‘Ghost hotels’ will haunt next city council

Laurie Foster’s wife has jokingly nicknamed him “Neighbourhood Watch” for his dedication to looking out the front window of their home and recording the number of cars and trucks across the street. In the past six months, he’s counted 550 different vehicles, many bearing licence plates from various Canadian provinces and American states. All are coming and going from a single house.

Toppled statues should return

The statues of British royalty that were toppled in Winnipeg remain hidden. They shouldn’t be. They should be brought back into the limelight, still in their damaged state, as symbols of an important public uprising in this city’s history.

Transit drivers deserve a safe workplace

Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health Act requires employers to protect the safety of its workers. Winnipeg Transit employees can be excused for scoffing.

Pothole archeologist alarmed by decaying roads

Most of us see a pothole as something to dodge. Douglas Fisher studies it like a pavement archeologist. He examines the gritty texture of the aggregate around the edges of a hole, and it speaks to him about why it crumbled. He’s like a pothole whisperer.

In our conversation this week, Fisher came across as understated, a man who is cautious about his opinions — until the topic turned to the dismal condition of Winnipeg roads.

“I know asphalt. I studied asphalt. There are ways to design a mix that’s better for the roads in this climate,” he said.

Fisher’s career included 37 years with the Manitoba highways department, helping develop the best possible mix of pavement aggregate. He retired as the manager of engineering audit and quality assurance. When he offers an informed suspicion about why roads in Winnipeg are decaying faster than ever, he has street cred (please excuse the pun).

Manitoba sounding the feral-boar alarm

THE governments of Saskatchewan and Alberta have in the past month taken steps to stop wild pigs from running rampant. It’s incumbent on Manitoba to do as much.

The feral boars are causing great damage in Manitoba, the Manitoba Pork annual meeting on April 8 was told by wild-pig expert Ryan Brook. He called them “the single most successful invasive large mammal on the planet.”

“There are no predators, they are insanely aggressive, they eat just about anything and they keep going all year,” said Brooks, a University of Saskatchewan animal science professor.

Such porcine pronouncements might seem exaggerated to Manitobans who have never personally encountered a wild pig. Perhaps some skeptics believe reported sightings should be accorded the same credibility as reports of mythical creatures such as Sasquatch and unicorns.

Physical appearances don’t reveal what’s inside

WHILE I’ve never before transferred the privilege of this regular Free Press column, I invited a friend to take the space this week.

Matt Ferguson is smart, likes rocking out to music by such bands as the Tragically Hip, is a big fan of the Jets and the Bombers, and has cerebral palsy. He relies 100 per cent on other people to attend to all his bodily needs, such as putting food and liquid in his mouth.

When in public with Matt, I often see people who aren’t sure what to make of him. He speaks slowly and painstakingly, which seems to prompt some people to speak to him loudly and patronizingly, as if he is hard of hearing or slow of mind, neither of which is accurate.

Many people won’t even try. They just stare briefly at this 85-pound man and cut a wide berth around his wheelchair to avoid an encounter. For such people, perhaps reading an opinion column dictated by Matt will remind them that physical bodies don’t always reflect the person inside.

Sidewalk shoveling should be citizens’ job

IF you winter in Winnipeg, your vocabulary includes the phrase “shovel out,” as in: “Lots of snow fell overnight, we have to shovel out.”

If you are one of those wonderful Winnipeggers who helps other people get through winter, you might also shovel out the sidewalk of an elderly neighbour, or shovel out a vehicle that is hung up in a snowbank and has stranded its driver who, unlike you, doesn’t carry a shovel in their trunk when the snow starts.

Even these good neighbours — winter warriors who use their shovels as tools of kindness — usually stop short of doing public walkways. City sidewalks, city responsibility.

It doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, it shouldn’t be that way. The owners of homes and businesses should shovel the city-owned sidewalks that border their properties, and it should be mandatory.

Pallister deserves a dignified exit

The term “scapegoat” comes from the Hebrew bible, which outlines a ceremony for Yom Kippur in which the sins of the people are placed on a single goat, which is then sent into the wilderness of the desert.

Manitoba’s current scapegoat has a name: Brian Pallister.

He has been assigned the sins of the pandemic — some he deserved, some he bears only because he had the misfortune to be premier during COVID-19 — and it seems he’s been banished into the wilderness.

It’s been much quieter in Manitoba without Pallister in the house. Tradition dictates that outgoing premiers are honoured for their service during their final appearance in the legislature, even by political opponents, but Pallister was denied a harmonious farewell on Oct. 6 as NDP leader Wab Kinew stuck to the partisan script and directed a verbal kick at the scapegoat on his way out.

Willing participants in puck-therapy study

A UNIVERSITY of Manitoba research team led by associate Prof. Ben Schellenberg wants to find 500 Jets fans who agree to be interviewed for a study. OK, I’ll volunteer, so they will only need 499 more.

If they question Jets fans after this week’s exhibition games, the researchers will get an earful about new annoyances such as long lineups to check vaccination status, the mandatory wearing of mask, and the new no-bag policy that prohibits purses and backpacks.

Such relatively minor irritants are not the aim of the researchers’ study, though. They want to investigate the “passion and motivation” of Jets fans.

For some of us, the single word that best describes the motivation of attending Jets games is “therapeutic.”

Modern technology discourages DIY repair

MY father’s idea of fun included taking stuff apart to see how it worked. I once watched him disassemble an old-fashioned radio, his workbench covered with an array of tubes, wires, a speaker and screws, all the parts arranged meticulously on a white cloth so none was lost.

A pertinent detail to note in this example is that there was no need to repair the radio. Everyone in our home who wanted a radio already had one that got better reception than the relic my father had probably found at a garage sale. He did it only to see for himself how a radio operated.

A machinist and millwright by trade, he was a fix-it guy who was adept at necessary household repairs. But more than that, his hobby was to deconstruct unfamiliar items and investigate their inner workings. Items he took apart included an outdated Polaroid camera, the engine from a broken lawn mower, a video game the kids no longer wanted and a microwave oven that had been replaced by a newer model.

In his quest to understand how everyday items functioned, he could have researched sources such as owners’ manuals and internet sources, but like crossword-puzzle buffs who don’t peek at the answers, he enjoyed the challenge of figuring it out for himself, hands-on.

Fox’s run beyond medal-worthy

When coverage of the Tokyo Olympics seems too slick, too staged, too commercial, it’s refreshing to think back to a great Canadian athlete who was none of those.

Terry Fox didn’t compete within the structure of a sport, much less one recognized by the Olympic governing body. Yet his accomplishment is the essence of high-level athletic achievement.

This weekend offers an opportunity to compare Fox and Olympic athletes because of the coincidence of the Tokyo Olympics unfolding at the same time as Manitoba marks Terry Fox Day on Monday. Initially, it might seem an odd comparison. The performance of Olympians is measured by rankings within their category; Fox can’t be ranked because there’s not a category for what he did.

But the comparison can show what’s best about Fox and top-level Olympians — both share tenacious willpower that pushes their bodies and minds to their limits — and also how the pure ideal of the Olympics has become bloated with hype and marketing.

Protest cluster casts Christians in dim light

Former Free Press reporter Bill Redekop used to deploy his formidable storytelling skills in the district around Steinbach, Winkler, Morden and Altona.

Headlines are written by editors, not the authors of the news stories, and Redekop objected when an editor adorned one of his stories with a headline that included the term “Bible Belt,” a descriptor Redekop avoided.

“When you put Bible Belt on my story, you make it hard for me when I go back out there,” he said. “They hate that term.”

The distaste of southern Manitobans for the expression was echoed recently by Kyle Penner, an assistant pastor at Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach, when he posted a Twitter thread about a high level of vaccine hesitancy in his region.

Policing on trial on both sides of border

The way Minnesota is handling allegations against police may be a revelation to people in Winnipeg.

We’re not used to seeing police on trial. Here, when officers are accused of crimes, many avoid prosecution through a variety of creative methods.

As we follow news accounts of the Minneapolis trial of former officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, what seems even more unusual is that officers are testifying against their former colleague. Even the police chief took the stand in full uniform to condemn him.

And while Chauvin’s high-profile trial is still in progress, another Minnesota police officer, Kim Potter, was charged with killing a Black motorist. What’s noteworthy — and unprecedented by Winnipeg standards — is how swiftly and publicly her prosecution is proceeding. On Sunday, she allegedly killed Daunte Wright in a routine traffic stop. On Tuesday, she and her police chief both resigned. On Wednesday, she was jailed briefly and charged with second-degree manslaughter.

Expertise should guide schools plan

A key promise of the provincial government’s planned revolution of the education system is to give much more power to the parents of students. Speaking as a parent, I would rather the main responsibility for schooling Manitoba children stay with educators who are trained and experienced in the best ways to help students learn.

Parents should be involved and supportive, but it’s teachers who know what to teach and how best to teach it. It’s arrogant and ignorant to dictate to professionals about their field of expertise, whether it’s doctors about medicine or mechanics about vehicles.

When proposed changes were announced this week, they included a “community council” of parents at each school. Many of us initially assumed this was just a name change for the current parent councils, which, among other roles, are an effective liaison between educators and parents.

In elaborating on the change, however, Education Minister Cliff Cullen said the new community councils will put parents “front and centre.” Parents will weigh in on matters that used to be the responsibility of school trustees, such as student achievement, hiring decisions and capital projects.

After tragedy, time to reconsider issues

Problems within the Winnipeg Police Service are a long-standing issue. But for officers on the receiving end of public antagonism, it’s more than an issue. It’s personal, and it can hurt.

A constable who died by suicide on Feb. 21 was said to be distraught over the anti-police sentiment that has risen in recent years. Out of respect for the grieving family, the Free Press is not identifying the officer, but his public obituary states: “Sadly the light in his eyes began to dim in latter months as he became increasingly troubled with anti-police protests, campaigns, growing public hatred and cynicism toward police officers.”

The revelation that an officer was deeply disturbed by what he saw as public hatred might hit home uncomfortably for some Winnipeggers. Some may feel guilt. But there’s truth to what the officer felt.

Anti-police protests? Yes. Local protests against police brutality attracted thousands of people to Winnipeg’s downtown in June. Anti-police campaigns? Yes. More than 63,000 people signed a petition to defund and abolish the Winnipeg Police Service.

Seniors deserve dignity and independence

WHEN people think ahead to the years euphemistically described as golden, they tend to think nice thoughts: retirement will free up time and energy for worthwhile activities such as travelling, enjoying grandchildren and reading those neglected volumes gathering dust on the bookshelves.

People don’t like to think they may end their lives in a long-term care home. It’s a prospect that has become even more unsettling in the past year, as publicity surrounding COVID-19 deaths made people aware some such institutions operate in conditions that are, quite frankly, deplorable.

