Family childhood trauma nothing to kid about

Stefanson’s legacy

Re: Is Stefanson’s fine fitting punishment? (Editorial, Oct. 17)

It’s appropriate to thank outgoing politicians for their service. For many reasons, my thanks to former premier Heather Stefanson are highly qualified and grudgingly offered.

The fine that she will pay certainly does not match the gravity of her offence. At the time she remained the caretaker premier, it was on her to behave with integrity and she deliberately chose not to do so. She wasn’t forced into anything; she made a deliberate choice to try to circumvent an important rule.

BEIJING - A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death Monday in a sudden retrial in a drug smuggling case that is likely to escalate tensions between the countries over the arrest of a top Chinese technology executive.

The court in northeastern Liaoning province announced that it had given Robert Lloyd Schellenberg the death penalty after rejecting his plea of innocence and convicting him of being an accessory to drug smuggling. It gave no indication that the penalty could be commuted, but Schellenberg's fate could become intertwined in diplomatic negotiations over China's demand for the top executive's release.

Schellenberg was detained more than four years ago and initially sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2016. But suddenly last month, an appeals court agreed with prosecutors who said the sentence was too lenient, and scheduled Monday's retrial with just four days' notice.

The Chinese press began publicizing Schellenberg's case in December after Canada detained Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States.

Are clinical psychologists next?

Re: Province hires 17 psychiatrists to work in Winnipeg, Selkirk (Sept. 25)

Manitoba’s government has shown that it knows how to solve a specialist staffing crisis in health care. Clinical psychologists are still left to wonder when it will be their turn.

The Manitoba Psychological Society (MPS) welcomes the recent announcement of 17 new psychiatrists in the public system. Any investment in mental health deserves to be celebrated, especially in light of the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health’s report card that was released in August 2026. Manitoba received overall grades of F and D for mental health and substance use health, respectively. Although disappointing, this is not surprising given that Manitoba spends five to six per cent of its health budget on mental health and addictions, about half the recommended rate of 12 per cent.

We all seek certainty in our daily lives. We expect if we make a decision, the outcome will be just as we planned: a direct correlation between the decision and result.

You, as a business leader, seek the same certainty from the decisions you make. And sometimes, the result is what was expected. Sometimes, it isn’t.

The big question is: why is it so difficult to achieve the business results you expect when you carefully craft your plans and seemingly make good decisions?

The truth is we cannot predict the future. This means we almost never know precisely how customers will respond to a sales quote, what competitors are planning, and a myriad of other external variables at play.

The Winnipeg Police Service major crimes unit is investigating what some have labelled offensive and hateful posters on full-display at a Winnipeg home.

One of the people irked by the display is Gracie Garrett. She’s has lived on Ashburn Street in Winnipeg’s Minto neighbourhood for almost ten years. She’s never felt unsafe in the neighbourhood before, but now, a set of posters plastered on a nearby house are making her feel uneasy.

The five signs, posted facing the street prominently on a front window, contain a slur, refer to Nazis as “heroes” and call Muslims, Christians and other groups “evil.”

Learning of the signs Friday, Garrett said she’ll be reporting the posters to police, as she worries they incite and promote violence.