Editorials

Opinion

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine

Canadian politics in throes of a furious fever

Editorial 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

It’s getting pretty ugly out there for an elected official.

Charges pressed this week against a 72-year-old man for allegedly sending St. Johns MLA Nahanni Fontaine threatening, racist letters last summer have brought to light the reality that elected officials — particularly women and members of racialized groups — are facing growing vitriol.

The accused has been charged with criminal harassment and uttering threats, and has been released on an undertaking.

Fontaine, unfortunately, has faced this kind of cruelty before. She told the Free Press that threatening or other unacceptable messages have been sent her way in an “ongoing” fashion, ramping up after the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Russell Wangersky/Free Press A deck of discarded playing cards near College Avenue

Reading the tea leaves of trash

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Reading the tea leaves of trash

Editorial 4 minute read Saturday, Apr. 25, 2026

On McPhillips as on many Winnipeg streets, the spring study begins.

In many archeological digs, you have to remove the topsoil — sometimes, even dig deep into the soil in search of artifacts. Here, you just have to wait for the snow to melt.

It is a rite of spring: the thrill of the discovery of the remains of a near-past civilization, one that dates well back in time, perhaps even to 2025.

The pieces are a puzzle, but as they fit together, you begin to think you can see part of the full puzzle.

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Saturday, Apr. 25, 2026
Postal service’s future looking dim

Postal service’s future looking dim

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Postal service’s future looking dim

Editorial 4 minute read Friday, Apr. 24, 2026

After more than a decade of threats from Ottawa to end door-to-door (D2D) mail delivery, is it finally going to happen?

Prime Minister Mark Carney this month announced that D2D mail service is “not viable,” as Canada Post has started losing, on average, about $10 million a day. In the previous fiscal year, Ottawa was forced to inject $1.57 billion into Canada Post to cover its operating costs.

As a result, Canada Post has announced that an additional 136,000 addresses in 13 communities will lose D2D service this year and rely instead on community mail boxes. (Winnipeg households affected include those with the following postal code prefixes: R2P, R2R, R2V, R2W, R2X, R3E, and R3H.)

At the same time, Ottawa has lifted a moratorium on the closure of about 4,000 rural post offices from communities that have become essentially “urbanized” and thus able to get postal services operated out of private retail stores.

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Friday, Apr. 24, 2026
The Canadian Press files Alberta Premier Danielle Smith

Where did political ethics go?

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Where did political ethics go?

Editorial 4 minute read Thursday, Apr. 23, 2026

Somewhere along the line, politicians have learned that they can lie with impunity. Not just being misleading or dissembling or answering questions evasively, but outright lying.

Lying and cheating used to be disqualifying for politicians — now, it seems to be a new skill.

Perhaps it’s something politicians in Canada are learning from the success of U.S. politicians like President Donald Trump — that if you lie brazenly and repeatedly enough, enough people will believe you to elect you and keep you in office.

More and more, even in Canada, politicians are becoming almost imperial in their use of power — even moving to exercise self-created powers that politicians from earlier times would be ashamed to be caught using.

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Thursday, Apr. 23, 2026
Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew

Despite efforts, homelessness is growing

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Despite efforts, homelessness is growing

Editorial 4 minute read Wednesday, Apr. 22, 2026

It’s often said — particularly in the context of addiction and the long-revered 12-step recovery process — that the first step toward a solution is admitting there’s a problem.

When it comes to the issue of homelessness in Winnipeg and other major urban centres, perhaps a useful second step in formulating a realistic strategy is coming to grips with the reality this isn’t a problem that can be “solved.” Despite lofty political promises and diligent ongoing ground-level efforts by dedicated and passionate individuals and organizations, the simple truth of the matter is the number of unhoused people in Winnipeg continues to grow.

According to the most recent data released by the aspirationally named advocacy group End Homelessness Winnipeg (EHW), the number of people living without stable housing in this city rose to 8,248 in March, an increase of 104 from February’s figure. Of those, more than half — 4,463 in total — fall into the category of chronic homelessness, meaning they were unhoused for at least six months of the past year or have experienced repeated episodes of homelessness over several years.

The word employed by EHW executive director Jennifer Rattray to describe the current situation is “staggering,” indicating a crisis whose magnitude outstrips the current capabilities of the multi-layered homelessness response system.

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Wednesday, Apr. 22, 2026
Patrick Doyle / The Canadian Press Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin

Canada loses credibility on emission reductions

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Canada loses credibility on emission reductions

Editorial 4 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2026

If there were any doubt that Canada is falling behind on climate action, the latest emissions data should put it to rest.

The federal government’s annual greenhouse gas inventory, released with little public attention last week, shows emissions declined by just 0.3 per cent in 2024. That is not a meaningful reduction. It is a stall.

