Subvert music service prioritizing art over artificial intelligence

With its public launch earlier this month, a digital music marketplace called Subvert aims to live up to its name, directing more power — and more dollars — to recording artists navigating the choppy waters of the streaming wars.

Initially pitched as a collectively owned successor to Bandcamp — a popular sales interface for independent artists — and an alternative to big tech-funded streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music, Subvert (subvert.fm) was already hosting music for purchase by 20,000 artists from 120 countries as of Wednesday afternoon.

Nearly 30 of those artists — including Altona-based pop producer Daggerss, a.k.a. Laura Smith — call Manitoba home.

“To me, the co-op model is really exciting,” says Smith, a former touring member of indie rock stalwarts Said the Whale whose past projects include Rococode, a synthy duo that released music through Winnipeg label Head in the Sand Records in the 2010s. “It gives power to the people and keeps it in the hands of the people instead of us being at the beck and call of a tech company.”

Is demographic collapse a good idea?

Smartphones seem to be directly linked to a worldwide crash in the birth rate.

It is “quite plausible that the modern digital media environment has had profound effects on society that have led to a decline in romantic coupling,” said Melissa Kearney, professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame.

She has to talk that way, being an academic, but what she means is that people are doomscrolling, not copulating.

That’s old news, but the evidence for it is more impressive because it is data-based. That’s what we have social scientists for, and John Burn-Murdoch, a columnist with the Financial Times, realized that you could quantify the data if you talk to enough of them. So he did, and learned that the big drop in the birth rate happened precisely when people got smartphones.

Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock

EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA - Alberta’s journey toward holding a fall referendum on separation took a bizarre turn Wednesday — straight into another roadblock.

It occurred when the governing United Conservative members on a bipartisan legislature committee introduced a motion to formally ask Premier Danielle Smith and her cabinet to initiate a provincewide vote on Alberta's status in Confederation this October.

The motion was expected to pass, given the UCP members on the committee outnumber the Opposition NDP members on it three to two.

But while the motion was still being debated, the UCP caucus published a news release announcing the vote had taken place and that the motion had passed.

Louis Riel division hires province’s first Indigenous woman superintendent

The new leader of the Louis Riel School Division is a Métis teacher who has — not unlike the founder of Manitoba — dedicated much of her life to supporting Indigenous families.

Jackie Connell has been named the incoming superintendent and chief executive officer of the St. Vital-based board office in charge of educating 17,000 students.

The board of trustees announced her historic appointment, which begins Aug. 4, late Tuesday.

“I feel Indigenous women are inherently built to lead. I don’t know that education systems always see or honour that leadership,” Connell said in an interview Wednesday.

Winnipeg police get behind Ottawa’s ‘lawful access’ bill

Winnipeg Police Service Deputy Chief Cam Mackid said Wednesday the force fully supports the federal government’s proposed lawful access bill.

The legislation would give law enforcement and the national spy agency broader access to digital data following judicial authorization.

Part of the bill would require social media, internet service providers and telecommunication companies to adapt systems to allow for officials to more easily access data, after a warrant is obtained, and order certain providers to retain metadata for up to a year.

The bill has received significant pushback from advocates and technology companies who say it will erode privacy and civil rights and enable excessive surveillance.

Tribute to composer Ron Paley pays homage to local jazz leader who’s never wavered

When asked how he kept his big band together for so many years, Duke Ellington famously replied, “You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money.”

While the remark was made half in jest, it strikes at a central truth: big bands, like orchestras, employ a lot of people and can be central economic drivers for jazz scenes.

All the more important, then, to have a leader like Ron Paley, who also inspires loyalty and admiration.

The nationally celebrated 75-year-old performer, composer, arranger and band leader is celebrated at a tribute concert this Saturday.

Infielder Matsubara playing big role in UBC’s historic run

Jill Matsubara has been on the road for the last two weeks, but she’s not itching to return home.

If things go her way, she’ll happily continue to live out of her suitcase.

You see, the Winnipeg-born sophomore infielder is in the midst of a historic run with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, who are preparing for their first appearance in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Softball World Series in Columbus, Ga., this week.

It took a few timely hits and some good fortune for the Thunderbirds to reach the national championship tournament, but for Matsubara, this was the inevitable next step for the program after reaching the NAIA Championship Opening Round tournament — which precedes the World Series — for the first time last year.

Time for change? Province launches survey to review clock changes

The provincial government has asked Manitobans to weigh in on whether to end the seasonal time change.

Premier has everyone’s attention on and about social media; now it’s time for some careful thought

Using social media to condemn social media may seem hypocritical. But when you look at the audience Premier Wab Kinew commands across his social media accounts, there is a certain logic. An admittedly perverse logic, but logic all the same.

