Cupid can’t help the stupid, so clue in quickly

Big off-season trade bolsters Pistons

In what’s becoming a regular occurrence, the Steinbach Pistons have nearly a whole new crop of players set to take the ice for them this season.

Just eight players are returning from last year’s squad that finished with the second-highest record in the league.

With such a fresh roster, head coach and general manager Paul Dyck said the Pistons are a “work in progress,” noting this was the first time he’s only had a single-digit number of returnees.

“It takes time,” he said after a team event Sept. 15.

A development infused with personal memory

I haven’t written here in a while. Early this summer, my mom was unfairly taken from us — from me. Healing, as much as it’s possible, takes time.

I’ve been writing for the Free Press for 16 years — 250 columns in all. I always felt like I was writing to her. But this will be the first one she doesn’t read.

I won’t be waiting for our midnight text conversation about it tonight. She passed on her night-owl gene, and those late-night exchanges had become our quiet ritual. I won’t be comforted knowing she’s patrolling Twitter or letters to the editor, looking for dissenters to protect me from.

I very rarely write in the first person or talk about my work as an architect, but this feels like the right time to do both.

Throne speech offers glimpse of PCs’ priorities

Throne speeches are more than just pomp and circumstance and the opportunity for selfies between political rivals on the beautiful marble floors of the Manitoba legislature building on Broadway. They set the agenda for the legislative session and set the tone for the government as it moves into its new session. Looked at carefully, they also reveal the priorities of the government by what is said, and also what is not said.

But they are also highly symbolic. They are delivered by the lieutenant-governor of the province, who acts as the symbol of the head of state, the Queen, but they are written by speechwriters for the government of the day.

Political scientists have studied the throne speeches delivered at the federal level to understand the thematic commonalities and what they say about nationalism over the past 30 years. Janine Brodie of the University of Alberta, for example, determined that Canadian throne speeches delivered before the 2000s embraced a more neo-liberal tone that was tied to the global economy.

After 2000, an analysis by Tim Nieguth (Laurentian University) and Tracey Raney (Ryerson University) found that Conservative throne speeches tended to focus on neo-conservative themes — emphasizing the family, the military and threats to security — while Liberals’ speeches talked about health care and Indigenous issues.

Payment for plasma a necessary next step

In an ideal world, enough volunteers would roll up their sleeves to donate blood plasma to meet the needs of Canadian patients. That’s not happening; not even close.

We’re not falling back, springing forward anymore; Manitoba staying on daylight time

Time’s up for the time change in Manitoba.

Manitobans won’t be setting their clocks back an hour when daylight time comes to an end elsewhere on Nov. 1.

After surveying residents on the twice annual clock adjustment, the province announced Thursday that it will no longer spring forward and fall back, as has been the case for the majority of the past 110 or so years.

“We heard from Manitobans loud and clear — no more changing the clocks in Manitoba,” Premier Wab Kinew said in a news release Thursday. “Permanent daylight saving time is good for our health, good for business and good for parents… This change means one less adjustment families have to deal with each spring and fall. That’s why this November, your clocks won’t be changing.”

Refugees share stories of escape from their homelands and triumphs in their new land

Images of Syrian refugees desperate to get to a safe place have the rest of the world wondering what is going to happen to those people.

Where will they go? What will become of them? Decades later, what stories will they have to tell?

Six Winnipeggers who were forced to flee their home countries over the last 70 years share their personal stories — of tragedy and triumph — of coming to Canada. We asked them five questions:

What and why you were fleeing? What, if any, were the dangers of the journey? What has been your experience since coming to Canada? What does it mean to contribute to Canadian society? What are your thoughts on Canada’s immigration policies? They share their personal journeys and their thoughts on the dire situation in Syria. (Some answers have been edited for length and clarity.)