Big brother’s behaviour insultingly immature

Conservatives peddle disinformation as they decry a fictional truck tax

The framing of the false “truck tax” is especially troubling, given the Conservatives' increasing willingness to tolerate blatant conspiracy theories.

Unions’ battle over turf hurts health care

When the Progressive Conservative government announced a plan to massively consolidate unionized bargaining groups in the health care system, it claimed the goal was to improve efficiency and patient care.

The fact that it has pitted some of the province's largest public-sector unions against each other in gladiator-style combat is just a side benefit.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees has accused the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union of lying and fearmongering in a bid to win the support of health care workers in upcoming representation votes.

CUPE's letter focused on the issue of whether the province, through the regional health authorities, will force home care workers and hospital aides, slated to become part of one bargaining unit, to change where they work on a whim to meet staffing shortages.

Brown goes down, so do Blue

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers suffered one of their most embarrassing and inexcusable losses in recent memory on Thursday night.

A one-win B.C. Lions team — featuring a rookie quarterback making his first career start, a rookie running back making his first career start and two backup offensive lineman in action — somehow, someway dealt the Blue and Gold a 35-19 defeat in front of 31,509 disgruntled fans at Princess Auto Stadium.

The Bombers, now 1-4 on home turf this season, have dropped back-to-back games to fall to 4-4. The Lions improved to 2-5.

While Kaidon Salter didn’t dazzle with his arm, the young Lions pivot played mistake-free football and was at the centre of a relentless ground attack.

O'Brien grateful for journey to Tokyo Paralympics

Kate O'Brien is taking more than a silver medal away from the Tokyo Paralympics.

The track cyclist says the Games have also showed her just how little separates elite Para athletes from their able-bodied counterparts.

“All athletes are the same. And all humans are the same," she told The Canadian Press in a phone interview from Tokyo on Tuesday. "There doesn’t need to be as much of this division between able-bodied and Para. Because having a knee injury is not different than being paraplegic and yet, somehow, we still put them into different categories.

"Being here with other Para athletes has shown me how friggin' fast they are at what they do.”

Internal election reform should be high on Tories’ priority list for 2022

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative party has a challenge in the new year: how to change its leadership election process without alienating grassroots members, while also avoiding the kind of debacle it experienced in the fall.

After coming within a whisker of electing a leader who ran on an anti-vaccine mandate platform before the Oct. 30 vote, the party will almost certainly revise its voter eligibility rules in 2022.

Former Conservative MP Shelly Glover, who ran for the leadership to replace outgoing party boss Brian Pallister, signed up thousands of new members during the race. She did so largely by appealing to opponents of vaccine mandates and other measures taken by the province to fight COVID-19.

Under the current rules, candidates were allowed to sign up new members until a month before voting day. Last-minute signups allow candidates to attract new blood to the party. However, under the Tories’ one member, one vote system, it also leaves the party open to a hostile takeover.

Girl pleads guilty to assaulting fellow student

BRANDON — A high school student who admitted to attacking another girl in the hallway says she is taking responsibility for her wrongdoing.

The 15-year-old, who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, pleaded guilty to assault in Brandon provincial court on Tuesday.

“I do feel terrible about what I did. I should not have done it. She’s a good person and she never deserved that,” the teen said.

On Feb. 9, the accused came up behind the girl near her locker at Vincent Massey school, pulled her hair and punched her in the head, according to an agreed statement of facts.