Generic semaglutide to hit Canadian pharmacies this week at a fraction of the cost of Ozempic

TORONTO - Two generic versions of Ozempic are set to start arriving in Canadian pharmacies this week, which means patients who use the drug to treat diabetes or for weight loss may have more options for a fraction of the cost.

Health Canada approved both Dr. Reddy's and Apotex's generic semaglutide — the active ingredient in brand-name Ozempic — about three weeks ago.

Apotex is based in Canada and said it began shipping its product on Tuesday.

India-based Dr. Reddy's said in an email that its semaglutide has already arrived in "select" Canadian pharmacies and will be available more widely across the country in the coming days.

Small businesses’ capacity to hire youth being constrained: CFIB survey

TORONTO - A weaker economy and rising costs are leaving little room for small businesses to hire and train inexperienced youth, a new report suggests.

While small businesses remain the "training ground" for many young people entering the workforce, a survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says small businesses are facing challenges from weak demand and rising payroll costs.

That's leaving many business owners with fewer resources to hire and train young workers.

"For many small businesses, taking a chance on someone with no experience, especially when training requires considerable time and effort, is simply not feasible in the current climate," the report said.

Music as therapy — singing through tears

It’s Sunday and I arrive in the middle of hymn sing. Mom and her roommate are dozing on the couch in the lobby as the songs swell around them, the recorded music supplemented by a choir of earnest voices.

The diminutive lady with the horn-rimmed glasses who had vigorously belted out Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ at last week’s singalong is more subdued today, her voice soft and plaintive during Why Me Lord?

Indeed, there is an air of sadness to this gathering, the musical selections steeped in nostalgia. It feels more like group therapy than joyful noise.

But then the residents here are grieving. They have lost two of their number in recent weeks, both wonderful women whose company I enjoyed on many previous visits, and today’s music session has been dedicated to their memories.

Washing ceremony marks settlement of Canadian Tire racial profiling complaint

VANCOUVER - The sounds of Indigenous drums and song bounced off the walls of an East Vancouver banquet hall Tuesday evening as members of British Columbia's Heiltsuk Nation gathered for a traditional washing ceremony years in the making.

Dawn Wilson and her father Richard filed a human rights complaint against Canadian Tire and security company Blackbird Security over a racial profiling incident at a store in Coquitlam.

Canadian Tire acknowledged its former employee contravened the human rights code against racial profiling and discrimination when they searched Richard Wilson's bag in 2020.

The ceremony, held at the Croatian Cultural Centre on Commercial Drive, drew dozens to take part in the cultural healing process. Dawn Wilson thanked representatives of both companies for showing up.

Retail crime claims another 7-Eleven in city; shoplifters target stretch of St. Anne’s Road ‘almost daily’

It may be a different location, but it’s a similar story playing out at a St. Vital 7-Eleven store that’s closing its doors at the end of the month.

May long weekend second-coldest on record

The May long weekend was one of the coldest on record in Winnipeg.

The average daily high for the three days failed to reach double digits, hovering between 9.3 C to 9.6 C, said Matt Loney, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

It’s the second-coldest on record, failing to topple the record average daily high of 6.3 C logged on May long 1882.

“It’s definitely abnormal,” said Loney of the preliminary figures. “You wouldn’t expect temperatures to be that low, but it can happen and it has happened before.”

Hands-on workshop guides process of making unique, custom silver jewellery

I know things aren’t going well when cracks keep forming on my clay — but not to worry. I’d been paying attention when instructors Jillian Sheedy and Joanne Roberts told me how to deal with this problem.

So I confidently dip my brush into the water and start moistening my clay to smooth it out. Except I’ve added a bit more water than I should have, and now the clay is wet and extremely sticky.

Beside me, Roberts smiles reassuringly.

“It’s a task that requires a little bit of patience,” she says, carefully removing the brush from my hand.

Only unions consulted about jobs deal for provincial builds: industry

The Manitoba government is being accused of consulting only with a union collective before adopting a jobs policy that governs contracts involving the construction of public projects, including four new schools.

Construction industry associations representatives said Tuesday they learned through a freedom-of-information request that the government met only with Manitoba Building Trades, which proposed a labour framework in July 2025. The two parties discussed the jobs agreement in August, and it was signed 13 days later, the associations said.

They now want the provincial ombudsman to pause the Manitoba Jobs Agreement and conduct a review.

“I was extremely disappointed that there was little rigour in the negotiation,” said Darryl Harrison of the Winnipeg Construction Association.