Say goodbye to the humbugs

Like Selinger before him, Pallister digs a hole the party may not escape

Premier Brian Pallister has officially entered "the Selinger zone."

Students of recent Manitoba political history will remember, in 2014 and 2015, there was an active campaign within the NDP to force premier Greg Selinger to step down. Selinger ultimately retained his leadership, but he and his party were never the same.

That was abundantly clear in December 2015, with a provincial election just a few months away, when a poll done by Probe Research and the Free Press showed the Pallister-led Tories with 43 per cent support, followed by Rana Bokhari's Liberals at 29 per cent, and Selinger's NDP at a lowly 22 per cent.

Not surprisingly, the NDP was decimated in the April 2016 election, going from 37 seats to just 14. The PCs won one of the largest majorities in the province's history.

Cold comfort, creative fire on Winnipeg winter set

When the movie production team for the Universal Studios release Violent Night showed up in Winnipeg around this time last winter, it brought 42-year-old Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola to the project, and it must be said, rarely has a director been so seemingly perfect for this kind of movie.

For Harris, memories of mother guide bid for vice-president

NEW YORK - Speaking from the Senate floor for the first time, Kamala Harris expressed gratitude for a woman on whose shoulders she said she stood. In her autobiography, Harris interspersed the well-worn details of her resume with an extended ode to the one she calls “the reason for everything.” And taking the stage to announce her presidential candidacy , she framed it as a race grounded in the compassion and values of the person she credits for her fighting spirit.

Though more than a decade has passed since Shyamala Gopalan died, she remains a force in her daughter’s life as she takes a historic spot on the Democratic ticket besides former Vice-President Joe Biden. Those who know the California senator expect her campaign for the vice presidency to bring repeated mentions of the woman she calls her single greatest influence.

“She’s always told the same story,” said friend Mimi Silbert. “Kamala had one important role model, and it was her mother.”

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Planting the seeds for a better growing season

After experiencing the worst drought in 70 years on the Prairies, the annual meeting of Keystone Agricultural Producers served both as a debrief on the rough experience many Manitoba producers faced last year and a chance to set the stage for the year ahead.

KAP’s annual meeting is typically the first major agricultural event of the year and Manitoba’s new agriculture minister, Derek Johnson, took the opportunity to speak (virtually) to KAP’s membership for the first time.

He was able to announce record levels of AgriInsurance coverage for 2022 which is expected to exceed $4.66 billion.

With the expectation that commodity prices will remain strong, average coverage is estimated at $463 per acre, compared to $321 per acre in 2021.

New Indigenous reconciliation minister delivers disastrous debut

Premier Brian Pallister’s attempt to quell a firestorm over Manitoba’s history with Indigenous people backfired Thursday, when the new minister he’d just appointed to steer reconciliation suggested residential schools were started with good intentions.

The comments came just moments into the job, prompting the Opposition leader to interrupt a press conference Thursday morning.

Now, Indigenous leaders are declining phone calls and demanding apologies.

“The residential school system was designed to take Indigenous children and give them the skills and abilities they would need to fit into society as it moved forward,” Selkirk MLA Alan Lagimodiere told reporters shortly after being sworn in as minister of Indigenous reconciliation and northern relations.

Petan looking for a job; Jets may have opening

Is this the season Nic Petan earns a full-time gig with the Winnipeg Jets?

The 23-year-old from Delta, B.C., boasts an impressive "previous employment" section on his hockey resume: high-scoring centre in the Western Hockey League; gold medallist with Team Canada at the 2015 world junior hockey championship; and point-a-game performer in the American Hockey League.

Yet, he hasn't found a permanent spot on the NHL club's roster, five years after the Jets selected him in the second round (43rd overall) of the 2013 NHL draft.

Gone from the landscape are centres Paul Stastny and Matt Hendricks and wingers Joel Armia and Shawn Matthias, meaning at least a couple of job openings up front are available.