Howie Mandel’s first book more than just germ fears

The election of our discontent: City at a crumbling crossroads, grumbling residents say in poll

There’s an undercurrent of unhappiness running through the Winnipeg electorate as the municipal election day approaches.

One-half of Winnipeggers believe the city is heading in the wrong direction, according to a new Abacus Data poll, with nearly one-third unsure if Winnipeg is regressing or progressing.

Only 21 per cent of residents believe the city is on the right track, the Free Press-commissioned poll found.

That discontentment extends to how the city spends its tax dollars, with four in 10 Winnipeggers believing they receive poor value for what they pay in property taxes.

‘Amazing honour’: Winnipeg distribution centre continues award-winning ways for McKesson Canada

After a three-year absence, the trophy is back in Winnipeg.

Last week, McKesson Canada named its 120,000-square-foot pharmaceutical distribution centre in the northwest part of the Manitoba capital its Distribution Centre of the Year. The award recognizes the facility’s role in helping essential medications reach communities across the province and some of Canada’s remote regions.

This is the fourth time the Winnipeg facility has earned the company-wide award since it opened five years ago. McKesson previously honoured the centre in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The recognition comes with a trophy, as well as a banner that was hung from the rafters on Thursday.

More than 100 employees work across the centre’s day-and-night operations, processing between 80,000 and 100,000 medication units daily. Last year, the centre distributed more than 21 million medication units while maintaining more than 99 per cent accuracy.

Seven Wilsons, one regional spirit

In Dryden, Ont., a 34-metre suspension bridge crosses the Wabigoon River rapids. It is named after a man who paid for a quarter of the bridge himself. A plaque recognizes Roy Wilson’s “many contributions to City Revitalization” and mentions his 40 years in the Rotary Club, whose motto is “service above self”.

My father sold business machines from the 1970s through the ’90s, during the shift from carbon copy machines and typewriters to photocopiers, fax machines, and early office computers and printers. His sales territory — which he covered mostly by car but also by propeller plane — was Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, and northwestern Ontario, though much of it really belonged to the Wilsons.

In business machines, selling the machine was only half the job — the other half was ensuring a technician would fix it in January. Wilson’s set the standard for dealers across most of my dad’s regions. My father worked with Roy’s son Greg (who would later go on to become mayor of Dryden) but really respected Roy for teaching Greg to run the company with the towns they served as the priority.

Wilson’s service routes went beyond where roads stopped. Even if customers lived north of the highway system, Wilson’s still found a way to help, using three company planes based at the Dryden airport. As a result, a stationery shop from a paper mill town served all of northwestern Ontario and later northern Manitoba. Imagine a photocopier strapped into a small plane, a technician beside it, and a gravel runway waiting at the other end.

Today’s horoscope

MOON ALERT: Caution. Avoid shopping (except food and gas) and important decisions from 5 a.m. until 10:15 p.m. After that, the moon moves from Leo into Virgo.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

This is a fantastic day to shmooz and romance is also favoured. In fact, this is most romantic day of the week. Intimate relationships will be affectionate and exciting. Enjoy socializing, sporting events and fun activities with kids. The arts are blessed.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Hydro Québec faces issue we should avoid

You might be tempted to call it a canary in an electric power generation coal mine.