Three patients dead: Edmonton hospital declares full COVID-19 outbreak

Other options are closer

Every Winnipeg driver learns this lesson eventually: keep your eyes on the horizon too long and the pothole gets you. Manitoba’s energy debate has the same problem. We keep looking far down the road for the next big project and missing what’s close at hand.

Scott Forbes (Time for 21st-century leadership at MB Hydro, Think Tank, Sept. 24) makes a strong case for more wind and storage. But much of this debate is still measured in thousands of megawatts, generated far from where the power is used.

The more immediate opportunity is close to home.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew recently rejected a proposed AI data centre near Winnipeg, citing concerns over water use, noise, and a perceived lack of public benefit.

The instinct to protect communities from unwanted development is understandable. But when the objections collapse under scrutiny, and when the stakes include Canada’s standing in the global AI economy, the decision deserves a harder look.

Critics of data centres frequently invoke water consumption, and there is genuine nuance worth discussing.

Large facilities do use water for evaporative cooling. But comparison matters. A typical 18-hole golf course uses approximately 300,000 gallons of water per day during summer months.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My side-by-side duplex neighbour sings loud, horrible duets with his girlfriend. She sings in a screechy soprano, and he bangs on the piano, and attempts to “harmonize” with her.

It’s just painful. We can hear them clearly through our cheap walls. For some reason, they get inspired late at night. Then they can go for up to an hour “singing” together. It’s endless when you’re trying to go to sleep and have to work in the morning. We figure they must be hitting the bottle.

I end up having to bang on the wall and swear at the top of my lungs to shut them up. Last night the guy banged back, and yelled through the wall, “What’s your problem, you idiot? Why don’t you come over here!”

Should I go see them? My girlfriend wants me to shut down their singing for good, no matter what it takes.