Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew recently rejected a proposed AI data centre near Winnipeg, citing concerns over water use, noise, and a perceived lack of public benefit.

The instinct to protect communities from unwanted development is understandable. But when the objections collapse under scrutiny, and when the stakes include Canada’s standing in the global AI economy, the decision deserves a harder look.

Critics of data centres frequently invoke water consumption, and there is genuine nuance worth discussing.

Large facilities do use water for evaporative cooling. But comparison matters. A typical 18-hole golf course uses approximately 300,000 gallons of water per day during summer months.

These days, billionaires act like they own the world — which they pretty much do.

So, it’s not surprising they’re facing an uprising coming from the struggling masses below.

That uprising, led by unionized health-care workers in California, has collected more than a million signatures with the goal of getting a wealth tax — aimed exclusively at billionaires — onto a statewide ballot. California voters would then decide whether to tax some of the world’s largest mega-fortunes in order to replace funds the Trump administration is taking out of health care.

The showdown in California could be a harbinger of what lies ahead in Canada.

Since former federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault announced he was resigning as an MP, the reactions from all sides have been predictable.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew may have good intentions in proposing restrictions on social media use in schools, but a blanket ban on platforms like YouTube risks doing more harm than good.

In the rush to address concerns about screen time, online addiction, and student distraction, we may be overlooking an important reality: digital tools, when used responsibly, have become an essential part of modern teaching and learning.

As an educator, I spend countless hours preparing materials for my classes.

Effective teaching is not simply standing at the front of a room and talking while students passively absorb information. It involves designing lessons that engage students with different abilities, interests, and learning styles.

It’s Ocean Week Canada, and a fitting moment to recognize Manitoba as a coastal province.

Churchill, known globally for its polar bears and beluga whales, sits at the heart of one of Canada’s most important marine ecosystems. Yet as governments invest heavily to expand the Port of Churchill into a year-round shipping gateway, the wildlife that define this region could face irreversible harm.

Western Hudson Bay is one of Canada’s most sensitive marine ecosystems. Its waters provide for tens of thousands of beluga whales, sustain the planet’s most iconic polar bear population and offer critical habitat for migratory birds travelling between continents. These waters are deeply connected to Indigenous cultures and central to Churchill’s tourism economy.

In 2018, the federal government announced plans to explore the creation of a National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) in Western Hudson Bay. The next step, launching a feasibility study, has the support of the Town of Churchill and more than 12,000 Canadians who wrote letters backing the initiative. Despite that enthusiasm, the required feasibility study has still not begun.

Fifty years ago this June, Manitoba Hydro destroyed one of the province’s finest lakes, its fourth-largest, when it began operating a newly constructed control structure at Missi Falls, the outlet where Southern Indian Lake flows into the lower Churchill River.

This raised the water level of the lake, creating a reservoir and diverting the flow southward via the Rat and Burntwood River systems to increase power output at its hydroelectric generating stations along the Nelson River.

More than 3,500 km of shorelines on the lake alone were permanently inundated, and along with its adjacent waterways, an area of 840 square kilometres was flooded. The entire Indigenous community of South Indian Lake had to be moved to higher ground to avoid the flooding, and the island community of Nelson House was irreparably harmed.

The Churchill River diversion project had a disastrous effect on the natural environment and the Indigenous people whose subsistence and way of life depended on the lake.

I am replying to the op-ed Protected areas and thriving lodges can co-exist (May 30).

The author, Corey Myers, paints a rosy picture of the scenario in his Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area, the Thaidene Nëné IPCA. We certainly share many of his hopes. However, he ignores several critical facts, including one in his own area. I’ll also add that a local First Nation purchased his lodge and now employs him.

The operators in the Seal River love and respect this area. My operation is centred around local Indigenous benefits and employment and has been the biggest tourism employer of local Indigenous people since we opened in 1998. We have a much bigger operation than Mr. Myers, put through more guests and host trips in fishing, eco and hunting.

All the operators have asked for is a seat at the negotiation table and fair and proper representation in any governing board.

Learning disabilities are invisible, lifelong and widely misunderstood.

They are neurological conditions that affect how we process information and engage with the world around us. Dyslexia affects reading, dysgraphia impacts writing and dyscalculia affects math. Others struggle with executive functioning, affecting memory, attention, planning and organization.

Because they are not easily seen, learning disabilities can be overlooked or misinterpreted.

Many children with learning disabilities learn to cope. They work harder, stay up later, and find ways to get by. Some mask their difficulties so effectively that they appear to be OK until their efforts take more than they can give and can no longer be sustained. Those children are often left to struggle before they are understood, and support only arrives after the impact has taken hold.