Jealousy no basis for a lasting relationship

CBC series digs into Cold War hockey showdown

Fifty years ago today, Winnipeg played a part in one of Canada’s greatest cultural touchstones.

School divisions unveil pandemic back-to-class plans

A dramatically different first day is on the books for September, as Manitoba school divisions dial in on how to manage classroom demands with pandemic health risks.

Most Winnipeg school divisions released their back-to-school plans Monday. While plans vary, many have kindergarten to Grade 8 students resuming in-class lessons full time Sept. 8, with high school students attending in-class lessons two to three times a week.

Pembina Trails School Division superintendent Ted Fransen said high school students in the Winnipeg south end authority will get a taste of normalcy this fall.

Fransen said the division has devised an academic program that will not require the cohorting of students; rather Pembina Trails’ four high schools will rely on physical distancing and students will attend class just two days out of the six-day school cycle.

A development infused with personal memory

I haven’t written here in a while. Early this summer, my mom was unfairly taken from us — from me. Healing, as much as it’s possible, takes time.

I’ve been writing for the Free Press for 16 years — 250 columns in all. I always felt like I was writing to her. But this will be the first one she doesn’t read.

I won’t be waiting for our midnight text conversation about it tonight. She passed on her night-owl gene, and those late-night exchanges had become our quiet ritual. I won’t be comforted knowing she’s patrolling Twitter or letters to the editor, looking for dissenters to protect me from.

I very rarely write in the first person or talk about my work as an architect, but this feels like the right time to do both.

A community brought the Trident Press home

A truck pulled up outside Oseredok a few weeks ago carrying more than an exhibition.

Inside were the panels of Ukrainian Voice: A Legacy Mosaic, a monumental artwork built from the printing blocks once used to reproduce the photographs and illustrations in one of Canada’s longest-running Ukrainian newspapers.

A dozen people gathered to unload it. Some were longtime members of Winnipeg’s Ukrainian community; others were newcomers who had arrived since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Together, they lifted, unpacked and carried the panels through Oseredok’s doors.

It was an ordinary act of volunteer labour, but also a fitting final stage in an extraordinary journey. More than a century ago, Ukrainian newcomers created the newspaper whose printing blocks form the mosaic. Now another generation of newcomers was helping bring that history home.

Stars align for progress on carbon-tax impasse

How many political leaders does it take to levy a carbon tax? After yet another face-to-face meeting between Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, two may not be enough.

On Monday morning in the toasty confines of a downtown Winnipeg hotel, Pallister got 30 minutes of face time with Trudeau, who is in Winnipeg for a three-day cabinet retreat. Trudeau and his ministers have been holding court with various subject matter experts and strategists in preparation for the spring sitting of the House of Commons.

However, it's impossible for the prime minister to visit a provincial capital for a meeting like this and not set aside time for a parlay with the resident premier. Although these events are typically more about photo opportunities than actual deal making, staff for both the premier and prime minister tout them as productive relationship building sessions. Pallister and Trudeau could certainly use some of that.

Past mini-summits between the two leaders have not been productive. In fact, at times, they have seemed downright destructive. Could this meeting, held in the face of some of the worst of Manitoba's winter weather, be any different?