No rest for Elmwood voters

The last couple of years have brought quite a political whirlwind to residents of Elmwood. Multiple federal, provincial, and municipal elections have taken place, accompanied by the standard door-knocking and campaign literature drops.

In October 2023, after months of canvassing, the Manitoba provincial election was held. Jim Maloway was once again elected the member of the legislative assembly for Elmwood while Matt Wiebe was elected MLA for the adjacent Concordia district.

Then, at the end of February 2024, Elmwood-Transcona member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned to take a position advising Manitoba premier Wab Kinew on intergovernmental affairs.

On Sept.16, 2024, after months of campaigning, New Democrat Leila Dance was elected to succeed Blaikie as Elmwood-Transcona MP. Dance served for several months but was defeated by Conservative Colin Reynolds in the general federal of April 28, 2025

2025: The year in local sports

Lizzie Lanes provides bowling fun for Windsor Park

Almost 10 years after its predecessor, Windsor Lanes, closed its doors for good, Lizzie Lanes bowling alley opened a revamped version of the space at 678 Elizabeth Rd. in Windsor Park in December 2024. The beginning of 2025 was a strike for the business, as the surrounding community took to the new lanes with stride.

“It’s been really great,” said Jodie Patrick, who co-owns the space with her husband, Jeffrey, early in the year.

Alongside bowling, Lizzie Lanes was, for a time, the home base of the Winnipeg Cribbage Group, organized by Lyndon Demers. It also has a stage and space for people to lounge and connect with their neighbours.

2025: A year in review

January: St. Vital teen accomplishes goal of riding every single city bus route

On Jan. 4, 15-year-old south St. Vital resident Asher Kunkel reached a personal milestone when — joined by his mother, Tamara, father Jeremy, and younger brother Tobias — he completed his quest to ride every single bus route on the (former) Winnipeg Transit system.

Jeremy said Asher “began to exercise his fascination with Winnipeg Transit” in September 2022, when he began exploring different bus routes across the city — on his own, just for fun. This included travelling to the newest and oldest stops in the city, and the furthest stops to the north, east, south, and west, as well as visiting all the streets with “Ash” in their name.

“That day (Jan. 4) meant I’d ridden every single route, all 90 of them, every single one,” said Asher, noting he’s had a love of geography and maps for some time. “It felt very good. It was a good achievement.”

Investing in Winnipeg South

We are living through challenging times — that’s something I hear every day from families, seniors, and small business owners across Winnipeg South. Budget 2025 responds with a focused plan to build a strong economy, diversify our trade, support the cost of living, and protect the essential services Canadians rely on.

A major theme of this year’s budget, introduced in the House of Commons in November, is growing an economy that works for everyone. That includes investing in projects that strengthen trade and open new opportunities for prairie exporters. For Manitoba, this means advancing the Port of Churchill — a northern gateway with enormous potential to expand our access to global markets and support long-term economic growth.

Budget 2025 also delivers meaningful measures to ease cost-of-living pressures. This includes the previously announced middle-class tax cut, new investments to build more housing, and targeted supports to help families with everyday expenses.

At the same time, the budget makes significant investments in community infrastructure and transportation networks. These improvements will strengthen neighbourhoods across Winnipeg and support a more connected, more competitive Prairie economy.

Keep children safe from drug consumption sites

The Government of Manitoba is considering opening a supervised drug consumption site in Winnipeg less than 200 metres from a local park. For many families, this proposal is deeply troubling. Parks should be places of safety, recreation, and community life. Parents should not have to worry about discarded needles, drug paraphernalia, or unpredictable behaviour linked to nearby drug use in areas where their children play.

Winnipeggers do not need to imagine what the area around these taxpayer-funded drug consumption sites could look like. In cities across Canada, residents and business owners have consistently described the same patterns emerging around them – open drug use spilling into surrounding streets, loitering and disorder, visible intoxication, and hazardous debris in public spaces. These conditions do not remain neatly contained within the walls of a facility – they affect entire neighbourhoods.

Here in Winnipeg, the challenges facing our downtown are already highly visible. Homelessness, addiction and public disorder are frequent concerns raised by families, seniors, and local businesses.

I hear these concerns regularly from constituents. Adding a supervised drug consumption site near a park risks intensifying those problems, not alleviating them, particularly for nearby residents and children.