Perhaps our aversion to long-term care homes stems from our reluctance to accept the likelihood that, if we live long enough, we will be frail and dependent on others. Most residents in long-term care homes need 24/7 care for activities such as eating, dressing, getting out of bed and using the toilet.

These vulnerable people rely on staff. When the pathogens invaded, some institutions failed in their responsibility.

Poppy carries extra weight on pandemic lapels

WHEN wearing a pandemic face mask, pinning on a poppy seems more pertinent than ever.

The red plastic flowers that traditionally adorn lapels in the days before Nov. 11 have always helped us remember the war years. Back then, Canadians endured a lot of hardships and worked together to defeat a deadly enemy. In some ways, it was like our current fight against COVID-19.

If the sacrifices demanded by the current pandemic restrictions seem onerous — I know a guy who is downright dejected at the prospect of a winter without hockey — perhaps we can be inspired by the patriotic enthusiasm of Canadians on the home front during the world wars.

The enemies are different, of course: our modern enemy is a highly-infectious virus, not the military forces of countries intent on aggression.

Lift shroud of secrecy from care-home evaluations

IN China, respect for one’s elders is traditionally viewed as a paramount virtue. It would be deeply dishonourable to put your parents in a personal care home. In 2013, legislation called the Elderly Rights Law forbade adult children in China from “neglecting or snubbing elderly people.”

In Korea, the 60th and 70th birthdays are considered joyful occasions, when children gather for whoop-it-up parties to celebrate their parents’ passage into old age. It’s considered an honour for adult children to care for their parents.

In India, elderly people traditionally remain in the home of their adult children and are venerated as the head of the household, with their opinions encouraged and accepted for the wisdom they bring and the example they set.

In Canada? No one can claim elderly people are venerated in this country. In fact, many are consigned to low-grade institutions and all but ignored, left feeling they are no longer of value.

New theory induces re-examination of traffic flow

Winnipeg administrators are preparing a report on a controversial transportation theory that, if put into practice, would likely have environmentalists pumping their fists with jubilation.

It’s called induced transportation demand, which is planner-speak for the counterintuitive idea that when a city adds more lanes or builds more roads, it actually worsens traffic congestion.

How can that be? Common sense suggests the opposite — that adding lanes and roads relieves congestion by increasing capacity. That’s why Winnipeg aims to widen Kenaston Boulevard and build the 10-kilometre long Chief Peguis Trail extension, among other expensive road projects.

But the theory of induced demand, which has been backed by data in several reputable studies, is that increasing roadway capacity encourages people to drive more. Build more kilometres of lanes, more kilometres will be driven.

A strange reluctance to honour a hero

Young Winnipeggers don’t need to look to video games to find a fictional hero who embodies grit-and-guts courage.

The history of Winnipeg includes a real-life superhero: Terry Fox, the kid from Transcona.

It’s the 40th anniversary of Fox’s inspirational attempt to run across Canada, essentially on one leg — the other, lost to cancer, had been replaced by a prosthesis. Given the traditional tendency to mark full-decade anniversaries, this year would have been a big deal if the pandemic hadn’t intervened. Instead, the Terry Fox Run in Winnipeg on Sunday will be virtual only, with participants encouraged to walk, and fundraise, on their own.

Winnipeg is an admirably strong supporter of the Terry Fox Run, which in the past four decades has raised $800 million internationally for cancer research. But when it comes to celebrating Fox’s personal connection to this city, many Winnipeggers are understated to the point of being aw-shucks reticent.

Province’s ‘survey’ just a PR exercise

Like all Manitobans, I’ve been asked by Justice Minister Cliff Cullen to offer feedback on possible changes to legislation on rural crime, metal theft and biosecurity on farms.

I happen to have free time (stopped watching the NHL playoffs when the Jets lost, the Bombers can’t play this year and I knew my recreational life had bottomed out when I was tempted to watch Indian Matchmaking on Netflix).

When I accepted Cullen’s invitation to offer my opinions on the site https://engagemb.ca, I found way more than I had bargained for.

The questionnaire is introduced by a note from Cullen that states: “In 2017, Manitoba’s rural overall crime rate was 42 per cent higher than its urban overall crime rate.” That would be alarming, except a check with Statistics Canada shows Cullen is framing his questionnaire with only a partial truth.

For sports fans, the wait is almost over

IT’S been a while since we had a chance to cheer.

The past five months of pandemic restrictions has cancelled most public events, including spectator sports. But for action-starved fans, an end of the famine is tantalizingly near.

The Winnipeg Jets are scheduled to play the Calgary Flames next Saturday at 9:30 p.m. CT, kicking off a 24-team tournament for the Stanley Cup in fan-free arenas. It’s hard to imagine pro hockey without the raucous attendance of rinkside fans clapping and shouting with the passion that hockey excites. Will it be as hushed as watching televised golf? Or will they use pre-recorded crowd reactions, which is being done by Major League Baseball and some soccer teams?

Even if “canned” crowd enthusiasm is piped in to the Edmonton and Toronto hub rinks, such fakery need not dampen the enthusiasm of those of us cheering for real at home, resplendent in our replica jerseys that have hung neglected in our closets since the pandemic abruptly ended the NHL regular season on March 12. I know fans whose intensity is expressed in yells directed at their televisions.

Local stores await customers’ return

Shopping for a new pair of running shoes, I called up Amazon on my smartphone and easily found the ones I want, a model with the unwieldy name of Under Armour Mens Charged Pursuit 2. The Amazon price is C$77.93.

The same model is also available at a store in the mall closest to my Winnipeg home. The price there is $89.99. As well as being more expensive, it’s more difficult to shop in person at this store than it is to click a purchase at Amazon. To buy at the store, I must drive to the mall and navigate new pandemic restrictions.

Even though buying the shoes through Amazon is cheaper and easier, the decision was easy: Amazon be damned.

Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon — he’s on his way to becoming the world’s first trillionaire — doesn’t need to profit from my purchase of shoes. Winnipeg’s retail businesses, on the other hand, need our support more than ever.

New Manitoba will take some getting used to

TRAVELLERS to other countries often encounter customs that seem foreign: spitting in public, cheek kissing, bowing, slurping noodles, burping appreciatively after meals.

The new Manitoba emerging from the pandemic lockdown will require new protocols that will initially seem as foreign as customs in a different country.

How do we physically greet each other? How do we react if someone moves in too close? If someone coughs repeatedly in public, do we say something?

The relaxed restrictions on public gatherings began Friday — limits raised to 25 people indoors and 50 people outdoors — and will unite extended family and friends who haven’t met in groups since restrictions were imposed eight weeks ago.

Finding the beauty in everyday things

Now, more than ever, is a time to let beauty elevate us.

If given a chance, beauty can lift us above the uncertainty and fears that are toxic fallout of the pandemic. Here are five sources of everyday beauty that can offer relief from COVID-19 concerns and perhaps help us heal.

Get down in the dirtThe May long weekend is the traditional time for Manitoba gardeners to get in tune with the creative energy of the natural world. An alchemy of common elements — sunshine, water, bugs and dirt — sets the stage for seeds to explode in slow motion into plants and flowers.

The beauty of natural life can be explored in a single flower using an ancient Christian practice called Visio Divina. It involves gazing at an object such as a flower for several minutes, using different methods of seeing, and letting our senses relish the deeper dimensions of its beauty.

Personal-care homes require rigid regulation

About a year before COVID-19 turned several Canadian personal-care homes into pandemic death traps, a University of Manitoba study outlined a common-sense way to evaluate and improve such institutions.

The study urged the province to develop an online report card that would give the public a window into personal-care homes, which are also known as nursing homes. Each home would be publicly assessed on 12 indicators, including how each facility is staffed, what daily life is like, medical criteria such as the prevalence of bed sores and untreated depression, the use of physical restraints and toileting plans, and the levels of satisfaction of both residents and their families.

The criteria were developed by researchers from the university’s Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, who interviewed care-home administrators and doctors and nurses who specialize in care-home patients. Variations of such report cards already exist in Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario and in 23 U.S. states. But, in Manitoba, there is currently no reliable way for the public to compare the quality of care homes.

Entrusting a loved one to a care home, a decision that often rests with the adult children of the elderly person, is already a deeply emotional stage of family life. It only gets tougher when the families don’t have trustworthy information about which home will give high-quality care to their vulnerable parent or grandparent.

Time to park cars outside parks

As the pandemic grinds on and confinement in our homes becomes bleak at times, Winnipeg’s abundant green spaces offer a therapeutic escape. It’s unfortunate motorized vehicles are allowed to intrude.

A temporary ban on cars, trucks and motorcycles from city parks would go a long way toward helping pedestrians enjoy outings while still keeping the required physical distance. Pedestrians in parks could use the full width of the the roadways to keep a safe space from each other.

Vancouver did it with Stanley Park on April 8, banning vehicles from its world-class park so pedestrians can walk on roads and enjoy the tonic of the natural world while remaining distanced from other people. Minneapolis-St. Paul has banned vehicle traffic from three of its parkways. Portland, Ore., has closed 10 of its parks to cars and trucks. Similar sensible measures are underway in U.S. cities including Cleveland, Philadelphia and Denver.

Like all urban centres struggling to contain COVID-19, these cities banned vehicles from green spaces because of two pragmatic realities: 1) it’s physically and mentally healthy for people to enjoy the rejuvenating effects of nature as a break from being cooped up under stressful circumstances; and 2) city parks can accommodate a lot of people safely, with everyone heeding physical distancing guidelines, as long as vehicles are removed so pedestrians have room to spread out.

Joyful sounds missing from Easter celebration

Never thought there would be an Easter without singing.

Our church has been shuttered as a precaution against the novel coronavirus, as have all Manitoba churches, synagogues, mosques and temples. I understand why this must be, but I sure miss getting together.

We’re a singing church, a trait that is often mentioned by first-time visitors who typically say something like, “Wow, you guys sure like to sing.”

Our enthusiasm for singing is passed from generation to generation. When babies are introduced to the congregation, they’re welcomed with song. When these same babies are old enough to speak, they’re old enough to sing with us. They grow up singing in Sunday school, in kids’ club, in youth group and at church camps.

Public needs more information

A confounding aspect of the virus that has thrust the world into tumult is that it’s beyond the detection of human senses. We can’t see when it’s near, we can’t feel when it attaches to our skin, we can’t smell or taste when we breathe it in.

We want to avoid it, but we don’t know where it is. That makes us eager for any clues to the whereabouts of this invisible killer.

People in the Waterloo region of Ontario got a break this week when their health officials said they will begin announcing the locations where people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus may have caught it. By listing the places on a website, the officials hope to alert other people who were at the same locations to self-monitor for symptoms.

