What can you do with $200 million?

Let’s see if I’ve got this right. In the article Carbon capture project gains support (June 30), Julia-Simone Rutgers writes that the direct carbon capture facility proposed by Deep Sky for construction in southwestern Manitoba will cost $200 million to build.

The company claims the facility will scrub 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year and inject it 1,000 metres into the ground. To do this, it will need to draw up to 15 megawatts of power from the Manitoba Hydro grid for the first stage of the project. The project will be financed by selling carbon credits.

To put this into perspective, the Canadian industrial carbon price is set at $130 per tonne. At that price, Deep Sky will have to sell more than 1.5 million tonnes of carbon just to cover the upfront cost of building the plant. That’s over 51 years’ worth of carbon credits. And that doesn’t even cover the everyday operating costs, such as the electricity needed to run the plant.

Some studies suggest it requires about 2,000-2,500 kilowatt hours to electricity to capture one tonne of CO2 and inject it into the ground. To capture 30,000 tonnes, that’s about 60 million kWh. Even if Manitoba Hydro sells it to the facility for only $0.035/kWh, that’s an additional $70 per tonne.

Winnipeg high school football coach subject of hazing investigation

Manitoba’s independent teacher commissioner is investigating the head coach of the Grant Park Pirates football program amid allegations of team hazing.

The AAAA varsity team is at the centre of a probe into allegations student-athletes who played for Doug Kovacs during the 2025-26 school year drew blood while carrying out a locker room ritual.

Multiple sources confirmed Kovacs was put on leave from Grant Park High School in the spring in response to a complaint about his coaching style.

“There’s a lot of different red flags here,” said one parent of a football player who was recently contacted about the case by the office of commissioner Noni Classen.

City considers million-dollar chop to tree planting program

The City of Winnipeg is one step away from chopping $1.2 million from its tree planting program to fill a separate budget gap.

The Manitoba government recently directed the city to spend an additional $1.236 million of its provincial “strategic infrastructure basket” funding on the Assiniboine Park Conservancy Journey to Churchill Exhibit, according to a city finance report.

Finance officials recommend the city fill that budget gap by transferring the same amount from the urban forest tree planting budget, which council’s executive policy committee voted in favour of Tuesday.

A local tree protection group said any funding loss would hurt an already ailing city canopy.

‘Iconic institution’ Halal Meat Centre for sale

Formally, Manitoba’s oldest halal shop is called Halal Meat Centre. But to many in the Muslim community, the outdoor sign could just as easily read “Yusuf’s.”

Until now.

After 36 years, owners Yusuf and Roshanara Abdulrehman are retiring. The 206 Maryland St. building and turnkey business are listed for $795,000.

“I’m here every day … I don’t take any day off,” Yusuf said. “It’s about time. I should let it go, let somebody else enjoy and benefit this place that I’ve been enjoying and benefiting.”

US airlines are redesigning travel around their highest-paying passengers

They may arrive at the same destination, but two passengers on the same flight can have strikingly different travel experiences.

One traveler breezes through a priority security lane and heads straight to an invite-only lounge for craft cocktails and a chef-prepared meal before boarding early. A flight attendant offering a glass of champagne and a warm hand towel welcomes the passenger to a spacious seat at the front of the plane.

The other traveler stands in a line at every step — security screening, a café selling $16 sandwiches, a crowded gate — then boards with one of the final groups, hoping there’s still room for a carry-on in the overhead bin before folding into a cramped middle seat. After the cabin lights dim, sleep comes in fragments, and a travel pillow does little to ease a stiff neck.

The contrasting journeys are no accident. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest U.S. airlines have pulled out all the stops to court premium passengers who are willing to pay for comfort, convenience and exclusivity. Budget-conscious travelers may notice a widening gap between the back of the plane and up front as the carriers increasingly build their businesses around selling first-class, business-class and premium-economy seats.

Craft ministry crochets scarves, tuques, more for vulnerable Winnipeggers

It’s a sunny summer’s day with barely a cloud in the sky but Winnipeg’s bitter winter is already on the minds of the folks gathered in the small library at Epiphany Lutheran Church (200 Dalhousie Dr.).

Every first and third Wednesday of the month, armed with needles and hooks, they knit and crochet for two hours, transforming “oodles of yarn” into scarves, tuques and headbands, to be distributed to the city’s most vulnerable residents.

The church’s volunteer craft ministry was resurrected in early 2023 by Lynnette Stamler, a retired nursing academic who returned to Manitoba after a 27-year career abroad.

“The group had started several years ago when a few ladies got together to make prayer shawls which they gifted to individuals in need. Then during the COVID-19 pandemic it went the way of all good things,” Stamler explains.

