The Wrap: NDP campaign launch, encampment fire safety, liquor strike continues and a pivot from opera to pop

Good evening. Here’s a look at what our newsroom has been working on today:

'The economic horse pulls the social cart'

Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew kicked off his party’s election campaign today, touting a new “fiscal framework.” Kinew promised a broad middle-class tax cut, maintenance of the education property-tax cut, and a balanced budget in the party’s first term in office — without raising the PST, and while addressing social and health-care ills.

Carol Sanders:

Kinew unveils NDP ‘fiscal framework’: balanced budget, no PST increase

With the start of the provincial election campaign still weeks away, the NDP unveiled its fiscal plan Wednesday in the clearest signal yet the party isn’t waiting to start courting voters. With the... Read More

Dan Lett:

Kinew’s quiet campaign kickoff suggests NDP plans to party like it’s 1999

On Wednesday, at the unofficial launch of the NDP’s fall election campaign, Leader Wab Kinew unleashed a rather subdued message. He promised no big changes, balanced budgets, no tax increases and a... Read More

'Trying to balance the needs'

Steven Antle’s full-time job with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service is outreach at homeless camps that have increasingly popped up across the city. Reporter Erik Pindera joined him to learn about the work he’s doing to prevent fires at encampments from turning injurious or deadly — and to connect people living in the camps with agencies that provide support services.

Erik Pindera:

‘It comes down to wanting to keep people safe’

Fire safety outreach at city homeless encampments sparks connections Read More

'The effects of prohibition without actually having strived for it'

There was no movement in conciliation talks between the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, so a strike by its 1,400 workers across the province continued Wednesday, closing all but a handful of Liquor Marts in Winnipeg, Brandon and Thompson.

People from communities without open Liquor Marts are driving to private vendors across rural Manitoba in the hopes of finding booze. And some are raising concerns about the impact limited access to alcohol could have on Manitobans dealing with addiction.

Malak Abas:

Liquor Mart strike plan hangs rural communities out to dry, mayors say

Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries is leaving many rural communities parched while it tries to deal with a strike by its 1,400 workers across the province, leaders outside the Perimeter Highway say. The... Read More

Cierra Bettens:

‘Forced into sobriety’: Liquor Mart closures spark concerns about alcohol withdrawal

The mass closures of most Liquor Marts across the province are sparking concerns that limited access to alcohol could impact Manitobans dealing with addiction. Only seven Liquor Marts are open acro... Read More

'My other mission is to make opera cool'

Kyle Briscoe, a 22-year-old opera tenor, is dipping his toe into the pop ocean. A new EP brings his powerful vocals to an audience that might never set foot at a classical-music concert or an opera recital.

Alan Small:

Survival songs

Opera’s Kyle Briscoe channels life experiences in new pop album Read More