‘Enjoy this time’

Dreyson Frazer is a 15-year-old Grade 10 French immersion student at Collège Beliveau.

He loves playing sports, and loves soccer the most.

“I play soccer for Bonivital Soccer Club. This year I will be playing at the U16 Premier level. I’m primarily focused on soccer because I’m most passionate about soccer. I have played school basketball and volleyball in past years, but last year committed fully to soccer,” Dreyson said.

“I love soccer because it allows me to participate in team sports, and I like how it tests my physical abilities as well as my technical skills. Being part of the soccer community is something I really value. My coaches at Bonivital are very supportive and are always encouraging us to try harder and challenge ourselves.

Taking care of both ends of your pet

Most customers come into my store looking for options and advice on what to put into the front of their pets, but that’s not the only end of a pet people seek advice about.

One of the least fun and most odiferous topics we deal with are the anal glands of dogs. Most dogs have no issues, but when they stop working properly, you know about it.

The most obvious sign of issues is “butt scooting. Most of the time this is due to anal gland issues– either infection or impaction. It can be irritation from another source, or excessive self-grooming, but most of the time there is an underlying condition, and it is often directly linked to diet.

Yeah, I know. Raw food again. And yes, raw food does reduce these issues dramatically, and a properly selected raw food diet, with an appropriate bone and fibre content, reduces these issues tremendously.

This is not my beautiful dog…

I think the groomer may have given us back the wrong dog.

When I took Penelope the standard poodle for a haircut recently, her coat was admittedly overgrown. In fact, while awaiting an opening at the popular salon, we had to put the hair on her head up in a ponytail, just like a classic diva poodle. Penelope needed her coat trimmed and blown out for the winter.

My daughter didn’t want to risk any fur again getting into her eyes, so we instructed the groomer to style her head puff a little further back than is standard form. True, it was an abrogation of the classic poodle profile, but we thought it was practical. We also thought that a cheerful tail styling – which we call her “Christmas tail” every season – would make her holiday-ready, so we requested the groomer a cute tail fluff.

Prior to her coiffure, Penelope was a bit scary looking, since her curly coat, along with her exceptionally long poodle legs and extended torso, made her look like a hulking beast. To the uninitiated, she looked kind of frightening, especially when running up in gleeful welcome.

New horizons for Dakota C.C.

A “generational” transformation at one of southeast Winnipeg’s largest recreational hub began on Dec. 15, when stakeholders announced that the federal government has allocated $7.5 million to support the first phase of a long list of additions and upgrades to St. Vital’s Dakota Community Centre.

Opened in 1987, the centre — which is home to the 95,000 square-foot Jonathan Toews Sportsplex — also boasts two skating rinks and a multi-use fieldhouse, among other resources for sports and recreation. It’s made a name for itself in the area — bringing in residents from River Park South, Sage Creek, Windsor Park, and surrounding communities — as an accessible, centralized hub, and it now sits on the starting line of an exciting transformation valued at $50 million, to be completed over the next several years.

The first phase will mark the beginning of design and project planning, including the development of a capital campaign, in the careful lead-up to site preparation, according to Michele Augert, president and CEO of Dakota C.C.

Upgrades will include a new, fully-accessible arena, which would include a rink, a modern fitness area, new dressing rooms, a fitness area and ice plant, as well as upgrades to the lobby, additional community rooms, and an expanded space for child care.

City news in brief — week of Dec. 24, 2025

The Forks to host free New Year’s Day programs

On Jan. 1, 2026, the Forks will be offering a full day of free, family friendly activities to kick off its Learn to Winter program.

“New Year’s Day at The Forks is about coming together and celebrating winter as a community,” said Sara Stasiuk, president andCEOof The Forks, in a statement. “It reflects how people already use the site in winter, whether they are skating, walking, spending time outdoors or grabbing a warm drink in the market. The day brings those everyday activities into focus and sets the tone for the season ahead.”

Beginning at 9 a.m. and running through 8 p.m., activities will include face painting, storytelling, live music, karaoke, drag performances, yoga, fitness classes, skating lessons, and more outdoor fun.

Happy holidays!

