Don’t panic and give up your lake life so fast

Winnipeg close to ICU capacity, surgeries cancelled as cases rise, death toll hits 61

Only six intensive-care beds were available in Winnipeg Wednesday as the spike in COVID-19 cases further taxed the hospital system, forced health-care workers into self-isolation and required the cancellation of 43 surgeries.

The province reported three additional deaths — raising the death toll to 61 — and 170 new cases, the third-highest daily tally of the pandemic.

Lanette Siragusa, chief nursing officer with Shared Health, said intensive care unit capacity on Wednesday was at 92 per cent, and continues to be stretched, as more people become sick with COVID-19 and hospital outbreaks swell.

“The way the numbers are going, we do expect that critical care is going to continue to be congested,” Siragusa said at a news conference. “If we have to go over capacity, we already are looking at what those models of care would be and how we would support patients.

Preparing Canada for the threat of foreign imperialism

In this season of peace and goodwill, let’s wish for “peace, order and good government.”

This historical phrase is found in the British North American Act that created Canada in 1867. It is a very Canadian term bequeathed by Great Britain to its emerging self-governing dominions. Meant simply to delineate the residual powers of the federal government not assigned to provinces, it captures the true centre in our political life.

Neither right nor left, it demands governments enact policies and programs that preserve and advance the notion of a society that is at peace with itself, has order in its dealings with citizens, and provides good government to taxpayers.

It’s time to embrace “peace, order and good government” as the governing leitmotif for the turbulent year ahead.

Tracking-app creator tracks progress for women entrepreneurs

Ivy Châtelain was born with many labels — autistic, female, Métis.

Ford’s anti-tariff ad leaves bruise

Say what you will about Ontario Premier Doug Ford — he knows how to get under a fellow populist’s skin.

Ford succeeded in irritating U.S. President Donald Trump with his decision to run a TV ad critical of Trump’s tariff scheme, utilizing old footage of former president Ronald Reagan to make the point that the late president — still greatly admired among many Americans — would not have approved of Trump’s methods.

Reaction to the ad among Trump and his supporters was swift and furious. MAGA acolytes denounced it, claiming it skewed Reagan’s words, while Trump claimed the ad was AI-generated (it was not). He immediately threatened to impose an extra 10 per cent in tariffs on Canada, “over and above” what he has previously laid out.

The clips of Reagan, pulled from a 1987 speech, are authentic, although a case can be made they did not include the full context of Reagan’s words regarding the U.S.’s trading relationship with Japan — the subject of the comments — at the time of the speech.