Lifestyles 55 2024 01 January r

January 2024

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

New Happy Year!

FAST

DENTURES

204-947-1807 Can we save the Lemay Forest?

Comfort food for the winter season!

We remember Chad Allen!

6

10

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No, it’s a lighter-than-air cargo hauler, and Manitoba is in the cockpit!

Volker Beckman, Thompson Chamber of Commerce

11

RWB’s André Lewis named to Order of Canada

V

isualize huge 200-metrelong airships hauling up to 100 tons of cargo, fuel, food, building materials, mine ore, and equipment into northern Manitoba and the Arctic over the next five to seven years. They are coming!

Airships are a green technology with electric propulsion that has zero carbon emissions. The advantages of reduced freight rates and year-around delivery of goods are significant for distant and isolated parts of Canada. Continuous delivery of supplies by airship would expand mining, overcome seasonal limitations, and speed up housing construction that is so much in need.

Airships have been around for decades, but recently new developments have been substantial.

C

Flying whales.

Flying Whales in France, with a consortium of government and private stakeholders, has invested 360 million Euros in their development.

Air Nostrum, a Spanish airline, has purchased ten “Airlander 10” airships that are being built by the British Hybrid Air Vehicle (HAV) company. In addition to these slow, but luxurious, air tours beginning in 2026, another tour operator,

OceanSky, is planning “Airlander 10” trips to land at the North Pole Sergei Brin’s, (billionaire, cofounder of Google) LTA Research company has built a 407-foot-long airship called Pathfinder 1. It finally came out of the hanger in Paolo Alto, California this year and is undergoing flight tests. His goal is to use them for humanitarian relief when natural disasters strike from u 2 ‘Is it a bird?’

We are rocking into 2024 at Lifestyles 55 Digital Radio

W

elcome to Lifestyles 55 Radio. Classic Tracks travelling at the speed of 33-1/3 RPM. Lifestyles 55 Radio is a group of retired Winnipeg DJs who are passionate about playing classic tracks that defined your youth ... music memories from the 60s, 70s, 80s and more. We do it for love of radio in a format that is alive to the realities of today.

We’ve made it easy to listen. Download our app or just go to https://www.lifestyles55radio.ca/ and tap the “play” button on the player on the left. Take us anywhere you go! You can also listen to us with a simple tap of the Live365 app on your smartphone, tablet, and laptop. We’re also available on Alexa.

Our station is FREE to listen to, so show us some love by tuning in. And why not tell your friends about a radio station they’re going to dig.

Some of your favourites? Jim Ingebrigtsen, Chris Golden, Alex Regiec and John Panting, John Ein-

arson, Greg Gardner, Chris Tuffer, Bill Quinn and a little Dorothy Dobbie with Issues in the News and the Gardener archives with Dorothy and Shauna. All powered by partners that include Dwight MacAulay, Ian Leatt and incredible volunteer, Lisa Lewis.

Give us a listen and leave us a note about what you hear and what you would like to hear more of! You can send your thoughts to me at dorothy@pegasuspublicatons.net.

NOW OPEN!

204.788.8020 | misericordiaterrace.ca

ongratulations to our own André Lewis who has been named a member of the Order of Canada.

Born in Gatineau, (then Hull) Quebec, André began his training at the Classical Ballet School in Ottawa. He was accepted into the RWB School in 1975 where he studied under David Moroni. Four years later, when Arnold Spohr was artistic director, he joined the troupe and became a soloist in 1982.

During his dance career, a highlight was the opportunity dance with renowned ballerina, Evelyn Hart.

He retired as a dancer in 1990 and became associate artistic director. In 1996, he became artistic director of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. From 2018 to 2022, he served as both CEO and artistic director.

During his many years with the RWB, André has gained a reputation as an innovator who has shown through dance his commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous people. His work with Tina Keeper and the late Mary Richard in the production of Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation earned him the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Medal in 2017.

Under André’s leadership, the RWB presents a balanced mix of both traditional and innovative contemporary ballet. His international collaborations have brought acclaim to the Ballet and to Winnipeg.

André was previously awarded the Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee medal, and the Order of Manitoba for his outstanding contributions to dance.

In the spring of 2025, André Lewis will step down as artistic director of the RWB, marking 50 years of service with and to the company. His work here has added tremendous depth to the artistic community of Winnipeg.

I am sure all of Winnipeg joins us at Lifestyles 55 in thanking André for his service and in extending to him our warmest congratulations on this welldeserved honour.

The Heart of Independent Assisted Living

u

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Continued from page 1

IF YOU ARE A SENIOR. . . . . .

You should consider having the following in place Will The preparation of a will may seem like a daunting task, however, it is essential to ensure that your property is disposed of according to your wishes upon your death. If you pass away without a valid will, the law states what is to happen to your estate.

Power of Attorney A power of attorney is a document which appoints an individual to handle your affairs in the event you become mentally incapable of making your own decisions. Nothing prevents you from continuing to make your own decisions while you are still competent.

A power of attorney is an extremely valuable document to have in place in case anything happens to you which affects your mental ability, such as a stroke, coma or dementia.

Health Care Directive (Living Will) A health care directive, commonly called a living will, is a document which appoints an individual to make decisions with regard to your health care only, while you are alive but unable to express your decisions yourself. This document is distinct from a power of attorney and deals only with health care decisions such as whether life sustaining treatments, such as CPR or blood transfusion, should be continued or withdrawn.

Standard Fees* Last Will and Testament Power of Attorney Health Care Directive *Plus * plusGST GSTand andPST PST--Rates Ratesare areper perperson. person.

$275.00 $225.00 $225.00 $175.00 $125.00 $ 75.00

Seniors $250.00 $200.00 $200.00 $150.00 $100.00 $ 50.00

Home and hospital visits are $250.00* (includes both (includes meetings)both meetings) also available $250.00* *Plus *plus GST and PST. PST TACIUM VINCENT & ASSOCIATES 206 St. Mary’s Road, Winnipeg, MB R2H 1J3 DAVID G. VINCENT (204) 989-4236 www.taciumvincent.com

earthquakes and hurricanes.

Here is a major opportunity for Manitoba if the opportunity is seized. The Province of Quebec has moved with a $50 million investment in the French company, Flying Whales. Yellowknife has expressed an interest to service the western Arctic. Manitoba can now enter the game and take a significant share of the development and research phase.

We must move before this opportunity goes elsewhere.

Before any cargo airship can operate in the extreme cold, snow, and ice of the Arctic, it must get approved for engineering and safety standards by the regulators. Given that Canada needs airships for year-round transport they must be tested in cold winter conditions.

Over the past two years, a Manitoba Airship Research Task Force has been quietly meeting, planning, and advocating with government, private stakeholders and airship developers to use a potential site in Thompson as the Hub for this new industry.

Extreme cold testing would take place, possibly using an exhausted open pit mine as a below ground hanger space or other local sites. The Task Force is seeking some $100,000 in funding for Phase 1, an engineering feasibility study.

The interim chair of the Task Force is Volker Beckmann, with the Thompson Chamber of Commerce. Other team members are in Winnipeg, Gillam, Ottawa, and Toronto. A key person on the team is Dr. Barry Prentice, Director, University of Manitoba Transport Institute and President of ISO Polar, a notfor-profit airship association. He is an

airship and transportation expert, who is known worldwide by airship companies. He has hosted several airship conferences and webinars on airships and recently promoted Thompson’s intentions at a major airship conference in Germany. Dr. Prentice has been advocating for airships for the past 20 years and presented proposals in Thompson as far back as 2006. His dream could finally come to fruition very soon.

Ross Prentice, CEO, BASI have a proposal to the CMHC to build an airship landing system called the Buoyant Airship Rotating Depot (BARD). The BARD is a large turntable upon which an airship can land and unload. If the wind changes direction, it keeps the airship facing into the wind. The City of Thompson has endorsed this aspect of the development. There would be several BARDS located in northern Manitoba.

Once Thompson becomes this Hub for cold weather testing, research, and maintenance, other companies and suppliers can participate to grow this new industry. Who will supply the components? Do the fabrication? Pilot training and certification? Hydrogen supply? Each remote community will need an unloading zone, equipment, and manpower. BARDS will have to be built and serviced. Businesses can start.

Jobs created.

Any new industry always starts with visionaries and humble beginnings. If you or your company have questions or ideas, please contact us. Here’s to...

Manitoba flying high!

Contact us at www.isopolar.com or Thompson Chamber of Commerce at 204677-4155.

The case for the return of airships Barry E. Prentice, PhD

S Don’t want to miss a single issue of Lifestyles 55?

Call us at 940-2700 and we will be only too pleased to help you purchase a subscription that will bring the paper right to your doorstep! We can arrange for a small monthly charge to your credit card. Or you can start by filling out and mailing in this form to: Lifestyles 55 c/o Pegasus Publications at 70 Jewett Bay, Winnipeg, MB R3R 2N1

q $36.00*, 12 issues q $72.00*, 24 issues *Plus applicable taxes

q Cheque q VISA q Amex q MasterCard Card No .........................................................................................

Expiry ........................ Signature ..................................................

Name ............................................................................................

Address .........................................................................................

City................................. Prov............ Postal Code .......................

Telephone...................................... Fax..........................................

Connect with us online: whatsupwinnipeg.ca | Facebook: Lifestyles55

2

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

cience Unbound, in a YouTube video at https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=OIm1VBU8vYk addresses the potential of a new generation of airships for cargo transport.

The video is entertaining, and makes several good points, but also makes some questionable statements.

1. Cargo airships will not need to reach 500-1000 tons to compete. It all depends on the market. 100 tons lift to cross oceans, but smaller ones could find markets in remote locations.

2. Airships do not need 6 days to cross the Atlantic, 36 to 48 hours is sufficient. There is no need for 1000 airships to begin a cargo service. Certainly, more than a single airship is needed, but a fleet with as few as three could begin.

3. The hybrid solution is hyped but this is based on no economics except not requiring re-ballasting. Cargo airships will not just land anywhere. They need material handling equipment and transshipment to trucks for the first mile/last mile. Prepared landing facilities will be the rule, not the exception. Hence, no need to worry about a readily available store of ballast water, which is put forward as the hybrid’s advantage.

4. Airships can have zero-carbon emissions, and not just with solar films. Airships have lots of space to store hydrogen fuel tanks to power electric motors. Hydrogen storage is

the problem for airplanes.

Lots of misunderstandings are still being perpetuated about airships, but also some realities are brought forward.

1. Helium is not necessary for cargo airships. Hydrogen can be used safely as a lifting gas. Leaks are now easily and inexpensively detected. Ventilation is the solution to hydrogen safety.

2. Yes, regulations to ensure safety were non-existent in the 1930s. But Science Unbound fails to mention weather, and more importantly, the lack of weather forecasting. Most large airships were lost in storms, and structural failure was often the weakness, if caught in a storm.

Notwithstanding its errors, this video suggests that more people are taking a hard look at cargo airships, and this is desirable. They suggest that the high cost of entry is the biggest problem for the re-emergence of the airships. No doubt that the monetary barrier is almost as big as an airship, itself, but in the great scheme of things, the cost is much less than the alternatives. In Canada we look at the conversion of ice roads to gravel roads.

The average cost is between $3 million and $5 million per kilometer. So, if it takes a billion dollars to build and certify an airship, how many kilometers of roads would that build – between 200 and 333 kilometres. Anyone familiar with the geography of Canada will recognize that this would do little more than link up a few remote communities. The other 290 remote communities would need to wait.

January 2024

ISSUES IN THE NEWS

Follow us online at: whatsupwinnipeg.ca Facebook: Lifestyles55

My personal 2023 in review – just keeping on keeping on!

PUBLISHER Pegasus Publications Inc. EDITOR Dorothy Dobbie dorothy@pegasuspublications.net ART DIRECTOR Karl Thomsen karl@pegasuspublications.net GENERAL MANAGER Shauna Dobbie shauna@pegasuspublications.net CONTRIBUTORS Gary Brown, Tim Chapman, Dorothy Dobbie, Shauna Dobbie, Rick Duerksen, Jon Einarson, Cat Gauthier, Stefano Grande, Jim Ingebrigtsen, Myron Love, Jo Magnifico, Fred Morris, Barry Prentice, Reg Sherren, Jerry Storie, Robert Urano, Sherrie Versluis, Wayne Weedon, Robert Wrigley.

Canadian Publications mail product Sales agreement #40027604 Print ADVERTISING Gord Gage • 204-940-2701 gord.gage@pegasuspublications.net Digital ADVERTISING Caroline Fu • 204-940-2704 caroline@pegasuspublications.net SUBSCRIPTIONS If you would like to receive Lifestyles 55, we offer both monthly newspaper and online formats.

