A bit of ‘locus-pocus’ can help ward off party hex

Letters, Oct. 8

Computer scientist Melvin Conway once stated, “Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization’s communication structure.”

Jets goaltender quickly taking on folk hero status with hot start

Stuart Skinner is giving the hometown crowd plenty to cheer about.

The Winnipeg Jets new No. 1 netminder came up with another brilliant performance, making 32 saves — including several of the highlight-reel variety — to propel his team to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night at Canada Life Centre.

With each save he makes and each win he records, Skinner is doing what he can to help turn the page on the Connor Hellebuyck era.

“I would say that they are big shoes to fill 100 per cent, but I’m not looking into the scenario of filling his shoes,” said Skinner, who lowered his goals-against average to 2.62 and raised his save percentage to .920 through three starts. “My job’s the same job as any other goalie in this league. So it’s a little bit of a difficult question for me to truly answer.”

Other cities build rapid transit, while we wait

Winnipeg’s civic election campaign has produced no shortage of promises to improve transit safety and fix problems with the new network. Those issues are real and urgent. But they should not distract from a larger failure — while other Canadian urban regions secure billions in federal support to transform their transit systems, Winnipeg is falling further behind.

The Winnipeg Transit Master Plan, approved in 2021, sets the right vision — frequent, reliable service anchored by an expanded bus rapid transit (BRT) network. Yet not a single additional BRT corridor has been approved for construction. The modest network proposed in the plan is not projected to be completed until 2045 or beyond. Despite that, city council voted this summer to delay updating the master plan by two years.

The full BRT network was estimated at $588 million to $1.1 billion in 2020 — or roughly $720 million to $1.34 billion today, after accounting for construction inflation. That is substantial, but modest compared with what other cities are spending. Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton, Ottawa and Quebec City have rapid transit projects under way or recently completed, totalling about $26 billion and backed by $7.3 billion in federal commitments. Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are spending billions more with federal support.

Other cities build. Winnipeg waits.

Kinew, two NDP caucus members file lawsuit defence, deny defaming former party MLA Wasyliw to expel him

The premier and two New Democrat caucus members have denied they conspired to defame another politician as an excuse to oust him from the party.

Mark Wasyliw, now an independent Member of the Legislative Assembly representing Fort Garry, was booted from the NDP in September 2024, which the party claimed was due to Wasyliw’s former law partner representing convicted sex offender and disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard.

The independent MLA, who’s a defence lawyer, claims statements his former colleagues made in September 2024 linking him to Nygard or accusing him of lying, harmed him and his reputation.

Wasyliw filed his lawsuit in December last year, naming Premier Wab Kinew, Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie and Seine River MLA Billie Cross as defendants. The claim was later amended to remove Bushie as a defendant and add Environment Minister Mike Moyes, who was at the time chair of the NDP caucus, in his place.

Green growth focus of hydroponic gathering

In a town where fresh produce is hard to come by, Rick Barentsen has a line on some lettuce.

Barentsen is part of an initiative at an education centre in Leaf Rapids that grows 60 heads of fresh leafy greens each week, year-round, using indoor hydroponic growing systems.

The veggies are distributed to many of the northwestern Manitoba town’s 300 residents. It’s a boon to a community where Barentsen said the local grocery store has not carried fresh produce for the last six months.

“Being the only food grower in the community, it makes a big difference for the 90 families that we have,” he said. “We harvest it, we wrap it in plastic food bags (and) we hand it out the same day.”