No one-size-fits-all answers on farm

We all complain about sticker price shock at the grocery store, but when it comes to inflation, farmers have been eating at least some of it on our behalf.

Even before the Middle East firestorm broke out Feb. 28, farming was becoming disproportionately expensive.

Manitoba Agriculture extension economist Darren Bond told a webinar this week that compared to five years ago, farmers’ overall costs of production have risen around 50 per cent — well above the general inflation rate of around 20 per cent. Whether buying new equipment, repairing what they have or acquiring more land, they are often faced with double-digit increases annually.

Can they rent their way out of the bind? A farmer hoping to avoid paying a 46 per cent price increase in the cost of a new sprayer will pay 72 per cent more for a rental than they did in 2020.

Leadership advantage starts with listening

Leadership often involves making decisions with incomplete information, balancing operational demands with the needs of the people doing the work.

One of the most valuable skills a leader can develop is the ability to listen well and notice patterns in how employees are experiencing their work. Many leaders believe they are already doing this, but it is surprisingly easy for important signals to go unnoticed. Employees may be talking among themselves about frustrations, inefficiencies or small problems that slowly grow larger over time.

When leaders take the time to notice trends in employee satisfaction and respond thoughtfully, they make their own jobs easier in the long run.

The first step is simply paying attention to patterns rather than isolated comments.

Most vulnerable will pay the most for federal budget cuts

When I was young, I used to accompany my father, Murray Sinclair, while he presided in court.

Frankly, I was too young to understand how historic it was to watch Manitoba’s first Indigenous judge, but I do remember a few things he used to do.

When an offender was found guilty and would stand to hear their sentence, he would ask them to turn to look at their loved ones; their colleagues, friends or family.

“I want you to look at who you’re leaving behind,” he would say. “And who will be waiting for you when you get out.”

Carabao Cup final a tale of two footy clubs

Sunday’s Carabao Cup final could be the start of something, the end of something, or both.

Let’s start with, well, the start.

Still competing in all four competitions, Arsenal could kick off quite a memorable spring by beating Manchester City at Wembley (11:30 a.m., DAZN). Not counting Community Shields — because, who does? — a win would give the Gunners their first trophy in six years and perhaps be a springboard to bigger and better near-term triumphs.

Next up after Sunday will be an April 4th trip to Southampton in the sixth round of the FA Cup. Arsenal is the tournament’s record winner, and it would no doubt like to add a 15th replica to the cabinet. But if it ends up beating City, this is the competition it could sacrifice as it contends on more prestigious fronts.

In nothing we trust?

Trust no one. It’s not just a motto of conspiracy theorists.

Rather, the statement is arguably the broad take away of the messaging in March for Fraud Awareness Month in Canada.

Scams — in their many forms — have become so commonplace we almost take their prevalence for granted. Recent surveys point to Canadians’ acceptance of fraud’s ubiquity, amid growing unease and understanding of its sizable financial impact.

A recent TD survey found 46 per cent of Manitoba and Saskatchewan residents cite experiencing fraud attempts weekly or even daily.

Winnipeg’s collective identity tethered to ‘coulda, shoulda’

The plane banks to the left, revealing our snow-swept city directly below. The rivers orient me and I find my house, then the schools my children attend, like matchboxes on a white tablecloth. I’ve only been away for a few days, but it feels like a lot longer, and I’m happy to be back home.

Winnipeg can appear a place where nothing of import happens. We don’t surge ahead, we don’t make international news, we haven’t put a celebrity on the world stage in a few decades.

Frozen in a snowy tableau, we remain fixed in our identities of coulda-been and almost-was. A middle child unsure of identity and place, content being just good enough, but always wondering what we could have been if we’d only had a little more momentum, recognition, vision. Small, cold and isolated.

Architecture from our boomtown days sits like ornamental paperweights holding our history down: the legislative building, Union Station, the Fort Garry Hotel, the entire Exchange District, now a national historic site.

Councillors brace for impact when provincial education property tax hikes crash into Winnipeggers’ mailboxes

The despondency in the voices of Winnipeg city councillors Jeff Browaty and Evan Duncan was palpable.

The two suburban councillors took the opportunity this week to slam the provincial NDP government for increases in the education portion of property taxes that many Winnipeg property owners will see later this spring when they receive their tax bills.

According to Browaty (North Kildonan) and Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood), even though the tax increases are mostly due to provincial policies and school division decisions, the city will end up bearing the brunt of criticism.

“I’d like to see them take accountability and ownership of it,” said Duncan, pointing south from city hall to the Manitoba legislature.

More accurate wait-time estimates will do nothing to heal critically ill system

Long waits in Winnipeg emergency rooms have become so common they barely register anymore. A 10-hour wait, or longer, to see a doctor in an ER would have once been considered outrageous. Now it happens all the time.

The latest numbers show the median wait time in Winnipeg emergency departments and urgent-care centres was nearly four hours in January — the most recent data available.

That means half of patients waited even longer than that to be seen by a physician. That’s almost double what it was prior to the pandemic. And it’s been hovering around that level for more than two years.

What’s particularly frustrating is that these persistently high wait times remain despite a steady stream of government announcements about new beds, new staff and various health system improvements. Every few months it seems there’s another news release promising better access to care.

Endometriosis painful, lack of research shameful

Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes debilitating pain, heavy bleeding, extreme fatigue, brain fog and other symptoms. It affects one in 10 women. I am one of them.

Kinew won’t make same budget mistakes as deficit soars

Although we don’t know exactly what is in next week’s provincial budget, you can bet that it will make for some particularly spicy debate.