It’s a sensible idea that could be adopted in Manitoba. National health officials said this week that almost half of Canada’s COVID-19 are now caused by a spread in the community, not by travellers. In Manitoba, confirmed community contagion has been slow to arrive but we’ve been warned it has emerged and, unless health officials change their ways, we won’t know where in our community the virus is spreading.

Manitoba has experience with pandemics

AS the virus spread, all Manitoba schools were ordered to close, theatres went dark, church services were dropped and all public meetings were cancelled.

Seem familiar?

The measures listed above were taken from headlines of Manitoba newspapers 102 years ago, as the province was hit by the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. These same actions have been taken in the past couple of weeks as Manitoba tries to curtail the novel coronavirus that causes the illness called COVID-19.

Although the two pandemics are separated by a century, a comparison shows several important parallels with the current crisis in Manitoba. The similarities are intriguing; the differences can be instructive.

There’s a world beyond your smartphone

It used to be that people in public spaces kept their eyes up, alert to their surroundings. But today, many people in public remain transfixed by their cellphones. Even while walking through crowds, they’re hunched over their phones, their posture curved like Christmas candy canes.

I realize these people have the right to use their phones in public, and the right to free speech. But here’s the trouble with using phones when other people are around: barbarity in public spaces is only averted when we all heed the unwritten code of conduct that accords respect to other people.

When phones are used in annoying ways that disrespect nearby people, that’s over the line. This line is apparently invisible to some phone users, so here is a reminder: the line separates personal freedom from public accountability. In other words, people are free to use their phones in public, but not if they’re discourteous to others.

I enjoyed an interesting discussion about this modern problem with a guy named Bob McLenaghan. We’re both old enough to remember the time before cellphones, when people in public were more mindful of others around them. McLenaghan has used the Pan Am pool for 20 years and has recently noticed an increase in the number of people using phones in the pool area. After he saw someone use their phone in the shower area, he reported the incident to pool officials and to the city’s 311 service.

Trees deserve our deep-rooted respect

I have a surefire way to inspire people to support the mayor’s Million Tree Challenge, but I don’t think I can afford it.

My idea is to buy everyone in Winnipeg a copy of The Overstory, by Richard Powers. We would all read it together, like the biggest-ever book club.

It’s one of those rare books that can change how people see the world. And yes, it’s about trees. It could help Winnipeggers cultivate a fresh appreciation for the giant beings that share the city with us.

Don’t take my word for it. The Overstory won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2018 and was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize. It was called “monumental... a gigantic fable of genuine truths,” by a New York Times reviewer.

Fine time to dump library fines

YOU know what’s overdue at Manitoba’s public libraries? The elimination of fines.

More public libraries have stopped penalizing patrons who are late in returning items. These libraries withdrew all fines because they want to be welcoming and accessible to all. They don’t want to scare away people who have no easy way to pay.

People deterred from libraries by the possibility of fines include youth with limited or no income. It’s a shame when children and teens, especially those from disadvantaged households, feel discouraged from hanging out at libraries, where they would be within reach of supportive staff who can guide them into the world of literacy and positive possibility.

Other people who fear fines include those who are unemployed, homeless or recent immigrants. When they stay away from libraries, they also stay away from opportunities for education, entertainment and community connections. Libraries may provide their only access to computers and services such as printers and copiers.

Encouraging signs in outdoor-advertising debate

When my buddies and I gather to watch the Jets or Bombers on television, we often record the game and only begin watching about an hour after it starts. That way, we can fast-forward through the ads.

Unfortunately, there’s no way we can fast-forward through the outdoor advertising that litters Winnipeg. We can’t block it as we can online advertising.

This visual pollution — the worst are mobile signs, billboards and banners — is dangerous because it’s purposely designed to snare the attention of drivers who should instead be focused on traffic.

This roadside junk mail contributes nothing of beauty, and no message of wit nor profound insight, yet it’s allowed to dominate the landscape. Winnipeg is uglier because it allows this blight to scar our roadsides.

Time to make McClung a pioneer — again

A famous Winnipegger enthusiastically promoted selective breeding among humans for the refinement of the species. She championed the forced sterilization of people who were considered “unfit,” meaning people judged as “feeble-minded.”

She left Winnipeg and moved to Edmonton, where she was elected as an MLA and was a main promoter of the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act, legislation that allowed the sterilization of almost 3,000 people. The victims were disproportionately immigrants and Indigenous people.

By today’s standards, she would be considered a racist.

What do we do about Nellie McClung?

MLA Fontaine fails to deliver poetic justice

IT’S highly unusual for a Canadian poet to get the tsunami of attention received last week by Stephen Brown.

Most poets toil outside the public limelight, but interest in Brown went viral on social media and his poetry was the focus of stories reported prominently by mainstream media from coast to coast, including both of Canada’s national newspapers.

He got the recognition thanks to Manitoba MLA Nahanni Fontaine, who prompted the extensive media coverage by her successful demands to have two of Brown’s poems removed from the parliamentary poet laureate website.

Before outlining concerns about a legislator intervening in the art world, I should mention I am aware of — and sincerely respect — Fontaine’s extensive professional and personal efforts on behalf of the families of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls. But in this instance, before telling art experts their business, perhaps she should have considered the implications.

Liquor-theft culprits victims, too

A galling aspect of liquor-store lawlessness is that the thieves have long seemed to get away with it. But three court cases last week corrected that misconception and offered the reassurance that such thieves are being prosecuted.

On a more important level, however, the court cases offered the public the first detailed profiles of people who are stealing the liquor. It was a heart-rending revelation. The thieves in all three cases were Indigenous people with grim personal histories, victims of appalling social problems beyond their control. Their backstories are evidence of why governments need to redouble efforts to carry out the recommendations of studies such as the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

This is not to suggest all liquor-store thefts are being carried out by Indigenous people driven by addictions. Police say the rash of thefts includes organized gangs that sometimes sell the liquor for profit, but as far as the Free Press knows, prosecutions of such gang members have not yet reached the stage of criminal trials.

It’s been frustrating to watch anonymous criminals — their identities partially hidden by balaclavas and hoodies pulled low — carry bottles out of Manitoba Liquor Marts without paying or being apprehended by store staff or security, who have been directed to stay safe and not try to physically stop the booze bandits.

Finally, a viable way to offer public toilets downtown

Most people agree downtown Winnipeg needs more public washrooms. The problem has always been the expense. It costs a lot to buy, police and maintain an array of stand-alone toilet facilities.

How about this as a less-expensive alternative? Require all new buildings that receive public money to provide and maintain washrooms open to the public. Also, offer financial incentives for private business owners to keep their washrooms open for public use. And then provide prominent signs on the outside of the co-operating buildings that say: “public washrooms inside.”

These are among the intriguing proposals in a report that outlines a strategy to get more public washrooms downtown. It’s one of the best reports that almost no one has read.

Examining a 51-page report about public toilets is not everyone’s idea of fun, I get that, but its contents will be appreciated by those of us weary of the never-ending talk-talk-talk about the lack of public washrooms and ready to move forward with realistic solutions.

All should be welcome in storm cleanup

How would you react to the following scenario? You answer a knock on the door of your home and greet a man who says, “I notice heavy branches from the storm are laying on your lawn. A truck will be in your neighbourhood tomorrow, with low-risk jail inmates who are well-supervised. If you choose, we can take those branches away for free.”

It’s likely most Winnipeggers would swiftly get over any hesitation about whether inmate work teams should be allowed to leave their penal institution. Most people would answer, “Yes, you have my permission. And, hey, thanks for helping out.”

In a state of emergency, such as the one declared after the devastating snowstorm earlier this month, all options should be considered. This should include enlisting the least dangerous inmates from Manitoba’s provincial and federal institutions.

Winnipeg can use the help. The amount of work to recover from the tree-destroying storm is far beyond the capacity of public and private workers who usually cope with tree damage, even with additional resources from other provinces.

Climate is changing, but there’s still cause for hope

Our hearts break when we hear the fear in young voices as they describe facing their future with despair. They deserve better.

They should know, though, there is also reason for hope. There’s evidence-based optimism that people can rise up and do the right thing when the matter is vitally important.

Before we make the case for hope, it’s important to reinforce two critical points that were made repeatedly in the past weeks by Manitoba youth who joined a global protest against inaction on climate change.

First, the prognosis for the planet is dire. That’s not opinion. That’s fact. If adults think the youth are exaggerating with sensational stunts like holding a “die-in” on the steps of the Manitoba legislature, signing a pledge not to bear children and holding signs like “There is no Planet B,” it’s because those adults don’t understand the irrefutable facts reported to the United Nations by the world’s top climate scientists.

City hall not exactly an incubator for good ideas

So you think you have a good idea to improve Winnipeg and, best of all, it would cost taxpayers little or nothing.

Who could say no? City bureaucrats, that’s who. Here are four proposals that seemed win-win solid until they entered the red-tape maze at city hall:

School-zone lights for freeChuck Lewis wanted to install solar-powered amber lights at speed-reduced school zones that would flash only during school hours. He would cover the cost.

No, we don’t want to know who won!

On Saturday afternoon, many of us had plans and couldn’t watch the live broadcast of Bianca Andreescu’s U.S. Open tennis match. We set our televisions to record it and planned to watch it later that day.

But the historic event was ruined for the 33,134 of us who spent Saturday afternoon at IG Field enjoying the Blue Bombers facing the Roughriders in the Banjo Bowl, when the public address system announcer blurted out that Andreescu had won.

His announcement was greeted with dismay by some of us in the stands. He robbed us of the thrill of watching our recorded broadcast and experiencing the excitement as the upstart Canadian teen foiled a fierce comeback attempt by legendary champion Serena Williams.

Not much use in watching a sporting event when you already know the winner. It’s like hearing a joke when you already know the punch line. It’s like reading a whodunnit when you know in advance who did it.

Folklorama at 50: Way to go, Winnipeg

The juxtaposition was jarring. Last Sunday in El Paso, Texas, a gunman who had posted an online manifesto decrying a “Hispanic invasion” killed 22 people at a Walmart, deliberately targeting Mexicans. Also last Sunday, Winnipeg kicked off Folklorama, the annual festival that showcases the culture of different ethnic groups, including Mexicans.

In a world in which ethnic hatred seems to be on the rise, this annual cultural celebration offers Winnipeg as a sanctuary where ethnic diversity is valued, not feared or scorned.

Fiftieth anniversaries are generally considered a landmark worthy of congratulations, and it should be so with Folklorama. Let’s raise a glass — ideally containing an imported beverage — to commend something Winnipeg does exceedingly well.

Since it began in 1970, Folklorama has grown into an event that is unmatched in the world. No other city attracts as many people to a festival of this type. It was named “the world’s largest and longest-running multicultural festival” by the International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts.

