Mystery novelist Louise Penny boycotts U.S., cancels U.S. book launch amid trade war

Building generational equity

Ayobimpe Omisore is a Winnipeg single mother of four who knows all too well about working just to make the rent.

A little more than a year ago, she was struggling to pay $2,400 a month for a two-bedroom unit in St. Norbert.

She picked up extra shifts whenever she could as a health-care aide to keep up with the costs.

“I was lamenting about it at work one day, and a colleague said, ‘If you’re paying this much on rent, I think you can afford a mortgage,’” says Omisore, who came to Canada four years ago from Nigeria where she worked as a logistics manager.

What $4 pumpkin can teach us about workplace culture

There are few things more revealing about a workplace than what happens when someone suggests a little fun.

Put a pumpkin on the reception desk, announce a Halloween costume day or suggest that everyone take 20 minutes to enjoy some candy and you may discover that your organization falls into one of two camps.

There are those who embrace the opportunity to do something different and those who immediately begin calculating the cost of lost productivity.

Somewhere, a manager is currently wondering whether the employee who spent 15 minutes decorating their office door could have used that time to answer three emails. Another is worried allowing costumes will somehow lead to a complete collapse of professional standards. A third is quietly trying to figure out whether a bowl of miniature chocolate bars can be claimed as a business expense.

Alberta: More federalist than you thought

Avert your eyes if you don’t like hard-core. This is a hard-core column about the hard-core Alberta separatists who hijacked a party, corrupted a process and failed in their fevered fervour to break up Canada.

First, be of good cheer. Canada won Monday night’s referendum in Alberta. Decisively. Three-quarters of the votes cast were for Option 1: “Alberta should remain a province of Canada.” Only one in four Alberta voters opted for a referendum on separation.

Alberta won, too. That strong vote against separation means the province can look ahead, confident the independence fever dream is boxed. A true win-win and a sad rarity in politics these days.

Be warned, though. Those hard-core separatists are hard dogs to keep on the porch, as the expression goes. They are already agitating to be taken more seriously than the votes warrant. They intend to flex whatever muscle memory remains to depose Premier Danielle Smith from her leadership of the United Conservative Party. Dis-united Conservative Party, anyone?

Mystery novelist Louise Penny boycotts U.S., cancels U.S. book launch amid trade war

Canadian mystery author Louise Penny says she is boycotting the United States.

Sun sets on Hellebuyck era

Now that the Connor Hellebuyck era of the Jets has finally concluded, what impact will the departure have on the netminder’s legacy?

Well, it’s a complex answer and one that could change with the benefit of time and a side order of sober second thought.

Given how raw things are right now and how things quickly went sideways — with the franchise goalie essentially forcing his way out of town with his trade request back in April — many members of the Winnipeg Jets fan base quickly found themselves at the “good riddance” stage of the grieving process.

This wasn’t how this story was supposed to end and there’s no doubt some feelings have been hurt along the way.