BACKYARD MECHANIC: Speedometer error an easy, inexpensive fix

Home residents turn to agency after operator lays off 70 staff who unionized

Residents of a Winnipeg retirement home have taken matters into their own hands after the majority of the facility’s home-care aides were laid off following their unionization.

A committee of residents have banded together to work with a private agency to staff Shaftesbury Park Retirement Residence after many of its existing aides complete their final shift on Monday.

“It is heartbreaking because there are a lot of vulnerable people here who are not capable of advocating for themselves,” said Joelle Robinson, who has lived at the home since 2023 after she suffered a brain aneurysm. “We’re trying very hard to make it so that our residents aren’t completely up the creek.”

Robinson, a retired lawyer, joined Terry Hopkinson and several other residents of the South Tuxedo home to create a committee and send out a request for proposal to eight companies that specialized in seniors care.

Dauphin hospital could be closed 9-12 months

BRANDON — A 78-year-old woman who has stage 4 lung cancer says she’s “frustrated and scared” knowing the hospital in Dauphin may not reopen for up to a year and that would require her to travel for treatment.

“I know it’s affected a lot of people, probably worse than me, but in my personal case, it couldn’t happen at a worse time,” said Janice Nybo, who lives on a farm a few kilometres south of Dauphin.

“I’ve been using that hospital quite a bit in the last three months.”

Severe flooding in the basement of the Dauphin Regional Health Centre, owing to a massive amount of rainfall in late June, caused a power outage and damage to its HVAC system. The building was evacuated on Canada Day. Fifty-four patients were sent to nearby health centres, including 24 patients who were transferred to the Brandon hospital.

Bee2gether Bikes out of The Forks after lease confusion

Tandem bike rentals aren’t on offer at The Forks this summer — and the longtime company behind them is claiming financial loss, calling the change unexpected.

Manitoba Miracle forward signs five-year contract with club

Cole Perfetti is betting on himself. And the Winnipeg Jets are counting on him to take the next step in his development.

In what has been an interesting off-season to date, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff knocked another important item off his to-do list as the Jets agreed to terms with Perfetti on a five-year contract that carries an average annual value of US$6 million.

Perhaps the most important part of this transaction was that it allowed the two sides to avoid going to arbitration next Monday, which would have been bad for business for both parties.

Although it’s easy to say that it’s just business, a one-year term in arbitration, no matter the amount, would have left neither side satisfied and it would have meant Perfetti was just one year away from the opportunity to explore unrestricted free agency.

Order of Manitoba awarded to 12 high-achievers

It was a full circle moment for a CFL superstar whose game included giving back.

Former Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back Andrew Harris was one of 12 Order of Manitoba recipients honoured at the Manitoba legislature on Thursday.

“It’s an indescribable feeling,” Harris said after the ceremony while holding one of his sons in his arms.

Harris joined Juno award-winning artist Chantal Kreviazuk, Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Joss Reimer, former premier Brian Pallister and others who have enriched the province, said Lt.-Gov. Anita Neville as she honoured the recipients.

Climate change consequences keep piling up

Has Mother Nature slapped you around enough yet, or are you finally starting to see the big picture?

Manitoba has seen floods and large, damaging hail already this summer, as has Alberta. Roads are still closed in the Parkland area of Manitoba because of flood damage. The insurance industry is talking about record-breaking claims — and that’s just among those who actually had insurance. Many didn’t have coverage for things such as overland flooding. Residents of affected areas are slowly finding out that, while governments talk a good game about helping people recover from disasters, the help is limited and rarely covers the full extent of damages.

Forest fires in Ontario have sent smoke plumes deep into the United States, and have caused a series of evacuations and air quality warnings in that province. Social media abounds with eerie photos of orange, smoke-filled skies in Thunder Bay, Toronto and places in between.

As recently as July 9, the federal government was reasonably optimistic about the number and extent of forest fires in the country, saying that fires had burned 1.4 million hectares — considerably less than last year. But in just one week — between July 9 and 16 — an additional one million hectares of forest burned, with 859 active forest fires now burning across Canada. This brings the amount of forest burned this year to the third-highest level trailing only 2023 and 2025.