To place your order, call 204-940-2700.

Subscriptions are $48.00 per year, plus tax. American Express, MasterCard, Visa & cheque accepted. To view a back issue online visit lifestyles55.net Published monthly by: Pegasus Publications Inc. 70 Jewett Bay, Winnipeg, MB R3R 2N1 204-940-2700 whatsupwinnipeg.ca

DISTRIBUTION Available at over 100 locations from Winnipeg, Brandon, Steinbach, Morden, Selkirk, Flin Flon and The Pas. If you would like bulk copies of this publication, contact Gord Gage at (204) 940-2701 or gord@pegasuspublications. net. Also available digitally at whatsupwinnipeg.ca and on Facebook: Lifestyles55 EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS Call Dorothy Dobbie at (204) 940-2716 or email dorothy@pegasuspublications. net for more information and guidelines.

Any opinions expressed in columns by our contributors are their own opinions entirely and are not necessarily shared

by Pegasus Publications Inc. All information presented by the contributors is the responsibility of the writers.

Lifestyles 55 is published monthly.

Reproduction in part or in whole is prohibited without seeking permission in writing from the publisher.

Copyright Pegasus Publications Inc. January 2024

January in Puerto Vallarta.

A

Paying tribute to former Winnipeg mayor Susan Thompson.

s you get older, the time flies and it seems there is never enough of it. Today as I write, the last day in 2023, I looked at my 2023 calendar to see what kept me feeling so busy. I was quite surprised to note that was a lot going on this year. I don’t often write about myself, but I thought perhaps an exception could be made for this exceptional year.

I travelled more than usual: four international trips – to Puerta Vallarta on vacation, then to Brussels to visit the European Former Parliamentarians at the Brussels Parliament, to Minneapolis for a garden writer’s conference, and to Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau on a parliamentary study tour to learn firsthand about the relationship between China and Taiwan and China’s recently returned colonies. Despite what you hear, people still live Dorothy Dobbie freely in all three jurisdictions and Taiwan is not holding its breath awaiting an invasion. Most of the Taiwanese diplomats and others we met with seemed to feel that China has too much to lose by destroying Taiwan in a conflict. Before COVID, Taiwan was responsible for a whopping 40 per cent of China’s exports though Taiwanese owned and managed manufacturing firms. The Taiwanese have developped amazing engineering and management skills that China has not yet mastered.

There were also seven national flights to Ottawa, Quebec City, Toronto, and Victoria for various association, political and business reasons. Another six local journeys in rural Manitoba on Peace Garden and other business rounded out my travel itinerary. I had to cancel a planned journey to Churchill to visit my dear friends from the lazy Bear Lodge, the remarkable Daudrich family. They have launched an exciting new excursion boat where you can see the belugas underwater. I can’t wait to test it out.

The year was busy with significant events, too. My informally “adopted” son, Ian Leatt, got married to our girl, Shelly Deng. My grandson also got married to a lovely young nurse named Nicole, and my granddaughter Holly and her husband Stephen had a second baby, so now I am a great grandmother of two: a very smart almost-two-year-old girl and a beautiful baby boy.

As always and since I was in my early 20s, I have a few community irons in the fire. I helped with plans for the Green Corridor down Graham, with the Little Forks project (more on this later), and with Robyn Lore and the Indigenous developers of Neestanan, including Tom Jackson (a hero), several Northern chiefs and many others. And of course, I was involved with politics both provincially and federally, but heavily here with the election.

I was very happy to see that ‘Toba House opened and proud of the work that Christy Dzikowicz accomplished through her sheer determination and an iron will. What a woman!

While I am trying to divest myself of some of my boards and I certainly do not want the leadership role anymore, the first six months were tied up with the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians as my five-year tenure as chair came to an end. I was very proud to be able to initiate a tribute to Leo Duguay, former chair of CAFP and former MP for St. Boniface, who has given so much to this great post-partisan group of former servants to the public. They are dedicated and sincere people whom I very much respect and have enjoyed getting to know better. At some point this year, I will share with you a story written for me by Lynn McDonald who was the Former NDP MP who worked so

June in Brussels, to visit the EU parliament building.

June in Ottawa, paying tribute to Léo Duguay.

October in Taiwan, with the Former Parliamentarians.

November in Victoria, to plant a few trees with Trees Canada.

hard to bring awareness to the danger of cigarettes. First, I want to share this with the CAFP members in Beyond the Hill, the magazine that we have published CAFP for the past 20 or so years. I am still the editor.

Despite my vow to step back, I agreed to serve on the Board of Business for the Arts because I love Jean Giguere who has done so much for the arts both locally and nationally. I hope the current government will agree to take more of an active part.

In April, I entered my third and final year as president of the International Peace Garden. That term ends next spring, but we have made tremendous progress over the past few years, much of it due to the advocacy of the local area MLA, Doyle Piwniuk. The children’s nature playground is open, the new greenhouse is almost ready for the public with a grand opening in the spring, and we are in the final stage of design for the renovations to the Willis Pavilion – learning that what we thought would be ample funding won’t quite stretch to meet all the necessities. Great place to leave a legacy if you are looking for somewhere worthy of a donation this year.

Although Ian did and now my younger daughter Shauna runs Pegasus for me, I am still very much involved with writing and doing other necessaries as called upon in the production of Canada’s Local Gardener and Lifestyles 55. This year Pegasus also published the Lily book for Leanne Dowd and the Manitoba Lily Society. Ian’s cookbook, Culinary Memories, has just arrived hot off the press.

I have been researching a possible documentary on improvements to the Canadian health care system, looking at other jurisdictions to see what works best and how we can best adopt some of these necessary changes to our Canadian system. Stay tuned. Some very clever women in the Wow (Women of Winipeg) group are thinking of mounting a panel to have a clinical discussion of what’s is wrong and how it could be put right.

Oh, and did I mention involvement with Lifestyles 55 Digital Radio? There is a brief blurb on the station on page one. We have been working on this for over a year and it is now coming together with much thanks to the board and especially Alex Regiec who is our hard-working everything and Jim Ingebrigtsen who has agreed to be president.

Despite the busy-ness, it hasn’t been all work. I managed to get some sort of garden growing – not my best work, I assure you, but nobody who came to my 16 dinners and garden parties seemed to notice its flaws. This doesn’t cover it all, but I still found time to be with my friends and family, and I even managed to smell those flowers occasionally.

I often say folks, that you have to live, live LIVE! before you die. While I am a long way from ready to lay down my garden tools, I know that the best way to keep going is simply to keep on going.

Happy New Year. I hope 2024 is full of hope and enterprise for you! whatsupwinnipeg.ca

3

What is freedom?

Dorothy Dobbie

I

cannot believe that I am writing about such a previously uncontentious issue as the meaning of freedom, an issue that is the bedrock of democracy and the values of prosperity and fairness.

Yet, somehow, the word “freedom” has been corrupted to mean something nefarious and extreme.

Freedom is the ability to think for oneself and to express one’s opinions no matter how or what if those opinions do not promote hate or counsel others to violence. This is the foundation of democracy. In Canada, our freedom is guaranteed constitutionally subject only to Part 1, Section 1, The Charter of Rights and Freedoms which also refers to a free and democratic society: 1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Yes, governments may pass laws that limit some communications, zeroing in on what they and society deem to be specifically heinous such as child pornography. But within the Act this is “demonstrably justified”.

Fundamentally and to me personally, freedom has a much broader meaning outside the confines of government.

Freedom is something that applies not only to me as an individual. It applies to all those around me. If I am free, then so are you, and I respect that, which means that I do not believe you must conform to my opinions, ideals, values, or principles. I am interested in hearing your opposing views – maybe I will learn something new, or you will introduce a bit of logic I have overlooked. But I reserve the right to disagree and, if you are interested, to tell you why.

Freedom is the ability to think critically and to keep an open mind. It is also the ability to change one’s mind when evidence or logic warrants.

Freedom to me is self-determination and self-support. It is also the ability to accept help when needed, but to stay away from becoming reliant on that support, because reliance on others is a kind of slavery, a loss of freedom. Owing reduces freedom. Freedom is also the ability to choose to offer support to others – it is not an obligation, because obligations limit freedom for both the giver and the taker.

At the same time, freedom is the willingness to abrogate some freedoms for the common good. But it comes from an understanding that humans must collaborate and co-operate to survive – although you are always free to live in the woods, independent of other humans, if that is your preference.

Freedom is always the right of refusal to be coerced into accepting the belief of another or of everyone else. If you want to believe the earth is flat, that is up to you, just don’t try to force that belief onto others.

Society uses its freedom to abrogate some personal

Dobbie vs Dobbie

freedoms to protect and nurture the freedoms of others. That gift should not be turned into an obligation, which would be a kind of coercion to sacrifice general freedoms to compensate for the inability or unwillingness of others to exercise their own freedom of self-determination. Such an act is harmful to both the sacrificers and those being compensated. There must be a give-and-take balance.

The concept of freedom has been subjected to limitations through a hierarchy of declared “rights” , a societal construct that has nothing to do with our intrinsic condition as humans. From an early age, we are taught that these rights come with obligations to others and that they outweigh our personal judgement or logical actions.

For the most part due to this education, we have accepted this “obligation”, but this chips away at our personal freedom. Ultimately, these little chips begin to erode the structure of freedom to the point where the concept becomes gradually more nebulous and where, if not balanced, we become vulnerable to a loss of our democracy. An example would be the socialist revolutions of the past where good intentions to create balance through the removal of freedoms backfired leading to the ultimate failure of those societies.

As explained, freedom is not unconditional, but the conditions have to do with our need to be part of a community structure. The right to give up some of that freedom is that of the owner only, and it must in most part be given freely, not taken by dictates from others who demand sacrifice.

Societies that live according to these standards, where freedoms and sacrifices are balanced by need and generosity, are essentially democratic.

Limits to freedoms in Canada Shauna Dobbie

I

’ve been kind of surprised since returning to Winnipeg (we moved back here after about 32 years away) to hear a few people speak to me about freedom.

Or, more precisely, how our freedom is in peril. One friend (well, friend of a friend) worries about Canada’s “communist government” and what they are doing to freedom. I’ll ponder that question if we should ever find ourselves led by a communist government.

First, let’s define freedom in a 21stcentury Canadian way. Freedom is the license to do what you will without affecting other people much. The second part of that statement is important; it’s why you can’t just shoot off guns at will: you might hurt or kill someone, which would definitely affect them. In fact, in terms of gun control, freedom would be the right to own a gun but could include the necessity of showing that you have the sensibility to own it without killing anyone.

In general, Canadians have an amount of freedom that I consider just about right, and I’m not alone. According to the Fraser Institute, Canada comes in at 13th in the world for our levels of economic and personal freedom. Their most recent study that is available is from 2020 (there is a 2023 report using 2020 numbers) and it measured 83 distinct areas ranging from security and safety to expression and information to size of government. Being ranked 13th out of 165 countries on the list is not too shabby.

Who was ahead of us? Which countries do you think offer more freedom than Canada?

The US? Nope. They are ranked 23rd. The UK is 20th. The five freest countries in the world are: Switzerland, New Zealand, Estonia, Denmark and Ireland. The

others that come between Canada and the top place are Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Australia, and Norway. I’d say we’re in pretty good company. The highest-ranking countries are a mix of liberal and conservative democratic entities.

The Fraser Institute is a conservative-leaning, libertarian think tank based in Vancouver. To give you an idea of their values, they’ve given their Founders’ Award to the likes of Peter Munk and Frank Stronach. Their studies are pretty rigorous and transparent and their Freedom Index is world renowned, regardless of your politics. I say this as a non-conservative.

Complaints about freedom seem to centre on the “Freedom Convoy”, as it is known among the more right-wing ilk; my set call it the truckers’ convoy (although it wasn’t all truckers; I’m honestly not sure if my lefty friends recognize that).

Let’s say that the protest convoy was about freedom from COVID restrictions. (There were differing opinions from amongst the protesters, but I think they’d all agree with disagreeing with restrictions.) Requiring proof of vaccination to enter indoor public spaces, for instance, and wearing a proper mask while in public were two points of contention.

Of course, we all bickered about restrictions while they were happening; I would expect nothing less in a free society. Some people got pretty darn mad about having our freedoms curtailed, about wearing face masks in public, about needing a vaccination to be allowed into a place. The way I saw it and the way I see it is, I had to go through a little pain (a needle, a face mask) to enjoy the freedoms I had before the pandemic. To forgo that pain isn’t actual freedom, not in a universal sense; it may be absolute liberty for the maskless unvaccinated but it’s quite the opposite for others if they get very sick and

Dobbie vs Dobbie

may die. (Yes, the virus could be transmitted through a mask to others even after vaccination; it’s about the numbers.)

