Analysis

Opinion

Where is Mark Carney going with Senate changes?

Paul G. Thomas 6 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

A decade after Justin Trudeau dropped Liberal Senators from the party’s national parliamentary caucus and introduced a new appointment process based on non-partisan criteria, his successor, Prime Minister Mark Carney, has recently reintroduced partisanship as a possible basis for appointment to the 205-member Senate.

Commentators were quick to offer immediate, mostly negative assessments of the Carney move. My view is that before rushing to judgment, we need to know more about what Carney has planned for the future partisan makeup of the Senate and its independence from government control.

In law, the Governor General appoints senators, but in practise they are selected by the prime minister.

Historically, appointment was mostly based on past or anticipated future service to the governing party. Trudeau broke with this tradition by making non-partisanship a criteria for appointment. He also created independent advisory committees to identify potential nominees.

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Opinion

Walking past history — and understated renewal

Stephen Borys 6 minute read Preview

Walking past history — and understated renewal

Stephen Borys 6 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

Several times each week I walk, cycle, or drive along Taché Avenue in St. Boniface.

It is one of Winnipeg’s most remarkable streets. Within a few hundred metres stand St. Boniface Cathedral, the cemetery where Louis Riel is buried, the archbishop’s residence, St. Boniface Hospital, La Vérendrye Park, and the Musée de Saint-Boniface. Few places in Canada bring together so many layers of history within such a compact landscape. This is where Manitoba’s story began. More than 175 years later, it remains one of the country’s most important historic precincts.

Yet it is always the museum that captures my attention.

It may be because I have spent much of my professional life working in museums and heritage institutions. More likely, it is because the old Grey Nuns’ convent has always struck me as one of those rare buildings that is far more than architecture. It has witnessed nearly two centuries of Manitoba’s history.

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2:01 AM CDT

Opinion

Cyril Ramaphosa and South African law

Gwynne Dyer 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Perfect justice is not on the menu, but a rough facsimile of justice most of the time is good enough for most purposes.

Opinion

Getting energy another way

Todd De Ryck 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

As Manitoba’s Public Utilities Board analyzes Manitoba Hydro’s Integrated Resource Plan, three points are apparent.

Opinion

Manitoba Hydro’s $3 billion fossil fuel bet

James Beddome and Kent Elson 5 minute read Preview

Manitoba Hydro’s $3 billion fossil fuel bet

James Beddome and Kent Elson 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Manitoba Hydro plans to spend $3 billion to build three new fossil fuel power generation turbines in 2030. This big bet on fossil fuel generation would be a big mistake for both the planet and Manitoban’s pocketbooks.

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Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Opinion

Ticked off by Trump’s tantrums

Scott Forbes 5 minute read Preview

Ticked off by Trump’s tantrums

Scott Forbes 5 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

If Mr. Trump isn’t prepared to step up and better manage his ticks, he’s just blowing smoke.

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Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

Opinion

Meeting the needs of disabled Indigenous children

Sherry Gott 5 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

Navigating Manitoba’s disability services is difficult under the best circumstances.

Opinion

Authors fall prey to scam artists and fraudsters

Allan Levine 5 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026

Today’s AI promotion scams aimed at authors attempt to exploit their human vulnerabilities.

Opinion

Prepare to be … blutterbunged?

David McLaughlin 5 minute read Preview

Prepare to be … blutterbunged?

David McLaughlin 5 minute read Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Are you not blutterbunged?

If Russell Crowe’s second-century gladiator character had uttered a 19th century equivalent of “Are you not entertained?” that fit the mood of today’s 21st century, that would be it.

Definitions first. Blutterbunged is an obscure regional dialect word from England that means everything from astonished to confounded to bemused or shocked into speechlessness. Its composition suggests something both more and less, namely blustering bloviation (that’s the more part) and empty words (that’s the empty part). These days we would more naturally punctuate our reaction to an event or statement with a profanity. But you get the drift.

Unearthed by lexicologist Susie Dent, it speaks volumes about our times that it fits now. That we need to reach back hundreds of years to find the right word to adequately capture a contemporary civic reaction to what the hell is going on in politics and the world today.