Teen urges premier to reject data centre, ‘put people and the environment first’

A 17-year-old who started a petition against the construction of an AI data centre northwest of Winnipeg has made a personal appeal to the premier to stop it.

Leona Gollub emailed Premier Wab Kinew to voice her concern about the environmental impact of a 5.5-megawatt AI data centre that’s being built on Brookside Boulevard in the Centreport industrial area in the Rural Municipality of Rosser, northwest of Winnipeg.

She said she worries about the noise and light pollution that would be emitted by the facility, and the massive amount of electricity it will require that could instead power people’s homes.

The premier, who recently rejected a data centre in Île dês Chênes, southeast of Winnipeg, thanked her for her concern in an email but did not go beyond that.

Vaping: a clear and present danger

The numbers are startling. According to a recent Free Press story, nearly one-fifth (18.4 per cent) of Manitoba teens in grades 7 to 12 reported using ‘vapes’, known more formally as e-cigarettes, within the month prior to answering a Health Canada survey in 2023-24.

Roughing it (less): Handy items for novice campers to make the great outdoors tolerable

I hate camping.

I loathe the very idea of leaving the comfort and safety of home to sleep in a random field, where not only will I be exposed to the elements, but will also be at the mercy of all manner of creatures, from ursine to canine to insectan.

I do not want to hike up a hill just to share one outdoor tap with 12 others, standing alongside them as I brush my teeth.

I do not want to queue for 15 minutes, then part with a $2 coin to wedge myself into a shower stall just to stand under a piddly stream of lukewarm water while trying my best to swiftly soap up and sponge off lest I irk the rapidly growing line of campers outside.

Feasibility study planned for arena on former Kapyong Barracks site

A First Nations development group is hoping to pull in prospective sports teams with plans to build an arena in south Winnipeg.

The Treaty One Development Corp. is exploring the feasibility of a 6,000-person arena in Naawi-Oodena, the former Kapyong Barracks site, on the southeast side at Taylor Avenue and Kenaston Boulevard.

The hope is to give aspiring athletes a large space to practice, and possibly even bring a junior or professional sports team to Winnipeg, said chief development officer Cody Mercer, who listed the Western Hockey League or National Lacrosse League as examples.

“Not just working for Treaty One, but also in our membership of the seven communities, there’s a ton of athletes, and really we see that when they’re getting to that higher level of hockey or anything like that, they’re having to move away,” he said. “We thought this is an idea that we can try to bring (in) a team.”

‘Death is everywhere:’ Alberta art exhibit on mortality is actually full of life

EDMONTON -

In a corner of the Royal Alberta Museum, two chalkboards hang on the wall to capture random thoughts on death.

One scribbler wants to come back as a grilled cheese sandwich.

Several, before they breathe their last, want the hometown Edmonton Oilers to again win hockey’s Stanley Cup.

Businesses report ongoing struggle amid reduced walk-by traffic 1 year into Graham Avenue transit corridor rework

Layoffs, squeezed profits, reduced hours and a downsizing have plagued Graham Avenue businesses in the year since buses were removed from the former Winnipeg Transit strip.

A convenience store along the road doubled its footprint two years ago. Now, it’s operating in half the space: a wall was built in the middle of the shop last month, creating room for a new tenant.

Across the street, bong seller Aluminum Sound has laid off two staff. It’s one of at least two companies to lessen its employee count following the Transit overhaul.

“You could fire a cannon down Graham Avenue a lot of the time and not have to worry about any casualties,” said Aimee Peake, owner of Bison Books.

Environnement et communauté

“Il y en a plusieurs des entreprises qui font du greenwashing, ils se peinturent dans le développement durable, l’affichent sur le site web: Écologique! Nous, on l’est pour vrai,” c’est ce qu’affirme Éric Gosselin, directeur général de Sun Certified. La Liberté l’a rencontré dans l’atelier de sa compagnie, un vaste espace de travail garni de matériaux en bois, de maquettes et de murs de maisons.

Cette société de construction de logements a des méthodes bien particulières, notamment pour l’isolation des maisons. Les travailleurs utilisent des matériaux organiques pour créer une épaisse couche d’isolation à base de papier et de carton. “La première chose qu’on fait, c’est utiliser des matières organiques, alors du bois et de la fibre cellulosique. Et il y en a beaucoup dans l’enveloppe du bâtiment, pour renforcer l’isolation,” explique Éric Gosselin.

