Report: Mandatory Olympic app has serious security flaws

Endorsements build up mayoral candidates’ profiles

With just over a week until election day, high-profile endorsements are rolling in for Winnipeg’s top mayoral candidates in what political observers say is another way to sway undecided voters.

Remove barriers, coalition says

Game on.

Just two weeks after city council approved a referendum on whether to open Winnipeg’s landmark intersection, an official ‘Yes’ campaign in support of tearing down the barriers has formed.

A coalition of downtown business and land owners, planners, architects and advertising and marketing firms — with the support of organizations such as the Exchange District and Downtown BIZ organizations — has taken up the challenge to defend Mayor Brian Bowman’s vision of a barrier-free Portage and Main.

Organizers said the campaign in favour of re-opening the intersection will be funded by an online crowd-sourcing campaign and will open a storefront headquarters in the shadow of the historic intersection. Lawn signs, promotional videos and mass mail will all be part of the drive to remove pedestrian barriers once and for all.

FIFA president overshadowing the good of the game

There is a big London Derby on Sunday (Arsenal-Chelsea), and the weekend schedule also features marquee matches in Turkey (Feherbahce-Besiktas) and the Netherlands (Ajax-PSV Eindhoven), as well as a showdown between the Italian teams with the last four Scudetti between them (Inter Milan-Napoli).

Then there’s the Under-20 Women’s World Cup, which is set to kick off in Poland (Canada plays England on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.).

And yet, clouding it all — and the world of football is a massive thing to overshadow — is the figure of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who suddenly finds himself facing a protracted legal battle over his scheme to sell off the World Cup’s commercial rights.

Specifically, UEFA — the sport’s governing body in Europe — is “preparing to bring criminal claims in Switzerland against Infantino…for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code.” So reads its recent filing in a Florida court.

Endometriosis painful, lack of research shameful

In late 2023, I spent a few weeks in the dark days of winter talking to women about their experiences with endometriosis for a reported feature. I listened as they told me about the labyrinthian, sometimes decades-long quest to get a diagnosis. They told me about being gaslit and dismissed by doctors. One told me about having to get surgery abroad and pay for it out of pocket.

I listened as they raged and cried.

Through my reporting, I learned the cruel facts of this disease.

That endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease in which tissue that looks and behaves similarly to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus.

No end in sight to Ottawa’s pandemic spending

A crucial caveat expected in Monday's fiscal statement from Ottawa failed to manifest: there is no end in sight to federal spending amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Canada stares down a nearly $400-billion, record-high deficit for 2020, the Liberal government plans to spend up to $100 billion over the next three years, along with a further $25.1 billion in immediate measures to support workers and businesses affected by the novel coronavirus.

That's not all.

In a long-awaited speech from the House of Commons, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland did not provide a spending cap to draw any red lines around the limit to which the feds will continue funnelling toward an economic recovery she acknowledged is still well-off the horizon.

Canadian labour market still tight as economy sees slight bump in employment

OTTAWA - After sustaining three consecutive months of job losses and propelling fears of an economic slowdown, the Canadian economy posted a modest bump in employment in September, suggesting the labour market is still exceptionally tight.

The unemployment rate for the month fell to 5.2 per cent as fewer people looked for work, down from 5.4 per cent in August, Statistics Canada reported in its labour force survey released on Friday. Meanwhile,the economy added 21,000 jobs.

Economists say the latest jobs report shows employers are still eager to hire, and wages are growing accordingly.

The report showed wages were up by 5.2 per cent in September compared with a year ago, with the average hourly wage at $31.67. It marked the fourth straight month of five per cent or higher wage growth, but still falls short of the rate of inflation.