No need to worry about cold-hearted ex’s feelings

Salvation Army trio focuses on others' well-being during frigid overnight shift in pandemic

The night begins with a prayer, an incantation from the lips of three faithful members of the flock, standing in dim light with clasped hands as they implore God to direct them where help is needed most.

Democracy is a civic election issue

Scott Gillingham should be worried — very, very worried. Not just because he’ll likely win the upcoming mayoral race for no better reason than the lack of a tenable, progressive alternative, but because longtime, and in some cases, progressive councillors are currently quitting his administration.

And they’re not going quietly.

Just take Coun. Sherri Rollins’ (Fort Rouge – East Fort Garry) recent announcement that she would not be seeking re-election. When she cited the reasons she won’t be running again, she dropped a bit of a bombshell.

In addition to citing the mayor’s lack of transparency on issues such as homelessness, she also observed that he and his advisers “increasingly sideline the public service.”

Tories’ big Hydro lie just got fatter

The Manitoba Hydro pig has been back to the salon for a whole new shade of lipstick.

Subject to months of increasingly shrill criticism, the Progressive Conservative government has unveiled new political spin on Bill 35, the controversial proposed law that re-invents the process of setting annual electricity rate increases.

A coalition, which includes consumers groups and the province's biggest industrial power users, is united in its condemnation of Bill 35, portraying it as a dangerous and needless disembowelling of the Public Utilities Board that will ultimately push the cost of electricity in Manitoba to historic heights.

On Thursday, the Pallister government decided to make an attempt to meet the criticism head on. Finance Minister Scott Fielding and Crown Services Minister Jeff Wharton announced amendments to Bill 35 that they said would ensure predictable, affordable electricity rates for at least the next three years, at rates that are slightly below the average rate increases approved by the PUB over the past decade.

PM visit a chance to rectify Tofino mistake: chief

KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Justin Trudeau's visit was a chance to move forward, Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casimir said Monday, even as she rebuked the prime minister for ignoring her first invitations to join the community for Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

With Trudeau sitting beside her and the former Kamloops Indian Residential School looming in the background, Casimir said his visit was "bittersweet." She said she hoped he'd been there on Sept. 30 to interact with survivors and "show his commitment to rectifying the historical wrongs of residential school and to grieve with our residential school survivors."

"Instead, in the middle of truth telling, cultural grounding and sharing that unfolded as part of the commemoration of the very first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, in this arbour, a journalist quietly informed us that the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was on vacation in Tofino," Casimir said.

"The shock, anger and sorrow and disbelief was palpable in our community."

Province giving seniors $200 for pandemic expenses; others need help too, critics say

A $200 cheque will soon be in the mail to all Manitoba seniors — whether they need it or not — to deal with additional costs associated with the pandemic.

"Seniors built this province," Premier Brian Pallister said Tuesday at a teleconference announcing the $45-million Seniors Economic Recovery Credit going to an estimated 225,000 Manitobans age 65 and older, regardless of income.

"We owe them a debt of gratitude for making Manitoba a wonderful place."

But if Manitoba is going to remain a wonderful place after the pandemic, the province should be targeting help towards those most in need, critics say. Just 14 per cent of Manitoba seniors who will be receiving a $200 cheque this month live below the poverty line, according to Statistics Canada's market basket measure, which determines the official poverty line. According to 2016 Census data from Manitoba, it's $18,272 for a single person in Winnipeg.