Pursuing the perfect lawn a perfectly wasteful plan

In the division of domestic duties at our suburban Winnipeg home, my wife gardens and I tend the lawn. Her work provides delicious vegetables in a backyard plot and beautiful flowers in front yard beds. My work provides only guilt.

While I push a mower back and forth to give our lawns their twice-monthly crewcut, there’s plenty of time to reflect on the fact that the lush, green lawns that abound in Winnipeg are a shameful abuse of land.

We waste money, energy and time on growing a crop that — let’s face it, fellow homeowners — is useless. We grow a crop we don’t eat, weave, ferment, smoke or feed to animals. We harvest frequently and immediately put it at the curb for biweekly pickup, as if the City of Winnipeg’s waste collectors need more work to do.

We buy lawn mowers to cut it and buy special waste bags to dispose of it. We buy lawn seed, fertilizer and whatever pesticides are available since Manitoba made the most lethal lawn chemicals unavailable to homeowners.

Time to regulate eyes in the sky

Picture this: you’re sunbathing with your family on a Manitoba beach and a small drone suddenly appears and hovers nearby. You wonder whether its digital camera is recording you and your children, and who is controlling it. Is there not a privacy law to prevent such creepy voyeurism?

You wouldn’t be alone in concerns about the legal limitations of this camera-equipped robotic technology.

Canada’s federal government introduced strict drone rules on June 1, but they deal mainly with safety, not privacy. For example, the new rules ban most drones from flying near airports and emergency scenes, and say operators must be licensed and drones must be registered.

Disappointingly, Transport Canada didn’t offer recommendations on the thorny issue of personal privacy. For example, what’s to stop drone operators from snooping on people in their backyards or through the balcony windows of their highrise apartments?

Holy places offer sanctuary to all

Those of us who value holy places — churches, synagogues, temples and mosques — know they provide sanctuary in many different ways.

One type of sanctuary that made headlines this week is the age-old practice in which a place of worship offers shelter to someone in trouble with legal or military authorities. This is rarely used in Manitoba these days, but a 60-member Mennonite congregation, Crestview Fellowship Church in Winnipeg, is currently housing in its basement a woman and her two sons, aged 12 and six. The church took them in on April 11, two hours before the family was to be deported back to their Sierra Leone home, which they say would have put the family in danger.

The definition of sanctuary can arguably be stretched to include a place where many Manitobans find refuge for an hour or two a week. They’re not on the lam from the law. The sanctuary they seek is a refreshing break from a secular world that judges people on money, status and physical appearance. They want a fertile space to undergo the difficult inner work of dismantling their self-centredness and attempting universal compassion.

At their best, these houses of transformation offer a safe haven of acceptance. They are communities where people remember your name, where people invite you out for coffee, where people deliver a casserole when you’re sick, where people join you in commemorating the important milestones of your family, including weddings, births and deaths.

Random homicides put Winnipeg on edge

The effect of Winnipeg’s rash of random homicides extends beyond the people who had the grave misfortune to be in the path of killers. When victims are chosen by chance, when it could happen to any of us, the community feels anxious.

After a homicide, the public wants to know the circumstances leading to the death. They don’t necessarily want the bloody details, but they want to know why it happened so they can mentally class the tragedy into one of two categories: did the victim put himself in a dangerous situation? Or was it random?

The category of dangerous situations can include living with a domestic partner who is violent, or associating with people involved in such illicit activities as street gangs, prostitution or the drug trade.

The lives of people who are killed in such situations are not less valuable, but the context leading to their deaths is publicly parsed because people want to believe they and their loved ones will be safe if they avoid such dangerous circumstances.

Cheers to Manitoba liquor laws

As much as some Manitobans might like the opportunity to purchase alcoholic libations at their corner store at 8 a.m., it would be a mistake for this province to liberalize retail liquor sales as Ontario is planning to do.

The privatization push in Ontario comes from the Progressive Conservative government led by Premier Doug Ford, whose successful campaign to become premier included a “buck a beer” pledge. His government recently confirmed it’s proceeding with its promise to expand beer and wine sales into corner stores, big-box stores and other grocery outlets.

Manitobans of a right-of-centre inclination — and those who get thirsty for liquor after government outlets are closed for the evening — might hope this province follows Ontario and other provinces that have moved away from government monopolies on retail liquor sales. Quebec has long let convenience stores and grocery stores sell wine and beer. Alberta is the most extreme of Canadian provinces, having gone to full privatization of retail alcohol sales 25 years ago.

There will always be people ideologically inclined toward more privatization, and others who want less. In this instance, there are solid reasons why the Manitoba mix of government-run Liquor Marts and private wine and beer stores is the best balance of social responsibility and service to customers. In other words: keep the status quo.

Winnipeg’s pet bylaw all bark, no bite

The problem with Winnipeg’s pet bylaw is that animals can’t read. They can’t be expected to know when their natural behaviour infuriates people with whom they co-exist in Winnipeg’s neighbourhoods.

Dogs bark enthusiastically when let outdoors, disturbing people who opened their windows to enjoy the summer air. Cats roam and use gardens as litterboxes. Dogs leave cigar-sized gifts on their neighbourhood strolls in grass beside sidewalks.

The animals are blamed, even though they’re only acting as animals act. Such blame is misdirected. It’s not the animals’ fault they got stuck with irresponsible owners.

In Winnipeg, the duties of pet owners are outlined in a city bylaw called Responsible Pet Ownership. The bylaw worked well recently in a high-profile hearing involving a West St. Paul woman who wanted to move back to Winnipeg with her pets. Her dogs — a bulldog and a bulldog/boxer cross — have a history of running at large, chasing people and biting other dogs, according to complaints from 11 different people dating back to 2014. The bylaw’s dangerous-dog designation prevented the owner from moving her dogs back to the city.

Words of advice for the class of 2019

Congratulations to the 20,000 or so university and college students who are graduating in Manitoba this spring. Your ranks include our son, James DeGurse, who is graduating from Canadian Mennonite University.

It’s heartening for us spectators to attend convocations and see bright-eyed faces smiling beneath mortarboard caps and tassels. The ceremonies abound with optimism and point to a future that will see you rise to prominent positions. In coming decades, it will be your turn to be the big shots.

You leave your formal education with hopeful aspirations and the most up-to-date knowledge in your disciplines. You have likely been inundated with advice, but I will offer my two cents’ worth (pardon the cliché, which refers to a time, back in the day, when we had brown coins that were each worth one-fifth of a nickel).

As you launch from academia, please colour your priorities with compassion. That’s my advice in one word. Compassion.

Billboard challenges sex-work norms

Sensational Serena has the potential to make many Winnipeggers uncomfortable.

Billboard space she purchased at the intersection of Portage Avenue and Aubrey Street advertises her services as “Winnipeg’s professional companion” and offers her phone number. It’s thought to be the first time an escort or sex worker in this city has advertised so prominently.

The billboard was uncomfortable for a co-worker who spotted it while driving past with his family. He and his wife raised their eyebrows at each other and were grateful the kids in the back seat apparently didn’t see the billboard and ask what is so sensational about Serena.

In a larger context, the brassy advertisement also has the potential to raise uncomfortable questions about what currently passes for a correct view of sex workers.

New norms make touching a touchy subject

Joe Biden says he now gets it. He understands the etiquette around physical contact between men and women is changing, partly due to #MeToo enlightenment.

“Social normals have begun to change. They’ve shifted, and the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset, and I get it, I get it,” the former U.S. vice-president said after he was confronted with public allegations from women who resented his hugs, shoulder rubs, nose-to-nose contact and head kisses.

What many of us guys don’t get, however, is a clear understanding of the new etiquette that is replacing the old. We want to be situationally appropriate, but what social touching is appropriate these days?

Many high-profile cases such as Biden’s have made it clear it doesn’t matter if our intention behind our touch was non-sexual. What matters is how the recipient received the touch. And that apparently depends on a complex mix of place, relationship and the personalities of the people involved.

Pedestrians needn’t die in city traffic

On April 1, a 57-year-old woman died after she was hit by a half-ton truck in the parking lot of Garden City Shopping Centre.

On March 26, a 41-year-old man died after he was hit by a vehicle on March 20 while he was crossing Osborne Street at Morley Avenue.

On March 19, a four-year-old girl died a day after being hit by a vehicle while using the crosswalk with her mother at Isabel Street and Alexander Avenue.

Those are examples of the many recent traffic deaths that cause grim concern when newsroom editors gather to discuss Winnipeg issues.

The value of shared public celebrations

As journalism students planning to host a party in our apartment, our pre-emptive tactic was to door-knock neighbours in nearby suites and invite them to join us as guests. The unspoken assumption was they wouldn’t want to attend but, because they had been invited, they were less likely to complain if our party was loud and long.

It’s like that with two upcoming public celebrations. Organizers of separate gatherings — Manitoba’s 150th anniversary celebration and Whiteout street parties — held recent news conferences to outline plans.

All Manitobans are welcome at both bashes. But despite the wide-open invitation, some people will still complain.

For people looking to save the date, the 150th celebrations are still far off. Manitoba became a province on May 12, 1870, so the whoop-it-up sesquicentennial isn’t until 2020.

A tale of two security checks

Last Saturday afternoon, I went to buy a bottle of wine and came face to face with an armed police officer. The Liquor Mart’s new security measure was welcome.

On the next day, I visited the Millennium Library and stood in line with other disgruntled patrons so guards could search us for weapons. The library’s new security measure was offensive.

The contrast between the two experiences offered vivid examples of how scrutiny of our behaviour, our personal possessions and our bodies can be valid or can be unmerited. Much depends on context.

On March 20, Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries announced sweeping security changes for its Winnipeg liquor stores. Most customers had only one question: what took them so long?

Political bickering doesn’t fix roads

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but none of the current provincial and municipal politicians campaigned on a promise to make roads worse. Not one said: “Vote for me and I’ll eliminate the budget for residential road repair. That will ensure roads in dire need of repair will crumble even more. Can I count on your support?”

They didn’t warn us they would do it. Yet, here we are.

After city council voted on Wednesday for a budget that halts all significant local street work in the year ahead, they should know many people will be irate.

When drivers are jolted by cracked and crumbling pavement, it’s an issue that impacts them — literally. And every thud that rattles their vehicle’s suspension will remind them of the sorry lack of political leadership on this issue.

Budget cuts will lead to tree loss

Flying into Winnipeg, it’s nice to see the canopy of trees above some parts of the city. The rich foliage in summertime makes Winnipeg look lush, like an oasis in the midst of sectioned farmland.

Perhaps we should take a picture from the jet window the next time we’re over the city. The picture will help us remember what the canopy used to look like.

