Kenney worried layoffs coming as oil and gas sector struggles with coronavirus

TV that makes the cut

Ambition is a great motivator in fields as diverse as professional boxing, high-school dance team, photography, animal wrangling and even — stay with me here — bank robbery and alien-summoning?

Sure, some of these are more relatable than others, but the solutions, and the series and movie that contain them, are intriguing. Press play to become a better you.

● The Greatest (docudrama series premières Wednesday, Nov. 4 on Prime Video)

This dramatization of the life of acclaimed boxer and activist Muhammad Ali is billed as the first authorized scripted series on the subject. Its executive producers include his widow, Lonnie Ali, as well as serious name brands Jay-Z and Michael B. Jordan. Newcomer Jaalen Best plays the title role, supported by Giovanni Ribisi (American Hostage) playing Angelo Dundee and Michael Ealy (The Following) as Malcolm X.

Gilles, Poirier hope winding road leads to podium

What deals should GM Kyle Dubas be looking for? Is the team tough enough?

Tools, technology required to retain doctors

Manitoba has made some encouraging progress in addressing its doctor shortage. But attracting more physicians to the province will accomplish only so much if the health-care system can’t give them the tools, technology and working conditions they need to do their jobs.

A new report from Doctors Manitoba suggests the province is making progress in growing its physician workforce. But serious gaps remain.

The organization’s annual Physicians in Manitoba report contains some welcome news. The province now has a record number of physicians practising here, with 235 doctors per 100,000 residents. That’s getting closer to the national average of 245.

The overall physician shortage has also been cut nearly in half from its peak three years ago, when Manitoba needed 445 additional doctors to reach the national average. It now needs 229.

We don’t vote like our lives depend on it

There’s an old saw — we get the government we deserve. It assumes active participation in our elections, full and fair media coverage from which voters can learn and a set of viable, capable candidates from which we can choose.

Arguably, those conditions did not apply this time around in Winnipeg. Our voter turnout was just 38 per cent and Mayor Scott Gillingham’s victory came from just 15 per cent of Winnipeg’s eligible voters. Two supposedly serious competitors embroiled themselves — by choice — in juvenile mudslinging and offered scattered, chaotic policy platforms.

A fourth contender surged from behind in the closing weeks of the campaign — and Noah Redden had spent most of the campaign being thought of as one of the pack of gadflies that emerge to run every time there’s a mayoralty campaign here. Yet he virtually tied Kevin Klein for second place. Had Redden been treated during the campaign as a viable candidate (he was the only one to publish online a detailed, thought-through policy platform), who knows what would have happened?

Absorb those facts.

With the start of 2022 comes a new framework for Manitoba’s real estate industry

New year, new rules for Manitoba real estate.

On Jan. 1, the Real Estate Services Act came into effect in the province, bringing with it an updated regulatory framework for the local industry to follow, along with some key changes for parties on either side of a real estate transaction.

One of the most notable changes to consumers is likely the introduction of a service agreement requirement: any buyers, sellers, or renters of residential or commercial properties are now required to sign such an agreement with a realtor prior to any services being rendered. But there are other moves that will impact real estate business moving forward.

The regulatory Manitoba Securities Commission’s real estate division consulted with industry groups such as the Manitoba Real Estate Association in drafting the legislation, which replaces the Real Estate Brokers Act, and which the commission’s website says “reflects the changing face” of the provincial real estate landscape.