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Every few years, a sword over the baby

On Oct. 19, people in Alberta will answer 10 referendum questions. Nine are about things such as immigration, voter ID, judges and the Senate. The other asks if Alberta should remain in Canada or begin the legal steps toward a binding vote on leaving.

I want to share a perspective, as a patriotic Canadian, which I feel is lacking from the discourse.

Many of us who read those nine complaints can understand where Alberta is coming from. Ottawa kept control of the Prairies’ Crown lands and resources until 1930, allowing the East to grow at the West’s expense. The national energy program of the 1970s is still a sore spot west of Kenora, nearly 50 years later. Ontario and Quebec have almost 60 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons, so you can win everywhere from the Lakehead to the Pacific and still not change anything. Decisions are made about us, not with us. That frustration is real and being a Manitoban shouldn’t mean having to be Ottawa’s lawyer in this case. We are the original West, born in 1870 from Métis resistance to the same kind of treatment Alberta is protesting now.

So yes, we can understand how truly frustrated they are with the state of things in this country. But what bothers us even more is seeing someone threaten our children’s future every few years and call it leadership in their province.

Storm costs not factored in to MPI request for 2.38% rate increase

Manitoba Public Insurance told the Public Utilities Board Tuesday it didn’t factor in reinsurance costs related to devastating summer storms in its application for an increase to vehicle insurance rates.

Cara Low, the Crown corporation’s chief actuary, told the board that given MPI anticipates an increase to reinsurance premiums, the 2.38 per cent increase listed in its application won’t be adequate to cover its costs.

“There’s going to be a significant increase. We still have to decide how much we want to retain, what we want the coverage to look like, and what the upper end needs to be,” she said on the opening day of a three-week hearing.

Nearly 41,000 claims have been submitted in relation to summer storms that swept across southern Manitoba from June to August. Floods, tornadoes and hail pummelled several communities and forced MPI to open satellite claims centres to deal with the record number of calls.

Gang member who shot rival, bystander back in prison after release revoked

A Winnipeg man who shot a rival teenage gangster and an innocent 11-year-old bystander at the crowded Red River Exhibition more than four years ago has been sent back to prison.

Mocree Chuck Scatch-Dubour, now in his early 20s, left prison in April on statutory release on his 5 1/2-year federal sentence for the 2022 shooting. Scatch-Dubour was sentenced to the prison term as an adult in the spring of 2023 after pleading guilty to discharge of a firearm with intent to wound, aggravated assault and possession of a restricted firearm.

By law, most federal inmates automatically receive statutory release after two-thirds of their sentence, if they have not already been paroled.

Parole Board of Canada officials formally revoked Scatch-Dubour’s release this month after he unlawfully left his halfway house in June.

Letters, Oct. 13

The major assumption Manitoba Hydro undertakes is the weather. Hydro projected a $214 million profit for the 2025-26 fiscal year. On Sept. 29, it reported a $446 million loss. It took on additional debt due to $751 million in operating losses. In addition, Hydro stated the fiscal results for 2025-26 were “significantly influenced by circumstances largely beyond Hydro’s control.”

Théâtre Cercle Molière opens season with hijinks-filled comedy

Molière is back in St. Boniface.

For the opening production of her programming tenure at Théâtre Cercle Molière, artistic director Marie-Ève Fontaine knew that she wanted to highlight the eternal work of her company’s namesake.

She wanted to remind audiences whose cercle they were joining each season on Provencher Boulevard.

“It’s really important to me that our audience has a working knowledge of theatrical references,” says Fontaine, who helmed the company last year during its landmark centennial season.