The city budget that council will vote on Wednesday proposes to slash the funding of workers who care for the trees — a 36 per cent decrease in reforestation and urban forest enhancement. It comes at a time when foresters are in a desperate fight to protect Winnipeg’s urban forest from the death of hundreds of thousands of trees.

The effort to save this city’s 230,000 American elms, the largest population of such trees in North America, depends on city staff culling the 7,000 or so trees a year that have Dutch elm disease. Those are the ones marked for removal by fluorescent orange splotches. Even with its previous budget, the city’s forestry department couldn’t remove the infected elms soon enough. When diseased trees are not removed quickly, the disease spreads.

Is it time to let kids play rough at recess?

Adults who supervise Manitoba schoolyards are quick to lay down the law: roughhousing is bad behaviour that must stop. Students who shove, tackle and wrestle will be disciplined for unruliness.

Two Quebec schools do it differently. They’re experimenting with schoolyard pilot projects in which consenting students can jostle, push and pile atop each other.

Picture this: the recess bell rings and children in snowsuits sprint to a designated rough-play zone, somersaulting into a snowbank with whoops of excitement. They grab and grapple other students, roaring and laughing, rolling together in a clump, tumbling together like rambunctious bear cubs.

And when the recess bell rings again? They return to the classroom less fidgety, better able to concentrate on academics.

Colder welcome as library boosts security tactics

A traditional attitude of welcome is withdrawn today as Winnipeg’s main library greets all patrons with suspicion.

A new policy mandates that no one older than 13 years can enter without submitting to bag checks and sweeps by a hand-held metal detector. Say goodbye to the public-library philosophy of open access and a convivial approach that made the main branch one of the best things about downtown Winnipeg.

The intrusive searches will mean an elderly lady might have to explain within earshot of strangers why her hip is setting off the metal detector. A new immigrant might be intimidated and reminded of the random searches he feared in the police state he fled. A teenage girl might blush with embarrassment as a security guard inspects personal items in her purse.

It’s a disrespectful way to treat guests.

In Winnipeg, navigating winter requires patience

When you’re stuck on Kenaston Boulevard in a line of bumper-to-bumper traffic that’s clogged by a vehicle stalled several blocks ahead, there’s lots of time to ponder the virtue of patience.

Drivers who are impatient might fume with frustration about being trapped in the bottleneck, perhaps uttering foul words about Winnipeg drivers who don’t heed the etiquette of zipper-merging.

Meanwhile, people who are patient might relieve their stress with mindful breathing, and say to themselves: “How fortunate, this unexpected interlude lets me enjoy more music.”

The practice of patience is crucial to cope with Manitoba winters — almost as important as block heaters and good boots.

A more budget-friendly eye in the sky?

The sound and sight of a police helicopter hovering overhead has become common since Air-1 first lifted off in 2010. But Winnipeg may soon decide it can’t afford the helicopter program.

An independent consultancy firm, MNP, was hired to review whether Air-1 is worth the money, and is expected to report by spring.

It’s possible the report will prompt a decision that the cost of the copter — $2,600 for every hour it operated in 2016 — is not worth the value to taxpayers.

The cost has become a big concern because funding to the Winnipeg Police Service changed in 2017 and Air-1’s expenses can no longer be billed separately to the province.

Manitoba’s spirit shines in winter

There’s something about surviving unbroken weeks of frigid weather that brings out the best in Manitobans.

When the temperature is this cold, it transforms the way people interact. We’re nicer to each other, we’re quicker to help people who need it, we drive more cautiously and, most wonderfully, we’re less likely to judge people on their physical appearance.

Take snow pants, for example. People who normally feel obliged to devote considerable attention to their wardrobe can lower their high standards when it’s so cold. That $120 pair of designer jeans that flatters one’s figure and is the precise degree of skinny that is currently fashionable? Leave those jeans in the closet. It’s sensible to wear snow pants and clunky boots to work, to school and to social gatherings. We won’t judge.

The welcome relaxation of fashion requirements also applies to grooming. In mid-winter Manitoba, it’s useless to style your tresses with expensive product and artful blow-drying because it’s all going under a hat anyway. When you arrive at an indoor location and remove your hat, your hair will be limp and full of static electricity. That’s OK. Everyone’s hair is a mess, so no one will think less of you.

Dumpster divers seek food justice

Before entering a Dumpster to retrieve food behind a grocery store or restaurant, don’t forget to tap the metal side with your flashlight and listen for the scurrying of rodents, such as squirrels, that could be trapped inside. It’s dangerous to get into a Dumpster with an animal that feels threatened.

But your taps on the Dumpster shouldn’t be so loud that they attract the attention of other people because, well, Dumpster diving is illegal in Winnipeg and someone might call the cops.

That advice was offered by experienced Dumpster divers with whom I had several conversations. I thought of these food foragers recently with the release of a survey that concludes much more food is wasted in Canada than previously thought.

Lamentably, 58 per cent of all food in Canada is not eaten. About 86 per cent of the wasted food comes directly from the food industry, not private households, according to the survey by Value Chain Management International, which was released Jan. 17.

Bring city history out of exile

Everyone who has a loved one with progressive dementia gains a renewed appreciation of the importance of memory.

Memories are a record of who we are, where we have been and what we have accomplished. When those memories slip away, so does much of our identity.

It's like that with a city, too. Winnipeg's identity is partly shaped by its collective memory, which relies substantially on the city archives that in recent years have suffered civic neglect. Encouragingly, a financial offer from the Winnipeg Foundation last Tuesday could change that.

Winnipeg has a first-rate archive collection, but it's been shunted into shamefully inadequate quarters.

Headlines we’d like to see in 2019

Perhaps it’s unrealistic to expect 2019 will bring monumental good news such as a cure for cancer, the stabilization of the climate or the end of a 29-year Grey Cup drought for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Instead, we can appreciate small changes that would make Manitoba a better place. For example, here are fictional news stories that we hope the Free Press can write for real this year:

PRISONERS SHOVEL SNOW FOR SENIORS

How Winnipeg could welcome caravan migrants

It’s heartbreaking to see the United States use tear gas and military troops to confront a migrant caravan at its border with Mexico.

In Winnipeg, we don’t use tear gas on such people. We welcome them.

Lloyd Axworthy knows Winnipeg treats refugees humanely, which is why he recently said he wants his hometown to take in some caravan migrants who are victims of gang and domestic violence.

He said Winnipeg could be an example to the world, helping reverse a global tide of anti-refugee sentiment.

No need to fear the fa-la-la season

It’s the “hap-happiest time of the year” for people who enjoy singing in public. But for many others, the social pressure to sing is a Christmas nightmare.

These editorial pages usually air opinions about important political and social issues but, given the festive season, perhaps it’s permissible to use this space to sympathize with a more personal affliction: the phobia of singing in public.

You know who you are.

At gatherings of family and friends, people make merry by distributing songsheets and joining in their favourite carols. But you take literally the title of Silent Night.

Winnipeg will be a good test for driverless cars

Thumbs up to whichever brainiac inside the provincial government decided Manitoba should allow testing of driverless vehicles.

The Progressive Conservative government announced in its Throne Speech on Nov. 20 that it's working on legislation to let fully automated vehicles be road-tested in Manitoba.

These vehicles are already driving in plenty of places where the pavement is smooth and the weather is fine, but test results from balmy places like California are as unwelcome here as their romaine lettuce.

Robot vehicles might seem like a futuristic fantasy, but optimistic predictions within the industry are that private driverless cars will be available for sale to the public in two to five years. On Wednesday, a company called Waymo launched a commercial robot ride-hailing service in Arizona, where the car drives itself while a Waymo engineer sits behind the wheel in case anything goes wrong.

Roadside justice robs Manitobans of rights

Perhaps the highway signs on the province’s borders should be changed to read: “Welcome to Manitoba, the home of roadside justice.”

First, the provincial government changed the distracted-driving law. Beginning Nov. 1, police officers got the power to immediately punish suspected distracted drivers with measures such as three-day suspensions of their licences and $672 fines.

And on Thursday, the government tabled an amendment that again lets police sidestep the law courts and, on the spot, punish suspected impaired drivers. The officers will be able to impound vehicles, impose a mandatory ignition interlock of one year and issue fines for impairment reading as low as 0.05.

The important adjective in both cases is “suspected.” The drivers are only “suspected” offenders. But the Progressive Conservative government has altered the rules so drivers can now be punished upon accusation, without a chance to defend themselves.

Sure, it’s cold, but it’s an affordable cold

Winnipeggers with friends and relatives in Vancouver often get gentle ribbing about weather and our Prairie geography. These jokers like to message us in mid-winter and rub it in: “Here in beautiful B.C., I was outdoors in my shirt sleeves today, raking the leaves and admiring the view of the mountains. How are things in Winnipeg?”

The same type of teasing also comes from the east, from friends and relatives in Toronto. They don’t boast about weather or their scenic view, but about their city’s A-list array of cultural and sport attractions: “Saw Adele in concert last night, and apparently Bruce Springsteen is coming to Toronto. And I really like going to Blue Jays and Raptors games. Remind me, what’s the name of Winnipeg’s pro basketball team?”

Prairie people are known for their humility, so we chuckle good-naturedly at these friendly slights. But even patient people can only be pushed so far. If our acquaintances in Vancouver and Toronto persist in mocking Winnipeg, we lob a howitzer shell of a question: “What’s the cost of a house in your city?”

That comeback usually ends the congenial one-upmanship. We’re well aware people with middle-class salaries in cities such as Vancouver and Toronto have two choices when it comes to housing: 1) buy, and be burdened by huge payments on a mortgage so big it might never be paid off; 2) rent, and waive the financial equity that comes with ownership.

Bombers fans dream of Grey Cup glory

Unlike my Free Press colleagues who are sports writers, I cheer for the Bombers. Unabashedly.

People who have never been inside a press box at a professional sporting event might be surprised to learn cheering is forbidden. They’re working journalists, not fans, and they view the game objectively. To cheer in a press box is as awkward as belching at a formal dinner.

I prefer to attend Bomber games on my own time, my own dime. Paying for my ticket means I am free to holler, high-five, groan and shout helpful suggestions at head coach Mike O’Shea.

We fans were grimly quiet earlier this season when we lost four in a row, thanks largely to quarterback Matt Nichols’ disturbing propensity to throw the ball to the opposing teams. The worst losses were back-to-back humiliations by our arch-rival Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Stigma about mental illness conceals pain and shame

When Anita Cenerini places a wreath on Remembrance Day, she will do right by her son. She will also do right by everyone who suffers from the stigma around mental illness.

It’s a big deal that the Winnipegger was chosen as this year’s Silver Cross Mother because it’s the first time the honour has gone to a mother of a soldier who died by suicide.

