Prairie prose

Toys ‘R’ Us closing Polo Park store

Embattled toy retailer Toys “R” Us is closing its store in Winnipeg’s Polo Park area.

Staff hung signs sharing the news — and advertising liquidation pricing — on Friday. The signage does not indicate when the store, located at 1445 St. Matthews Ave., will close for good.

A store manager declined to comment on Monday, directing a reporter to Toys “R” Us Canada Ltd.’s head office. The company did not respond to interview requests.

Toys “R” Us announced in January it would close its Polo Park location, but reversed course a few weeks later. The Canada-wide company has been in creditor protection since February.

Winnipeg Folk Festival attendees brave scorching temps at Birds Hill

“I’m sorry for subjecting you to my British knees,” U.K. singer-songwriter Billy Bragg said at his Sunday workshop at the 51st Winnipeg Folk Festival. “Sometimes you have to make a choice between being cool and looking cool.”

He wasn’t alone in choosing the former; the fest at Birds Hill Pro-vincial Park, which sold out in advance, featured no shortage of creative heat-beating apparel.

First-aid volunteers wandered through the crowd misting overheat-ed fans with water and crowds largely stuck to treed areas.

Some ticket holders certainly stayed home on Sunday, when the humidex reached 47 C and shade was a hot commodity but many stuck it out to see acts from Sweden, Liberia, Lithuania, Wales, Benin and our own backyard heat up a multitude of stages over the course of the four-day event.

Unger's playful debut novel offers good-natured ribbing of Mennonite culture

This lightweight comic novel, which pokes gentle fun at small-town Mennonite mores, should find fans among those who like their humour free of bitter edge.

A first effort by Manitoba teacher and writer Andrew Unger, best known in these parts for his satirical Mennonite blog the Daily Bonnet, Once Removed has a whimsical tone reminiscent of Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town or Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon novels.

Giller Prize nominee David Bergen can rest easy. Unger is not out to offend anyone. You don’t need to be a Menno to find him amusing, but it won’t hurt.

Who else knew that housebarns could be the source of so much affectionate kidding?

U of W falls back on tuition hikes amid budget crunch

The University of Winnipeg has joined other public post-secondary institutions across the province in hiking tuition rates by four per cent — as high as possible — for the fall.

Domestic fees are increasing by more annually in 2026-27 than they have in eight years in Manitoba.

International rates, which are unregulated and roughly four times those paid by their Canadian peers, are rising even higher.

U of W’s board of regents approved a $180.7-million budget on June 22 that increases costs in undergraduate and graduate programs and phases out “low rate” courses on the downtown campus.

The Manitoba Quiz Part 1

How well do you know our province? Part 1 of a two-part, 20-question quiz. Part 2 will come on Monday, July 20.

Provincial independence means loss of portable health benefits

During the many decades that I practised internal medicine, at times I would warn patients about the potential adverse effects of medications or procedures. No one accused me of scare-mongering. Most thanked me for spending the time so that they could make an informed decision. Similarly, Albertans and Quebecers need a full discussion of all the risks of amputating themselves from Canada.

On Oct. 19, Albertans will vote on whether to have a referendum on independence. Also, if the Parti Québécois wins the early October election, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has promised to hold a third referendum on Quebec independence, likely toward the end of his mandate. An Ipsos poll found that 15 to 18 per cent of Albertans were committed to separation. Meanwhile, CTV and Global polls found that 26 to 29 per cent of Quebecers favoured separation, a historic low. About 62 to 71 per cent rejected having a third referendum.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith estimated that start-up costs would be about $400 billion. The Calgary Chamber of Commerce warned that Alberta would forego $10 to 15 billion in investment in the first year.

Few have mentioned the effects on access to health care within an independent province or elsewhere in Canada. A vote for independence would cause many physicians, nurses, and health professionals to flee, for they are quite mobile. CBC reported on June 27 that from October 2025 to June 2026, the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New Brunswick granted 47 licences and received 156 applications from Quebec physicians. Also, between late October and mid-November 2025, nearly 300 Quebec physicians applied to work in Ontario; over half were family physicians.