Slipknot brings loud and rowdy roadshow to Canada Life Centre

U.S politics remains irreconcilably divided

A great many residents of the United States hoped steadfastly that this week’s midterm elections would offer some clarity, some sense of resolution and perhaps even an encouraging sign regarding the direction ahead for America’s politics.

NHL embarking on money-losing season with no guarantee of completion

It's not quite juggling chainsaws while walking a tightrope above the Grand Canyon, but the National Hockey League is about to embark on a risky venture when the puck drops Wednesday on a new season.

Some might go as far as to suggest it's downright reckless.

A COVID-19 outbreak has already delayed the 2021 debut of the Dallas Stars, while early scares in Columbus, Pittsburgh and Vancouver have served up a reminder the virus remains in charge and isn't going away anytime soon — while also giving critics plenty of ammunition to argue none of this is necessary right now.

All of which raises the question of why you'd flirt with potential disaster and push forward during the worst of the global pandemic — especially given the eye-opening claim NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made on Monday afternoon.

Remembering Canada's military families

OTTAWA - Not only did Reine Samson Dawe's husband serve his entire career in the Canadian Armed Forces, but her four sons all followed in his footsteps. And while she is quick to point to the many ways military life has benefited her family, there have also been hardships — including the death of her youngest son, Capt. Matthew Dawe, in Afghanistan in 2007.

Selected this year's Silver Cross Mother by the Royal Canadian Legion, Samson Dawe will lay a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial during Monday's Remembrance Day ceremonies on behalf of all mothers who have lost children as a result of military service to Canada.

In an interview from her home in Kingston, Ont., Samson Dawe acknowledged the challenges that come with being part of a military family. Those include frequent relocations, often to relatively isolated communities, as well as the separation that comes with training and deployments and the threat of a loved one being injured or killed in the line of duty.

Samson Dawe, who met her husband while interning at a military hospital in Halifax after studying physiotherapy in Montreal, recalls the night in 2002 when four Canadian soldiers were killed by a U.S. warplane in Afghanistan. Her two oldest sons, Peter and Philip, were serving in the country at the time and she barely slept a wink while waiting for news.

Collaros locked in

It’s an interesting, if not downright dreadful thought to ponder: where might the Winnipeg Blue Bombers be today had they not crossed paths with Zach Collaros?

‘Premier of Costa Rica’ moniker in the making

Will Brian Pallister ever get a break?

Last week, the premier was back in the hot seat, this time for the revelation that he is not, while vacationing at his estate in Costa Rica, connected to the government he leads by email. In fact, he doesn’t really use email at all, a somewhat surprising admission from a political leader in this digital age.

Allies will howl at the unfairness of this story, but the underlying point it raises is valid: can a premier still be a premier when he spends, by his own admission, up to two months away from Manitoba in a Central American paradise without using email, a critical productivity tool that most people could not live without?

Pallister responded quickly to the story, holding a number of one-on-one interviews with journalists late last week. For each interview, the premier showed off the raft of reading material he ferries back and forth to Costa Rica and stressed repeatedly that he remains in telephone contact with his office the entire time he is away.

A calm and compassionate spirit

There’s a teaching Carol Wood once shared that Cheryl Montgomery will always remember.

It was the summer of 2025. Wildfires were ripping through northern Manitoba, closing in on their community of O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation, about 750 kilometres north of Winnipeg on the shore of South Indian Lake. In the midst of the crisis, the First Nation was forced to evacuate, sending most of its 1,200 residents out.

Wood and Montgomery were among those who stayed behind. Both served on the community’s emergency response team, and threw themselves into making sure their community members were safe. The days were long; the stress was immense. Most nights, Montgomery recalls, she’d still be awake and working well past 2 a.m.

One day, Wood and her brother, Burnell Anderson, took Montgomery aside. They worried about their longtime friend, who is also the principal of the community’s Thunderbird School. They wanted to make sure she was taking care of herself. They reminded her of a teaching they carried, handed down from their own parents.