Christmas spirit is aglow in east Winnipeg, and several residents of Transcona and St. Boniface have gone to great lengths to deckout their yards to reflect a healthy helping of holiday cheer. Here are just a few examples, discovered with the help of Mapping Winnipeg on Facebook.

Season’s greetings

The holiday season is now upon us, a wondrous time of celebration, goodwill to our fellow citizens and thoughtful reflections on the year gone by.

With neighbourhoods and businesses aglow with colourful decorations, our province’s renowned community spirit is bright, beautiful and further enhanced at this time of year. Manitoba’s multiculturalism is also on full display at this time of year, with holiday traditions from around the world joyfully reflected in cuisine, decorations, and seasonal events in all parts of our province.

Our renowned community spirit is further demonstrated through a variety of creative events and charitable endeavours, each helping to ensure that everyone feels the warmth of our welcoming and caring provincial community. I encourage everyone to support the many wonderful organizations dedicated to providing a hand up to Manitobans in need with the same empathy and generosity that has consistently made our province one of the most giving places in Canada.

As the King’s representative in Manitoba, I am pleased to extend vice-regal greetings to all citizens for a safe and happy holiday season. May the wonders of this special time inspire us all to demonstrate kindness and compassion to all, not only seasonally, but all year-round. Every good deed is another subtle reminder of how fortunate we are to call this great province ‘home.’

Time for skating in Elmwood

Winter sports such as skating have so far been disappointing for many Winnipeggers this year, with the long, relatively warm and snowless months of fall. The rivers are taking a long time to freeze, and many outdoor skating rinks remain closed. As colder weather and snow have now arrived, people in Elmwood and around the city might soon enjoy gliding and twirling around on neighbourhood rinks.

For skating enthusiasts with the time and space, creating a home ice rink is a possibility, giving them the chance to enjoy the ice any time they wish. Most people, however, need to depend on the public skating rinks maintained by local government or community groups. While these rinks might be crowded at times, they’re likely well-maintained and large enough to provide users with the opportunity for active skating.

The winter skating page of the City of Winnipeg’s website lists many skating rinks “located in parks, school sites and at community centres”; in addition, “Many small neighbourhood rinks are also maintained for public use.”

In Elmwood, official skating rinks include outdoor facilities at the Abdo and Samira El Tassi Park (100 Elmwood Rd., near Talbot Avenue), Elmwood Park (380 Henderson Hwy.), and the rink at the East Elmwood Community Centre (490 Keenleyside Ave.) The Glenelm Neighbourhood Association also lists the two rinks at the Clara Hughes Recreation Park (281 Henderson Hwy.).

Are we becoming Hollywood North?

Winnipeg has been a hot destination for filming movies as of late. I don’t mean weather-related hot, I mean the desirable kind of hot — but film production companies also come for the cold, as our climate is definitely suitable for winter or barren tundra-type shots, as we are all aware.

Whether it’s the allure of the tax breaks, the unique historical pockets of the city, the great choices of restaurants or the super-friendly people, Winnipeg has become a successful film location

Did you know that the City of Winnipeg has a film and special events team, managed by Kenny Boyce, who makes sure those coming to Winnipeg to scout movies are treated with the best welcome possible? Check out the April 2, 2025 episode of the City of Winnipeg’s podcast Our City, Our Podcast for stories about locally shot film productions and special events. In 2024 alone there were at least six films shot in and around Winnipeg, which has provided all kinds of employment for our local population, from catering to construction, acting extras to the hospitality industry. Big-name stars are actually coming to Winnipeg, and some are really enjoying it. People such as Jon Hamm and Bob Ode kirk are checking out our attractions and posting their adventures online for all to see. We tend to stand back when we see a star here, respect their space and admire from afar. I think they may like the fact they aren’t getting mobbed by crowds everywhere they go. They can walk around like a normal person and enjoy life.

Some areas of Winnipeg are more unique than others for movie shoots, such as the east end of Transcona. We were a town in 1912, a city in 1961 and then joined the City of Winnipeg in the forced merger of 1971. Our main street was the quintessential old town hub of the community, where people went to socialize and shop for essentials. Much of the original character of the main street remains and is thus a draw for all types of movie shoots. I remember when Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure was shot here in 2011 and the street was done up everything Christmas. That movie will never leave my mind as it was the movie my nieces wanted to watch 60 times.