Almond cookies melt in your mouth

Tories likely to follow giant leap towards balanced budget with a step or two in other direction

The only problem with slashing the size of the deficit as much as the province did last year is it’s going be tough for government officials to explain why the shortfall will likely be higher this year — and maybe next year, too.

Last year’s deficit came in at a surprising $163 million, according to the province’s public accounts released Thursday. That’s well below the budgeted shortfall of $521 million. It’s great news. The sooner the province stops borrowing money to finance its daily operating costs, the closer it will be to paying down debt and freeing up more money for front-line services (and cutting taxes). It’s a major accomplishment for a government that, just three years earlier, inherited a deficit of $932 million and a debt that was growing at about $2 billion a year.

Considering government is so close to balance, it’s tempting to assume they could be back in the black as early as next year. After all, what’s $163 million in a $17.4-billion budget? It’s less than one per cent.

But there were some unique reasons why the deficit fell so dramatically last year, many of which were due to one-time events. The stars probably won’t align like that anytime soon. Which means this year's deficit, and maybe next year's, could be higher.

The silent stalker overtaking our sidewalks

Under the McPhillips railway bridge lives an overload of a sensory experience — and not in a nice way.

Once in a while, the city sidewalk sweepers make their way through the narrow, dark passageway, clearing away the sometimes inch-deep pigeon droppings along the edges. But most of the time, it’s the worst part of my walk.

There’s the guano — slick as grease when the sidewalk’s filled wall to wall with standing puddles — plus dead pigeons, broken pigeon eggs, discarded needles. Regularly, small handfuls of discarded, opened, probably stolen mail, as well as torn-open delivery packaging. The smell is overpowering, and it all seems like ground zero in an avian-flu-breeding sci-fi movie.

It’s also a pinch-point on McPhillips: the roadway has narrowed to two lanes to fit under the old bridge, and the sidewalks are narrow as well, tucked between a concrete wall on one side and steel girders that can only be described as encrusted on the other.

Almond cookies melt in your mouth

Today’s Homemade Holidays feature is a recipe for delicate, melt-in-your-mouth Almond Crescent cookies.

“This is a cookie my Nana used to make, not necessarily for holidays specifically, but it’s one of my favourites, so now I make them every year. Almond and vanilla is such a classic combo and I love that this recipe isn’t super sweet,” writes Erin Lebar, the Free Press’s manager of audience engagement (and a heck of a baker).

Wheeler keeps things on level as Jets open camp with optimism, few distractions

Perhaps Blake Wheeler was getting a little tired of the hype building around the Winnipeg Jets, or maybe he just wanted to make sure the collective heads in the locker room didn't swell too big. Either way, Wheeler, the Jets captain and most influential voice, was quick to dismiss a reporter's question he clearly viewed as hyperbolic.

With the moves made over the summer, including a pair of trades to shore up the defence and some contract extensions up front to keep consistency with the forwards — all of which complement the top-end goaltending they have with Connor Hellebuyck — Wheeler was asked if this was the best team, on paper, that's he's seen in his 11 years with the Jets?

Wheeler, as he sometimes does, offered up a bit of a reality check, mixed in with some of his signature sass.

"Let's play some games," he quipped, noting it had just been one on-ice session with the team, "because 'on paper' means s---."