La compagnie privilégie les matériaux renouvelables, ce qui la démarque des autres sociétés dans le domaine. “Pour l’isolation, quand on utilise du bois, c’est renouvelable. On pourra toujours planter d’autres arbres et ça va repousser. Chez les constructeurs standards, c’est de la mousse ou du rockwool, fait à base de pétrole ou de minéraux.”

Cette volonté d’accorder plus d’importance à l’environnement dans le domaine de l’habitation, c’est ce qui a mené à la création de Sun Certified.

The dream of the ’90s is alive in summertime

“Nineties Summer” is trending. People are longing for a slower summer, a less scheduled summer, the kind of summer they had when they were kids.

New Kevin Walters Plaza graced by art with heart

Tears fill the eyes of an Ojibwa sculptor from Peguis First Nation as he talks about the spiritual journey and deep friendships that came out of creating his first public art piece.

Plan for 24 Sussex Drive makes sense

It has, for more than a decade, been this country’s highest-profile vacant dwelling.

Prior to 2015, however, 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa had been the official residence of Canada’s prime ministers for more than 60 years, an address whose mention conjured notions of prestige and distinction akin to those associated with 10 Downing Street in London or the White House in Washington, D.C.

After years of deferred maintenance and, one might argue, outright neglect, the 35-room mansion that was home to every prime minister from Louis St-Laurent to Stephen Harper is no longer fit for human habitation. Among the concerns that led Justin Trudeau to opt not to live at 24 Sussex — choosing instead to dwell at nearby Rideau Cottage — were a leaky roof, cracked windows, failing plumbing, faulty wiring and the presence of asbestos in the structure’s 160-year-old construction materials.

Current Prime Minister (and non-Sussex resident) Mark Carney thinks it’s time for 24 Sussex to reclaim its status as the PM’s official residence. Last Friday he unveiled plans for a massive redesign and renovation plan and a fundraising campaign that will invite Canadians to contribute to the project.

Governing by gimmick

We all know that politicians can be opportunists sometimes, not necessarily for venal reasons like personal financial gain, but to win the hearts and minds of voters.

So, for example, if the current zeitgeist is all about the escalating cost of living, the opportunist politico will miraculously find ways to look as if they’re doing something to address the problem, when what they’re really offering is a flashy gimmick.

I am referring, of course, to our very own provincial government which seems to have become very skilled in the art of governing by gimmick.

It all began with the gas tax holiday — an action touted as relief for a general public facing ever rising prices at the gas pump. In the end that “solution” cost the government more than $340 million in revenue, and for those of us without combustible engines, provided exactly zero in savings.

A California farmer is giving away tons of nectarines that he’s not allowed to sell

Thousands of visitors have flocked to Cesar Mora's farm in central California this week to gather free nectarines.

He's giving his harvest away rather than watching it rot as he's locked in a legal battle with a company that claims exclusive rights over the variety of white nectarine he grows. He's shared more than 100,000 pounds (45,359 kilograms) since Monday.

“It was really just a thought of not wasting a perfectly good product,” Mora said. “It does make a grower feel good, being able to share my fruit with people and see their immediate reaction that they love it. It’s a little bit of good in this tough situation that I’ve been dealing with.”

The legal dispute highlights the tension that can emerge between farmers and the plant breeders and large industrial food marketers that create new varieties of plants and obtain the exclusive rights to sell them.

Harm-reduction efforts may often seem imperceptible — but it’s the only way to lasting change

To live in Winnipeg now is to become entirely too skilled at looking away from what we cannot bear to see: the tents, the tarps, the man lying face-down on the street.

Mosquito surge expected after heavy rainfall

Winnipeggers may want to keep the bug spray close at hand.

Intense rainfall in recent weeks has created ideal conditions for mosquitoes to breed across Winnipeg, including in backyards where standing water can quickly become a source of larvae.

“With all the rain we’ve received, I fully expect to see an increase,” entomologist Taz Stuart said.

Just over two weeks ago, Winnipeg was pummelled with more than 122 millimetres of rain.

Fear of retaliation in care homes is a very real thing

Here’s something we don’t talk about enough: the fear people have that if they complain about how their loved one in a nursing home is treated, the treatment will only get worse.

My mother lives in a retirement home. Many of my friends also have parents who rely on strangers for some aspect of their care. And in conversations we’ve had, it is quite common to hear someone say, “Of course we don’t want to complain, because it might backfire.”

Human nature is what it is. No one likes criticism. So, if you complain that your father’s meals are never hot or that your aunt’s clothes are always soiled, you are never sure what the reaction will be. One person might take a complaint in stride and try to do better, while another person might feel affronted and lash out in some way — perhaps by deliberately treating your loved one poorly.

It’s a crap shoot for seniors in care and their families, and it’s a troubling one.