Now, for me it was a little bit of pain; for others, it was a world of anguish to submit to something they didn’t believe in (um, science).

You can disbelieve in the scientific consensus, which is just a consensus and could be disproven. You can also believe that covering your skin with clothing is bad for your health and refuse to do it, but you can’t go around naked, not in our society. If you have beliefs that most people disagree with, you will have to stay in your own home to follow them!

But these folks decided to get together from across the country and raise a ruckus in Ottawa. Well, nothing else was happening owing to COVID, so why not? And I have no problem with people protesting something I don’t agree with. Go ahead and protest for a few hours.

People will be inconvenienced, and that is how you know your protest raised awareness.

The convoy protesters, though, did it for over three weeks, from January 29 to February 21, though most of them were gone by February 1. They occupied a big swath of downtown Ottawa, intimidating people who lived there. They demanded that the Prime Minister come and talk to them. (Like all the other times in history when a leader has gone for a chat with people calling for his or her overthrow. Can’t think of any? Me neither.)

Was the Prime Minister heavy-handed in quashing the protesters? Maybe. Were the protesters total pains in the butts to people of Ottawa? For sure. But the fact that these protesters were so obnoxious and managed to continue to be obnoxious for three full weeks says something about our freedom in this country: we will bend over backward to allow a protest. In other words, to protect freedom.

That’s Canada, the true north strong and free (but only for up to three weeks if you’re a real jerk about it).

Podcasts are taking over Lifestyles 55 Digital Radio!

Tune into whatsupwinnipeg.ca and enjoy the ever expanding library of episodes today!

Check out the Lifestyles 55 Digital Radio group on Facebook!

4

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

January 2024

More about slavery

E

very person on earth is descended number of sexual assaults on Dalit (lowfrom slaves. Forever, tribes have est caste) women. Landlords, upper-caste been conquering other tribes, of- villagers, and police officers often participate in these attacks which ten killing all the men, and are, due to fears of retaliaenslaving the women and tion, seldom registered. children. Territorial borMahatma Gandhi ders have been constantly preached, Nature decrees shifting as tribes conquered we are all equal, ALLand colonialised foreign ONE. Evolutionists, hislands. People have accepttorians, and scientific ed, the strong will be masscholars agree with Ganters and the weak will be dhi, there is no legitimate slaves. This Master/Slave reason for one group to mentality is so imbedded feel superior or inferior to on our brains, we accept any other group. Gandhi, it as natural, normal, and for his beliefs, was assassiunchangeable. The majorWayne Weedon nated, by a Brahmin (highity, believing they have no Food for est caste). Unfortunately, power, grovel in the hope Thought Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s they will not receive punfirst prime minister, was ishment from their “Masters” who are fully aware, through fear, also a Brahmin who deliberately kept they can control the brainwashed and the idea of caste alive. Today, 40 million Dalits in India suffer as bonded workers. subservient flocks.

Siddhartha Gautama, known as The These people, 15 million of whom are Buddha, advised that peace and content- children, work under slave-like condiment is not found externally, these can tions in fields and factories.

This Master/Slave mentality is embedonly be found internally. Despite insisting he was a mortal human just like his ded in Canadian culture. Last month, sex followers, many Buddhists today wor- assault charges against a Manitoba man ship The Buddha as a god. They have and woman were tossed out of court not accepted The Buddha’s condemna- after a ten-year-old rape victim did not tion of the Master/Slave mentality and appear in court to identify her two persehis belief that the idea of a caste society cutors. Imagine, when facing her rapist, how traumatised this child would have is nonsense.

Most people refuse to give up the be- been. What if this ten-year girl had been lief that they are part of a lower caste killed, would the courts demand she be who must kowtow to the anointed ones. resurrected and brought to court so she In India, a report released by Amnesty could point out her killers?

In Canada, thousands get a free univerInternational found an extremely high

sity education after committing a serious crime. Canada declares education will rehabilitate these criminals, despite evidence to the contrary. Besides a university degree, convicts are rewarded with free prepared meals, shower facilities, television, computers, gyms with exercise equipment, free medical, including free medicines, free dental work, and free eyeglasses. All this while rape victims, even children, must re-live the horror that was inflicted upon them by pointing out their rapist in a court room.

Elias Whitehead, a 37-year-old Indigenous man died after being arrested by Winnipeg police who reported, Whitehead, when taken into custody, went into medical distress, was transported to hospital in critical condition and was later pronounced deceased. Two eyewitnesses took videos which showed officers repeatedly kneeing and punching this

man as he lay defenceless on the ground.

This incident is much like the well documented case of George Floyd who was murdered by police in Minneapolis.

Such examples of police getting away with brutality and murder are ubiquitous across Canada. In Burnaby, British Columbia, Myles Gray died after being beaten by a gang, comprised of a dozen police officers. Gray’s injuries included ruptured testicles, a broken voice box, a fractured eye socket and widespread bruising. Despite a coroner’s inquest stating this was a homicide, all the police officers involved in Gray’s death remain as members of the force and none will be facing criminal charges, nor any disciplinary penalties. Children, some less than a year old, have died in police custody with no investigations ever being made.

We worship rich people who have made their money through ruthless and often illegal business practices, and then we praise them again for being philanthropic with their ill-gotten gains. Most people do not understand, people demonstrate their superiority by swindling the uneducated and then they accentuate their superiority by giving money to people who do not know how to help themselves. These philanthropists are being praised for giving a man a fish while brainwashing these people into believing they cannot fish for themselves. Why do we not teach these “low life” that they do not need charity?

Next month: Slavery Continued Wayne Douglas Weedon is a Manitoba author who writes a combination of fictional and factual stories, essays, and novels.

Silent attacker

It can happen here. It did happen here Reg Sherren

T

he last one was found less than ten years ago deep in the British Columbia bush, barely 500 kilometers from the Sunshine Coast. Partially buried in the earth after floating in from another continent over 70 years ago, it was still considered so deadly that demolition crews blew it up rather than try to move it.

It was 1943, and they were bombs delivered by balloons, not from China, but from Japan.

In the last year, news reports of mystery balloons, reportedly from China, invading North American air space attracted worldwide attention. But back in 1944 thousands of them were released by the Japanese military, sent with deadly intentions all along the Pacific coast. And the fact that the news media maintained a complete information blackout about their presence, probably saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives.

About 800 kilometers south of Sechelt, near Eugene, Oregon, you’ll find the Mitchell monument. There, in a quiet forest meadow, a solitary tree – a ponderosa pine – still shows the scorched markings of the balloon bomb attack that took place on that spot. It was the first ever successful inter-continental bombing in the world’s history, and it killed the only civilians to die from an attack on the North American mainland during World War II. The plan started developing back in 1942. After the American Air Force initiated bombing raids across the Japanese mainland, Imperial military leaders started planning retaliatory attacks of their own.

Resources were limited but they decided to re-activate experiments started some years before, using giant balloons to deliver bombs.

Code named Operation Fu-Go it took two years for Japanese scientists to develop massive balloons, over 10 meters in diameter, filled with hydrogen, and capable of crossing the Pacific Ocean. High up in the January 2024

jet stream, powerful winter trade winds, what is now known as the jet stream, could push them at speeds approaching 300 kilometers an hour. At those speeds, floating close to 10 thousand meters above the water, a balloon could reach the North American Pacific coast in as little as three or four days. A sophisticated mechanical ballast system kept them afloat long enough to cross but eventually, as the hydrogen leaked out, they would drop from the sky.

Attached to these potentially lethal spheres were four incendiary or firebombs as well as a high explosive anti-personnel mine surrounded by shrapnel rings. Beyond its deadly capabilities, what Japanese military authorities really hoped for was to start huge forest fires all along the Pacific coast, creating havoc, interrupting supply chains, and chewing up valuable resources.

Thousands of Japanese high school girls were conscripted to assemble the balloons.

Constructed from layers of glued paper, the thinking was that the balloons themselves, upon impact and explosion, would help incinerate the forest or wherever they landed. In all, over 9,000 of these unique bomb delivery systems were built, and at five in the morning on November 3, 1944, the first were launched from the Japanese island of Honshu.

It didn’t take long for the balloons to start showing up, first off the coast of Hawaii, then down the pacific coast, from Alaska, all along British Columbia, and as far south as California. Homeland forces, police and forest rangers in Canada were all put on high alert. At the same time media outlets were censored, ordered not to report any incidents where balloons had exploded or been recovered. The concern was the attention would also ignite widespread panic among the civilian population.

The Japanese, however, had made one critical miscalculation. While deploying the balloons in winter did guarantee stronger trade winds, it also brought the rainy season to the Pacific coast, and the winter of 1944-45 was one of the rainiest on record. Some areas received anywhere from

Japanese fire balloon. Image courtesy of the US Army. four to six inches more rain than normal.

And while over nine thousand balloons were launched, fewer than a thousand made to the North American coast. They did ignite some small fires but there was little damage.

There were, however, two exceptions.

One of them proved deadly.

On May 5, 1945, it was a beautiful spring morning and Reverend Archie Mitchell and his young wife from Bly, Oregon decided to head to Fremont National Forest for a picnic. With them were five young people from their Sunday school. 26-yearold Elsye Mitchell would soon have a little one of her own, as she was pregnant with the couple’s first child.

Rev. Mitchell dropped his wife and the kids off near a picnic area and went looking for a place to park. As he was returning he heard one of them shout that they had discovered an unusual object. As he told the local newspaper back then, “I hurriedly called out a warning to them, but it was too late. Just then there was a big explosion. I ran up-and they were all lying there dead.” His wife Elsie and their unborn child, the five teenagers, all gone in an instant.

There was one other major incident, this one a tactical success, near Toppenish, Washington. In March 1945, a balloon landed and exploded, knocking out power lines that provided electricity to a top secret nuclear program. Ironically it took out the power lines to the Manhattan Project’s

Production facility. It took three days to get the facility’s nuclear reactors back to full capacity. The plutonium produced by those reactors was eventually used in Fat Man, the atomic bomb dropped later that year over Nagasaki, Japan.

It turns out the censorship of the news media had an effect more profound than any authority could have imagined. The Japanese had been monitoring Canadian and American radio news broadcasts. With no media reports of damage from Japanese balloon bombs, and running short of supplies like paper and hydrogen, in April 1945 the Japanese military decided to abandon the balloon program, concluding it was too ineffective to continue. Had they continued into the drier summer months, they may have had much deadlier success.

Those Japanese balloon bombs drifted as far east as Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and just nine years ago, in 2014, another was discovered by forest workers near Lumby British Columbia. It was half buried in the forest floor, but the people who found it knew enough to leave it alone and contact the RCMP. A military bomb disposal unit was called in, and rather than take any chances, they decided to blow it up. Parts of another were recovered on Denman Island, and the Comox Air Force Museum on Vancouver Island now has a restored balloon bomb on display, a permanent loan from the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. Authorities warn they can only assume there could be more out there in the British Columbia wilderness.

There were never any reports of Canadians being killed or injured by these ingenious devices. As for the Americans, the widowed Reverend Archie Mitchell remarried after his wife was killed and was later kidnapped while working as a missionary in Vietnam. His fate remains unknown.

In the 1980s some of the former Japanese school girls who helped construct the balloons came to the forest in Oregon and folded 1,000 paper cranes…their offering of regret for the loss of the six American civilians, killed by a war balloon that drifted in from far away. whatsupwinnipeg.ca

5

Let’s keep Winnipeg a green city – help save Lemay Forest Cat Gauthier

T

he 22-acre Lemay Forest and greenfield located in the historic neighborhood of St. Norbert, is one of the last few remaining intact river bottom forests in Winnipeg. It is an extraordinarily biodiverse urban refuge.

The Coalition to Save Lemay Forest was founded in 2020 by a handful of St. Norbert residents who met on a neighbor’s lawn to come up with a plan to raise awareness to protect the 22-acre Lemay Forest and greenfield from a proposed high density mixed-use residential development. These neighbors engaged in a door-to-door awareness campaign to garner support to oppose the development and preserve the Lemay Forest. A Facebook group was created and since 2020, the Coalition has grown to hundreds of members including local and national advocacy groups.

