Eating inside the box

Pallister’s pogey plan panned

OTTAWA — Premier Brian Pallister's gambit to have Manitoba public servants work reduced hours and collect employment insurance would be a financial nightmare for Ottawa, with cities across the country demanding equal treatment.

“It's a really big deal to ask the federal government to pick up the tab on public-sector salaries at the provincial level,” said Wilfrid Laurier University economist Tammy Schirle. “That’s a huge ask.”

On Tuesday, Pallister said the only way Manitoba can avoid laying off public servants during the pandemic is to reduce weekly hours for non-essential employees.

He has asked Ottawa to allow such workers to collect employment insurance for the days they’re off work. That’s in line with EI's work-sharing program, which has only been used for private-sector employees.

Gunner too quick on the draw the first time

The reigning men’s curling provincial champion will compete after all.

Just over a week ago, Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson took to Twitter to announce that he was backing out of the Viterra championship, which begins Wednesday at the Selkirk Curling Club and wraps up on Sunday, owing to COVID-19 concerns.

“I personally cannot reconcile playing non-bubbled and non-tested curling tournaments at his time,” wrote Gunnlaugson.

But Gunnlaugson has since changed his tune.

Fond memories, new adventures at Roseau River Bible Camp

Ruth Morris has fond memories of attending summer camp as a child.

The food. The fun activities. The fireside chats. And, most of all, the freedom she felt.

“I was able to kind of just figure out who I was as a person, right? What I wanted to do, just making all those connections without parents hovering. I felt like a mini-adult,” Morris recalls.

Naturally, she wants her own children to have a similar experience as they grow up. But as a single mother on long-term disability due to fibromyalgia, camp simply isn’t affordable on a fixed income.

‘Very quiet around here’: Duck Mountain biz owners plead for assistance after flooding washes out park

Business owners at Duck Mountain Provincial Park who have lost thousands in revenue say they’re feeling left out of flood-recovery assistance in the Parkland region.

Dawn Dowsett, owner of Blue Lake Resort, said life has been chaotic since the parked closed on June 30 due to road washouts.

While there is limited access to the park, with some seasonal campers and cabin owners returning, it’s listed as closed on the Government of Manitoba’s website, with no nightly camping available until July 23.

She says the resort, which includes a restaurant and store, is missing out on part of the summer, a peak time for the business.

A balancing act

Life sometimes seems like a balancing act in an effort to juggle kids, careers, aging parents and endless other responsibilities. Throw in a global pandemic and we teeter even closer to tipping the scales.or Karen Duncan, associate professor in the University of Manitoba’s community health sciences department, paid work is important — but so, too, is leisure time.“People are experiencing a lack of balance among these activities in their lives and it can lead to a number of negative outcomes such as lower satisfaction with family, relationships and life in general,” she said.“It’s also been shown to have negative health effects such as stress, poor sleep, depression and poor coping mechanisms such as addictive behaviour. If I’m not paying attention to this, I could be on the road to some serious health difficulties.”For those in the 40-plus demographic, it’s often a life stage filled with many demands.“There may be children who need attention or older family members who need increasing levels of care. There may be financial stresses. Work itself can be demanding because it’s a time when people are looking to advance their careers,” Duncan said.“I think work-life balance has been much more difficult in the pandemic for people in this demographic. It’s phenomenally difficult trying to continue your paid work while you are taking care of your children, particularly for single parents.”Katherine Breward, associate professor in the University of Winnipeg’s business department, said persistently high stress will lead to burnout typified by diminished personal achievement, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization — and all of these things can negatively impact the work environment.Beyond that, Breward said a lack of work-life balance disrupts life in other undesirable ways that can lead to family conflicts, anxiety, guilt and a lack of availability to family members.“I think it is important that these personal emotional and social impacts on the broader family are recognized in addition to business impacts,” she said, adding that changes to expectations for parenting styles might also contribute to the problem.“There is a lot of research that suggests females are more negatively impacted by work-life issues than men (although both are affected), due primarily to ongoing gender-related imbalances in childcare and domestic work responsibilities.”For those sandwiched in the middle of competing demands, self-care is a good place to start — although Breward acknowledges it might not always be possible due to time constraints.“Really, though, the help needs to come more from employers. We need to have more realistic workplace expectations, paid sick and mental health days and paid days off for family care,” she said.“Offering flextime can really help since it gives people more flexibility to attend to family appointments and other needs. Work-from-home options can also help if people have a suitable space in which to work.”Although there’s a tendency to put responsibility on individuals, Duncan agrees employers have a role to play.“Research shows employers incur costs when their employees are experiencing work-life conflict. There’s a real bottom-line incentive for employers to have policies in place that are going to be helpful to their employees’ work-life balance,” she said.“It’s so tempting to think of this as an individual thing but, really, it’s societal. Work-life balance is not a luxury for those who can afford it — it is essential for everyone.”Karen Duncan, associate professor in the University of Manitoba’s health sciences department 

Life sometimes seems like a balancing act in an effort to juggle kids, careers, aging parents and endless other responsibilities. Throw in a global pandemic and we teeter even closer to tipping the scales.

or Karen Duncan, associate professor in the University of Manitoba’s community health sciences department, paid work is important — but so, too, is leisure time.