Highlights of the Manitoba government’s annual speech from the throne

‘Women were shortchanged.’ Why bobsledding’s idea of equality doesn’t add up

When female bobsledders pushed for an Olympic four-woman event, they got a solo discipline instead: monobob. Now they’ll race for the same number of medals as men, but with fewer sledders. Not the progress they were looking for.

City rec facilities crumbling

Throughout Winnipeg, decades-old community assets — pools, arenas and recreation and leisure centres — are deteriorating so quickly that service disruptions are inevitable.

Meanwhile, the city’s community services department, which is responsible for managing those assets, operates with an annual deficit of roughly $80 million, meaning there are scant resources to do little more than bail water on a sinking ship.

Soon, Winnipeggers will have a choice: fewer community services or higher costs.

“It poses a huge challenge because we have very limited dollars that we have to invest in our existing facilities. We also have growing demands for new amenities in new areas. We have to be very strategic,” said Ken McKim, manager of asset management for the department.

Longtime councillor Eadie ‘knew it was going to be close,’ but expected to finish on top in Mynarski

Ross Eadie knew his re-election bid would be close, but he didn’t anticipate losing in the neighbourhoods where he grew up.

The 16-year Mynarski councillor, who was defeated Wednesday by political newcomer Natalie Smith, said Thursday the result was difficult to accept because some of his strongest losses were in Luxton, St. John’s Park and surrounding neighbourhoods.

“I knew it was going to be close,” Eadie said. “But I thought it was going to be close with me in first place.”

“I really lost it where I live. So that’s the worst part of it.”

Two government bills left on table as NDP ends third year of term

Year 3 of the NDP government’s four-year mandate ended Thursday with more than 50 bills expected to become law and two that didn’t make it to the finish line.

“We’re on the final stages of passing 52 amazing bills,” government house leader Nahanni Fontaine said after the final question period of the 43rd legislature.

Most were passed before the house rose for the summer break, including getting rid of the provincial sales tax on pop, chips and packaged foods that took effect July 1. A handful of health-care bills that aim to restrict mandatory overtime, create a patient safety charter, establish nurse-to-patient ratios and do away with sick-note requirements for employees — unless they miss more than seven consecutive days or 10 in a year — were also passed.

Under rules of the legislature, the Progressive Conservatives held back three government bills until the fall session to allow for further debate before passage by the NDP majority Thursday. The most contentious was Bill 13, the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act, that aims to strengthen renter protections and increase maximum fines for landlords in breach of the act.

Carrying a torch for tiki

A paper tiki mask is the only indication that the door it’s affixed to leads somewhere other than a dive bar. Ring the doorbell and walk through the kitchen, however, and you’ll be transported to an island-themed lounge that’s equal parts kitschy and comfortable.

“This is just from people’s houses, like my mom’s,” says Allan Pineda, pointing to the wood carvings, water-buffalo horns and rattan furniture decorating the room. “A lot of the stuff you see in here, you’d see in a Filipino’s house back in the day — like second-wave immigrants in the ‘60s and ‘70s, they’d bring this stuff home (from the Philippines).”

Pineda is a local chef and part of the team behind the Bahay Kubo Tiki Bar, a pop-up Filipino drinking and dining experience hosted weekly at an undisclosed Winnipeg establishment.

The details are hush-hush because the temporary eatery is meant to operate like a speakeasy. The dinners are an offshoot of Baon Manila Nights, which Pineda started as a way to highlight Winnipeg’s Filipino culinary scene.

Multi-year budget to force councillors, bureaucrats to focus on the big picture

City hall is putting the final touches on the 2019 preliminary budget -- but the real tough job will start after that.

The city is committed to developing a four-year budget beginning with 2020, and having it in place by the end of this year.

It's a process that is filled with uncertainties, trying to balance four successive annual budgets at the same time, using assumptions on revenues and expenses that can change without notice: a provincial government that has frozen funding to city hall at 2016 levels and is reluctant to disclose annual funding commitments or share in unexpected revenues; erratic fuel prices; a possible change in government in Ottawa, which could bring new spending priorities. And in the middle of that four-year span, another civic election where new members of council may have other priorities than those laid out by the current crop of office holders.

Municipal governments across Manitoba are required to approve their annual operating and capital budgets by the end of March each year. But the criticism of decision-making at city hall has been that all the decisions are made on a year-to-year basis, keeping voters happy with an eye on the next election.