In October 2023, Mr. Wintrup, a planner who works for Tochal Development Group (the landowner), sent aggressive letters to the residents of Lemay Avenue that public access to the Lemay Forest private land will end at the end of November. A Winnipeg advocacy group shared one of their letters from the Mr. Wintrup indicating that the landowner will continue with a development plan in 2024 unless there is an expressed interest in acquiring the Lemay Forest land by end of December 2023. We have never met or seen the landowner as he has not attended any of the community engagement meetings, or civic community committee meetings.

The wheels were set in motion and a core group of residents and local advocacy groups met virtually to brainstorm and concluded that the only solution to preserving the Lemay Forest and greenfield was to acquire the land in partnership with government and the community at large. A draft strategy to acquire the Lemay Forest and greenfield was created with help from a local advocacy group and it is the foundation for executing next steps.

An online petition was launched and over 2,000 signatures were collected in a matter of weeks.

A website and Instagram account went live shortly

Cat Gauthier in Lemay Forest. after. A crowd funding campaign is launching shortly to indicate to government officials that we are committed to contributing to the work ahead to Save Lemay Forest.

Why the Lemay Forest and greenfield should be saved The Coalition members and the community at large are passionate about preserving the Lemay Forest and greenfield because it is where we seek refuge to breathe deeply, get excited and pull out our phones to photograph deer, coyote, fox, beavers, eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, pileated woodpeckers, migratory and resident birds and of course the monarch butterflies to share in our Facebook group. Over the last 16 years that I have been walking in and around the Lemay Forest trails, I have discovered patches of wild asparagus, fiddleheads and edible mushrooms!

The Lemay Forest is a wildlife corridor providing habitat and safe access for many wildlife species and contiguous with the city-owned Red River riparian forest. We recognize that we are interconnected with nature and live by the truth, “take care of the land and

the land takes care of us”. We all need time spent in nature for our physical and mental health (Physicians for the Environment).

For too long, the City of Winnipeg has not prioritized urban canopy and greenspace; Winnipeg is below average for urban greenspace compared to other major cities in Canada, which is appalling. The Coalition to Save Lemay Forest refuses to let one more mature biodiverse forest be wiped out by high density development. The lack of confidence in government to protect natural spaces is a big contributor to climate anxiety felt by the majority of young Canadians and we have a responsibility to not burden the next generation with the task of playing catch up for the decades of neglect toward urban canopy and greenspace.

We need urban canopy to mitigate the effects of climate change as more and more severe weather events occur, and to alleviate the urban heat island effect, especially in high density areas, mature forests reduce and absorb spring runoff, thereby helping to prevent basement flooding. St. Norbert is the lowest area in Winnipeg, basement flooding is already common for homeowners. Loss of mature trees and impermeable surfaces are causing sewer capacity constraints, most especially in St. Norbert as no building permits are being issued.

I belong to a group of active “retired” ladies who walk/hike every week, we try to find new trails within city limits, preferably forested trails which are so much more pleasant to be sheltered by the trees from the winter wind and shaded from the hot summer sun. We have met other likeminded groups of active women who walk or hike together, there is always so much laughter and camaraderie. Oftentimes, women walking alone approach us and we invite them to join. Most groups have names, ours is Trail Chicks, we did meet one group called The Hens. Who doesn’t feel better after spending time in Nature??

Editor’s note: Pegasus Publications Inc. and Lifestyles 55 are very supportive of the efforts to save Lemay Forest.

The city is growing rapidly. We need to preserve these islands of nature to keep Winnipeg livable. The city and the province must step up to the plate to protect what is an irreplaceable treasure in south St. Norbert. Please let your local representatives know how important this is.– Dorothy

The street that runs off of Portage Ave & Mount Royal

O

ne of the first residents of Traill life jackets outdoor boots and tents are Avenue listed in the 1955 Hen- some of the items that they sell at their derson Directory was Harold stores and online.

Mary Ewasko was a teacher for Wilding, a CN accountant. Harold 35 years. Mary’s last worked for 50 years at school was Kirkfield Park CN. After his retirement, School. Norval Brown CN gave Harold the pen was the vice principal of that he used to sign about Acadia Junior High and 11 million pay cheques.

Chancellor School. NorBelieve it or not the direct val headed the science deposit system for paydepartment at Fort Riching employees is relatively mond Collegiate. During new. his career in education, Another original resiRyan Miller has served dent, Mary Dayment, as a teacher and guidance lived to be 98 years old. counsellor at Brooklands Anthony and Anne School, the vice principal Siwicki lived on Traill.

Fred Morris of Stevenson Britannia, Anthony was one of the From the desk the principal of Jamesfounders of the Silver of a gadfly wood Alternative School Heights Restaurant. By and the principal of Lin1964, the Silver Heights Restaurant was completely owned by wood School. Ryan is currently the the Siwicki family. Silver Heights is principal of Athlone School.

Mildred Maybee, a nurse, was the known for its ribs.

Between the mid 1950s and the mid president of the Greater Winnipeg 1970s, Albert Zoratti and his brother Woman's Auxiliary of the CNIB. In Gus owned a downtown restaurant 1975, Robert Docking was awarded a called Zorattis. The restaurant fea- U of W Gold Medal for English. Jean tured spaghetti, meatballs, and other Brown has served for decades on the Italian food favourites. Albert's wife Altar Guild of the church of St. SteFlorence took an active part in the res- phen and St. Bede.

In the 1963 Henderson Directory, taurant.

Walter Oakes worked for 50 years St. James Place at 2345 Portage right at Willson Stationery. Walter Ross at the corner of Traill and Portage is worked for 40 years at Burns Foods. listed for the first time.

A block of Grey Cup ChampiRick Shone has owned Wilderness Supply for 22 years. Wilderness Sup- ons: Norm and Clare Rauhaus were ply, with locations in Central Winni- a couple of the original residents. peg and Thunder Bay, sells and rents Norm had already won four Grey Cup supplies for our wilderness adven- Championships with the Winnipeg tures. Canoes kayaks, hiking supplies, Blue Bombers when they won Grey 6

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

Cups in 1958, 1959, 1961, and 1962.

In the 1990s Father Wilfred Daniels, a Roman Catholic priest, lived in the same block. Wilfred played on the 1941 Winnipeg Blue Bombers Grey Cup Championship team.

I do not usually go back to the 1800s because it is difficult to figure out the location of certain homes.

However, there is one family who cannot be left out. In May 1880, the family of John and Letita Mooney moved from Chatsworth, Ont. to Manitoba's Souris River Valley. John, and his two oldest sons went to Western Manitoba to build the new family home. Letita and the other four children, Jack, Elizabeth, Hannah, and Nellie (the youngest at the age of 6) lived in Silver Heights for about three months.

The Mooneys lived in a haunted(?) house next door to Donald Smith's Silver Heights Mansion. The house may have been where Traill Avenue is now located. During the summer, the Mooneys attended St. James Anglican Church. Reverend Cyprian Pinkham and his wife Jean Ann Pinkham provided various family programs as part of their ministry. Robert and Jane Tait lived at Portage and Belvidere. The Mooney children became friends with Herbie, Ellen and Addie Tait, three of the Tait Children. Nellie Letitia Mooney McClung became an author, teacher, and political activist. Nellie became a leader in the suffragette movement. On January 28, 1914, at the Walker Theatre, Nellie a member of Political Equality League, played Premier Rod Roblin in satire featuring a women's Parliament denying men

the right to vote. In 1916, Manitoba became the first province to give most women the right to vote. Nellie is remembered by the Famous 5 monument on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislature, and Nellie McClung Park on Wolseley Avenue.

Update on my Arlington Street Bridge Stories On June 20, 2019, an administrative report adopted by Winnipeg City Council predicted the permanent closure of the Arlington Bridge.

At 2 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2023, this permanent closure of the Arlington Street Bridge occurred.

The bridge can no longer be repaired. No more costly studies pretending that it can. City Council must now decide whether to build a completely new bridge at the same site (my preference), relocate the rail yards, or tell the North End that they are out of luck.

Relocation of the yards is interesting, but I am convinced that it would take at least a decade. After decades of debate, it is decision time. The City Council decision must be fast tracked, As I examine the City Web Site, I find no evidence of any movement in this direction. At the end of future columns, I will point out the number of days of no vision and no decision.

Days of no decision and no vision As of January 3rd, 2024.

The Days of Indecision about the Arlington Street Bridge Issue 42 Days and counting.

••• Fred Morris is a Grandfather, Sports Fan and Political Activist.

January 2024

Grateful for a year of meaningful, impactful support The Children’s Hospital is better because of you

D

perstar, Mark Stone, brought the Stanley ear supporters, As we reflect on many beautiful Cup, Blue Bombers and Jets players made moments that defined our jour- special visits, and local celebs read on ney in 2023, Children’s Hospital Founda- CHTV during “I Love to Read” month!

In October, kids looked out tion of Manitoba is thrilled the windows to wave at suto share a few heartwarmperheroes and cartoon charing highlights of dedication acters as they repelled down and generosity. the walls of Children’s HosWe started the year with pital. Suspended Superhesignificant inspiration from roes was made possible by our past Children’s Miracle volunteers, and special suNetwork (CMN) Champerheroes-in-training who pion, Keira, who raised also raised over $30,000. over $17,000 for sick and Watch the video at goodinjured kids! Then, we welbear.ca/Superheroes. comed 2023 Champion We had so many volunChild, Pacey, to bravely repStefano Grande teers doing amazing work resent the 140,000 children Healthy this year, including the who need care each year at Living Children’s Hospital Guild HSC Children’s Hospital. coordinating fun events and Pacey spoke at events and ran his own fundraising initiatives with running the Nearly New shop, and the Victory Lanes Speedway and the Winkler Book Market (supported by over 400 volFlyers. His passion for helping other kids unteers!) ran three sales, which together is incredible and we thank him for con- raised over $508,000!

Staff and volunteers also helped with a tinuing to be a Champion amid his ongorecord-breaking year for the Foundation’s ing health needs.

The Foundation, with support from signature events. Dr. Goodbear golfers our Indigenous Advisory Circle, fur- raised more than $270,000 in the spring, thered our commitment to action toward and families, volunteers, donors, and suptruth and reconciliation. Team members porters got groovy at the Ice Crystal Gala made a meaningful visit to Turtle Lodge in November, raising $830,000! There where Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and was incredible online generosity during community members shared stories and Giving Tuesday, with Qualico and anonyreminders to act with love, respect, and mous donors who tripled the impact of understanding in all that we do, and to all donations that day, bringing in over best support the children and families at $289,000! In December – thanks to Outthe hospital. Learn more at goodbear.ca/ let Collection Mall for hosting, Johnston Group as presenting sponsor and the Reconciliaction.

It was a fun year for visits to the kids many sponsors involved – we reintroin hospital… Winnipeg-born, NHL su- duced our live on location Dr. Goodbear’s

Hope for the Holidays Give-a-thon with KiSS 102.3 and 92.1 CITI - a wonderful day of sharing family stories.

There have been so many great supporters this year such as Kali Dyck Foundation, Sikh Society, iA Financial, Emergent BioSolutions, Manitoba Credit Unions, BMO, TD, the Talbot Family foundations, our many media partners, and so many more (we can’t fit them all in one letter!). Several retail partners also helped again this year, including Walmart stores in Manitoba that celebrated a $5 million fundraising milestone! We appreciate all our CMN and Canada’s Children’s Hospital Foundations (CCHF) partners. Immense gratitude goes out to all supporters for the contributions and dedication that is shaping a brighter tomorrow for the children who need Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM). Please be sure to check our Annual Reports in a few months to learn more about the many more amazing supporters who help.

And of course – thank you to the en-

tire health care team of doctors, nurses, specialists, and other team members who are dedicated day in and out to caring for kids.

All this wonderful support is helping #GiveBetterFutures to kids who need Manitoba’s Children’s Hospital. In fact – a huge milestone, thanks to generous community members like you – is that we’re now only 10% away from the Better Future’s campaign goal of $75 million.

We are witnessing the impact of your generosity, every day, with the smiles of the children now being served by the new heart centre, catheterization lab, mental health play space, child life programs, pediatric research and more. Thank YOU! The Foundation team is truly appreciative of these important moments and incredible people who continue to support of kids in our community. For 2024, let's continue nurturing care and hope for our children.

Your present is changing their future.

Stefano Grande is the president and CEO of Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba.

Seniors first to receive dental care in new plan

T

o implement Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP)program, the federal government has committed $13 billion over five years, starting this year, and is budgeting $4.4 billion annually from there. But there's lots of nuance to this big announcement, including how and when Canadians can access this support.

