Allowing pharmacists to do more immediately improves access to health care, reduces strain elsewhere in system

If the Manitoba government is serious about improving access to primary care, there is one reform that should be at the very top of its to-do list.

Pharmacists Manitoba has renewed its call for the province to significantly expand pharmacists’ scope of practice, bringing the Manitoba closer to the standards that already exist across much of Canada. The organization is urging the government to approve a broader list of common ailments and services pharmacists are trained to assess and treat.

It’s difficult to think of a more obvious health-care reform that would deliver immediate benefits to patients while helping relieve pressure throughout the health-care system.

The numbers alone make the case.

Beautiful game’s big price tag: soccer fans face record ticket costs for World Cup

The world’s soccer fans will converge on Toronto and Vancouver in a few days for the start of the 2026 men’s World Cup, revelling in the euphoria (and deep disappointment) that often is endemic to the planet’s premier sporting event.

Undoubtedly, many hope to scream “goal” as their favoured nation scores and clinches a victory. Yet the biggest winner is arguably FIFA, the global organization running the World Cup and other vaunted soccer events.

The non-profit is forecast to rake in more than $10 billion from the event, double that of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

What’s more, Canada — with Toronto and Vancouver as host cities — is expected to see an additional $3.8 billion in economic activity from the event.

Drinks to pair with Pride

Summer proper is almost here, and you may already be thinking about sneaking away to the lake or on that much-needed vacation.

Before you go, there are plenty of drinks-related events happening in Winnipeg and beyond.

June is Pride Month, and there are many ways (and places) to celebrate with local sips…

The Beer Can (1 Granite Way) is serving up a feature cocktail that includes Patent 5 Distillery’s Pride Purple Blossom Gin, with $1 from each cocktail sold going to Our Own Health Centre (2A-230 Osborne St.).

Marilyn Monroe cursed to be Hot Forever

Marilyn Monroe would have been 100 years old this week.

She was born Norma Jeane Baker on June 1, 1926, and died Marilyn Monroe on Aug. 4, 1962 at 36 of a barbiturate overdose, her incredible star a supernova.

Obviously, there’s a lot being published this week, looking at her filmography, her legacy and, in turn, our voracious appetite for the actor who, despite being a gifted talent, became who everyone thinks of when they hear the term “blond bombshell.”

We just can’t seem to quit Marilyn Monroe, and we really can’t seem to quit talking about her in a specific way. Why am I reading a Variety headline calling her, in 2026, the “goddess of sex”? The accompanying copy practically leers, describing her smile as “a lipstick bomb of bliss” and noting “the sparkly nightclub splendour of those curves.”

Need for farm innovation never greater

Surging Canadian demand for organic foods is a dilemma for primary agricultural sector and policy makers.

At a time when Canada is actively trying to diversify its exports, increase its own nutritional self-sufficiency and bolster its food-processing sector, it makes sense to find ways to meet this growth head-on without compromising the much larger supply chain for conventionally grown crops.

The latest market research report conducted on behalf of the Canadian Organic Trade Association shows consumer demand for organic has grown by nearly 32 per cent to $11.88 billion over the past three years.

It is also a leading exporter, with sales of $2.58 billion.

Return to office mandate keys: clarity, consistency, consideration

A recent British Columbia Court of Appeal decision is prompting renewed conversation across Canada about remote work, employer authority and what happens when expectations about where work is performed are not clearly set out.

While the case itself is rooted in B.C., the implications are relevant for employers in Manitoba and elsewhere who are continuing to refine their return to office strategies in a post-COVID-19 pandemic world.

At the heart of the discussion is a simple but important question: if an employee was hired during a period when remote work was widely accepted or even standard, can an employer later require that employee to return to the workplace full time?

The court’s message, in essence, reinforces something many employment lawyers have been emphasizing since pandemic restrictions eased: remote work is not automatically a permanent entitlement.

Teaching, learning are unrealistic expectations in intolerably hot classrooms

There is something fundamentally wrong with a province that can find room for tax cuts yet still sends thousands of children and teachers into classrooms that feel more like saunas than places of learning.

Poilievre might want to tone down glee over slumping economy

The constant rush to assign political blame to every problem is not just bad for public debate, it’s ultimately bad for the Conservative party.

Judge health care by results, not whether it’s for profit

Every time a private company is involved in health-care delivery, critics react as though medicare itself is under attack. It’s a misplaced argument.

A decision to fight from outside, rather than surrender to party politics

Is there any room in our current political culture for principle?These are the lingering questions left in the wake of Laurier-Sainte-Marie MP Steven Guilbeault’s decision to quit federal politics.

Peace, justice and bringing this country together

From the War of 1812 to today, no one has stood up for this country and worked for unity in this place more than Indigenous Peoples.

Nice wines to drink when you’re feeling in the pink

Trends in pink wine come and go. In the 1980s and ’90s, California’s cheap, cheerful and somewhat-sweet White Zinfandel was seemingly everywhere. In the 2000s, sales of the pale pink wines of France’s Provence region started to creep into the wine-drinking collective consciousness before exploding in popularity about 10 years ago. And most recently, the frosé — a drink made of frozen-to-a-slush pink wine, fruit and vodka — has become all the rage.

When the temperatures get decidedly seasonal, many wine drinkers start to think about drinking pink.

But not all rosés are created equal, ranging from very pale to deeply coloured, bone-dry to opulent and sweet. If you’re caught staring quizzically at the shelf of your local Liquor Mart/wine shop, unsure of what to expect from a pink wine, there are a few things to look for to get the best bang for your buck.

First off is colour. Most rosés from France’s Provence region, for example, are very pale in appearance. These and other lighter-coloured wines tend to bring more subtle flavours, whereas deeper rosés offer bigger, bolder red fruit notes.

Investors can roll dice on emerging technologies that may or may not shape future, portfolios’ net worth

We live in hyperstitious times.

A philosopher named Nick Land coined the word hyperstition in the 1990s, describing the sense of living today in science fiction of the past.

Investors may have that same sensation, given the dominance of artificial intelligence in their portfolios.

Yet AI is arguably more than an advanced chat-bot/search engine. It is “the fabric that’s binding” together a lot of other science fiction-like technologies, moving them closer to viable commercialization, says Mickey Ganguly, associate portfolio manager for the CIBC Technology Innovation Fund.