The Wrap: Arena audit, new cops for retail crime, award-winning businessman, and Riopelle at the WAG

A Winnipeg councillor is calling for an audit of a city-funded community centre following allegations of financial and employee mismanagement, the Free Press has learned.

Coun. Markus Chambers said several memebers of the the South Winnipeg Community Centre’s board reached out to him with concerns about management, including stalled renovation projects, human resources issues and “potential irregularities in financial disclosure” involving the centre’s Silverstone Avenue site.

Malak Abas reports.

The provincial government is promising new money for Winnipeg police to combat theft in “hot spots” such as retail stores, restaurants and community organizations including churches.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe says the province will fund overtime for four police units. Wiebe was unable to provide a dollar amount or specify how many hours of overtime the province will fund, saying details will be worked out with the police force.

Gerry Price, owner and CEO of Price Industries, surprised everyone who knew him when he went into business in the late 1980s, eventually acquiring the business his father had started but had long since retired from.

A brilliant student, he had long envisioned a career in academia. But his love for solving problems, comfort with uncertainty and a love of sales helped turn Price into a successful business person.

There are lots of brilliant, driven corporate titans. Price’s singularity comes from fusing those traits with an almost bull-headed commitment to decency and integrity.

On the eve of receiving the 40th anniversary International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award, business reporter Martin Cash talks to Price about the philosophy that has helped the company succeed.

It’s no small feat to tackle the half-century oeuvre of one the most significant Canadian artists of the 20th century and say something new about it. But that’s precisely the job Sylvie Lacerte was tasked with.

Lacerte is the curator of Riopelle: Crossroads in Time, a major retrospective on the career and legacy of the trailblazing Quebec-born artist Jean Paul Riopelle (1923–2002), opening Friday at WAG-Qaumajuq.

The show is a true Riopelle retrospective — something that hadn’t been done at the National Art Gallery since 1963 — as opposed to a more thematic show, which is often how his work is exhibited. It includes works that are rarely shown or have never been shown.

Jen Zoratti talks to Lacerte about the exhibition.