Refugee recalls Syrian torture

Prairie opportunists are knocking and prime minister should answer the door

In preparation for Halloween, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe have spent an inordinate amount of time rattling their chains and howling like indignant spirits about the raw deal they are getting from the rest of the country.

In the wake of a federal election in which the governing Liberals failed to elect a MP in either province, Kenney and Moe are summoning apocalyptic visions of secession. We've heard a lot of that before but Western separatists, inspired by the Alberta and Saskatchewan first ministers, are warning everyone that this time it's serious.

Now, before anyone gets too spooked, it's important to remember that a good politician is — first and foremost — an opportunist. These are the folks with the pure political instinct to recognize a moment in which they can gain the upper hand and then seize on it like a ravenous dog on a bone. Imagine that, and you'll have a pretty clear picture of what Kenney and Moe are up to.

In short, the two premiers want two big-ticket items from Ottawa.

Cab driver dies in suspected hit and run

An official with a Winnipeg cab company said one of its drivers died in a collision on Salter Street Wednesday morning.

“It looks like it was a T-bone accident,” said Ram Valluru, general manager of Duffy’s Taxi, about the 6:30 a.m. collision between the cabbie and another vehicle. Traffic was redirected between Aberdeen and Redwood streets for several hours as police investigated.

He said his driver, a man in his late 40s, has a wife and two teenage children. His death has saddened his co-workers.

“I visited their house today to pass along my condolences,” Valluru said. “I know him very well, this driver.”

The landscape that taught us to see

The white pine stood at the edge of the lake, leaning out over the water, its branches bent by years of wind and weather. Beyond it stretched an expanse of blue water beneath a clear sky, a distant tree line and other pines rising along the rocky shoreline. From the deck above, the landscape seemed both expansive and remarkably still.

I had been looking at it for only a few moments when Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven entered the picture. Not literally, of course. But once the association appeared, I could not unsee it. The pine became The Jack Pine and The West Wind. The surrounding rocks, water and sky called up A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, Franklin Carmichael and Lawren Harris. A landscape I had been looking at all weekend suddenly became part of a visual history Canadians have carried with them for more than a century.

Perhaps that is the Group of Seven’s greatest achievement. They did not simply paint the Canadian landscape. They changed the way we see it.

I was at the lake for a quiet weekend, reflecting on the cultural, community and development projects that occupy much of my work through Civic Muse. Increasingly, I see these pursuits as part of the same conversation — place and identity, how we understand it, care for it and decide what is worth carrying forward.

Winnipeg Comiccon to feature Terminator 2 villain, Stargate cast

You gotta ask the question.

In Robert Patrick’s five-decade career, the 67-year-old actor — who’s in town for this weekend’s Winnipeg Comiccon — has played a gambling addict (The Sopranos), a racist (Peacemaker), a terrorist (Die Hard 2), a bereaved father (The X Files) and dozens of other memorable American TV and film parts.

Sometimes weak, though more often, bold and intimidating characters — but, in any case, real men, with emotional ranges well beyond the robot he’s most famous for playing, namely Terminator 2: Judgment Day’s T-1000, a visual paradox of blob and blades whose only mission is to kill a teenage John Connor.

Still, the people want to know: what does Hollywood’s most iconic machine villain make of today’s AI boom?

2026 Winnipeg election results: Mayor and council

Complete results for the 2022 election races for Winnipeg mayor and city councillors.

NDP introduces last-minute rent-hike bill, Tories say it will cause administrative nightmare

A day before the legislative session ends, the NDP government introduced a bill to ensure landlords can’t charge tenants backpay for approved above-guideline rent increases.

Bill 59, the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act (2), would prohibit a landlord who has applied for a rent increase above the maximum permitted by regulation from charging tenants the new rate until it is approved.

Premier Wab Kinew announced earlier this month that renters would not have to pay the increases until the provincial Residential Tenancies Branch hears landlords’ arguments and issues its decisions.

“We recently passed legislation in the house to make sure life will be more affordable,” Kinew said at a news conference on Oct. 20, referring to a new rent bill introduced in March and expected to become law before the session ends on Oct. 29. He was flanked by Winnipeg tenants facing rent increases of more than 50 per cent.