Starting in December 2023, applications to enter the program will open for seniors aged 87 and older. Those aged 77 to 86 will have their turn to apply in January 2024. In February, seniors aged 72 to 76 will have access, followed by those aged 70 to 71 in March. Seniors aged 65 to 69 can apply for the program in May. Then, Canadians with a valid Disability Tax Credit certificate, as well as children under the age of 18, can start applying as of June 2024.

To qualify for the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP), you must: • Be a Canadian resident with no access to dental insurance; • Have an adjusted family net income of less than $90,000; and • Filed your tax return for the previous year.

According to the government, Canadian residents with access to a provincial dental benefit program are still eligible but coverage will be coordinated to ensure there is no duplication.

You are not able to access the federal plan if: • You are covered through your employer or a family member's employer; • If you are covered through your pension or a family member's pension benefits.

For all, eligibility will be reassessed annually.

How will applications work?

Canadians don't need to do anything yet January 2024

other than make sure they have filed their taxes.

Seniors who will be 70 years old as of March 31, 2024, who met the income threshold based on their 2022 tax filing, and who were a Canadian resident for tax purposes that year will receive letters in the mail inviting them to apply through Service Canada. The letter will include a personalized application code and instructions, with information about how to verify their eligibility and apply by telephone via an automated Interactive Voice Response system.

What will be covered?

Preventative dental procedures such as cleanings, polishing and fluoride treatments, diagnostic services such as exams and X-rays, and more involved procedures such as cavity fillings, dentures, and root canals are also expected to be covered.

Dental health providers will directly bill the federal plan being operated by Sun Life, rather than make patients first pay out-of-pocket and seek a refund after the fact.

Not all applicants will be eligible for 100 per cent coverage, depending on applicants' income level: • Canadians with an adjusted annual family net income of less than $70,000 will have no copayment (percentage fees that is not covered by the CDCP).

• Canadians with an adjusted annual family net income between $70,000 and $79,999 will have a 40 per cent copayment; and • Canadians with an adjusted annual family net income between $80,000 and $89,999 will have a 60 per cent copayment.

Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

BOOK YOUR APPOINTMENT TODAY

1-844-626-8222 Updated vaccines for COVID-19 and seasonal flu are still available at many locations throughout Manitoba.

It’s convenient, safe and effective to get more than one vaccine at the same time.

If you’re 65+, a high-dose flu vaccine and a COVID-19 vaccine are recommended. You may also be eligible for a dose of pneumococcal vaccine.

Get more information, including where to book, at:

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

7

Manitoba Association of Senior Communities Creative Retirement Manitoba Inc. 204-481-5030, hello@crcentre.ca www.crcentre.ca

WINNIPEG

20 Fort Street Seniors Club 2200-20 Fort Street / FortStSeniors@Shaw.ca A&O Support Services for Older Adults Inc. 200 -207 Donald Street 204-956-6440 / Toll Free: 1-888-333-3121 info@aosupportservices.ca www.aosupportservices.ca Archwood 55 Plus 565 Guilbault Avenue / 204-416-1067 archwood55@shaw.ca archwood55plus.wildapricot.org/ Bleak House Centre 1637 Main Street / 204-338-4723 bleakhousecentre@gmail.com www.bleakhousecentre.com Broadway Seniors Resource Council 204-772-3533 broadwayseniors@gmail.com / www.bsrc.ca

North Point Douglas Senior Centre 244 Jarvis Avenue Pembina Active Living (55+) 170 Fleetwood Rd. / 204-946-0839 office@pal55plus.ca / www.pal55plus.ca Rady Jewish Community Centre 123 Doncaster Street / 204-477-7539 lmarjovsky@radyjcc.com / www.radyjcc.com Rainbow Resource Centre 170 Scott Street / 204-474-0212 ext 255 OTR@rainbowresourcecentre.org www.rainbowresourcecentre.org The Salvation Army Barbara Mitchell Family Resource Centre 51 Morrow Avenue 204-946-9153 sheila.keys@salvationarmy.ca South Winnipeg Seniors Resource Council 117-1 Morley Ave / 204-478-6169 resources@swsrc.ca / www.swsrc.ca Southdale Seniors 254 Lakewood Boulevard / 204-257-6171 gm@southdale.ca / www.southdale.ca

Brooklands Active Living Centre 1960 William Avenue W 204-632-8367 / bpscc@mymts.net

Sri Lankan Seniors Manitoba 113 Stan Bailie Drive 2 04-261-9647 / www.srilankanseniorsmb.ca

Centro Caboto Centre 1055 Wilkes Avenue / 204-487-4597 ext. 1 executivedirector@cabotocentre.com www.cabotocentre.com

St. James-Assiniboia 55+ Centre 3-203 Duffield Street 204-987-8850 / info@stjamescentre.com www.stjamescentre.com

Charleswood Active Living Centre 5006 Roblin Blvd / 204-897-5263 info@charleswoodseniorcentre.org www.charleswoodseniorcentre.org

St. Mary’s Rd. Seniors 613 St. Mary’s Rd., Winnipeg 204-257-0678 / www.stmarysroad.ca

Crescent Fort Rouge 55 Plus 525 Wardlaw Ave. / 204-299-9919 cfruc55Plus@gmail.com www.crescentfortrouge.ca Dakota Community Centre 1188 Dakota Street / 204-254-1010 ext. 217 melissal@dakotacc.com www.dakotacc.com Dufferin Senior Citizens Inc. 377 Dufferin Avenue / 204-986-2608 Elmwood East Kildonan Active Living Centre 180 Poplar Avenue / 204-669-0750 healthrelations@chalmersrenewal.org chalmersrenewal.org Fort Garry Seniors Resource Council 200 - 270 Donald Street / 204-792-1913 fortgarry@aosupportservices.ca www.aosupportservices.ca/resources/seniorsresource-finders Golden Rule Seniors Club 625 Osborne Street / 431-866-6776 goldenrule@swsrc.ca Good Neighbours Active Living Centre 720 Henderson Hwy / 204-669-1710 admin@gnalc.ca / www.gnalc.ca Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre 1588 Main Street / 204-339-1701 becky@gwensecter.com www.gwensecter.com Headingley Seniors’ Services 5353 Portage Avenue / 204-889-3132 ext. 3 seniors@rmofheadingley.ca www.headingleyseniorsservices.ca Indigenous Senior Resource Centre Inc. A1- 100 Robinson Avenue / 204-586-4595 executivedirector@isrcwpg.ca www.asrcwpg.ca Manitoba Korean 55+ Centre 900-150 River Avenue 204-996-7003 / www.ksam.ca North Centennial Seniors Association of Winnipeg Inc. 86 Sinclair Street / 204-582-0066 ncsc@shaw.ca / www.ncseniors.ca

8

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

Transcona Council for Seniors 845 Regent Ave / 204- 222-9879 tcs@mymts.net / www.transconaseniors.ca Transcona Retired Citizens Org. 328 Whittier Ave. West 204-222-8473 / trco328@shaw.ca Vital Seniors - 3 St Vital Road 204-253-0555 / stmary@mymts.net www.stmarymagdelenewpg.org Winnipeg Chinese Senior Association 204-291-7798 / wcsa.wpg@hotmail.com www.winnipegchineseseniors.ca Winnipeg Condominium Corp #238 3281 Pembina Hwy / 204-269-6363

BEYOND WINNIPEG BEAUSEJOUR Beau-Head Senior Centre 645 Park Avenue 204-268-2444 / beauhead@mymts.net BRANDON Brandon Seniors for Seniors Co-op Inc. 311 Park Avenue E / 204-571-2050 reception@brandons4s.ca www.brandons4s.ca Health Checks - 204-728-1842 brandonmbhealthchecks.ca healthchecksbrandon@gmail.com CARMAN Carman Active Living Centre 47 Ed Belfour Drive / 204-745-2356 www.activelivingcentrecarman.ca CRANBERRY PORTAGE Jubilee Recreation of Cranberry Portage Legion Hall 217 2nd Ave. SE / 204-271-3081 CRYSTAL CITY Crystal City & District Friendship Club Inc. 117 Broadway St. / 431-867-0122 crystalcityfriendship@gmail.com DAUPHIN Dauphin Active Living Centre Inc. 55 1st Avenue SE 204-638-6485 www.dauphinseniors.com

GET CONNECTED - JOIN A CENTRE! Stay Active - Stay Connected www.manitobaseniorcommunities.ca

DELORAINE Deloraine Community Club Inc. 111 South Railway Ave E 204-747-2846 Seniors’ Outreach Services of BrenWin Inc. 204-747-3283 sosbrenwin@gmail.com sosbrenwin.com ERICKSON Comfort Drop In Centre 31 Main Street 204-636-2047 / areas@mymts.net FLIN FLON Flin Flon Seniors 2 North Avenue / 204-687-7308 GILBERT PLAINS Gilbert Plains and District Community Resource Council Inc. 204-548 4131 gpdcrc@mymts.net www.gpdcrc-newhorizons.wix.com/gpdcrc Gilbert Plains Drop In Centre 22 Main Street North / 204-548-2210 GIMLI Gimli New Horizons 55+ Centre 17 North Colonization Road 204-642-7909 / gimli55@mts.net www.gimlinewhorizons.com GLADSTONE Gladstone Seniors Inc. 32 Morris Ave. North / 204-385-2205 GRAND MARAIS Grand Marais & District Seniors 36058 PTH 12 / gmdseniors@gmail.com www.gmdseniors.ca GRANDVIEW Grandview Seniors Drop In 432 Main Street / 204-546-2272 HAMIOTA Hamiota 55+ Centre & Restore Community Co-op Inc. 44 Maple Avenue / 204-764-2658 KILLARNEY Killarney New Horizons Centre 520 Mountain Avenue www.killarneymbseniors.ca Killarney Service for Seniors 203 South Railway / 204-523-7115 seniorservice@killarney.ca LA BROQUERIE and STE. ANNE Seine River Services for Seniors Inc./ Services Rivière Seine pour aînés Inc. 93 Principale Street 204-424-5285 / labseinerss@gmail.com seineriverservicesforseniors.ca LUNDAR Lundar Community Resources 35 Main Street / 204-762-5378 lcrc@mymts.net MANITOU Pembina Community Resource Council 315 Main Street 204-242-2241 / pembinacrc@gmail.com MINNEDOSA Minnedosa Senior Citizens Assoc.

31 Main Street S 204-867-1956 / mdsasca@gmail.com MORDEN Morden Activity Centre 306 N Railway Street 204-822-3555 mordenactivitycentre@gmail.com www.mordenseniors.ca NEEPAWA Neepawa Drop In Centre 310 Davidson Street / 204-476-5103 Neepawa-dropin@outlook.com www.neepawa.ca/district-drop-in-center

PILOT MOUND Pilot Mound Fellowship Centre 203 Broadway Avenue / 204-825-2873 PLUMAS Plumas Seniors Citizens Club Inc. 102 White Street / 204-386-2029 PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE Herman Prior Senior Services Centre 40 Royal Road N / 204-857-6951 hermanpriorcentre@gmail.com www.hermanprior.com Portage Service for Seniors 40A Royal Road N. / 204-239-6312 portageservicefors.wixsite.com/psfs RIVERTON Riverton Seniors Activity Centre 12 Main Street / 204-378-5155 rdfc@mymts.net / www.rivertonfc.com SANDY LAKE Sandy Lake Drop In Centre 100 Main St. / 204-585-2411 Municipality of Harrison Park - Age Friendly Initiative Committee 204-585-5310 SELKIRK Gordon Howard Centre 384 Eveline Street / 204-785-2092 executivedirector@gordonhoward.ca www.gordonhoward.ca SNOW LAKE Snow Lake Senior Centre 71 Balsam Street 204-358-2151 / snowsrs@mymts.net STEINBACH Pat Porter Active Living Centre 10 Chrysler Gate 204-320-4600 / ed@patporteralc.com www.patporteralc.com STONEWALL South Interlake 55 Plus 374 1st Street West - Oddfellows Hall 204-467-2582 / si55plus@mymts.net www.si55plus.org SWAN RIVER Swan River & District Community Resource Council 126 6th Ave N / 204-734-5707 resourcecouncil@srseniorservices.com Swan River Senior Citizens Centre 702 1st Street North / 204-734-2212 THE PAS The Pas Golden Agers 324 Ross Avenue / 204-623-3663 seniorsthepas@gmail.com THOMPSON Thompson Seniors Community Resource Council Inc. 4 Nelson Rd. / 204-677-0987 thompsonseniors55@gmail.com thompsonseniors.ca TREHERNE Treherne Friendship Centre 190 Broadway Street 204-723-2559 / jstate1066@gmail.com VICTORIA BEACH East Beaches Social Scene 3 Ateah Road / 204-756-6468 ebssinc1@gmail.com www.ebseniorscene.ca East Beaches Resource Centre 3 Ateah Road / 204-756-6471 ebresourcec@gmail.com ebresourcec.weebly.com WINKLER Winkler & District MP Senior Centre 102-650 South Railway Avenue 204-325-8964 director@winklerseniorcentre.com www.winklerseniorcentre.com

