Au naturel cooking experience can sizzle

Winnipeg author’s novel a product of rejecting long-held beliefs

Growing up in an evangelical church in the 1960s, I was well-acquainted with Operation Auca, the story of the killings of five American missionaries at the hands of Waorani Indigenous people in Ecuador.

The deaths of Peter Fleming, 27, Jim Elliot, 28, Ed McCully, 28, Roger Youderian, 31, and Nate Saint, 32 on Jan. 8, 1956 made headlines across North America and sparked a continent-wide Christian missionary movement.

The men and their wives had gone to that South American country to evangelize the tribe, known to them as Aucas in the Quechua language, or “savages.”

Members of the tribe, who were known for their ferocity, avoided contact with the outside world. The missionaries were determined to reach them and convert them to Christianity.

Plus ça change … VLTs and online sports gambling

The province of Ontario was the first jurisdiction in Canada to offer a private online gambling (sorry, gaming) market in April 2022. Alberta has now followed suit and officially launched its own regulated, online sports betting market. Will Manitoba be next?

There is certainly money to be made. Ontario added roughly $469 million in online gambling profits to its governmental coffers for the 2023-24 period. And you can bet Alberta has its eyes firmly fixed on the potential for proportionate dollar amounts flowing into its provincial treasury.

What strikes me are the obvious similarities between video lottery terminals (VLTs) and online sports betting. The same governments (and not the Mafia) trying to separate people from their money, and the attendant damaging outcomes — but with different technology. Even the political calculations and implications are a carbon copy of the politics of VLTs.

I vividly recall a government official from the then-Nova Scotia Alcohol and Gaming Authority telling me that VLTs — the crack cocaine of gambling ­­— were operating on old technology that would eventually be overtaken. Little did I know that the new technology would enable people to gamble on ubiquitous online platforms.

Sons sue Nygard over ‘abuse’

Two of Peter Nygard’s sons have filed a lawsuit against their father claiming the Winnipeg fashion mogul paid a sex worker to rape them when they were teenagers.

The accusations from Nygard’s children — identified only as “John Doe No. 1” and “John Doe No. 2” in court documents — come to light as their father finds himself ensnared by mounting rape allegations.

The Free Press has identified both accusers in the case but is choosing not to name them to protect their privacy.

When reached for comment, Nygard's lawyer, Jay Prober, denied the accusations.

Hydro’s $5-billion deals with Saskatchewan ‘deliberately covered up’

A scathing review of Manitoba Hydro failed to disclose the details of two multibillion-dollar power sales to Saskatchewan that are fundamental to the Crown utility's financial future, the Free Press has learned.

The report, by former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall, into the Keeyask generating station and Bipole III transmission line concluded the former NDP government rushed to build both projects before getting proper regulatory approval, and failed to provide adequate financial oversight once construction started.

Premier Brian Pallister has used the report to buttress his assertion that Keeyask and Bipole III were the worst examples of NDP mismanagement and incompetence.

However, Hydro sources said it was suspicious the Wall report ignored the effect of two recent power sales to Saskatchewan that were completed last year — well before Wall's report was finished.

Each of city's historic bridges has unique story

They span the muddy waters from which Winnipeg derives its name. They connect neighbourhood to neighbourhood. They’re a fundamental feature of our city.

Winnipeg has a reputation as a “River City,” but many don’t know the stories behind the bridges they use every day.

While a bridge may seem to be a boring piece of basic infrastructure, many of Winnipeg’s have fascinating histories that go back more than 100 years.