Don’t heed pressure to ‘measure up’ as a mom

Jets hold first practice since Covid-19 shutdown

Walking out of Rogers Place in the wee hours of March 12, I had no idea when the Winnipeg Jets might skate again — or what it might look like when they did. After all, the world was changing due to COVID-19, and a big win over the Edmonton Oilers earlier that night was quickly rendered meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Now, 124 days later, we finally have some answers, along with a whole host of new questions. What went down Monday morning inside Bell MTS Iceplex, as the most unique training camp in club history got underway, was like nothing anyone associated with the sport has ever experienced before.

There were mandatory nasal swabs up the noses of all Jets players, along with health questionnaires and digital temperature checks for those of us entering the facility. Masks were required at all times. The rink lobby, normally a hub of activity whenever the hometown team hits the ice, was a ghost town and closed to the public. Handshakes among colleagues I haven't seen for four months were replaced by distant waves and muffled, socially distant pleasantries, just as hugs and high-fives among players were a no-no.

A workspace was created in the Press Box Restaurant, with tables spaced out against against glass that fogged up every few minutes. It didn't take long to remember why hockey and hot summer weather don't typically work well together. Forget the wind chill, does anyone know the humidex?

'Ignorance no defence,' Pallister says after paying Costa Rica luxury tax, penalty

Premier Brian Pallister has been penalized for taxes owing on his vacation home in Costa Rica.

Pallister said he failed to update the evaluation of his property as required by Costa Rica law, which meant he didn’t pay a national tax on luxury homes.

"The valuations were supposed to have been, in hindsight, done every three years and you’re responsible for doing them,” Pallister told The Canadian Press Friday.

"At the outset, we were never advised that we owed anything on this, and actually were told we were not in this (luxury) category, so we had no reason to believe... that we would owe anything.”

Soaring fuel prices, pandemic make market untenable for TappCar

Rising gas prices and market instability have created a bumpy ride for ride-hailing services. TappCar, which five years ago became the first company to offer ride-hailing services in Winnipeg, has headed for the exit ramp.

The company’s local branch shuttered Sunday, CEO Noel Bernier confirmed to the Free Press.

“Between the pandemic effects, the unknown type of recovery we’re going to have from the pandemic, and then, of course, the energy prices… all of it just made it untenable to market or manage a… discount ride-share,” Bernier said.

The Edmonton-based platform launched in Winnipeg in 2018. Bernier was among a local group to acquire TappCar’s Winnipeg branch late last year.

Drop in staffed hospital beds driving longer ER waits

Emergency room wait times in Winnipeg have doubled since the Progressive Conservative government launched its hospital consolidation plan five years ago. But it’s not because more people are showing up at ERs.

Nurses union questions explanation for delayed opening of new Neepawa hospital

BRANDON — The new Neepawa Health Centre — initially expected to welcome its first patients early next year — has had its opening delayed until late summer or early fall.

Prairie Mountain Health CEO Trina Slate confirmed the postponement Wednesday, saying it would allow “appropriate time to onboard and train staff and familiarize teams with the new facility.”

The hospital, more than three times larger than the current facility, was first announced as a $127-million construction project in December 2021 by the former Progressive Conservative government, with a tentative completion date in 2025.

As of January, the hospital was reported to be 75 per cent completed with an anticipated opening date in early 2027, Prairie Mountain Health said at the time.

Dealing with what’s left behind … in the cloud

Sooner or later, we will all face it; if we’re wise, we plan for its arrival.

Death.

Notwithstanding the pithy observation of 18th-century American statesman Benjamin Franklin regarding the inescapable nature of taxes, the only real inevitability in each of our lives is that it will end. And when it does, those left behind to (one hopes) mourn our passing are always left with the unenviable chore of tying up multitudinous loose ends.

What comes to mind first are familiar material considerations such as wills, finances, property divestiture and the burdensome responsibility of sorting through and disposing of a lifetime’s worth of accumulated clothing, furniture, vehicles and all manner of personal belongings. These jobs are made immeasurably easier if the departed has left specific and detailed instructions and documentation for those tasked with sorting it all out.