January 2024

Exercise for life and learning

“Exercise before starting a new task helps to focus attention and makes leaning more likely”

I

am paraphrasing, but guess who said of "sedentarism," or sitting down too “In order to succeed in life, a person much, which he blames for obesity, lack has two means: education and physi- of motivation and growing levels of decal activity. Not separately, one for the pression, anxiety and attention-deficit soul and the other for the disorder. body, but for the two toBecause aerobic exgether.” Of course, it was ercise has been shown Plato, his message perto increase several horhaps even more relevant mones essential to mental today, some two thousand health, like serotonin, it years later. The question helps students deal with is, why haven't we got the the stress of learning and message yet? growing. Nonetheless, it The recent Winnipeg doesn't seem to matter Free Press editorial decryhow much information ing the lack of sidewalks we get, how relevant or or paths so school chilsensible the advice, hudren can walk to school man beings are slow to Jerry Storie is a much-needed cry change their behavior. for some clear thinking The recent ParticipAction about the benefits of exReport Card on Physical ercise. School divisions have occasionally Activity for Children and Youth (2022) shown an interest in daily physical edu- is just the latest plea to get kids active. cation like getting kids to walk to school, The research underlying the report is but it has never sparked a real revolution. sound and unequivocal. Active kids have Physical activity – time at school or spare “better brain function” and are healthier. time at home – is seldom used as a time Here, in summary form, are the top ten for strenuous aerobic activity. Beginning things the research showed: in the late 70’s new research was just i. “Students who exercise before a test starting to confirm the short and long show stronger brain function than those term benefits of a good work-out, one who don’t exercise before a test.” that got the heart rate and breathing rate ii. “Children with poor aerobic fitness up substantially. appear to have more difficulty solving Physical activity helps kids concentrate problems and are more likely to make in class and it offered our growingly sed- mistakes when trying to sort out a chalentary young people an alternative to lenge.” screen time. Since that time, the benefits iii. “Sections of the brain dedicated to of energetic and consistent exercise have memory and learning (hippocampus and become crystal clear. Among its other basal ganglia) are larger in active children benefits, it has been found that aerobic in comparison to their less active peers.” exercise can help create new brain cells, iv. “Being physically active can boost something that, until recently, we have memory in children and youth, including been told couldn't happen. Exercise that children with brain-based disabilities.” gets your heart rate up and provides a v. “Active kids are better equipped to cardio work-out for twenty minutes is get creative. Even if they aren’t artistic, magic. creativity can manifest in think-on-yourIn his book Spark, John Ratey, a Har- feet scenarios such as strategizing for a vard neuroscientist, looks at how exer- game, leading a team project or solving a cise can enhance learning. In the early math problem.”

1990’s, the Naperville School District vi. “Kids who participate in physical in Naperville, Illinois, began an exercise activity have more focus and longer atprogram, starting in the fifth grade, that tention spans, compared to their less acallowed students to track their own fit- tive peers.” ness. In 1999, the District decided to vii. “Kids who are active experience a have all of its students participate in the rush of feel-good brain chemicals (serohighly regarded international Trends in tonin and dopamine).

International Mathematics and Science viii. “Children and youth who are fit Study to test its students against interna- benefit from this rush of chemicals and tional standards. Although schools in the experience fewer depression-related US have never fared well in international symptoms than those who are not fit.” testing programs, the Naperville District ix. “Evidence suggests that physical acgrade 8 students scored # 1 in the world tivity may help lower feelings of anxiety in science and # 6 in the world in Math, in children and youth.” an unheard-of accomplishment for an x. “Dance and team sports may be esAmerican public school. pecially effective in children and youth In Canada, Saskatoon's City Park Col- with brain-based disabilities” legiate was the first school to try to demIn terms of our children, more than onstrate the benefits of using exercise as a two decades of research on the imporspringboard to learning. The results, ac- tance of regular, strenuous exercise has cording to Grade 8 teacher Allison Cam- shown the benefits to mental and physieron, who initiated the programs, were cal health. And yet, we are not using that miraculous. Cameron had her students knowledge effectively to improve the spend twenty minutes on a treadmill physical and mental well-being of our getting their heart rates up while watch- kids. ing a documentary or reading. Then her It is time we found a way to successfulstudents did mental math while in the ly integrate physical activity into the daily weight room. Academically the program lives of students. Health Canada suggest was a remarkable success. But there were that 30% of young people between five other benefits. and 17 are overweight and the repercusCameron, like others who have tried sions may impact their mental health and to combine exercise with education, wellness as much as their physical health. found that other student behavior also It is time to take the challenge more seriimproved. Exercise before starting a new ously if we really want to help our kids task helps to focus attention and makes be their best. leaning more likely according to Dr. RatJerry Storie is a former teacher, school ey. The program, he maintains, offers a superintendent and associate professor and viable solution to the modern problem Dean of Education at Brandon University.

January 2024

Keep in touch with Lifestyles 55 online! whatsupwinnipeg.ca Facebook: @Lifestyles55

A Collection of Culinary Memories, a new cookbook from our resident foodie Ian Leatt featuring 196 pages of nostalgia-fueled recipes is coming soon!

Pre-order a tasty copy for yourself at a special reduced price of only

$25.00

for a limited time only!

Plus taxes and shipping.

Call us at 1-888-680-2008 to reserve your copy!

Sponsors: Veseys Seeds Ltd.

For every copy sold through Veseys, Pegasus and Veseys will donate one dollar to the Food Banks Canada organization.

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

9

Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Romeo & Juliet A timeless tale of love, loyalty and fate

W

e are pleased to bring the timeless tale of love, loyalty, and fate to the stage with choreographer Rudi van Dantzig’s exquisite timeless ballet, Romeo & Juliet. Recognized alongside Giselle, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty as one of the great classical ballets, Romeo & Juliet’s world-premiere was presented by the Kirov Ballet in 1938. Set to a powerful and profound score by Sergei Prokofiev, Rudi van Dantzig was among the first non-Russian creators to develop new choreography for the work. His version was first performed by the Dutch National Ballet in 1967 and later given its Canadian premiere by the RWB in 1981.

Fall in love all over again with Shakespeare’s timeless romantic tragedy that remains a masterclass in balletic storytelling. Star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet defy the odds – and their feuding families – in pursuit of their happy ending while navigating the politics and intrigue of Renaissance Italy. Their love becomes their undoing as fate conspires to keep them apart. From innocence to tragedy to redemption, these larger-than-life characters demand remarkable acting and dancing that make this production one of the RWB’s crowning achievements.

The splendour of sixteenth-century Verona unfolds in Toer van Schayk’s lush sets and costumes, complementing Rudi van Dantzig’s inventive choreography and sword fighting.

André Lewis, O.M., the RWB’s Artistic Director, believes firmly in the importance of the classics and this masterwork piece holds a special place in the history of the RWB. The late Rudi van Dantzig worked closely to

Elizabeth Lamont and Yue Shi in RWB’s Romeo & Juliet. Photo by David Cooper. pass the legacy of this work to Lewis, who has since become an in-demand stager for the production the world over.

Behind the Music If Sergei Prokofiev felt any deep chords of affinity when composing the music for the ballet, Romeo & Juliet, he kept it his secret. Working with theatre director and Shakespeare expert Serge Radlov, and playwright Adrian Pyotrovsky, Prokofiev was stymied briefly by the troublesome detail of the heroine dying at the end of the play. As he reasoned most famously, “living people can dance, the dying cannot.”

The solution, initially, was to revise Shakespeare’s story with a happy ending, in which Romeo hears the news of Juliet’s feigned suicide in time to stop himself

from prematurely shuffling off the mortal coil. Upon reconsideration, the tragic ending prevailed.

Like Tchaikovsky before him, Prokofiev defied the tradition that ‘ballet music’ be something handsome to hang in the background behind the real action. His music was integral to the action yet stout enough to stand on its own.

That said, the music for Romeo & Juliet astounds with its vivid yet calligraphic portraiture and keen invention. For example, the initial meditative quality to Romeo’s theme becomes passionate as the dreamy, romantic gives way to the blood-and-gristle lover. The purity of melody that introduces Juliet gradually assumes a hymnal sorrow as tragedy beckons. Portentous medieval horn figures accompany Juliet’s grim cousin, Tybalt, and the movements of the knights. For the balcony scene, Prokofiev summons a glorious swell of sound.

The frenzy of a market dance finds a dizzying clarinet line making its way over elbows-out waltzing brass.

“Prokofiev created musical images whose influence on the development of ballet art is inestimable.” The late choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky The RWB expresses its gratitude to Season Sponsor Former RWB Chair James Cohen and Linda McGarvaCohen; Live Music Benefactor – The Asper Foundation; Arts Partner – Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra; Student Performances Supporter – Richardson Foundation.

Romeo & Juliet takes centre stage from February 15-18, 2024 at the Centennial Concert Hall. It is also a great Valentine’s Day weekend gift idea. Get your preferred seats online now at rwb.org or call 204.956.2792 to buy tickets.

Chad Allan has left us

C

had Allan was the voice of Winnipeg music Romeo and Juliet”, Winnipeg’s Reflections quickly in the 1960s. Just hearing him singing the transformed into The Expressions and carried on.

In December 1964, having played a high school opening lines “When you move in right up dance earlier in the evening, Chad Alclose to me, that’s when I get the chills lan & The Expressions convened at all over me,” from the Guess Who’s CJAY’s TV’s Polo Park facility to re1965 hit single Shakin’ All Over incord their next single. Manager Bob stantly transports us back to commuBurns, best known as host of Teen nity club dances and high school sock Dance Party, arranged for the group to hops. “Shakin’ All Over” put Winniuse the large empty television studio peg on the international music map to record two songs, both cover songs. and turned Chad Allan into a bona With only one microphone suspended fide rock star right on our doorstep. from the ceiling, the group crowded That distinctive voice was silenced together to lay down the tracks. “Till on November 21, 2023. Chad Allan We Kissed”, a cover of a song by passed away peaceful at his home in American rhythm ‘n’ blues artist ArVancouver, British Columbia with his John Einarson thur Alexander, was designated as the wife Christine by his side. He was 80 Local Music A-side. The group then ran through years of age.

Spotlight the intended B-side, a song they had Born Allan Peter Stanley Kowbel in been playing in their live sets for a 1943, Allan was raised on Melbourne couple of year. Shakin’ All Over had Avenue in East Kildonan. His musical journey began on accordion where he soon proved been a UK hit in 1960 for Johnny Kidd & The Piproficient enough to teach accordion to younger rates but Chad and the band gave the song a raw, players. He would switch to guitar in the latter 1950s raucous, uptempo arrangement. Suffering a cold as after discovering rock ‘n’ roll, forming his first band well as the ravages of a full night’s singing, Chad’s with school mates at Miles MacDonell Collegiate voice had a gritty sound along with a slight nod to around 1958. Taking the name Allan’s Silvertones or an English accent.

When the tape was sent to Quality Records in ToAl & The Silvertones, Allan was the singer, frontman and lead guitarist. The band’s reputation gradually ronto, the label decided to use a ploy to get radio grew beyond East Kildonan attracting interest from station programmers to give the single a spin. In other players across the city. As band members began January 1965, the single was sent out to radio stadropping out, Allan was able to recruit some of the tions across the country with “Guess Who” as the best players in town including pianist Bob Ashley lone credit as the recording artist. The subterfuge and bass player Jim Kale from St. Vital, and West piqued the curiosity of programmers who gave the Kildonan’s Randy Bachman on lead guitar, relieving 45 a spin. But it was the B-side that grabbed their atChad of that role, and drummer Garry Peterson. By tention and by March, Shakin’ All Over was Top 5 or 1963, having changed their name to Chad Allan & better across Canada. Released in the US in June, the The Reflections, Allan taking his stage name from single reached #22 on the coveted Billboard singles the Chad Mitchell Trio and the band name inspired chart. Quality Records inform them that they now

by British instrumental group The Shadows, they had a new name, Guess Who. Chad would remain as lead singer with the Guess were the top band in the city.

