Manitoba has long told itself a comforting story about abundant clean electricity. For generations, hydroelectric power flowing through northern rivers has powered homes, farms and industry while giving the province one of the cleanest electricity systems in North America.

It remains a remarkable achievement. But climate change, rising electricity demand and growing affordability pressures are quietly rewriting that story.

Across Canada, provinces are beginning to rethink their electricity futures. Ontario is moving ahead with construction of what is expected to be the first grid-scale small modular reactor in the G7. Saskatchewan is preparing for potential deployment in the early 2030s. Meanwhile, proposals like StarCore’s concept near Pinawa are beginning to push the nuclear conversation into our public debate.

Manitoba itself has not made nuclear part of its near-term energy plan. Manitoba Hydro’s 2025 Integrated Resource Plan suggests the province could require new electricity supply by around 2030 as demand grows and existing capacity tightens.

As Manitoba prepares to release a budget focused on health care, patient safety and nurse-to-patient ratios, the death of Stacey Ross remains a sobering backdrop. A woman who believed she was having a heart attack waited 11 hours in the emergency department of St. Boniface Hospital, the province’s only tertiary cardiac centre. Her family has called for a public inquiry. The province is considering an external review.

Those responses are appropriate. But if this moment is to produce meaningful reform, the conversation must extend beyond a single tragic case. It must examine how specialized cardiac care is organized in Manitoba and where ultimate responsibility resides.

St. Boniface functions, in practice, as Manitoba’s heart hospital. It is the only centre providing tertiary cardiac services for the province. Yet it does not operate under a clearly defined provincial program mandate in the way CancerCare Manitoba does for oncology. That distinction is not symbolic. A formal provincial mandate aligns authority, funding and accountability for outcomes in one place.

Cardiac care in Manitoba spans multiple layers. The provincial government sets policy and funding parameters. Shared Health carries province-wide service responsibilities. The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority oversees regional delivery. St. Boniface provides specialized cardiac infrastructure and clinical expertise.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My wife and her girlfriends got into some serious betting during the Winter Olympics, and they had so much fun, they carried the betting over into the Paralympics.

At first, it was a kick to see the girls having fun, until I found out they started betting more and more money as the days wore on.

Unfortunately, my wife lost a lot by getting over-excited about early wins and then over-betting on later gambles and losing big time.

I must admit I encouraged her to get into sports betting because she had never appreciated the fun I had with my friends doing it. But I just found out my wife ended up losing amounts into the hundreds of dollars on single races. There may be more lost money she hasn’t admitted to yet.

Premier Wab Kinew has been coyly and cleverly dancing around building new infrastructure in Hudson Bay so oil and gas guys can profit. The purported leaders suggesting we ship LNG out of Churchill are publicly sacrificing their values for a big oil pipe dream.

In Manitoba’s coming budget, we’ll see how far gone to the dark side our elected officials are.

Putting fossil fuel exports through Hudson Bay would be a catastrophe. We’re experiencing pain and horror around the world right now from reliance on big oil, and it’s sickening to see war as a rationale for increasing our fossil fuel addiction. Shipping fossil fuels seems to be the only thing CEOs and premiers in Alberta think about, but we don’t have to fall for the con.

Kinew having private conversations with Shell is supposed to be fine because they’re “just friends,” but everyone knows fossil fuels are a losing game that’s deadly to perpetuate.

In 2019, a group of concerned Winnipeggers came together to form Safe Speeds Winnipeg, a grassroots effort dedicated to making our streets safer by lowering the default speed limit in Winnipeg to 30 km/h.

One of our founding members, Dave Elmore, has written recently about how safer speeds make it easier and far more inviting for people, especially children, to move through their neighbourhoods with confidence.

As a parent, a teacher, and a community leader, I wholeheartedly agree that getting more kids walking and biking to school is one of the simplest, most meaningful ways we can support their mental and physical wellbeing. And it isn’t just children who benefit; pedestrian fatality rates rise sharply with age, and seniors 70 and older are the most at risk, underscoring how vital safer speeds are for all members of our community.

Last week, the City of Winnipeg released its long-awaited report on lowering speeds in our communities. It recommends establishing a default 40 km/h speed limit wherever no other speed limit is posted. While 40 km/h is still not truly a safe speed for residential streets, it represents an important step in the right direction.