After more than a decade of promises to bend the emissions curve, Canada is barely nudging it. Total emissions now sit at 685 megatonnes — only 10.3 per cent below 2005 levels.

Meanwhile, the country has committed to cutting emissions by 40 to 45 per cent by 2030. Closing that gap would require reducing another 227 megatonnes in six years.

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Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2026
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Premier Wab Kinew

A half-baked idea for affordability

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A half-baked idea for affordability

Editorial 4 minute read Monday, Apr. 20, 2026

Premier Wab Kinew’s plan to remove the provincial sales tax from prepared meals, salads, snacks, candy and soft drinks sold at grocery stores is, by most reasonable measurements, a half-baked idea.

Included in the 2026-27 provincial budget, Kinew claimed the PST exemption was an affordability measure to help Manitoba families deal with the still-rising price of food. Instead, the proposal represents a bad idea introduced by a government that has admitted it does not fully understand the dynamics of retail food.

The intention itself is problematic. Broadly applied “affordability” measures — in other words, ones that are offered to all citizens regardless of income level — rarely help the people who most need it. Removing tax from any retail commodity provides the biggest dividend to those wealthy enough to make bigger and more frequent purchases; those who cannot afford to buy things get no help.

Apart from the concern that it won’t really help the people most ravaged by inflation, another significant problem arises: why is the PST exemption only being offered to items bought at grocery stores?

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Monday, Apr. 20, 2026
The Associated Press Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

The Strait of Hormuz showcases a global issue

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The Strait of Hormuz showcases a global issue

Editorial 4 minute read Saturday, Apr. 18, 2026

The world is learning a painful lesson about the precarity of the energy supply — a supply that millions depend on.

The world breathed a sigh of relief Friday when Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced the Strait of Hormuz is “completely open” for foreign vessels after a blockade which choked some parts of the world of a much-needed oil supply. The strait will remain open for the duration of the 10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, agreed upon by the two countries Thursday.

But by the time the strait was declared open again, panic had already begun to set itn. International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol said Thursday that Europe had “maybe” six weeks of remaining jet fuel amid the blockade of the strait, triggered by conflict between Iran and the U.S.

“…(I)t is going to have major implications for the global economy. And the longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation around the world,” Birol told the Associated Press.

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Saturday, Apr. 18, 2026
The Associated Press U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

Politicians and religion: a bad mix

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Politicians and religion: a bad mix

Editorial 4 minute read Friday, Apr. 17, 2026

Just about the most honest thing you can say about the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is that its members seem to like some parts of Christianity — they just don’t know very much about what it is meant to be.

And maybe that’s at the core of the latest battle between the Trump administration and Pope Leo.

Trump says the Pope is “weak on crime” — well, yes. Pope Leo is long on mercy, short on ordering personal vengeance. That’s … his job.

Trump doesn’t seem to understand the difference between politic roles and religious ones — just like he didn’t understand that sharing a meme on social media that highlighted Trump himself as a Jesus-like figure, tending to the sick, might cause an uproar.

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Friday, Apr. 17, 2026
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Manitoba PC Leader Obby Khan

Non-apology means comments will continue to sting

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Non-apology means comments will continue to sting

Editorial 4 minute read Thursday, Apr. 16, 2026

It seems pretty clear, based on the way events have unfolded over the past couple of weeks, that Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan messed up.

That’s not uncommon in the rough-and-tumble realm of provincial politics; elected representatives are no less inclined to make mistakes than the ordinary folks whose votes allow them to serve in the legislature.

What’s of greater concern is how the leader of the official Opposition has chosen to handle the apparent misstep, opting for a response that is guaranteed to compound its damage rather than contain it.

On March 17, during a particularly combative legislative session — and that’s saying something, given the appalling lack of civility that has become the norm in the Broadway chamber — Khan was accused of directing an offensive remark toward Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara.

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Thursday, Apr. 16, 2026
THE CANADIAN PRESS / Darryl Dyck Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre

Pierre Poilievre’s latest bad day

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Pierre Poilievre’s latest bad day

Editorial 4 minute read Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2026

Monday was a bad day for Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre.

As expected, the Tories went zero for three in Monday’s federal byelections, meaning that the federal Liberals, through a combination of byelection wins and floor-crossings, have managed to turn their minority government into a clear majority.

Zero for three is bad enough, but for the Conservatives, the numbers are actually worse than that.

Byelections are traditionally a great time to register discontent with a sitting government: you can give the current administration a sharp little wake-up call, without necessarily toppling the government as a whole. It’s the perfect time for a protest vote to leave a mark, without causing fatal injury.