Chad Allan & The Reflections released their de- Who, releasing a half dozen more singles and three but single, “Tribute to Buddy Holly”, a cover of a albums, until June 1966 when, weary of life on the UK single by Mike Berry & The Outlaws, in Feb- road, he left citing continuing voice problems. Burruary 1963. The single allowed the band to tour ton Cummings, already in the band on keyboards across western Canada. Further singles followed, all since January 1966, took over lead vocals. Chad featuring Chad Allan’s voice and solid instrumental completed his degree in psychology at the Univerbacking. After Detroit vocal group The Reflections sity of Winnipeg before becoming a school guidance scored a North American hit in 1964 with “Just Like counsellor. But music continued to call him.

10

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

While recording with ex-band mate Randy Bachman in the fall of 1970, the two decided to turn a Chad Allan project into the band Brave Belt’s debut release. Chad stayed with that band, contributing one of his best songs, Dunrobin’s Gone (“She’s gone and she won’t be back, you must be a happy man”) before bowing out as the band took a harder rock turn, changing their name to Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Chad carried on as a solo performer, songwriter, and television personality. He released several solo albums as well as recording with vocal group The Metro-Gnomes. In the latter 1970s he moved to Vancouver where he taught songwriting at Kwantlen College.

In 2015, Chad returned to Winnipeg where he was inducted into the Order of Manitoba in recognition of his pivotal role in both local and Canadian music history. Congratulatory messages were read out from both Neil Young and Randy Bachman at the ceremony.

Despite the later success of the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Chad was never bitter over missing out on the financial rewards. He remained upbeat and positive the rest of his life.

A series of health issues slowed him down in later years, but his indomitable spirit remained strong. In an often-ruthless music business, Chad was one of the nice guys.

Chad Allan’s legacy will live on every time someone plays Shakin’ All Over.

January 2024

Start the year off with fish, a real chowder for us lovers of seafood

G

rowing up on an island in what seems like a different lifetime, I was at the time, gifted with fish of all types, fresh from the sea. The plated dishes of fresh lobster, crayfish, and crab, succulent sea bass, fresh bream and fresh dover sole; the breakfast treats of fresh morning caught mackerel – all highlight the wonderful experiences of my youth.

I feel that in those days (as I treasure the echoes of my memory) I was surrounded by fortune and favour as I ponder the many meals I have experienced.

Yes, upon reflection Boston has its chowder, the Scottish have their broth, but the island had its soup, or was it broth, or was it bisque, come to think of it was it even chowder?

Ian Leatt The simplified complexities of this fish dish, Foodies showcase its completeness, its the many different levels of how substantial and satisfying it truly is. So, if you are looking for something filling, hearty, and comforting then this dish is something you should not miss out on.

Here is what you will need: 1 lb cod cut into 1-inch chunks.

1 lb haddock cut into 1-inch chunks.

1 lb salmon cut into 1-inch chunks.

1 lb frozen shrimp 1 lb frozen scallops 1 lb sole 2 teaspoons salt and pepper 2 lbs potatoes 1 egg 6 tablespoons butter 2 cups 3% milk 1 litre vegetable stock 3 cups half cream 1 ½ cups frozen peas 1 ½ cups frozen corn

1 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 fresh French baguette sliced and buttered.

Several sprigs fresh dill The all important how to: Remove the shrimp from the bag and place in cool water in a bowl to thaw. Place a large pot on the stove on a medium heat and add the stock. Place a large frying pan on the stove add 2 tablespoons butter then add, half of the cod, haddock, salmon season with salt and pepper. Flip so as to cook on both sides.

Add half the frozen peas and corn to the stock and cook. Once the fish has been cooked add to the stock pot, bring to a boil, add 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of cream. Once boiling remove from heat, carefully. Using a blender, blend the ingredients together.

Peel and cut the potatoes, place them on to the stove, add a pinch of salt and bring to boil. Leave to cook through. Once cooked remove from the stove, drain the water. Add one egg, 2 tablespoons

of butter a pinch of salt and pepper then mash. Place mashed potato in a large mixing bowl, turn the mixer on medium and whisk the potato, slowly adding fresh cream, no more than ¼ cup. Turn the mixer on high and beat until there are no more lumps.

Once your mash is complete cover. Return the large frying pan to the stove and as before cook all the remaining fish.

The shrimp should now be thawed out add to the soup mix. As all fish is cooked continue to add to the soup, along with the remaining peas and corn and cream, stir thoroughly. Once all ingredients have been cooked through and added to the soup you are now ready to plate or is it bowl?

In a soup bowl scoop out some mashed potato, place in the centre of the bowl, then using a ladle pour the soup around the mashed potato. Finally add a little fresh dill and a dusting of cayenne pepper.

Enjoy this meal for lunch or dinner, with friends and family, don’t forget to dunk the bread. Yummy.

Happy New Year folks.

Ian Leatt is a trained chef from across the pond.

Fix the health care system!

What governments can and cannot do Dorothy Dobbie

G

overnments cannot fix healthcare!

Unfortunately, we are stuck with a 1950s model in a 2020s world.

As an NDP friend of mine, former MP Lynn McDonald, recently pointed out to someone, a lot has changed since the universal program was started. Yet, the government and that same NDP under Jagmeet Singh insist that nothing in the way the plan is administered should be changed. But changes have occurred and they have not improved the situation.

It started out as hospital and diagnostic insurance in Saskatchewan in 1947.

The program was adopted in a federal/ provincial 50:50 cost share program in 1957. In 1962, Saskatchewan expanded its program to cover doctors’ ser-

vices, which was added to the federal/ provincial agreement in 1966.

The most profound change to the Act was introduced and passed by the Pierre Elliot Trudeau government.

According to the Canada health website, “In 1984, federal legislation, the Canada Health Act, was passed. This legislation replaced the federal hospital and medical insurance acts, and consolidated their principles by establishing criteria on portability, accessibility, universality, comprehensiveness, and public administration. The Act also added provisions that prohibited extra billing and user fees for insured services”. This, to my mind, was the beginning of the end to a sensible, usable system. Suddenly it had become a monopoly and as we all know, monopolies mean an end to service, cost competitiveness and efficiency.

Early on in this province, everyone

had to pay a small fee to access a doctor. This was a sensible policy that kept abuse under control. The ability to opt out of the program meant that there was more room in the public system to accommodate those who had the most need. It also meant competition for service providers.

That has disappeared as successive governments have tinkered over and over again with the rules, making the system more unwieldy and less responsive each time around.

Today, the system is thoroughly broken, and its foundations are crumbling.

Six out of 10 provinces now allow physicians to opt out of the program and bill for their services separately. Private clinics are springing up everywhere offering diagnostic as well as treatment for a wide range of services not specifically covered under the Act. This will continue to grow as demand expands

due to the inability of the public system to effectively respond.

Will the remnants of the system survive? Perhaps, but only if internal changes are made. I am not very hopeful that this is possible. The system survives to perpetuate the system.

The best possibility is to open competition and allow a public/private system to co-exist where patients can pay for services at will but where the public system still exists to service those who need but cannot afford care.

This the dual system is the case in the best health care models all around the world. And single payer systems are not part of that winning equation because they are expensive and lack the ability to nurture excellence through competition.

Governments can’t fix healthcare. All they can and should do is get the heck out of the way!

Celebrate the garden all year long with Canada’s Local Gardener by subscribing today!

Check us out at localgardener.net

January 2024

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

11

Premier’s new Business and Jobs Council good idea but misses several marks

O

n December 7, Premier Wab Kinew announced the creation of the “Premier’s Business and Jobs Council to advise the province on developing a strong economy that Manitoba can rely for generations to come.”

This is good news, because, as the saying goes, a governments policies are only as good as the advice they get.

And there is a lot happening in the world, economically, politically, environmentally, and culturally. Globalisation, the predominant economic model since the Second World War is on the wane and North America is reshoring, friend-shoring and repatriating industrial and manufacturing capability. The push to decarbonize human activity will profoundly affect practically everything we do.

All of this presents incredible opportunity for any jurisdiction with a central location, clean energy, transportation infrastructure and lots of space. Throw in abundant natural resources and you have the makings of an economic powerhouse.

It could and should be Manitoba’s Time.

Is Manitoba smart enough, or quick enough, or inventive enough to take advantage of the significant

changes in the geopolitical landscape? I think so, but you need the right people with the right skills, and the right experience at the table.

That’s why the new Business and Jobs Council causes some unease.

It is populated by a large group of 35 well-known, competent and capable people who undoubtably have Manitoba’s and Manitoban’s best interests at heart.

Despite the large numbers, many important sectors are unrepresented, while many sectors are represented several times: 1. There’s no one from the research community, and research is the foundation of innovation, economic diversification and development.

2. Where’s the resource sector? The resource sector is one of the largest, most important primary industry that is, literally and figuratively, the bedrock of the Canadian economy.

3. The Technology Sector is largely absent.

4. Post-secondary is not there, and education, training and skills are the number one issues facing the labour market today.

5. Transportation and logistics?

6. Heavy Construction?

7. Arts and Culture?

8. Apprenticeship?

9. Hydro?

Members of the Premier’s new advisory council Co-Chairs • Ash Modha, founder and CEO, Mondetta Clothing • Kevin Rebeck, president, Manitoba Federation of Labour. Other Representatives • Bea Bruske, president, Canadian Labour Congress • Bob Silver, president and co-owner, Western Glove Works • Bram Strain, president and CEO, Business Council of Manitoba • Chad Friesen, CEO, Friesens Corporation • Chuck Davidson, president and CEO, Manitoba Chambers of Commerce • Mayor Colleen Smook, City of Thompson • Connor Ketchen, general manager, Brandon Chamber of Commerce • Cordella Friesen, president and CEO, YMCA-YWCA Winnipeg • Darren Rainkie, principal and founder, Darren Rainkie Consulting • David Chartrand, president, Manitoba Métis Federation • Gerry Price, chairman and CEO, Price Industries • Gustavo Zentner, president, International Point of Commerce and Jewish Federation of Winnipeg • Ida Albo, owner and managing partner, Fort Garry Hotel • Jacqueline Keena, managing director, Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative • Jennefer Nepinak, With the exception of one or two individuals, rural and northern participation looks like an afterthought.

Good economic policy is created when the inputs (information and

vice-president strategic partnerships and reconciliation, Legacy Bowes • Jill Verwey, president, Keystone Agricultural Producers • Josh Zaporzan, owner and president, Audax Ventures Inc. and co-founder and CEO, H2MB Inc. • Liz Choi, CEO, Education Canada Group • Loren Remillard, president and CEO, Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce • Marie Buchan, secretarytreasurer, UFCW local 832 A quick count reveals that we have 6 union reps, 9 big business reps, 10 business bureaucrats, 6 consultants/lawyers/accountants, 2 small and medium businesses, and two politicians.

Having served with great hope on such advisory councils under previous NDP governments, I know from experience that many are tokens only, so our contributor does not need to feel too bad that so many sectors have been overlooked.

Perhaps there will be other opportunities for citizens to make their sector voices heard. We can only hope. – Ed.

advice) is sound and broad based.

Without the input from key sectors of the economy and strong regional representation the Premier’s council’s impact will be diminished.

Too little water can bring on kidney disease in cats Robert Urano

K

idney disease, often in the form of chronic renal failure (CRF), is one of the most common conditions affecting older cats. Because kidneys can function even when substantial parts of the tissue are damaged, CRF may for years go undetected. This disorder, for various reasons, is about three times more common in cats than in dogs.

Most cat owners first notice symptoms such as weight loss, excessive thirst, lethargy or dull coat. Since these symptoms could signal several other possible ailments, analyses of both blood and urine must be done to look for specific markers in order to make a firm diagnosis. Sadly, there is no cure for CRF, but depending on the stage of the disease, often ranked stage 1 through 4 (the most severe), cats may live comfortably for several years.

Cause hard to determine Pinpointing the cause of kidney dis-

ease is usually difficult. However, for certain breeds, notably Persian and exotic cats, a hereditary component may exist. Infections and tumors can also precipitate this progressive disorder, and research has recently implicated the overuse of vaccinations as a possible culprit. Many veterinarians have ceased vaccinating a cat diagnosed with CRF. Another current suspect is the longterm feeding of dry cat food. In the wild, cats get most of their fluid intake from their prey. Many domestic cats are fed an all-dry food diet and studies show that these cats ingest only half the liquid that cats on a canned

or homemade diet consume. Many experts now believe that over time this lack of water can cause stress on the kidneys resulting in damage.

Dry diets also predispose cats to urinary tract diseases which seem to be factors in developing CRF. Despite these and many other reasons for reducing or even eliminating dry cat food, kibble is still the most heavily promoted diet and the most common food fed to cats.