Her son, Pte. Thomas Welch, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2003 and took his own life on May 6, 2004, after he returned to Canada and suffered post-traumatic stress. He was 22.

The military initially didn’t award the soldier the honours usually given to war dead, such as the Memorial Cross and a mention in the official Book of Remembrance, but his mother worked tirelessly to have her son’s sacrifice recognized.

Secret data on Manitoba schools should be divulged

If you really want to know what’s happening inside a school, join the intelligence network of parents who gather daily at the schoolyard.

They huddle and chat outside of the fence after drop-off and before pickup, assessing the school with a frankness that might surprise the principal if she eavesdropped.

Which teachers work extra hard to connect with kids? The parents confide this information to each other.

Which teachers are lazy and only keep their jobs because they’re protected by the union? The parents name names.

Fight, flee, or perhaps there’s a third option

It’s a gut-check moment when we’re walking on a city street and see someone beating another person. Do we get involved or walk on by?

The traditional choices are usually described as fight or flee. The “fight” option has us physically intervene, risking injury to ourselves and possible legal action if we hurt someone. The “flee” option has us ignore the violence and mind our business, a decision that would never make us a hero but would keep us personally safe.

Winnipeg news stories have chronicled two recent incidents that illustrate these two common reactions.

The fight option was chosen on Oct. 13 by Doug Thomas, 48. He was at an A&W restaurant when he saw two men harassing a man in a bus shelter on Portage Avenue, across from the Polo Park mall. He raced over to intervene physically and was badly beaten by two attackers, who kicked him repeatedly and ripped open his eyelid with fingernails.

Distracted-driving crackdown is good, but what about aggressive drivers?

You know who you are. At 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday, you were driving the black Chevrolet Tahoe that tailgated my grey Nissan Altima heading north on Main Street past Kildonan Park.

I was driving the speed limit of 60 km/h, but you followed alarmingly close, about an arm’s length from my rear bumper.

Suddenly, without signalling, you jerked your vehicle into the left lane and floored it, roaring past my vehicle and, again without signalling, cut back in front of my vehicle, dangerously close.

I pulled up behind you at the traffic light at the intersection of Main and Chief Peguis Trail. As we waited for the red to change, I had plenty of time to look at the back of your head and wonder what type of person drives so aggressively.

Eccentricities part of the democratic process

What can we glean from an election process that invites a self-described homeless person to run for mayor of Winnipeg?

The correct answer is that it’s heartening to see wide-open inclusion, a pillar of democracy — even when it means letting eccentric characters put their names on the ballot.

A less correct, but truthful, answer is that such an open system is also frustrating. For example, candidate forums bog down when audiences must listen to no-hope candidates whose pronouncements only provide evidence they didn’t study up on civic issues and budgetary basics that a mayor must know.

Yet it’s vital that the democratic process be open to everyone, not just well-connected and smooth-talking professionals in nice suits. Anyone who can gather signatures of 250 eligible voters on their nomination papers can declare their candidacy for mayor of Winnipeg, and that’s as it should be.

Snow news is good news

I offer fair warning to any school trustee candidates who knock at my door seeking support for the Oct. 24 election. I will ask them this question: should snow days be abolished in Manitoba?

It’s a loaded question because my feelings about this issue are so strong that, if the candidate disagrees, I will refuse to vote for them and, ever so politely, request they leave my porch immediately.

Snow days occur when Manitoba school divisions cancel school because this province’s notorious winter weather makes roads too treacherous to travel. This decision is typically greeted with jubilation by students who are thrilled to get an unexpected day of freedom.

But some school divisions in the U.S. have decided it’s in the best interests of the children’s education to abolish snow days.

Free bus rides laudable, free liquor regrettable

Copywriters and headline writers try to use words that grab attention. One word that has a magnetic pull is “free.” When inserted in a heading, subject line or opening sentence, the word “free” ensures many readers will be drawn in, feeling compelled to learn what they can get without paying.

In the past week, Winnipeggers have been surprised to learn of two separate areas in which some people get free goods and services that were previously believed to be provided only in exchange for money.

Thieves are walking out of Liquor Marts with free liquor because they know staff and security guards have been forbidden to intervene physically. And people are riding city buses for free because Winnipeg Transit drivers have been told to let them.

The two instances have parallels, although only to a point. Both Manitoba’s liquor stores and the city bus services are staffed by government employees, which creates a different dynamic than in the private business model. It means employees don’t have a personal financial interest in stopping people who steal liquor or avoid bus fares; the staff still get their full paycheques regardless.

In a wired world, handwriting grabs our attention

In the daily barrage of emails and texts, a handwritten letter stands out like a gem amid gravel.

It’s rare these days to receive a note or letter with our name penned on the outside of the envelope, southwest of the stamp. It’s instantly compelling, because handwriting signifies the writer cares enough to invest time in a method of communication that is intimately personal.

Yes, it’s easier and faster to communicate digitally. But to connect in a way that is distinctive and memorable, resurrect the tradition of pen on paper.

This small pleasure was delivered to several of us at the Free Press recently. A newsroom intern named Maggie Macintosh gave handwritten thank-you notes to editors who worked closely with her before she returned to her final year of journalism studies in Toronto.

Brown lawns are the least of our worries

There is a cringe-worthy quip often made when Manitobans are outdoors in winter and shivering in -20 C: “Maybe global warming is not such a bad thing,” someone inevitably mutters from the deep recess of their parka hood.

As Manitoba is learning this summer, however, hotter temperatures can indeed be a bad thing.

Lawns are yellowing and house foundations are cracking as parched soil shrinks. Farmers and livestock producers are worried about lower yields, and four Manitoba communities have been evacuated as 427 forest fires have ignited Manitoba’s tinder-dry forests so far this year. Call it a tiny sample of the global warming to come.

This is not to say climate change is solely responsible for all the weather-related misfortune Manitoba has experienced in the past few months. This province had poor crop years, forest fires and sweltering days long before carbon pollution started to poison the planet.

Time to end massage therapy’s Wild West approach

To be treated by a massage therapist is to make ourselves vulnerable.

The reason we seek such therapy is usually that we’re in physical discomfort, even pain. And we often don’t know the therapist whom we permit to touch and rub our bodies. In Manitoba, we don’t even necessarily know whether the person is actually a qualified massage therapist. They could be a quack.

“It’s the Wild West out there, anyone in Manitoba can call themselves a massage therapist,” said Tricia Weidenbacher, managing director of the Massage Therapy Association of Manitoba, the largest of five massage associations in the province.

The issue of regulation — or the lack thereof — rose to prominence in a Winnipeg courtroom this week with the conviction of a Manitoba man in a case that bears disturbing parallels to the crimes of Dr. Larry Nassar, who was the U.S. national gymnastics team doctor when he abused girls and women under the guise of invasive medical exams, including ungloved digital penetration.

Public forum poses risk for restorative justice

Quick question: how many famous people can you name who have gone through restorative justice?

Me neither.

I can’t immediately think of public figures who have experienced, either as victims or offenders, the age-old technique that is an admirable alternative to our current punishment-based justice system.

Perhaps such privacy is not surprising. It’s likely more effective if the doors are closed during the emotionally charged process of repentance, forgiveness, restitution and reconciliation.

Schools should ban junk food, sugary drinks

May we propose a toast? Let’s raise a glass of something healthy — such as skim milk — and salute New Brunswick, which on June 15 became the first province to ban flavoured milk and fruit juice in schools.

Sugar-loaded beverages can no longer be sold in New Brunswick school vending machines, as part of school meal programs or at school fundraisers.

If children aren’t instantly cheering the new policy, nutritionists are. Several public health experts have publicly suggested other provinces also ban sugary beverages in schools.

Of course, New Brunswick isn’t the only province to make history in the category of sweet drinks. Manitoba has its own claim to fame, having been crowned the Slurpee Capital of the World for the past 17 years, a feat of gastronomic guzzling which, to our permanent shame, is recorded on Wikipedia.

Scary bugs are affecting Manitobans

It will be a summer of scary insects in Winnipeg as an estimated 300,000 people will view the new Xtreme BUGS exhibit at Assiniboine Park Zoo.

As people walk along a forested trail inside the zoo, they will meet 19 animatronic bugs, such as a six-metre-long Japanese hornet, and a four-metre-high praying mantis.

Although the exhibit sounds interesting, especially for children, those gigantic replicas don’t scare me much. I’m more scared of real-life bugs that threaten Manitoba.

Three bugs in particular are alarming. Any Manitoban who is not scared of these three — the terrifying trio — does not fully grasp the dangers.

Restoring integrity to an important civic honour

At first glance, two people without much in common are Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra conductor Alexander Mickelthwate and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons.

Simmons plods through mediocre rock music, wearing great makeup and wagging his tongue. Mickelthwate has conducted the WSO through 370 performances, including some of the best music ever composed.

Simmons, a 69-year-old rock star, has repeatedly boasted he has had sex with 4,800 women. Mickelthwate is a family guy, married to fashion designer Abigail Camp, with whom he has two sons.

So what would they have in common?

Grieving the Jets’ loss a necessary process

Ignore the people who say it’s just a game and it’s not important. They don’t understand the emotional investment of fans during a season that had plenty of excitement and jubilation but ended in heartbreak.

When fans stood on pavement for hours to watch games outside the rink, when they paid up to $500 per game for a playoff seat inside the rink, when they postponed family obligations to watch in their homes, they gave their hearts to the team. They hurt so much because they cared so much.

Their matching jerseys united them and, throughout the season, they celebrated often with chants, shouts of joy and hugs.

But by now, amid the despondency of defeat, the tribe has dispersed. Fans mourn alone.

Jets’ success a shared experience

People who assume this is all about hockey are missing the big picture.

It’s true that the Winnipeg Jets have gone deeper into the playoffs than anyone would have predicted a year ago.

But apart from the on-ice action is the intriguing phenomenon of how the community of Jets fans has grown colossally. The fan club has ballooned outside of Manitoba. As we’re often reminded, the Jets are now Canada’s team. And it has also stretched to include people who know little about hockey, people who think icing is the sweet layer atop cakes.

The playoff run of the Winnipeg Jets is part of the reason for the groundswell of new fans, but there’s more to it. You can find all the proof you need by visiting one of the Whiteout parties on the streets outside Bell MTS Place.

Jets street parties challenge police

The three WhiteOut street parties in downtown Winnipeg have been joyful and safe celebrations of victories. But what if the Jets lose a home game?

The whoop-it-up fervour would be replaced by dismay and it’s possible a few fans, buzzing with testosterone and alcohol, could let their foul tempers descend into violence.

