Paris mayor says she’s quitting Elon Musk’s ‘global sewer’ platform X as city gears up for Olympics

Detox centre ready but staffing challenges persist

Peter McMullen’s decade-long struggle with addiction gives him insight into the challenges Lighthouse Mission hopes to address with a new Main Street detox facility focused on connecting people with longer-term treatment.

McMullen, executive director of Lighthouse Mission, knows how difficult it can be to navigate Winnipeg’s addiction treatment system, particularly when someone is ready to seek help but the services they need aren’t immediately available.

Now, after years of planning and a lengthy renovation of two century-old buildings, the downtown organization is preparing to open a 10-bed detox facility at 667 and 669 Main St., with five beds each for men and women.

The facility could begin accepting clients as early as November, provided Lighthouse Mission can overcome one final hurdle: recruiting enough staff to operate it.

Maple leaf love: Albertans vote strongly to stay in Canada

EDMONTON - O Canada, Alberta is staying put.

In a historic referendum Monday, voters marked their ballots in overwhelming numbers to remain in the country that made Alberta a province 121 years ago.

In early returns, about 76 per cent of Albertans said yes to Confederation, while 24 per cent said they wanted the province to hold a second, binding referendum on leaving.

Both Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney lauded the result.

Empty desks: Advocates talk chronic school absenteeism

Concerned that school and government leaders are downplaying the state of student absenteeism, community organizers are strategizing to create urgency around who’s regularly missing class — and why — in Winnipeg.

The inaugural Youth at Risk in Winnipeg Symposium, held over the weekend at the Canadian Mennonite University, drew roughly 100 people to discuss barriers to attendance and brainstorm ways to remove them.

Nearly 20 years after he began calling attention to the issue, first as a volunteer with the Point Douglas Residents Committee, Sel Burrows gave an impassioned speech about the lack of political will to take meaningful action to help students from “dysfunctional homes.”

“I’ve dealt with nine cabinet ministers, Conservative and NDP, and five deputy ministers, and the issue has not gotten any better,” Burrows told teachers, reseachers and community support workers gathered Saturday on CMU’s Shaftesbury campus.

Clay Stevenson credits therapeutic side of hockey in learning to live with mother’s suicide

Hockey has always been more than just a game to Clay Stevenson. That was especially true after he suffered the biggest loss of his life: his mother, Holly, died by suicide seven years ago.

Klein says union’s attack ads are ‘dirty politics’

Mayoral candidate Kevin Klein said attack ads from Winnipeg’s largest union are an example of “dirty politics” and verge on United States-style campaigning.

The pamphlets, signed by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500, show a United States flag draped behind Klein, with text stating he has sided with “the broader alt-right political movement” and defends the U.S.

“As Canadians we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard. This is not the politics that we have experienced in the City of Winnipeg. This is not the type of politics we want to experience in Canada,” he said during a Tuesday news conference at his campaign headquarters.

He called on incumbent candidate Scott Gillingham to denounce the ads and reject the union’s campaign support.

Separation is dead, now Canada must unite

The overwhelming majority of Albertans sent a message that should put any serious campaign to break up the country on the back burner for a very long time.

Monday’s referendum was a resounding endorsement of Confederation, with roughly 75 per cent of voters rejecting the call for a second, binding referendum on separation. Only about 25 per cent supported taking the next step toward leaving Canada.

That’s not a close call. It’s a thumping of the separatist movement in Alberta.

There will always be a small minority of Albertans who want out of Canada, just as there will always be a minority of Quebecers who want to separate.