COVID-19 by the numbers By: Winnipeg Free Press Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2020 Last Modified: 5:08 PM CDT Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022 Updates

Blue is the new black

Consumers can expect Pantone’s selection of Classic Blue as its colour of the year for 2020 to influence everything from interior paint colour to fabrics for cushion covers and bedspreads as well as fashion and accessories. But will the colour of the year announcement affect your plant choices? The 2019 colour of the year was Living Coral, a warm pink orange. I can safely say Living Coral had little influence on my plant purchases. The colour blue in the garden, however, has immense appeal to gardeners on many levels.

Blue is considered a cool colour and can be effectively used in the garden to create a perception of spaciousness. When blue plants are combined with mauve and grey plants, visually the plants appear to recede into the border. A background of blue-flowered plants — say, for example, Blue Boy clematis or Veronicastrum virginicum Culver’s Root — draws our eye upward toward the sky making a small space feel light and airy.

In announcing the Pantone colour selection for 2020, Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, said that Classic Blue provides an anchoring foundation and lends itself to relaxed interaction. Nicole Bent, co-owner of Shelmerdine Garden Centre, concurs and says that using colour combinations of blue, gray, purple, indigo, even black, give a garden space a sense of stability and calm. Shelmerdine will offer a tempting array of plants this spring with captivating blue tones.

Deanne Cram, greenhouse manager at Shelmerdine, says a blue-flowered must-have perennial is Amsonia. Commonly known as blue star, Amsonia tabernaemontana pushes up green shoots from the soil in spring that by late June are fully adorned with round clusters of light periwinkle blue star-shaped flowers.

A look at the road ahead for the Conservatives

OTTAWA - A convoy of protesters against COVID-19 restrictions that has settled into downtown Ottawa has provided a test for the Conservative party as it rolls into a leadership race.

"I spent the week undergoing the siege of Ottawa," Quebec Tory MP Pierre Paul-Hus said Friday on Twitter.

"If the motivation of truckers could be understood, the current situation is quite different," he added. "I ask that we clear the streets and that we stop this occupation controlled by radicals and anarchist groups."

Ontario Conservative MP Dean Allison replied that while he respects his colleague, he strongly disagrees.

Kennedy 'disturbed' by Hockey Canada revelations

Sheldon Kennedy tuned in as Hockey Canada executives faced question after pointed question.

Tom Renney and Scott Smith were getting grilled by parliamentarians in Ottawa about the organization's handling of an alleged sexual assault involving eight players and a subsequent out-of-court settlement.

A voice for victims following his own experience being abused by then-coach Graham James in junior hockey, Kennedy had a similar reaction when the sexual assault story involving former Chicago Blackhawks prospect Kyle Beach broke last fall as he watched the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage meeting unfold.

"An archaic response to a human issue," Kennedy said Tuesday in a phone interview with The Canadian Press. "There is an expectation that there's transparency when something like this happens.

No looking back before playoffs

That brutal recent implosion against the New York Islanders that turned certain victory into a devastating defeat? It doesn’t matter anymore.

Eight other games where third-period leads ended up as losses? Forget about them.

Going 0-for-5, all in rather painful fashion, to their inferior hockey neighbours in Minnesota? Who cares.

Patrik Laine’s extended scoring slumps? A penchant for taking bad penalties and being unable to kill them off? Costly defensive zone turnovers? Out of sight, out of mind. All of it.

COVID-19 by the numbers in Manitoba and across Canada

The Winnipeg Free Press is tracking the number and results of COVID-19 testing in Manitoba, as reported by the provincial government. Compare Manitoba's status to other provinces.

Manitobans on hook for $40M in unpaid medical bills racked up by non-Canadians

Non-Canadians have stiffed Manitoba’s health-care system for $40 million in the last five years.

Shared Health averaged about $7.9 million in losses each fiscal year between 2020 and 2025. The figures were released via a freedom of information request that was submitted by SecondStreet.org, an Alberta-based think tank.

“The big picture in Canada is that we have a system that’s in crisis from coast to coast, and if these dollars had been spent on helping Canadians with health care, then that could ease some of the pressure on the system.” said Colin Craig, president of SecondStreet.org, on Tuesday.

“Canadian taxpayers are spending millions of dollars on health-care services for people who don’t even live in Canada.”