Saskatchewan preparing for first step in its provincial reopening plan this weekend

Meth crisis could have been avoided, parliamentary hearing told

OTTAWA — The federal government could have spotted Winnipeg’s methamphetamine problem before it reached a crisis point, a senior bureaucrat has told Parliament.

As the House health committee started its hearings on the national meth problem Thursday, multiple officials cited disparate data-collection efforts as thwarting their ability to identify who’s taking meth, what help they need and how to prevent others from getting hooked.

The federal government is working on a central drug observatory to corroborate the data that has already been collected by border guards, police, hospitals and social-service agencies.

“We have never brought that data together in a co-ordinated and comprehensive way," said Suzy McDonald, who leads Health Canada’s response to opioids and other drugs.

Family account spiced with magic realism, geopolitical intrigue and a ghost story

Tom Lin’s second novel Babylon, South Dakota moves beyond a historical account of an immigrant family’s struggle, delightfully blending and bending genres.

Lin is a Chinese-born novelist whose family emigrated to the U.S. when he was four years old. His debut novel, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu, won the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, making him the youngest ever recipient of that award. He earned a PhD in English from the University of California Davis and is currently an assistant professor of English and creative writing at the University of Iowa.

Babylon, South Dakota takes place in an unspecified time period that can be understood to be during the Mao era — likely the 1950s or ’60s. A young Chinese couple, the Hsuis, immigrate to the rural community that gives the book its title. They take the names Saul and Mei and settle on a 160-acre homestead left to them by a distant relative.

Saul’s dream is to breed and sell chrysanthemums from seeds he brought from China, while Mei wants to raise livestock. They speak no English, know nothing of life in the United States, are unprepared for the harshness of winter and the isolation of the farm and bring nothing with them except some gold, which Mei hides around the house for emergencies. Their only link to the outside world is a discarded and marginally functioning TV set, which Saul rescues and rigs up.

Une nouvelle oeuvre pour raconter l’histoire autrement

Pendant des décennies, le parc La Vérendrye, situé sur l’avenue Taché, au cœur de Saint-Boniface, a raconté l’histoire de l’explorateur français du même nom à travers une seule statue. La Compagnie de La Vérendrye, un groupe de reconstitution historique, a piloté un projet de conception d’une nouvelle œuvre d’art qui pourrait raconter une autre partie de l’histoire.

Today’s horoscope

MOON ALERT: After 12:15 a.m., there are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The moon is in Capricorn.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

This is a tricky day. Don’t be too ambitious. It’s totally OK to kick back and relax. But be aware that communications with parents and authority figures might be confused, vague or subject to misunderstandings. Nevertheless, romance is sweet and cosy!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)