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Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Opinion

Climate: what must be done now

Gwynne Dyer 5 minute read Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

I WAS reading an article about the current wildfires written in a reputable paper by a recognized ‘environmental journalist’, but I stumbled to a halt when I read the following sentence: “While the skies over North America and Europe will eventually clear, this climate change-driven era of wildfire will exact a lengthy toll.”

What? Does he expect the skies to “eventually clear” of their own accord? We already know with high confidence (85 to 92 per cent) that next year will be even hotter than this year. What natural event or human action is going to return us to the old ‘normal’? Here’s a market tip: invest in companies making water-bombers.

Some people seek solace in the belief that this is just another El Niño event, a nine-to-12-month weather phenomenon that starts in the tropical eastern Pacific but affects the entire global system. It repeats every two to seven years. This time it is coming back in three years so, technically, it could be just another El Niño — but there are strong reasons to doubt that.

A normal El Niño temporarily adds only about 0.2 C to average global temperature, whereas the 2023-24 El Niño added more than 0.3 C. Much more importantly, that extra heat never went away again. It acted like a ratchet, taking us up past some invisible of no return, and we seem to be stuck there.

Opinion

Palestinian Canadian stories belong

Isha Khan 5 minute read Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

In June, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights opened a small exhibit focused on the human rights impacts of the forced displacement of Palestinians: infringements on their rights to life, education, equality, movement, and more.

Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present shares stories, memories and artifacts of Palestinian Canadians. It is on display in our Rights Today gallery, and that placement is intentional. It is a story unfolding before our eyes, demanding our attention.

The exhibit is also a reminder that behind every headline there are real people we must approach with empathy. Unfortunately, much of the coverage and commentary has failed to do that, often omitting Palestinian voices entirely.

Some of the dialogue, both critical and supportive, has contributed to the very things we need to resist — the dehumanization of one another, focusing on entrenched positions over dialogue and understanding.

Opinion

Keep free youth transit simple

Cordella Friesen and Noëlle DePape 4 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

For too many young Winnipeggers, the cost of a bus pass is a barrier. It can mean missing a class, turning down a job opportunity or staying home from a program that could change their future.

Free transit for youth in Winnipeg is a transformational policy that will pay dividends for decades to come — advancing key environmental, educational and poverty reduction goals in our communities.

As champions for young people across our city, BGC Winnipeg and the YMCA-YWCA of Winnipeg commend Premier Wab Kinew and Mayor Scott Gillingham for recognizing that investing in young people is investing in Winnipeg’s future. By uniting to make transit free for youth across Winnipeg, both levels of government are delivering a forward-thinking policy that has the potential to have generational impact.

At a time when families are stretched to their limits by inflation, free transportation for youth offers real, immediate relief.

Opinion

Take action before emergency declarations

Marwa Suraj 4 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Manitoba is living through several emergencies at once.

An HIV public-health emergency. A toxic drug crisis. Rising hepatitis C. Severe housing pressures. Communities asking for help before more people are lost.

In July, leaders from four Island Lake First Nations declared a regional public-health emergency. They described addiction, infection, homelessness and overcrowding converging in communities that do not have enough prevention, treatment or locally led care to meet the need.

These may look like separate problems.

Opinion

Plus ça change … VLTs and online sports gambling

Peter McKenna 5 minute read Preview

Plus ça change … VLTs and online sports gambling

Peter McKenna 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

The province of Ontario was the first jurisdiction in Canada to offer a private online gambling (sorry, gaming) market in April 2022. Alberta has now followed suit and officially launched its own regulated, online sports betting market. Will Manitoba be next?

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Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Opinion

Time for a democratic reset

John R. Wiens 5 minute read Thursday, Jul. 30, 2026

‘Amor mundi’, love of the world, is a basic tenet of Hannah Arendt’s philosophy of life and closely related to her idea of republican (i.e., democratic) politics. Currently, Western democracies have strayed far from the ideals stressed in this view.

Opinion

Use it twice: a data centre we could support

Hersh Seth 5 minute read Preview

Use it twice: a data centre we could support

Hersh Seth 5 minute read Thursday, Jul. 30, 2026

Winnipeg is a cold city. Data centres are basically huge electric heaters with computers inside. In a city that spends half the year paying to stay warm, it’s an opportunity.

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Thursday, Jul. 30, 2026

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