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Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2026
The Associated Press U.S. Vice-President JD Vance

A war without goals or successes

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A war without goals or successes

Editorial 4 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2026

The collapse of weekend peace talks between the United States and Iran is less a surprise than a grim confirmation of what many feared from the outset: that this war was launched without a clear, attainable objective.

And it now risks drifting toward an even more dangerous stalemate.

After 21 hours of negotiations in Islamabad, both sides emerged pointing fingers, their positions largely unchanged after 40 days of fighting that cost thousands of lives, shook global markets, destabilized an already volatile region and inflicted significant damage on Iran.

The failure to secure even a modest agreement — with a fragile two-week ceasefire set to expire April 22 — raises a more fundamental question: what, exactly, was the point of this war?

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Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2026
Warner Bros. via AP A scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

A horror movie, starring you and your money

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A horror movie, starring you and your money

Editorial 4 minute read Monday, Apr. 13, 2026

Many of the best horror movies depend on the fear of the unknown.

That strange shape, moving quickly through the trees outside the house. You catch a glimpse, but can’t quite…

Or the subtle changes that the main character finds when they get home — things that aren’t where they put them down. That they know have been moved — drawers left slightly ajar, curtains open when they left them closed, a hatchet that they use for making kindling mysterious gone from the splitting block…

All of it, building a sense of foreboding.

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Monday, Apr. 13, 2026
File/Brandon Sun A Richardson’s ground squirrel.

Ground squirrels and city sports fields

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Ground squirrels and city sports fields

Editorial 4 minute read Saturday, Apr. 11, 2026

Winnipeg has a problem and there doesn’t seem to be a universally acceptable solution.

Granted, that could refer to quite a bit. In this case we refer here to the problem of ground squirrels, the risk they pose on the city’s athletic fields, and what to do about them. As it stands, the ground squirrel population is in for a miserable future: the city began using rodenticides to control the population on Tuesday, using Rozol RTU field rodent bait and RoCon concentrate rodenticide at parks throughout the city.

The reason for the control effort is straightforward. Ground squirrels are burrowing animals, and the holes they dig in the city’s athletic field are a safety hazard for those who use the spaces. The city also said Tuesday it was forced to close fields in recent years because of damage caused by the squirrels.

The Winnipeg Humane Society, Animal Justice (an animal law group) and a University of Manitoba biologist are appealing the city’s provincial permit to carry out the program. They argue the rodenticides being used are unnecessarily cruel to the squirrels — Rozol in particular will result in a slow and agonizing death for ground squirrels exposed to it, argues U of M professor emeritus of biological sciences James Hare.

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Saturday, Apr. 11, 2026
The Associated Press Pope Leo XIV

The Trump administration and the pope

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The Trump administration and the pope

Editorial 4 minute read Friday, Apr. 10, 2026

Among all of the odd and peculiar actions of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration — its starts and stops, its lurches forwards and backwards, its threats of annexations and tariffs and retribution — this has to rank as one of the strangest.

After Pope Leo XIV gave a State of the World speech in January, one that clearly but indirectly chastised the United States, the Trump administration reportedly told the Catholic Church that it had better fall in line.

The pope’s address said, “a diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force,” and “war is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading.”

It should be said that the pope’s analysis is clearly correct, and that, while the United States wasn’t named, the Trump administration’s actions mirror the concerns the pope was raising.

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Friday, Apr. 10, 2026
John Raoux / The Associated Press NASA’s Artemis II moon rocket

Finding hope in space, if not on Earth

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Finding hope in space, if not on Earth

Editorial 4 minute read Thursday, Apr. 9, 2026

As was the case half a century ago when a manned spacecraft first travelled past the moon and then negotiated a precise orbital U-turn en route to a splashdown return to Earth, it’s hard to be anything but awestruck by what is occurring far beyond our planet’s atmosphere this week.

After lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center on April 1, the Artemis II mission — NASA’s long-awaited rekindling of humankind’s space-exploration ambitions — carried a four-person crew of astronauts 406,771 kilometres from Earth, the farthest anyone has travelled into space. The previous mark was 400,171 km, achieved by Apollo 13 in 1970.

(The mission’s name is, as before, inspired by mythology, with Artemis being the ancient Greek goddess of the moon and twin sister to Apollo, the namesake of the earlier NASA program that first landed humans on the lunar surface.)

During Monday’s lunar fly-by, which included 40 minutes of radio silence as the Orion space capsule carved its sweeping arc around the far side of the moon, the spacecraft got as close as 6,550 km from the surface, allowing crew members to capture stunning images of the lunar landscape, as well as pictures of a full solar eclipse and a breathtaking “Earth rise” as their home planet came back into view.

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Thursday, Apr. 9, 2026

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