Good morning!
Your forecast: Keep your eyes on the prize, folks. That might be difficult to do with a cooler day today — a high of just 13 C, with an overnight low of 0 C — and rain showers Wednesday. But it’s the promise of a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend that will sustain us. Environment Canada’s extended forecast calls for sunshine and a high of 12 C on Thursday, and 16 C under a blue sky Friday. Here’s the kicker: Saturday and Sunday could be sunny and 20 C and 22 C, respectively, if the reports are accurate. Some prize, huh!
In case you missed it
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESSSt. Giles Church, which was built in 1908, is up for sale. Its owners want the city to remove its heritage designation so they can sell it.
New life for old church: After more than 100 years of hosting worship, a North End church closed since the spring might not be done just yet. A group of people from the city’s Muslim community want to breathe new life into the St. Giles Presbyterian (United) Church at 294 Burrows Ave., by converting it into a mosque. But there’s a hurdle — any changes to the church’s interior are restricted by a historic designation on the building. READ MORE
Counting the homeless: The Social Planning Council of Winnipeg is recruiting volunteers to hit the streets and speak with Winnipeg’s homeless people later this month when they conduct the Winnipeg Street Census. According to the council’s website, the street census “will involve more than simply counting people; the methodology is designed to increase understanding of the demographics of those who are experiencing homelessness in Winnipeg and what they identify as their service needs.” Free Press columnist Gordon Sinclair Jr. has the story. READ MORE
Jets almost ready for takeoff: It was a busy Monday for Winnipeg Jets management as the club prepares for the season opener Thursday night in Boston against the Bruins. The Jets waived veteran defenseman Jay Harrison, and he will either be picked up by another NHL team today or be assigned to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. The Jets also reassigned forward J.C. Lipon to the Moose, while a decision still has to be made on winger Thomas Raffl, who is still on a tryout. But it looks like three rookie forwards, Nikolaj Ehlers, 19, Nic Petan, 20, and Andrew Copp, 21, have all made the club to start the year. READ MORE
Up next
Ashley Fraser / Postmedia News ArchivesGeneral Rick Hillier (Ret’d) will speak at the Free Press News Café today.
General Rick Hillier: The former chief of Canada’s defence staff will be the featured speaker at the annual Manitoba Building Expo luncheon today at the Victoria Inn Hotel & Convention Centre. Hillier’s background includes leading a NATO force in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2003.
Wild places: Learn what it takes to explore the wildest places on the planet at National Geographic Presents: Earth Explorers, a new touring exhibit that opened at The Manitoba Museum last weekend and runs until April 24.
Note: This is a correction to the earlier version which said the museum was closed for cleaning.
Schooling the kids: Parents are seeking more choice in the education of their children, according to a new Fraser Institute study to be released today. It will report the changes in public and private school enrolment in the provinces, including Manitoba.
Around the water cooler
DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESSLorraine Sigurdson, who is running Winnipeg Centre MP Pat Martin’s re-election campaign, says it takes different skills to be a manager than a candidate.
Women leading campaigns: There might not be nearly as many women’s names on the ballot as their should be in Manitoba for the upcoming federal election, but women will play a vital role in determining which candidates here win seats in the House of Commons. At least 17 campaigns in Manitoba, including many of the high-stakes ones, are being managed by women. All three major campaigns in Kildonan-St. Paul are being managed by women. Brandon-Souris is the same. And nationally, all three major campaigns are being run by women, including Liberal campaign chief Katie Telford, Conservative boss Jenni Byrne and the NDP national director Anne McGrath. READ MORE
Here kitty, kitty: It’s a tale of a predator with a really long tail that comes with a happy ending. In Victoria on Monday morning, a male cougar was seen bounding through backyards, over fences and through garages in a neighbourhood near the B.C.’s Legislative Building. Conservation and police officers had their guns drawn in case the big cat turned to attack. But onlookers clapped and cheered when the animal was taken down with a tranquilizer dart, loaded onto a pickup truck and driven away to a less populated area of Vancouver Island. READ MORE
Damon flick out of this world: To say ‘The Martian’ had a successful launch would be a colossal understatement. The movie dominated the weekend box office, hauling in $55 million in North America in its opening. The space epic fell just $1 million short of beating out ‘Gravity’ as the biggest October opening ever. ‘The Martian,’ starring Matt Damon as an astronaut stranded and left for dead on Mars, also made $45.2 million overseas. READ MORE
Trending now
Vince Bucci / Invision / Associated Press filesNeil Young isn’t getting any friendlier with the release of album 36.
#NeilYoung: Former Winnipegger and music legend Neil Young chimed in on the federal election campaign Monday, telling the Globe and Mail that Canada’s “backwards” political leadership has “trashed” the country’s resources and diminished our image on the world stage. He made the comments at a news conference in Vancouver as he and environmentalist David Suzuki announced that $100,000 from his concert Monday night would be donated to the Blue Dot campaign — an initiative to get the right to a healthy environment enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Kam Chancellor: Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor made a huge defensive play in NFL action Monday night, stripping the ball out of Detroit Lions’ receiver Calvin Johnson’s hands just as he was lunging for the end zone. That play preserved a 13-10 triumph for the Seahawks.
On this date
On Oct. 6, 1951: The Winnipeg Free Press reported that United Nations troops drove through the main Communist line in west-central Korea; Commonwealth troops, including Canadians, spearheaded the attack. Canadian gold producers would have the right to sell on the world’s free markets. Princess Elizabeth and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh made final preparations before embarking on a month-long tour of Canada. A cashier at the Capitol theatre screamed when an armed man tried to rob the theatre; the suspect fled with $50 in ten-dollar bills. Certain businesses in Winnipeg would remain open on Thanksgiving Tuesday, but others would be closed; the provincial government decided to bypass the holiday.
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