Interesting role for Gere, but it’s not a likable one

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.

Telekinetic teen hits small screen

At desperate times like these, it’s good to be reminded that one person can make a difference. A telekinetic high schooler, grieving lover, ambitious law firm, frantic father and spiritual climber offer a variety of inspiring lessons in this new offering of TV recommendations.

Carrie (series premières Wednesday, Oct. 7 on Prime Video)Famously over-the-top filmmaker Brian De Palma (Phantom of the Paradise, Dressed to Kill, Scarface) directed the 1976 Carrie into its status as one of the scariest films of the time and beyond. It became better known than the debut horror novel by Stephen King from which it was adapted. It even trumped the three adaptations that followed. This new TV series looks ready to challenge that supremacy. Taking the title role made famous by Sissy Spacek, Manitoba actress Summer H. Howell (see Randall King’s interview at wfp.to/carrie) plays a homeschooler thrilled to finally be allowed to attend public high school. But when the mean girls begin circling and blood manifests in scary new ways, the new girl’s telekinetic potential blossoms in spectacular fashion. Also of horrific note as Halloween approaches: Below (Netflix miniseries premièring Thursday) stars Josh Hartnett as a fisherman trying to protect his family and town from a mysterious sea creature; Eternally Yours (sitcom premièring Thursday, Oct. 8, on CBS/Global) is a new vampire comedy; and Crystal Lake (thriller series premières Oct. 15 on Crave) stars Linda Cardellini (DTF St. Louis) as Pam Voorhees, single mom of a tormented kid named Jason, in this Friday the 13th origin story. Boo!

Small Prophets (series Canadian première Wednesday, Oct. 7, on Apple TV)Canadian fans of British TV have been champing at the bit for this quirky series since its acclaimed U.K. première in February. It’s a shaggy, quietly hilarious character study in the vein of Detectorists (2014-22, AcornTV), both of which were created by Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean), who also starred in Detectorists and plays a supporting role in Small Prophets. When the new story opens, Michael Sleep (Detectorists’ Pearce Quigley) is living a life of quiet desperation, visiting his father (Sir Michael Palin) and pining for the return of his disappeared beloved, Clea. Until, that is, Dad shares a loony alchemical recipe that sparks hope in Michael that he might be able to summon spirits to then summon Clea to … the garden shed? Not as creepy as it sounds? A tale of hope, frustratingly indirect action, meddlesome and ineffectual neighbours and, of course, true, true love.

‘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.