Not all marriages play by the same rules

Winnipeg’s ability to serve as TV production hub hampered by lack of direct flights to U.S.

As the TV series Fargo begins its second season, wistful notions of the acclaimed FX drama being shot in Winnipeg really are quite far gone.

But for the local film- and TV-production community, Fargo is still the Big One that got away — a constant reminder of the delicate nature of location-shooting negotiations and of how Winnipeg’s position as a smaller and relatively isolated city with few direct flight connections to U.S. cities will continue to make it difficult to attract major TV-series projects. 

When it was being developed as a TV series in 2013, Fargo’s producers looked north of the border for a shooting location that would match the bleak and wintry North Dakota/Minnesota landscape featured in the story, while allowing access to the benefits of exchange-rate savings and tax-credit incentives afforded by filming in Canada.

In the end, it came down to a choice between Winnipeg and Calgary. Calgary has several daily direct flights to and from Los Angeles; Winnipeg has none.

Police say killing of Muslim family in London, Ont. was ‘planned, premeditated act motivated by hate’

Just hours into the investigation, police called the deaths both horrific and “intentional” — a swift declaration that’s prompted grief and fear for Muslims in London and across Canada.

As it turns 79, Cantor's Quality Meats and Groceries going strong

It’s Monday morning at FreshCo on Regent Avenue, one of three stores, a number that will soon double to six, that the Ontario-based, discount grocer has established in Winnipeg since May 2019.

We’re waiting our turn to get some luncheon meat when we notice a fellow ahead of us in line pointing toward a red-and-white sign reading “Cantor’s Express” affixed to a refrigerated display unit loaded to the hilt with steaks, ribs, pork chops and assorted cold cuts.

“Cantor’s?” he remarks to a masked employee reaching down for a chub of salami. “Is that something new?”

Er, not exactly.

Councillors propose tighter controls on owners of vacant buildings

City council could consider new measures to crack down on the owners of vacant and derelict buildings that have triggered frequent complaints.

Couns. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) and Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) want city staff to study ramping up enforcement in such cases.

Their motion calls for city staff to study a mandatory “property maintenance licence” for those problem properties, with an annual fee, regular inspections and requirement that owners provide “proof of ongoing maintenance.”

The program could also impose escalating fines for repeat bylaw offences within a set time period, as well as compliance agreements with timelines and increased monitoring.

As the WSO’s concertmaster for 35 years, setting an example is Gwen Hoebig’s forte

Gwen Hoebig doesn’t believe in looking back. The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra concertmaster keeps her eyes firmly fixed on the horizon while marking her 35th anniversary in tandem with the WSO’s own diamond jubilee this year.

Feds order grounding of Boeing 737 Max 8s

OTTAWA - Transport Minister Marc Garneau is closing Canadian skies to the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, effectively grounding the planes over safety concerns arising from the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight that killed everyone on board, including 18 Canadians.

The decision to ground the planes is a precautionary move that was made after a review of all the available evidence, Garneau told a news conference Wednesday in Ottawa that was twice delayed by what he called new incoming information.

"There are — and I hasten to say not conclusive — but there are similarities" between the Ethiopian Airlines flight profile and that of a Lion Air flight involving the same aircraft that crashed off the Indonesian coast in October, the minister said.

Those similarities, he said, "exceed a certain threshold in our minds with respect to the possible cause of what happened in Ethiopia. This is not conclusive, but it is something that points possibly in that direction, and at this point we feel that threshold has been crossed."