China expands lockdowns as COVID-19 cases hit daily record

Gillingham celebrates ‘stronger’ support, plans to meet with new councillors

Mayor Scott Gillingham was greeted with cheers and hugs from staff at city hall Thursday morning after he won his second term as mayor the night before.

Gillingham, who won with 39.82 per cent of the vote, said he’s taking that percentage as a win, describing it as a 50 per cent increase from 2022, when he won with just over 27 per cent of the vote.

“I see this as progress, especially in a time where we see across Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia in the last seven days, many incumbent mayors, many incumbent councillors lost their seats,” he told reporters from city hall Thursday morning.

“There is more work to do for sure, but I take this as a much stronger mandate that I had in 2022.”

‘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.

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.

Meteorologist behind Rob’s Obs is moving weather station to Ontario

In a Winnipeg winter, there are always at least two certainties: it will be cold, and it will snow. A third certainty: the people will talk endlessly about how frigid the temperature is, and argue about how much snow is cloaking their driveways. Is it colder than it ever has been? Is there more snow today than the same time last year?

Rob Paola likely knows the answers to those questions.

Paola possesses no super powers. He is but a man with a metre stick and 40 years of professional meteorological experience, in the midst of a lifelong love affair with Mother Nature, a most turbulent mistress who rarely, if ever, reciprocates.

Each year when snow begins to fall, Paola heads outside his Charleswood home to figure out how much. He sticks his ruler in the ground, grabs his clipboard, and clicks his pen. In neat script, he records the temperature, what time precipitation began, how deep the powder is stacked. Then, he shares his data and insights online with thousands of followers who want a clear answer to the eternal questions: Why is this happening? When will it stop? How much snow has fallen in the city of Winnipeg?

Director Schrader returns to silver screen with complex view of religion and belief

Bleak, wintry and rigorously controlled — until it’s not — this Book of Job-like drama from American filmmaker Paul Schrader looks at the challenges of faith.

The 71-year-old Schrader, known for scripting four Martin Scorsese films (including Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) and for directing his own (including American Gigolo, Affliction and Auto Focus), grew up in a strict Calvinist home — he famously did not see a film until he was 17 — and has always been drawn to stories of agonizing and uncertain redemption.

As the Rev. Toller (Ethan Hawke) wrestles with what it means to lead a righteous life in our badly broken world, his spiritual fate remains in doubt. It is certain, however, that First Reformed marks a cinematic rebirth for Schrader after recent disasters like The Canyons and Dog Eat Dog. Serious, complex and moving, this is not a perfect film, but even its flaws are powerful.

Toller is a solitary man who has come to the ministry late in life, after a family tragedy and a failed marriage. First Reformed, a historic church in upstate New York that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad, has since been reduced to an austerely beautiful tourist shop, more of a museum than a place of worship.

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.