law enforcement, federally funded hospitals and air-traffic control, have continued, though many of the workers delivering those services are not being paid during the budget interruption.

Such situations are not commonplace, despite the current ideological divide. The government has shut down 15 times since 1980, but in 11 of those instances, the interruption lasted three or fewer days. The last shutdown occurred in December 2018, and lasted 35 days.

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Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025

Jose Luis Magana / The Associated Press files
U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson

Victoria Hospital ER part of larger issue

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Victoria Hospital ER part of larger issue

Editorial 4 minute read Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025

The NDP government’s decision to reopen the emergency department at Victoria Hospital in 2027 will no doubt be welcomed by many in south Winnipeg.

Residents in that part of the city have argued they lost an essential service when the former Progressive Conservative government converted Victoria’s emergency room to an urgent care centre in 2017.

Reopening the ER, one of the NDP’s election promises in 2023, may provide more convenient access for people living nearby. But let’s not pretend it will solve Winnipeg’s worsening emergency room crisis.

Wait times are at or near historic highs, and there’s little evidence to suggest that adding another ER will meaningfully reduce them. The problems driving long ER wait times are far more complex.

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Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025

SUPPLIED
Artist’s rendering of the proposed Victoria Hospital ER

More violence can’t be the solution

Editorial 4 minute read Preview

More violence can’t be the solution

Editorial 4 minute read Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025

Many things can simultaneously be true, even when it’s contentious to say so.

Even two years after the fact, the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 was horrendous in the extreme, demonstrating a level of cruelty — both in its planning and in its delivery — that will be impossible for any rational person to forgive or ever forget.

It was an attack designed to not only torture and kill Israelis in their homes and at a music festival, but to deliver maximum torment to the families and friends left behind — not to mention the torment of hostages still held by Hamas.

Simply put, the truth of the breadth of that deliberate cruelty is clear.

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Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025

October 29, 2025

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