Trip with daughter could launch new adventure

BILL 64, if passed, would succeed in cutting some of the last strands tying education to democracy in the English-speaking western world, a movement which had its beginnings in the post-war European continent.

Friedrich von Hayek, the founder of neoclassical economic theory, persuaded the political elite of the day that their future lay in a deregulated capitalistic marketplace, and in the reduction of government investment in public services. But even he would be shocked by the latest developments in Manitoba.

A rough timeline would have had Hayek meeting the newly elected Tory leader, Margaret Thatcher, in 1975. Immediately upon her election as prime minister in 1979, she began to implement his economic theory of mass privatization of state assets. The oil and gas industry and the national British Airways were privatized. The powerful miners’ unions were relentlessly pilloried as enemies of the state.

Public services such as health and education were methodically dismantled, systematically privatized in the name of personal choice, while taxes for the wealthy were reduced. In the name of creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation, among other public goods, airlines, telecommunications, banking, trucking and environmental protections were deregulated. Is this starting to sound familiar?

A disciplinary panel has ordered the cancellation of a Chinese-Canadian teacher’s certificate because of her “repeated boundary-crossing with a student” during her tenure at an international school with local ties.

Janice Wen Ying Ma is permanently barred from teaching on Manitoba soil or at a Manitoba-accredited institution as of Sept. 14.

The new ruling concludes that Ma engaged in inappropriate physical interaction and “emotionally intimate online messages” with a girl who attended Clifford International School in Guangzhou, China in 2024-25.

“This conduct represents a fundamental departure from the standards expected of a teacher,” the panel, chaired by public representative Gordon Schumacher, wrote in its 22-page decision.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I ran into my sister’s husband at the bar recently. He was drinking with a bunch of people from his work. I noticed he was sitting close to a young woman, with his arm around her.

I just nodded without a smile as I slowly passed them. I kept on going, but he knew I saw them together. A few minutes later he came over — obviously drunk — and said, “You’re a good girl! You won’t say anything to your sister, will you?” Ha! I looked at him and said, “Of course I’m going to say something!”

My loyalty will always be to my sister. I phoned my sis in my car and blabbed. She tried to laugh it off, but she’s gone silent since — not answering my calls or messages. So apparently now I’m the troublemaker? That’d be just her style! What should I do?

— Worried About Us, North Kildonan

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A new coronavirus variant identified in South Africa has been found in the United States for the first time, with two cases diagnosed in South Carolina, state health officials said Thursday.

The arrival of this variant now surging in other countries "is an important reminder to all South Carolinians that the fight against this deadly virus is far from over,” Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC Interim Public Health Director, said in a statement. “While more COVID-19 vaccines are on the way, supplies are still limited. Every one of us must recommit to the fight by recognizing that we are all on the front lines now. We are all in this together.”

Viruses are constantly mutating, with coronavirus variants circulating around the globe, but scientists are primarily concerned with the emergence of three of them. Other variants first reported in the United Kingdom and Brazil were previously confirmed in the U.S. Researchers believe these three variants may spread more easily, and predicted it was only a matter of time before they appeared here.

Also, scientists last week reported preliminary but troubling signs that some of the recent mutations may modestly curb the effectiveness of two current vaccines, although they stressed that the shots still protect against the disease. And there are signs that some of the new mutations may undermine tests for the virus and reduce the effectiveness of certain treatments.