Don’t gamble with sister-in-law not getting help

The head of the union representing wildfire fighters said he hopes that a Manitoba government request for proposals for counselling and crisis-response services leads to more “nimble” supports for them when they need it.

“Our members often are at the forefront of large, catastrophic things,” said Kyle Ross, president of Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union, whose members include Liquor Marts employees and staff at various health-care and social-service agencies.

“Those folks sometimes see some things the rest of society doesn’t see,” Ross said. “When those things happen we have to be pretty nimble to get them the supports they need.”

The province is setting up a new Psychological Supports Unit and looking for qualified vendors to provide counselling and crisis-response services to rural, urban, remote and northern Manitoba with in-person, virtual and phone sessions, according to a request posted on the electronic tendering platform MERX.

Initially unsure of which orangutan was the father of a new baby primate, the Denver Zoo decided to have a little fun and turned to the paternity announcement guru himself: former daytime talk show host Maury Povich.

Just as he would do on his long-running show, Povich pulled the purported DNA results for 4-month-old Siska out of an envelope and declared: "Berani. You are the father!”

The zoo posted the video on social media this week.

Siska, a female who was born on Aug. 27, is the first baby for Eirina, a 15-year-old Sumatran orangutan, who came to the Denver Zoo from Germany’s Dortmund Zoo in 2016.

Be statesmanlike, Pierre

Re: Canadians have moved on, Poilievre hasn’t (Aug. 7); Poilievre’s trade bluster a desperate bid for attention (Aug. 12)

If I were Pierre Poilievre, I wouldn’t be just thinking about becoming the next prime minister. I’d be thinking about legacy in larger terms — meaning how would I ultimately want to be remembered.

And I would want to be remembered as the politician who, even if not having achieved the ultimate goal of becoming prime minister, left the political world as a respected statesman. As such, with respect to trade and the relationship with the United States, I would be guided by the following maxim found in Tom Brodbeck’s Aug. 12 column: The goal should be to maximize Canada’s leverage while reducing its vulnerability.

The federal government is investing in major infrastructure, promising to expedite “projects of national interest” and pitching them to private investors at a summit in September.

The Manitoba government has its sights set on a pipeline and LNG export terminal at Churchill. Instead, Manitoba should be putting forward feasible, future-facing infrastructure proposals that would leave a positive lasting legacy of energy affordability, independence and security for Manitobans.

A pipeline and LNG terminal at Churchill are not viable for several reasons — the technical challenges of building a pipeline over thawing permafrost; the prohibitive cost of ice-breaking tankers to move LNG through the Arctic; and a forecasted global oversupply of LNG and uncertain long-term export markets.

Given these challenges, a private company coming out of the woodwork to invest seems exceptionally unlikely. Private proponents are also not interested in building oil pipelines to the west, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has now made clear his priority to work with Premier Danielle Smith on a West Coast pipeline, which would cost upwards of $35 billion (on top of the over $34 billion in public funds already spent on the Trans Mountain pipeline). It would seem this pours more cold water on the idea of a third publicly funded pipeline to Hudson Bay.