This mention of possible violence might seem alarmist to people who haven’t participated in the street parties that are growing in size with every home game. News photographs and videos don’t fully convey the volatile vibe.

I donned the requisite white jersey last Friday and joined 20,000 newfound friends to punch the air and chant. The ambience downtown was exhilarating and festive because the Jets won. We high-fived and shouted in jubilation. It was a blast and I would go again.

Plenty of room on the Jets bandwagon

Have you heard the one about the guy who went to a Jets game and tried to move to a better seat?

He had paid for a seat in the upper deck, but he noticed a prime seat, at ice level near the centre line, was unused throughout the first period. During the first intermission, he moved down and said to the guy sitting beside the empty seat: “Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?”

The man said: “You’re welcome to sit. It was my wife’s seat. We bought season tickets when the Jets first returned and we didn’t miss a single game. But the lovely woman has passed away.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for your loss. But why didn’t you invite a friend or relative to use such a great seat?”

Mayor’s panhandler plan sounds like rhetoric

Mayor Brian Bowman’s suggestion that surveillance cameras be used to record panhandlers is intriguing, if short on details.

He said he wants police to crack down on “aggressive” panhandlers, for their own good.

“I’m concerned about (the panhandlers’) safety. I think there’s more we can do to help. I’ve certainly heard from many Winnipeggers who feel there’s been an uptick,” he said during his state of the city address March 23.

Unfortunately, the mayor didn’t elaborate about how surveilling the panhandlers will help them.

Resort visit creates all-inclusive discomfort

Like many other Manitobans in mid-winter, my wife and I recently vacationed in an impoverished country that has great beaches.

We went to Cuba and, for the first time, stayed in an all-inclusive resort. We would not normally have chosen such lavish accommodation, but we accepted the invitation of another couple whose company we enjoy and they made the arrangements.

For people who have never stayed at an all-inclusive, it’s like this: we purchased the illusion that we are special. Wait staff everywhere treated us like royalty, rushing to fulfil our every whim for food, drink, games and entertainment.

I returned home to Winnipeg with an uncomfortable feeling, and it wasn’t just sunburn.

What MLA Graydon should have said

The MLA for Emerson says he regrets tweeting “Drain on society” about the large number of asylum-seekers entering Canada.

After being exiled on this matter by his Progressive Conservative colleagues and pilloried by the public, Cliff Graydon says he’s remorseful.

He chose foolish wording for his tweet, but, if it’s any consolation to him, the backbencher wasn’t wrong to suggest that accepting asylum-seekers comes at a cost.

As a politician, he’s supposed to care about whether public funds are spent responsibly. His concern about government finances is not why his tweet was judged reprehensible.

When music is infectious

Pop-up performances by the Winnipeg Respiratory Orchestra abound as people with colds and flu-like symptoms venture out in public.

Unlike other orchestras, no training or talent is required to join. Membership is granted to everyone who ignores medical advice to stay home when sick.

Sneezing and wheezing, these performers mingle in crowds and offer their unique blend of mucus and music. Their motto: “Our music is infectious, and so are we.”

A typical show opens with a single sniffle that signifies a virus is in the house and feels compelled to perform. That introductory sound is greeted by a ripple of sniffles from other sufferers in the crowd, like birds in neighbouring trees answering in song.

How to breed criminals

If we want to maintain Manitoba’s notorious distinction as one of Canada’s most fertile provinces for breeding criminals, here’s how: keep them behind bars as long as possible.

That way, Manitoba jails will remain crammed well over capacity. Education and counselling opportunities within jails will continue to be inadequate to the overpopulation, ensuring prisoners have less chance of improving themselves.

Also, the overcrowded cells will incite chronic distress and more violence. Prisoners will feel more pressure to bond with a gang for protection. The end result will be criminals who become more dangerous than when they went in.

When they are finally released, they will have served their sentences in full, so justice officials can’t monitor their activities on the outside, which, statistically, will soon include more crimes.

Politicians should see how the other half rides

Free Press letter writer Jennifer Shepherd suggested the mayor take the bus all winter to understand hardships caused by transit cuts (Shoppers affected by bus hike, Nov. 30.)

Her proposal is intriguing, but it’s not the fault of the mayor alone that bus riders soon will be hit with a double whammy of increased fares and decreased service. Other politicians at the legislature and city hall are also complicit: MLAs voted to freeze provincial transit funding at 2016 levels and city councillors are expected to approve on Tuesday a budget that will reduce service on some — or all — of the 22 routes with the lowest ridership.

Perhaps the invitation to the mayor should be widened to encourage all provincial and municipal politicians to forfeit their keys to their personal vehicles and rely on Winnipeg Transit for a week. Let’s call it Politicians Take The Bus Week.

One reason — although not the primary one — for politicians to try busing is to lead by example in the fight against climate change. Words flow easily for politicians. We know they mean it when they model the behaviour they proclaim.

Romance of the road ruined these days

Back in the day when driving was fun, getting a driver’s licence was an epic step towards adulthood.

For guys, the keys to a vehicle meant independence and freedom. We drove to school with music playing loudly, hoping our buddies saw us acting cool and casual behind the wheel. We could finally date that special someone who had been signalling romantic interest, perhaps an outing to a drive-in movie or Grand Beach.

Back in the day before computers ruined the fun of driving, guys cared for their first jalopies with the dedicated attention of trainers at Assiniboia Downs caring for a thoroughbred on a winning streak. We listened with ardent ears for pings and squeals in the engine, which meant an opportunity to fetch the socket set and get under the hood, changing spark plugs, checking brake pads or replacing valve-cover gaskets.

Ask any guy today about his first car. Even guys whose hair has long gone grey — or is long gone, period — will recount with passion their early driving adventures, perhaps the time they were returning from North Dakota and blew a fan belt but were able to fashion a makeshift replacement from a pair of women’s pantyhose.

Cabbies appeal to sense of fair play

The Winnipeg taxi industry has countered the threat of ride-hailing services such as Uber with a canny strategy that seems to have thrust city hall into a tough spot.

The city’s two big taxi co-operatives, Duffy’s and Unicity, united to devise a multi-front publicity blitz which, wisely, kept its main message simple and appealing: “All we want is fairness; keep the playing field level.”

They repeated this message on placards at rallies, in dozens of presentations at public hearings, in meetings with politicians and by writing in public forums such as the Free Press Think Tank.

Their campaign was designed shrewdly to elicit universal support. Who could argue with someone who only wants fairness and a level playing field? We all like to think we’re fair people.

Naming ‘abusers’ dangerous trend

A reader emailed me a screen capture of a Facebook page that names 21 Winnipeg men as “abusers.”

The list of names contains no details of who they abused, how they abused their victims, or which court convicted them of these serious crimes.

A note from the proprietor of the page reads: “If there is anyone you know of who you want me to add to this list, just send me their name. I believe survivors. There were 12 people on the list that I first compiled. Since just yesterday afternoon that number has almost doubled. Please keep the names coming. I will never give up your anonymity.”

The Winnipeg list follows the outing of serial abuser Harvey Weinstein, a Hollywood producer who misused his power to sexually assault women. Dozens of women came forward with allegations against Weinstein, prompting hundreds of thousands of women worldwide to share on social media their experiences with sexual harassment and assault, resurrecting the hashtag #metoo.

Millennials face ill-fated future

Those of us of advanced age might want to stop being mean to millennials.

Manitobans born between 1980 and 2000 dream the same dreams as their parents did, but have been robbed of opportunities that were taken for granted by previous generations. Millennials have less chance of landing secure jobs with high salaries and good benefits. They will inherit land, water and sky that was poisoned by neglect. They will be bequeathed obscenely high government debts that their spendthrift parents rang up so we could live the good life.

Yet, we older folks have the audacity to assume, after we retire and the millennials are in power, they will be compassionate enough to fund the pensions and medical services to which we believe we are entitled.

To be blunt, we hope the millennials will be nicer to us than we are to them.

Out of tragedy, a community of compassion

When Cliff and Wilma Derksen attend court on Oct. 18 for the verdict against a man accused of killing their 13-year-old daughter Candace, it will be with forgiveness in their hearts.

The Derksens have confounded many observers because, instead of seeking revenge, they seek to forgive, a cornerstone of their Christian faith.

They say their effort to forgive is not immediately understood by everyone, but it was essential to dispel the bitterness and anger that could corrode them from the inside. Wilma has written eight books, including The Way of Letting Go: One Woman’s Walk Toward Forgiveness.

“The thing about forgiveness is you have to go to the hard places,” Cliff has said. “You have to be ready to be courageous.”

Transit Wi-Fi could have unexpected benefit

It would be optimism verging on fantasy to suggest introducing Wi-Fi to Winnipeg buses will greatly grow ridership, and that empty seats will be filled by people persuaded to try transit because they can now video-chat with friends, stream Game of Thrones or download massive apps without worrying about exceeding their data plans.

The upcoming pilot project to provide free Wi-Fi on 12 Winnipeg buses in 2018 might be important to Mayor Brian Bowman, who promised the service during the election campaign.

But to bus passengers? Not so much.

A survey of 3,000 people in 17 U.S. cities, and three focus groups, asked transit users to rank a dozen possible improvements to transit service.

Greens’ tax proposal is food for thought

No one has ever accused the Green Party of Manitoba of being a political powerhouse in the province, but they deserve plenty of plaudits for daring to suggest hefty taxes on junk food and soda pop.

The party proposes a 20 per cent tax, which it says would raise $30 million annually. It wants the new tax revenue steered exclusively to health care, as a way of stopping the Pallister government from inflicting a premium fee for health care.

The Greens’ proposal seems deliciously apt.

People who eat more junk food would pay more into the system that must mend bodies after they are damaged by the excessive junk they consume.

Courtesy’s the thing in stadium throng

The time to measure the civility of Winnipeggers is not when we are ensconced safely in our homes, protected by walls from the incursions of strangers. A more accurate time to test our courtesy as a community is in the jam-packed concourse of a stadium, when the mob is so dense that we’re pressed on all sides and swept along in a river of humanity.

No one appointed me hall monitor, but I feel called to comment on concourse behaviour based on personal experience. I was stuck in crowd gridlock at the Banjo Bowl on Saturday at Investors Group Field. It was halftime and the concourse was congested beyond a safe capacity at Section 126, near The Pour House. We were jammed together shoulder-to-shoulder and chest-to-back, and shuffling forward at a glacial pace when, suddenly, we stopped. None of us could move in any direction.

The cause of the gridlock was up ahead. A group of guys had encountered friends in oncoming foot traffic and, in the middle of the concourse, they had stopped in their tracks to exchange fist bumps and lengthy analysis of the game’s first half. It was likely unintentional, but they dammed the river of pedestrians.

An upside to standing in gridlock is that it offers ample opportunity to reflect on the nature and dangers of concourse crowding.

