Publisher Skyhorse plans to release impeachment report

PCs call for crackdown on property crime

A Progressive Conservative government would open a Crown prosecutor’s office dedicated to dealing with property crime.

Interim party leader Konrad Narth made the announcement Wednesday flanked by colleagues in front of a boarded up 7-Eleven on Main Street. Narth promised to hire 25 prosecutors who would focus on property theft, which he said is the type of crime attorneys have been inundated with in recent years.

Narth said crime has increased under the NDP government and pledged to crack down on thieves in Winnipeg and rural areas, if the PCs win power in the next provincial election, due on or before Oct. 5, 2027.

“Under this premier, Manitoba’s crime rate is 81 per cent above the national average. Property crime represents 58 per cent of crimes committed, an increase of nearly 25 per cent since Wab Kinew and the NDP took office,” Narth said, citing numbers from Statistics Canada. “In Winnipeg, the rise of property crime has significantly increased the cost of doing business and forced many businesses to now close their doors.”

Purple Noodle serves up interesting mix of Asian dishes

With a bright atmosphere and fresh flavours, this new Asian noodle house offers lots of range (with Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese inflections), but not always the deep-down authenticity you might get at more specialized restos.

Tucked into Stafford Square at the corner of Stafford Street and Pembina Highway and open from lunch until late, the Purple Noodle Bar is a small venue located down a flight of stairs. It’s a basement room that doesn’t feel like a basement room, with clean, mod decor and lots of light.

The eclectic menu offers Asian snacks, as well as pho, ramen and wonton soups, and vermicelli and rice dishes. There are a few vegetarian and vegan options, along with some gluten-friendly dishes.

The agedashi tofu is tender with a gingery finish to the sauce, but the coating lacks crispness.

Stellar year for Manitoba artists at WCMAs

Manitoba acts earned top honours at this past weekend’s Western Canadian Music Awards in Victoria, including pop artist of the year for Begonia, a francophone artist of the year award for Jocelyn Baribeau, video director of the year for Taylor Brown and two awards for the Brandon-raised Fontine, who took home prizes for rock artist and Indigenous artist of the year.

It was double time for the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, which for the second consecutive year was named Western Canada’s jazz artist of the year.

The recognition comes on the strength of the WJO’s most recent recording, Forgotten Stories Suite, a project by local woodwind specialist Sean Irvine that blends spoken word, instrumental soundscapes and sung vocals to amplify stories of queer experience.

“As I started becoming a composer, I was thinking about what I had to say,” says Irvine, a musician with a doctorate of jazz performance from the University of Toronto and a master’s in performance and literature from Brandon University.

Under-fire Olympic composer steps down over past bullying

Stock surges and setbacks for the week ending July 16, 2021.

More time at work is not always more productive work

There is a quiet assumption built into many workplaces that more time equals more value.

The employee who answers emails late into the evening is seen as committed. The manager who skips lunch and powers through 12-hour days is admired for their work ethic. The team that keeps stretching to absorb one more vacancy, one more project, one more urgent ask is praised for stepping up.

It feels productive. It looks productive. But often, it is not.

Canada’s productivity conversation has increasingly focused on a simple but important measure: output per hour worked. In other words, what are we actually producing for the time we are putting in?

Israeli election once again up for grabs

The next general election in Israel will be held on Oct. 27. Needless to say, like most elections in the country’s modern and fraught history since 1948, it is a critical contest between right and left, secular and orthodox, and left, moderate, right and extreme.

Also, given Israel’s complex proportional representative political system, which allocates a seat in its 120-seat Knesset (parliament) for winning only 3.25 per cent of the national vote, this election is nearly impossible to predict.

Even before 1948, Israelis’ ardent faith in democracy, their differing points of view and penchant for arguing led to the establishment of a multitude of political parties representing a smorgasbord of almost every conceivable position on the political spectrum.

Because no political party has ever won the 61 seats required to form a majority government, the major parties have frequently had to rely on fringe parties to hold power.