Be constructive in helping stuck son leave nest

Like Selinger before him, Pallister digs a hole the party may not escape

Premier Brian Pallister has officially entered "the Selinger zone."

Students of recent Manitoba political history will remember, in 2014 and 2015, there was an active campaign within the NDP to force premier Greg Selinger to step down. Selinger ultimately retained his leadership, but he and his party were never the same.

That was abundantly clear in December 2015, with a provincial election just a few months away, when a poll done by Probe Research and the Free Press showed the Pallister-led Tories with 43 per cent support, followed by Rana Bokhari's Liberals at 29 per cent, and Selinger's NDP at a lowly 22 per cent.

Not surprisingly, the NDP was decimated in the April 2016 election, going from 37 seats to just 14. The PCs won one of the largest majorities in the province's history.

Don’t delete organ concert tickets when scrubbing digital life

There is an organ in Germany that is playing one composition until 2640.

What’s billed as the world’s slowest concert features a piece by American composer John Cage, and was back in the news because it had its first chord change in two years. It’s already been playing for 25 years; only 614 more to go.

Organ music at the end of the world.

The real take-home for me, however, is the fact that there are already “inheritable” tickets for the final Sept. 4, 2640, event being sold for 2,640 euros (US$3,045).

New Indigenous reconciliation minister delivers disastrous debut

Premier Brian Pallister’s attempt to quell a firestorm over Manitoba’s history with Indigenous people backfired Thursday, when the new minister he’d just appointed to steer reconciliation suggested residential schools were started with good intentions.

The comments came just moments into the job, prompting the Opposition leader to interrupt a press conference Thursday morning.

Now, Indigenous leaders are declining phone calls and demanding apologies.

“The residential school system was designed to take Indigenous children and give them the skills and abilities they would need to fit into society as it moved forward,” Selkirk MLA Alan Lagimodiere told reporters shortly after being sworn in as minister of Indigenous reconciliation and northern relations.

City MP, nurses want safety standards for increasingly violent health facilities

While there have been hundreds of violent incidents reported at two Winnipeg hospitals over two years, there haven’t been provincial or national safety standards established for health-care facilities, something one local union and a Winnipeg MP are pushing for.

From October 2016 to October 2018, there were 444 violent incidents reported at the Health Sciences Centre and 175 such cases at Grace Hospital, according to freedom of information results obtained by the Free Press.

The statistics encompass incidents of verbal abuse and threats of violence, plus instances of physical aggression. Some incidents stem from deliberate acts, while others involve patients with dementia or those disoriented from a medical condition, who may have no control over their actions.

A Winnipeg MP who spent years working as an emergency room physician is trying to draw attention to health-care violence nationally, tabling a petition Friday that asks Ottawa to tackle an issue in which he has first-hand experience.

Petan looking for a job; Jets may have opening

Is this the season Nic Petan earns a full-time gig with the Winnipeg Jets?

The 23-year-old from Delta, B.C., boasts an impressive "previous employment" section on his hockey resume: high-scoring centre in the Western Hockey League; gold medallist with Team Canada at the 2015 world junior hockey championship; and point-a-game performer in the American Hockey League.

Yet, he hasn't found a permanent spot on the NHL club's roster, five years after the Jets selected him in the second round (43rd overall) of the 2013 NHL draft.

Gone from the landscape are centres Paul Stastny and Matt Hendricks and wingers Joel Armia and Shawn Matthias, meaning at least a couple of job openings up front are available.

Troubadour of tears

Field Guide, for all his sad songs, is dressed exclusively in vibrant colours. His beanie is mustard yellow, his jacket and shirt are forest green, his Blundstones are burgundy. His short, scruffy beard is Spalding-ball orange.