Time to sing a new tune and move forward

Ex-CAO’s pay ‘adds insult to injury’

A Manitoba government deputy minister was paid by both the province and the city even though he left his civic position more than a year ago.

The city’s public disclosure compensation report revealed the extent to which two levels of taxpayers were on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary payments to Michael Jack, who is Manitoba’s deputy minister of business, mining, trade and job creation and formerly the city’s chief administrative officer.

Jack resigned as city CAO on July 15, 2024 and was paid $410,769 that year — 43 per cent more than his previous year’s salary, $286,782.

In 2025, after Jack was appointed deputy minister at a starting salary of $184,554, he also received $164,007 in compensation from the City of Winnipeg, although he did not work for the city that year.

Winnipeg author Joan Thomas wins GG fiction award

Winnipeg author Joan Thomas has been awarded the 2019 Governor General's English-language award for fiction for her fourth novel, Five Wives.

The winners of the Governor General's Literary Awards were announced Tuesday morning; each winner in the English and French categories receives $25,000, while each publisher receives $3,000. Five Wives was published in September by HarperCollins.

“It's incredible,” Thomas said on the phone from HarperCollins' Toronto office, where she was doing media interviews following the announcement of the win.

“I woke up this morning to my phone going crazy. I know there are a lot of people in Winnipeg who were cheering for me, and who are very happy, and that just deepens my joy about the whole thing. I was calm at first, but when I walked into the offices here I started crying.”

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.

Gillingham outlines big plan for Seine River in a second-term as mayor

Scott Gillingham promises to turn the Seine River into a permanent recreation and nature attraction, if re-elected as mayor.

At a riverside campaign announcement Friday, Gillingham said a long-term plan would be to create Rivière-Seine Historic Municipal Riverway encompassing the entire Winnipeg section of the Seine, building on past volunteer efforts to clean up the river and make it a paddle-friendly attraction.

The Seine, which winds through St. Boniface and St. Vital, originates in the Sandilands Provincial Forest, passes through southeastern Manitoba, crosses the Red River Floodway and joins the Red River in St. Boniface just north of The Forks.

“What we want to do, really, is to establish the permanence of this river and allow its beauty and the opportunity to enjoy it, to be something that we don’t just leave to volunteers alone, but come together and focus on establishing it as, really, a place that gets focused attention and investment,” said Gillingham.

Prost! Raise a glass to Oktoberfest

As September comes to a close, a pair of local breweries are bringing some serious gemütlichkeit.

For the uninitiated, gemütlichkeit’s a word that doesn’t translate neatly from German to English, but which roughly means friendliness and good cheer.

Both Devil May Care Brewing Co. (155 Fort St.) and Kilter Brewing Co. (450 Rue Deschambault) are hosting Oktoberfest parties this weekend featuring food, music, games and, of course, plenty of beer.

Both breweries are rolling out special releases to coincide with their respective Oktoberfests — expect malty festbiers, marzens, rauchbiers and other German-inspired brews, served up in hefty steins alongside Bavarian-inspired fare. Devil May Care’s festivities run through to Sunday and feature eats by Freebird Kitchen, while Kilter keeps the party going through to Saturday, Oct. 3, and is offering pretzels and Oktoberfest-themed hot dogs. Lederhosen is encouraged.

Court ruling shifts SNC-Lavalin spotlight

OTTAWA - The spotlight in the SNC-Lavalin affair has shifted to rookie Justice Minister David Lametti now that a court has rejected the company's bid to force the public prosecutor to pursue an alternative to criminal proceedings.

In a ruling Friday, the Federal Court of Canada threw out the Montreal engineering giant's plea for judicial review of a decision by the director of public prosecutions, Kathleen Roussel, to not invite the company to negotiate a remediation agreement.

Remediation agreements are a new legal tool in corporate-corruption cases that force a company to pay stiff restitution but avoid the risk of a criminal conviction that could threaten its financial viability and hurt innocent employees, shareholders and suppliers.

SNC-Lavalin faces accusations it paid bribes to get government business in Libya — a criminal case that has triggered a political storm and cost Prime Minister Justin Trudeau two cabinet ministers and his most trusted adviser.