Giving — or not giving — to intersection panhandlers

I was stopped at an intersection when a scruffy man approached my driver’s-side window and thrust out a cardboard sign: “Hungry. Please help.” I shook my head and he moved on to the next car in line.

While waiting for the red light to change, I had time to think about what I had just done.

I wondered: had I given him money, what would he have used it for? Would I have contributed to substance abuse? Would I have enabled him to keep begging because it’s more lucrative than getting a job?

My wife often gives to intersection beggars, and she doesn’t worry about how they will use the money. She says it’s a gift, and monetary gifts should come without strings attached.

Downtown Winnipeggers need someplace to go

The Canada Summer Games left behind a wonderful legacy of improved athletic facilities. Unfortunately, they didn’t leave behind the toilets.

The long-standing scarcity of outdoor toilets in Winnipeg was temporarily solved this summer by the Games, which spread a total of 108 portable toilets throughout the city and by festivals such as the Fringe Festival and Interstellar Rodeo, which provided rows of Porta Potties.

For organizers of large gatherings, it’s just common sense: to get the public to come, provide toilets for them to go.

But this fundamental rule of catering to the public’s needs is ignored by municipal officials who launch repeated campaigns to attract people to downtown Winnipeg, but don’t provide public toilets to accommodate people who feel the call of nature.

Canada should open doors wider

Most Manitobans would help if they saw a person on the ground who was in serious physical distress. At a minimum, most would call 911. The more compassionate among us might stay with the victim until help arrives. People with first-aid training might take action if the situation seemed urgent.

None of us would ignore the victim and give the excuse that our health-care system is overloaded.

But when it comes to welcoming refugees to Manitoba, there’s a vocal contingent of people who say we shouldn’t accept those who need help because they will be a burden on health care, public housing and income assistance. They argue these refugees will take from, rather than give to, the country’s economy.

Newly released statistics support their view that many refugees are not immediately able to work.

Legal pot will pose challenges

Will you partake? That’s a reasonable question given the upcoming legalization of marijuana, but it’s only one of many questions that will arise.

The legalization of a recreational drug is extremely rare and it will challenge both the Pallister government and individual Manitobans with unaccustomed issues. The government is dealing only with legalities, leaving individuals on their own to resolve the personal, family and social issues that will come with legal marijuana.

At their meeting in Edmonton last week, the premiers mulled questions such as: where and how will it be sold? What will be the legal age to partake? How will courts prosecute drugged driving, given that breathalyzers don’t work with marijuana intoxication? How many plants will gardeners be allowed to grow on their own?

But the governmental guidance will end with the legal structure. After that, it will be up to Manitobans to deal with the many ethical and practical ramifications.

A U.S. president worthy of emulation

Can you imagine Donald Trump coming to Winnipeg to pick up a hammer and build houses for poor people?

OK, you can stop laughing.

It’s an inconceivable image because Trump seems more like the type who would foreclose on poor people, not help them.

With Jimmy Carter arriving in Winnipeg today as a volunteer to help Habitat for Humanity build houses, it’s enlightening to compare the 92-year-old former U.S. president with the incumbent.

Small acts add up to big change

A drinking straw is a small thing, but small things matter.

Thirty Winnipeg dining establishments recently pledged to withhold straws unless customers ask for them. They’re doing it because plastic straws don’t compost and contain poisonous chemicals that can contaminate land and water.

A cigarette butt is a small thing, but, again, small things matter.

Free Press contributor John Longhurst wrote a column about how he confronted a stranger who, while waiting for a bus, flicked her cigarette butt onto the ground. “Who’s going to pick that up?” Longhurst asked her three times. (Seriously, smokers — who’s going to pick that up? July 4).

Winnipeg can learn from other cities’ Uber experience

Winnipeg has been tardy in welcoming ride-sharing services such as Uber, a delay which has advantages. We can learn from the mistakes and successes of dozens of Canadian cities that already have Uber. When it comes to transportation-for-hire, we don't have to reinvent the wheel (pardon the pun).

Sifting through the experience of others cities, here is what Winnipeggers can expect when Uber comes to town:

There will be emotional protests from Winnipeg cab owners, whose taxi permits used to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars because the supply was restricted. In Montreal, taxi drivers blocked a bridge. In Toronto and Edmonton, taxi drivers tore off their shirts during protests to dramatize the fact that Uber would take the shirts off their backs. There have also been hunger strikes and many shouted confrontations with Uber drivers.

The battleground of conflict in Winnipeg will be taxi stands at the airport, swanky hotels, concert halls, arenas and the football stadium. Winnipeg's traditional cab firms will feel they have staked a historic claim to these lucrative pickup zones but, to their dismay, they will find many of these taxi zones are on the private property of businesses that want what their customers want, which is often Uber. In Ottawa, for example, after fierce resistance, Uber drivers can now service customers at Ottawa International Airport and the Canadian Tire Centre, where the Senators play.

Springtime in Paris? It’s got nothing on Winnipeg

Springtime in Paris is marvelous, according to the song of that name, but Paris has nothing on Winnipeg.

In spring and summer, Winnipeg is among the best places on the planet. That claim will inevitably draw accusations of hometown hyperbole, but consider the evidence.

This city is preparing for its annual flurry of festivals, including the Winnipeg International Jazz Festival from June 15 to 25, the Red River Exhibition from June 16 to 25, the Winnipeg Folk Festival from July 6 to 9, the Winnipeg Fringe Festival from July 19 to 30 and Folklorama from Aug. 6 to 19. Other cities also have festivals, of course, but Winnipeg’s festival season is compressed because it’s bracketed by winters that come early and stay late. As a result, the festivals are crammed together and, for about nine wonderous weeks, this city is a dynamic hub of outdoor music and cultural entertainment.

This season is also remarkable because Winnipeg's northern latitude allows evenings that are luxuriously long. Unlike cities closer to the equator, sunsets here are delayed until as late as 10 p.m. in spring and summer. That’s why Winnipeggers have a passion for dining under open skies. On restaurant patios, on lawn chairs circling backyard barbecues, around food trucks, on picnic blankets in parks, Winnipeggers get together and relish food spiced by fellowship as warm as the soft evening air.

Can we divorce art from the artist?

Some of us are grateful the Pablo Picasso exhibit remains at the Winnipeg Art Gallery until Aug. 13. That leaves lots of time to explore our mixed feelings about whether to support the work of an artist who was a debauched cad in his personal life.

The painter had two wives, six mistresses and hundreds of lovers. He was abusive in his intimate relationships, and was partly to blame for the suicides of one wife, one mistress, one son and one grandson.

“Women are machines for suffering,” Picasso told one mistress when he was 61 years old and she was 21. “For me there are only two kinds of women, goddesses and doormats.”

It’s tempting to ignore him, except that his art makes him one of the dominant artists of the 20th century.

Pride and police: inclusivity on parade

When the police sergeants ponder which officers to assign to Pride parades in Manitoba, they must look in particular for officers who know how to smile on duty.

At Pride parades I’ve attended — as a spectator in Winnipeg, and as a marcher in last July’s first-ever Pride parade in Steinbach — the police radiated good vibes. They smiled as they received a succession of high-fives and fist-bumps from passing marchers; they smiled when drag queens in all their campy comeliness stood beside the officers for selfies; they smiled when they were the targets of light-hearted banter (typical comment: “Hey cutie, I love a man in uniform!”)

Armed with humour and relaxed in manner, the police provided escort duty, they blocked intersections and some uniformed officers even marched. They should be commended for connecting with Manitoba’s LGBTQ community in an amiable way.

Instead, they might be barred from next month’s Pride parade in Winnipeg.

Author brings readers to the real North End

It’s a badge of honour for some Winnipeggers to mention they “come from” the North End. They like to relate how they, or their parents or grandparents, used to live there. They want us to know that, while they now enjoy the soft life, they have hard-scrabble roots in the storied part of town where people have a PhD in street smarts.

People who still live in the North End aren’t so quick to romanticize it.

Katherena Vermette, who is Métis, knows the North End as it really is and she has the literary talent to depict it. Her novel, The Break, was honoured Saturday night as Book Of The Year at the Manitoba Book Awards.

The Break is a tensely paced crime thriller, but would hardly be worthy of note if that’s all it is. The crime genre is packed with successful writers churning out page-turners.

Laine a gift that keeps on giving

It’s rare the birthday of a specific teenager is of interest to most Manitobans. But then, Patrik Laine is a rare teenager.

The Winnipeg Jets phenom turns 19 on April 19, ending a year when, as a rookie, he scored more goals than everyone on his team and scored more than 98 per cent of the players in the National Hockey League. And that’s just the start of his career.

In the NHL, age matters. Players live with the continual prospect of being replaced by someone younger, someone a stride faster or more adept at tipping an airborne puck. The average NHL career is 51/2 years, restricted to the peak years when the athletes can compete with extreme exertion.

That’s why hockey observers are excited that Laine is so good so young: he offers a long future for expert trainers to hone his skills as he simultaneously grows into the full potential of his six-foot-five body.

Asylum seekers an opportunity for Manitoba

I belong to a Winnipeg community that has welcomed three families from Syria in recent years. The deal is that we provide each family $10,000, a furnished apartment for one year and a circle of support. The results have been wonderful. The families are delighted to get a fresh start and their enthusiasm for Winnipeg is contagious. They work quickly to improve their English and land jobs. Some have become self-reliant before the end of one year and returned the unused portion of their $10,000 so we can help others.

Our group’s support for these newcomers is not unusual. Even before asylum seekers crossing fields at Emerson made headlines, generations of Manitobans have helped immigrants settle and contribute to our province’s fascinating multicultural tapestry.

That’s why it’s dismaying to hear Conservative leadership candidates suggest outlandish measures to address the flow of migrants crossing into Canada.

Kevin O’Leary said he’d use the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause to prevent people from using a “loophole” in Canada’s border agreement with the U.S. to “sneak across the border” and claim refugee status. It’s clear he doesn’t understand what the notwithstanding clause is about. He also said the government could pass a law “making it clear that anyone crossing into Canada illegally from the U.S. would be ineligible to make a refugee claim.”

Christian attitudes on same-sex relationships changing

The formidable influence of Christians in the Steinbach area is thought to be one reason their local politicians won’t attend, or even discuss seriously, the area’s inaugural Pride parade on Saturday.

This is based on an assumption that Bible believers are obliged to oppose same-sex relationships. That assumption is wrong.

It’s true my Mennonite denomination is well represented in southern Manitoba. It’s one of the few places in Canada where churches remain more crowded than hockey arenas.

It’s also true that, like other denominations, including the Anglicans and the United Church, we Mennonites have been embroiled in discussing same-sex relationships.