About Gordon Sinclair Jr.:

Gordon Sinclair Jr. is a Free Press columnist.

• Putting a stop to driving with CrackBerry

  It didn't take long for the word to hit the street, but then, of course, that's where it originated. On a downtown street.

  View Full Column | 02/9/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• The Con Don's back, but I made him scram

  BEWARE, WINNIPEG -- HE'S BACK... It looks as if the Winnipeg downtown bars and restaurants aren't the only businesses enjoying the improved traffic since the Jets returned. So is the Con Don.

  View Full Column | 02/7/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Hardest times never really disappear

  My pub pal leaned back in his chair, the way boxers do when they see a punch to the face coming. Except this punch -- veiled in the form of a probing question -- had hit him squarely in the gut.

  View Full Column | 02/4/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Refugees find freedom in Tom Denton's smiling face

  They have a saying in the refugee rescue community when newcomers from Africa first inhale the freedom of Canada and the frost of a Winnipeg winter in the same breath. "There are no bullets in the weather."

  View Full Column | 01/18/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Words of wisdom -- mostly -- from the year

  AND now a few choice words from a few of last year’s choice columns. “In response to your question — Bonnie Staples-Lyon from our office phoned the Winnipeg Police Service to see if his traffic incident was treated any differently than any other citizen and the response was ‘absolutely not.’ ”

  View Full Column | 01/3/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Words of wisdom -- mostly -- from the year

  And now a few choice words from a few of last year's choice columns. -- -- --

  View Full Column | 01/3/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Remembering the fondest memory of 2011... with a smile

  I was doing one of my favourite things Friday -- walking in Assiniboine Park with my wife, Athina, and our pooch, Tate -- when the question was raised. "What was your fondest moment of the year?" I asked Athina.

  View Full Column | 12/31/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Couple of Habs give two young fans a special gift

  The requests for assistance that arrive here almost daily at the Last Stop for Help Desk elicit every kind of emotion, including -- on rare occasions -- the kind that make me smile. Which is what happened in mid-December when, after several attempts elsewhere, Charleswood hockey mom Aimee Horbul's call for help finally arrived at the top of my inbox. Aimee explained her son, Jeremy, 12, and daughter, Kyla, 15, are mega-Montreal Canadiens fans, and since she hadn't been able to score any tickets for the Habs-Jets game here last Thursday, she was hoping to score an autograph or two. And maybe a photo.

  View Full Column | 12/29/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• An answer to prayers

  On this Christmas Eve, a story for those who believe there is a God that answers prayers. And even for those who don't believe.

  View Full Column | 12/24/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• All she wants for Christmas is to heal at home

  I don't know what, if anything, you've asked Santa for this year, but I've got something you probably never thought to put on your list. A story to make you feel grateful for what you've got, never mind what you think you want.

  View Full Column | 12/22/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• 'Dead man' finally walking in boots fit for his sole

  It was about 10:30 last Friday morning when a thread-thin, dishevelled man -- who had died three months ago on the floor of Wannabees Diner -- walked back into the same place. Dragging his coat.

  View Full Column | 12/20/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Here's the true story of the True North Shout-Out

  "I worry that 30 years from now, when they are shouting 'True North' at Jets games, people will be wondering where the idea for this idea came from." -- Winnipeg Jets fan Chuck Duboff

  View Full Column | 12/17/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Society learning lesson in humanity

  THE DOGS DAYS OF WINTER... It's hard to know if it's simply damage control, lessons learned the hard way, or a combination of both. But Winnipeg Humane Society CEO Bill McDonald says the organization is about to make some changes as a result of two recent cases involving the surrender and, ultimately, the euthanizing of dogs that the people who gave them up wanted back.

  View Full Column | 12/15/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Looking for some Santas to save an iconic city business

  You've heard, no doubt, of flash mobs and Occupy movements, and of course the power of the people from the Arab Spring. But how about "crowd funding?" That's a new one.

  View Full Column | 12/13/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Winnipeggers can't escape their homing instinct

  I was having lunch this week with one of Winnipeg's finest citizens, a man whose primary purpose in life is to resettle refugees here, in the place most of us call home. So it was that the topic turned to "home." And why we tend to be drawn home, in different ways, even after we leave.

  View Full Column | 12/10/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Jets fans' roar being heard and felt across the NHL

  THE SOUND OF WINNIPEG PRIDE... It's been a week since my nephew David Sinclair graciously treated me to my first Jets game because -- as he told his ol' uncle -- it's something you need to experience. He was talking about the vibe in the stands at the MTS Centre.

  View Full Column | 12/8/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Voter sends a message to Conservative Winnipeg MP

  Late last month a Crescentwood-area woman named Marsha Dozar phoned with a problem. Her member of Parliament wouldn't return her call.

  View Full Column | 12/6/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• A sick girl and her hurt dog make no decision easy

  IT took a week, but the Winnipeg Humane Society decided to bite back on Thursday. In a letter to the editor, the organization’s CEO, Bill McDonald, stated I had presented a one-sided view of an event in a column that attracted the wrath of readers in general and some humane society donors in particular ( A sick little girl, her dog and a heartless decision, Nov. 24).

  View Full Column | 12/3/2011 1:25 PM | 0

• A sick girl and her hurt dog make no decision easy

  It took a week, but the Winnipeg Humane Society decided to bite back on Thursday. In a letter to the editor, the organization's CEO, Bill McDonald, stated I had presented a one-sided view of an event in a column that attracted the wrath of readers in general and some humane society donors in particular (A sick little girl, her dog and a heartless decision, Nov. 24).

  View Full Column | 12/3/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Why a mom bought a Bieber-autographed guitar

  AND THE WINNING BID IS... The Justin Bieber-autographed guitar I was telling you about last month has brought $3,550 in an online auction, all of which will go to Winnipeg Harvest. But it's who bought it, and why, that sends a priceless message on why giving to food banks is so important, and has been even before there was a Winnipeg Harvest. The winner is a 54-year-old woman from St. Catharines, Ont. Or rather, the winners are her children, Elissa, 15, and Noah, 14.

  View Full Column | 12/1/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Keeping these two separated a catty move

  Being a former print journalist, Linda Slobodian knew what do and who to call when she needed help taking on a health authority that wasn't using its heart, never mind its brain. But the 55-year-old wasn't looking for help for herself. It was for a neighbour in the southwestern Manitoba town of Deloraine, whose story she thought would appeal to me.

  View Full Column | 11/29/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Nothing more important to happiness than family

  I felt like I was being followed this week. Stalked by a subject I'm not very good with. Family.

  View Full Column | 11/26/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• A sick little girl, her dog and a heartless decision

  This is the story of a little girl and her dog, which sounds all so warm and fuzzy. It's not.

  View Full Column | 11/24/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Wasylycia-Leis contemplating another run for mayor

  JUDY, JUDY AND JUDY AGAIN? ... It's been just over a year since Sam Katz easily defeated her, but lately Judy Wasylycia-Leis has been telling anyone who cares to listen -- and apparently lots do -- that she wants to run for mayor, again. In fact, she was even telling me that Sunday during the Vineyard Church's fundraising brunch at the Fort Garry Hotel.

  View Full Column | 11/22/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Mayor's regrettable legacy was defined this week

  We've all have bad weeks.

  Sam Katz's defining week really involved eight days, three of which really tell the story.

  View Full Column | 11/19/2011 1:00 AM | 0

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