CBC’s ‘The Porter,’ Nathan Fielder’s ‘The Rehearsal’ nab Spirit Awards nominations

Deluxe apartment tower taking shape in Tuxedo

The owners of a shopping strip in the city’s wealthiest neighbourhood have identified the site of a longtime gas station on Corydon Avenue as an untapped residential resource.

Performance (ice-cream) art

As 2020 resolutions counter temptation, Teri-Lynn Friesen and Élise Page will be waiting to console those who slip — and they’ll have ice-cream scoops at the ready.

Late last year, the creative duo opened Fête — Winnipeg’s newest coffee and ice-cream parlour, offering an ever-changing menu of 16 made-in-house ice-cream flavours, affogato and, if it’s Sunday morning, pancakes.

There’s also no pressure to pick a flavour at first sight; the shop offers unlimited samples.

“If you gave up coffee, we’re here for you when you need to come back. If you gave up sweets, we’re also here for you,” said Friesen, co-owner of the shop at 300 Assiniboine Ave.

Another embarrassing loss: Arniel

RALEIGH — No sticks were smashed. No walls punched. And nary a naughty word was uttered.

Instead, the Winnipeg Jets filed off the ice here at Lenovo Center on Sunday afternoon much like they’d just played the preceding game against the Carolina Hurricanes — with no emotion, no passion, no urgency.

You’d have thought yet another loss, this one in truly humiliating fashion and a ninth consecutive overall, might have triggered something.

Anything.

Province tables legislation to cover health-care system changes

The Pallister government has introduced broad legislation to support several of its key planned health-care reforms.

Health Minister Cameron Friesen said Wednesday that Bill 10 (The Regional Health Authorities Amendment Act) will provide the framework to simplify the administration of the health-care system and improve accountability.

All health services in Manitoba will be delivered through the five current regional health authorities, CancerCare Manitoba and a new provincial authority called Shared Health. The administrative changes are set to begin next month and will continue to be rolled out over the next two to three years.

The Health Department will cease to administer health services directly and focus its activities on planning, policy development, funding and oversight. It will set system-wide performance goals and track results.

Expect a reasonable approach to keep Manitoba’s minimum wage out of cellar

The devil will be in the details when it comes to how much the Stefanson government will increase the minimum wage in 2022 under proposed legislation that’s expected to become law this week.

My prediction: government will boost the base wage by at least $1.10 an hour this year.

As expected, the Stefanson government plans to alter its inflation-based formula for setting the minimum wage, which now stands at $11.95 an hour. Normally, the base wage is indexed to the previous year’s rate of inflation. That’s sound policy during normal times. However, with inflation growing at rates not seen in more than 30 years, an immediate adjustment is required to ensure minimum-wage earners don’t lose purchasing power.

Conservative governments in Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick have all announced significant increases to their base wages in 2022, putting pressure on the Stefanson government to follow suit. Failure to do so would see Manitoba’s minimum wage (previously scheduled to rise 40 cents an hour to $12.35 on Oct. 1) rank lowest in the country.