Menial labour? Why, you’re soaking in it!

H.P. Tergesen & Sons General Market surpasses 127 years as family-run business in Gimli

GIMLI — Walk into the store. Meander past the clothing, candy and candles. Find him in the corner, his eyes scanning the bookshelves, a smile on his face as a half-dozen people explore this side of the shop.

Wearing grey shorts and a light blue shirt, Stefan Tergesen, the fourth-generation proprietor of H.P. Tergesen & Sons General Market, is explaining his vision for what’s widely recognized as the oldest general store in Western Canada.

“First and foremost, I want everybody to enjoy being in here,” he says. “I want you at some point to look and go, ‘Oh, cool!’ after seeing something that gets your blood flowing.”

If you ever find yourself on the west side of Lake Winnipeg, some 80 kilometres north of Manitoba’s capital, and you realize you forgot to pack something, there’s a good chance you’ll find it at Tergesen’s.

Menial labour? Why, you’re soaking in it!

The words "menial labour" are not uttered in Canadian playwright Morris Panych's comedy The Dishwashers.

But this satiric offering centres on a debate about that condescending concept. If working for a living is inherently dignified, is there any such thing as "menial labour?"

Emmett (Rylan Wilkie) clearly believes there is. A financial player brought low by a recent economic crunch, he descends into the basement dishwasher pit like an ignoble Dante entering one of the circles of hell. (The set design by Brian Perchaluk is correct right down to the skeevy details, including a working sink, rust stains on the stairs and a glimpse of a repellent-looking bathroom in the corner.)

Emmett used to dine in the trendy bistro upstairs and now, desperate for income, is forced to work there doing a job he never contemplated.

Residents fear mailbox crime sprees

Some North End residents are concerned new community mailboxes will become a target for vandalism and crime after the base of one was recently lit ablaze — before it was even installed.

The community mailboxes started to show up on Andrews Street within the last two weeks. Some have been installed, while at other locations, only the concrete foundation is in place.

“They just dumped them on the boulevard,” said Stephen Giesbrecht, who lives beside one of the boxes in the St. John’s neighbourhood. “They dumped them on the corner and then they were gone.”

One of the concrete slabs has already played host to a fire and some of the hardware needed to install the mailbox melted.

City inundated with thousands of complaints after launch of new transit system

Despite complaints from thousands of dissatisfied users, Winnipeg hasn't hit the brakes on the rollout of its new primary transit network. And it appears that ignoring the public response cost Winnipeg Transit millions of dollars in lost revenue and ridership.

Canada will return to negotiating table when America has ‘the right attitude’: Carney

OTTAWA - Canada will go back to the negotiating table on a trade deal once the United States changes its attitude, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Monday.

Carney held a news conference in Lévis, Que., where he announced an $11-billion contract to build six new icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard, emphasizing they would be built with Canadian steel.

The event comes three days after Carney suspended trade talks with the United States, after accusing the U.S. of trying to introduce last-minute measures which could have restricted Canada's ability to do deals with other countries and protect its culture.

"When the Americans go to the negotiation table first, with the right attitude toward our industries and a true partnership, of course we'll come to the negotiating table," Carney told reporters.

Results Canada fights for the political will to end global poverty

Sitting at home on a wintry day in March last year, Japneet Singh listened intently as members of grassroots advocacy organization Results Canada began their online presentation on the prevalence of tuberculosis in rural India.

Singh knew all about the reality of the disease. Before he moved to Canada in 2013 he had seen family members affected by the bacterial infection which, in its active form, can damage the lungs, spine, brain and kidneys.

Despite being preventable and curable, TB persists among marginalized groups and is closely linked with those experiencing extreme poverty.

The highly infectious disease spreads quickly through transient populations facing housing insecurity and those living in overcrowded homes.