Good morning!
MRI queue questions: There was considerable reaction on Tuesday to an exclusive Free Press report about a confidential list of prominent Manitoban politicians and athletes who were flagged for “potential preferential treatment” while accessing MRIs. Today’s followup stories explore how the MRI queue confusion is a symptom of broader mismanagement in the health-care system. Jane Gerster and Larry Kush report. READ MORE
Your forecast: It might seem like Siberia in Marquette, Manitoba, where they’re using fake snow to create a set for film star Keanu Reeves, but there’s no danger of winter weather in the rest of Manitoba. Today’s high in Winnipeg will be a sunny 12 C, with the overnight low dropping to 2.
In case you missed it
BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESSManitoban paleontologist Jim Burns examines mammmal bones in his home laboratory. Burns is part of an international team whose study claims North American megafauna became extinct 11,000 years ago due to flooding from melting glaciers.
Mammoth news story: An international study with key input from Manitoba says the extinction of large animals such as woolly mammoths and giant sloths was due to glacial meltwater submerging prairie grasslands. The study, which appears today in an online journal affiliated with prestigious Nature magazine, says the melting of glaciers up to four kilometres high that blanketed North America as far south as Nebraska and Wisconsin turned the landscape into a wetland. Bill Redekop reports. READ MORE
Opening Hydro’s books: The Public Utilities Board has been given special authority to delve into Manitoba Hydro’s debt and capital spending plans. The power to explore Hydro’s financial health and capital situation was given by the Pallister government, which has in the past worried that Hydro’s massive debt could cripple Manitoba economically. Nick Martin reports. READ MORE
Up next
Breakfast with Brian: Premier Brian Pallister will speak this morning at the RBC Convention Centre at a breakfast from 7:30 to 9 a.m., hosted by the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce. Nick Martin will report from the event.
She tried sex for a change: Author Karen Connelly has won awards for her fiction, non-fiction and poetry, much of it serious. Her latest work lightens up considerably. The Change Room is concerned largely about sex, beginning with a ” sexy, flirtatious scene of two women in the shower room of a local pool”. She will read from the book and sign copies today at 7:30 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers. READ MORE
Around the water cooler
WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESSAbout 60 university students took part in a rally organized by the Revolutionary Students Rally Against Tuition on the Manitoba Legislative grounds Tuesday.
Hammer and sickle: About 100 people protested at the Manitoba legislature on Tuesday about university tuition hikes and the “bourgeoisie” government in general. The protest was organized by a group called the Revolutionary Student Movement, showing a logo of the movement — a white hammer and sickle inside of a black cog. Matthew Olson reports. READ MORE
Eavesdropping on cellphones: Winnipeg police have a device that can track and listen in on cellphones, but they won’t say how they’re using it. Privacy experts say they’re concerned the technology has outpaced regulations that protect civil liberties. Kevin Rollason reports. READ MORE
Trending now
#RuinSciFi: These science-fiction titles don’t exactly evoke a sense of wonder… “Star Trek IV: The Commute Home”; “The Mansplainer Who Fell To Earth”; “Planet of the Drapes”; and “Tax Returns of the Jedi” are some of the ones trending on Twitter at the moment.
On this date
On April 20, 1983: The Winnipeg Free Press reported that the chairman of Manitoba’s standing committee on medical staffing said the province could find itself with too many doctors within a few years. In Edwin, Man., about 50 Canadian Farm Survival Association supporters blocked the gate of Bruce Payne’s farm with semi-trailers and vehicles, preventing a Clarkson Company Ltd. receiver from seizing and removing livestock for auction; Payne had failed to keep up with payments on a $220,000 loan from the Portage la Prairie credit union and faced more than $700,000 in debts. According to the Salvation Army, Canada’s economy was said to be increasing people’s risk of suicide. READ MORE
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