For decades standard treatment for CRF has been to put the cat on a lowprotein diet. The rationale, simply put, is that protein has large amounts of phosphorus and phosphorus damages the kidneys. But this approach has always been controversial. Some experts have questioned the research that supports this theory, particularly as it pertains to cats, while many have found that low-protein prescription diets are frequently unappealing to cats, which after all are carnivores. Thus, since weight loss is a major concern, having a cat eat less of an unappealing food is worse, many argue, than having a cat eat more of what the cat likes.

Low-protein diet promoted The four largest manufacturers in the pet food industry are also the four that have low-protein, low-phosphorous prescription diets (all of which are canned foods) and, perhaps not unexpectedly, make the strongest case for using these products. Although we don’t know for sure how helpful these products are, it is probably still prudent to give them a try or at the very least look for low-protein, low-phosphorous canned food at a pet specialty store.

A cat diagnosed with CRF should be monitored for sufficient fluid intake. This means serving more canned food than dry (eliminating dry if possible) while making sure the cat is eating enough to maintain a healthy weight and in extreme cases injecting subcutaneous fluids into the cat. Medications to help detoxify the body and appetite stimulants are also sometimes employed. Many holistic vets add omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants and other supplements to the cat’s diet.

Since there is no cure for CRF and a kidney transplant would not be a serious option for most owners, prevention or early detection is our best ally.

hours each week and eight staff to make the programs run successfully. Last year, over two million pounds of donated food and non-food items were shared with those in need. In 2023 approximately 160,000 meals were distributed (this number was 83,000 in 2019). Agape Table also provides support to over 40 other local non-profits.

This humble, grass-roots organization embraces a non-judgmental, unbiased, and respectful attitude toward all who ask for assistance. Many who come are students, young families, seniors, new immigrants, and others relocating from rural Manitoba. Others are homeless, unemployed, or under-employed. All are hungry. All need our help.

Agape Table operations are 100% fund-

ed by donations from people like you and me, as well as community supportive organizations, foundations, and businesses.

This is a true testament to the generosity that Manitobans are so well known for.

FOOD, TIME, and MONEY. Donations of food, volunteer time, and money are critical to continue to deliver food and other programs to those who need it most.

Please consider making a difference by donating to Agape Table. Your donation will be used wisely to maximize our ability to feed and support those who struggle with hunger and poverty.

It’s in your heart to give!

To donate online visit www.agapetable. ca or call (204) 783-6369.

To volunteer call (204)786-2370 or email volunteer@agapetable.ca.

Agape Table

Nourishing the Body, Heart, and Spirit

L

iving in Winnipeg, you have likely heard the name of our city’s longest running food assistance program.

For over 43 years, Agape Table (Agapé gr: meaning ‘unconditional love’) has quietly and steadfastly welcomed, nourished, and supported our most vulnerable and marginalized people.

It all began with a group of neighbours preparing sandwiches in their home kitchens and distributing them to the hungry and homeless in the West Broadway area.

Over the years, as the number of people struggling with food insecurity and its associated issues increased, it became necessary to lease spaces in buildings or church basements to provide meals and other services to Winnipeg’s most needy.

Today Agape Table distributes between 12

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

600 and 800 meals each weekday morning from folding banquet tables set up outside the front door of its current leased location in the basement of the Wave Church on Furby St. The internal space is no longer large enough to accommodate the dramatic increase in guests indoors, and the lease agreement limits hours of operation to weekdays only between 7am and 1pm.

Despite these challenges, anyone who asks for food receives a meal, prepared, and handed out by dedicated volunteers, and accompanied by a warm smile and a healthy helping of respect. All are welcome at Agape Table, and no one is ever turned away.

Agape Table relies heavily on community volunteers to run its meal and bi-weekly hamper programs. It takes 800 volunteer

January 2024

A New Year

Geocaching is an awesome way to see the province

2

024, it’s here and it’s a good my body. Pub events and several other time to have a look ahead. There types of events meant that Geocachers are many plans for the year, were busy if they chose to be. With the new caches on top of most of it has us being those events there was a active. First, let’s look at lot to keep you going. last year.

Many people were reThere were a lot of sponsible for the events new Geocaches placed last year and I would last year and numerous like to extend our thanks events took place. We to them. They were the saw a lot of new geocachbackbone of the activiing names on various ties and we probably logs and look forward to would have had a pretty eventually meeting you dull year without them. either on the trail or at Thank you all. one of the many events Geocaching throughplanned for 2024.

Gary Brown out the province is an Last year there were a Geocaching awesome way to see arlot of CITO’s (Cache In eas that you otherwise Trash Out) that picked up would not be visiting. a lot of trash from public spaces. Coffee events have become a My wife and I use B&B’s as well as regular gathering at local coffee shops campgrounds and hotels to vacation and ice cream events over the summer (aka: geocaching) in Manitoba. If brought a lot of delicious calories into you plan to do that make sure you

set aside enough time to get as many caches as you want, especially around some of the hotbeds located throughout the province.

This year looks to be a good year for events. January will see the 2023 Manitoba Awards Night on the 9th and the Unsolved Mysteries event on the 27th. February has plans for a Snowshoe event down the Morris river (if we ever get some snow) as well as another techno event for those who want to learn how to geocache without data on the 24th. Adventure labs without data will also be covered.

The MBGA AGM also takes place in February.

June will see the return of the FortWhyte Adventure and July 20th is the date for the Hands Across the Border event at the International Peace Gardens. The annual event at the Zoo will happen in the fall and it is a must attend. Also keep an eye on Oak Hammock Marsh, there are a lot of

caches there right now and it would be a nice adventure to gather those.

For those that like to make their trip a bit further there is activity in the three provinces to the west of us as well as south of us. Each provincial group has a website or Facebook page with their activity present on them. The North Dakota Geocachers Group also has a website where you can find information on their activities.

The coffee events will continue, the ice cream events are an event to bike to so you can work off those extra calories and CITO’s are a feel good time where you help keep public areas of the province clean. There are thousands of Geocachers out there and I hope to meet a lot of you in the next year.

Gary Brown is the President of the Manitoba Geocaching Association (MBGA) and can be reached at MBGAexec@outlook.com.

Schizophrenia

The following story is part a new feature, the serialization of our columnist Wayne Weedon’s fictional work, Schizophrenia. Wayne is a brilliant writer whose style consists of simple declarative statements that stick in your mind as he leads you through an intricate web of circumstances to reach the lesson he set out to teach.

Chapter 2 “…it is not the strongest who survive, it’s the most adaptable.”

Pregnant and deserted by her lover, a young girl moves in with her grandfather. When the baby boy is born, the grandfather agrees to look after him so his granddaughter can go to work. Despite the age difference, the relationship between the boy and his great-grandfather was more like two siblings than that of an adult and child. As this boy grew into a young man, he loved to look back and tell stories about his great-grandfather, whom he always called “Pops”.

I

asked Pops, “Yesterday, you told me salmon die after their eggs are laid and fertilized. I can’t see how that would work with humans. A human baby cannot survive without their parents.”

“That’s correct. Thousands of salmon eggs are laid but most do not survive to maturity. Humans have evolved much more than fish, and the more an animal has evolved, the more dependent the offspring are on the parent for survival. It is the parent’s job to nurture and teach the child how to survive and thrive long enough to become independent. It is only then when the parent’s job is done.”

“What about me, my mom goes to work, and I never see my dad.”

“That’s where I stepped up to the plate. I’m acting as your surrogate parent so your mom can work. I am being the responsible adult. That’s the thing with life, one must adapt. Richard Dawkins is telling us, it is not the strongest who survive, it’s the most adaptable. The species which can easily adapt to changing environments will survive and evolve and move up the evolutionary ladder.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re still around.”

“So! What are your thoughts about everyone being schizophrenic?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about it, and I realise I spend a lot of time in my Adult. Do you think I’m a little bit too serious?”

“Well, you do let your Child out on a regular basis.

And I think that’s a good thing. Humans are the only animal which has a well-developed Adult, and this is why we can clearly think and plan our own future.

Many people do not think about their future because they let their Child run the show. They just want to have fun and never accept responsibility. Scientists such as David Attenborough and Richard Dawkins point out how unique humans are in comparison to other animals.

All mammals have the ego states of Parent and Child, while most behavioural scientists believe, humans are one of the few species who clearly have an Adult, and this is why we are among the few animals who can choose our actions. Other animals go by instinct and

January 2024

what they have learned from their parents. Viktor Frankl, the psychiatrist, while in a Nazi concentration camp, came to realise, when a guard pointed a gun at someone who reacted from their Child or from their Parent, they did not live long. Dr. Frankl decided he would react from his Adult. He knew the guard was not in control; the guard could point the gun all he wanted, but Dr. Frankl had the last word; he could refuse to do as the guard ordered and risk being shot, or he could choose to comply to the order. Dr. Frankl chose to willingly follow orders. And, more importantly, he chose to treat the guard, not as a demon, but as a fellow human being. The guard appreciated being treated respectfully, and this is probably why Dr. Frankl lived long enough to be freed from the concentration camp. Dr. Frankl thought things out rationally, from his Adult, and he clearly understood, we do not have to do anything, we choose what we do.

However, we must remember, when we choose our behaviour, we also choose the consequences which are the results of our actions.”

As long as I can remember, Pops would tell me that walking stimulates conversation, and we would regularly go for a leisurely walk. Often, as we walked, we did not speak while we both were enjoying our surroundings, sometimes commenting on someone’s flower garden, lovely lawn, or their Christmas lights.

Pops often stated, “Most people fret about the past and worry over the future but just don’t look around and appreciate what’s right in front of their nose.

They never learn how to appreciate and enjoy the moment.”

Pops, while getting up from his chair, suggested, “Let’s go for a walk.”

It was a beautiful day in early June. We strolled along the sidewalk, ending up by what everyone refers to as a lake, but which is actually a man-made retention pond. We sat on a bench facing the water with the traffic behind us. Some geese were swimming over the smooth, glass-like surface. The sun was warm on our backs as we sat in silence, each of us with our own thoughts.

Pops spoke up, “The Canada Goose is an interesting creature. They spend winter down south and come back here in early spring, often before the snow and the ice have left the lake. They want to get their eggs laid as early as possible, so the goslings are mature enough to be able to fly thousands of miles in the fall. These geese are on a very tight schedule.”

Pops continued, “Across the lake, can you see those geese grazing? Do you notice, when they are eating grass, one of the adults is always on the lookout for predators? The male and female take turns, raising their heads up and constantly looking around as the others enjoy their meal. That’s how geese manage to survive, they take full responsibility for the safety of their offspring. These goslings, when their turn comes, will also pass on the same knowledge to their

own brood. It’s all very interesting.”

Pops often tells me how answers to life’s problems are always in nature.

“Canada Geese, you know, will mate for life. Once geese choose a mate, an unbreakable bond is formed.

The two geese never part from each other’s sight. It’s fun to watch them return to their nesting site in the spring where they will immediately begin building a nest so the female can start laying eggs. Strangely, the eggs are not laid on the same day, however, they will all hatch on the same day. How does this happen? It seems, the goose who is sitting on the eggs, knows how to regulate the temperature of the eggs. Incubation is slower when the eggs are on the cool side. Once all the eggs are laid, the goose will cuddle over the eggs to warm them up to speed up incubation, and then they will all hatch on the same day.”

As usual, I marvelled at the knowledge Pops had which is the result of his constantly reading, not just fiction, but also scientific books and a lot of history.

He is curious about everything.

“If you watch the geese, you will see that the male will relieve the female on the nest so she can stretch her legs, flap her wings, and graze. They work as a team with the one object in mind, get their brood ready for the fall flight down south. One might say they are perfect parents.”

We got up from the bench and continued with our stroll, “Geese mate during a very short time in the spring, but at no other time of the year will they have sex. Humans, like monkeys, baboons, and some other primates, have evolved up the evolutionary ladder and no longer need to follow instinct. Humans have chosen to turn the sexual act into a leisure activity, a pastime, a competition, and a game, rather than a way to continue the species. And this has resulted in all kinds of problems. Just like overindulging in candy or alcohol, many people overindulge in sex. It has come to be a game of fun, fun, fun, with no consideration for consequences. Many humans are consumed with getting as much sex as they can get and having as many sex partners as they are able to. It is usual for these sex maniacs to abandon responsibility for any children they may have. Possibly, some of these people, who are both male and female, may learn a lesson from our Canada Goose.”

I could clearly see where Pops was coming from. He was anticipating what I would hear and see at the special meeting we would be having at school. He didn’t point fingers and call anyone names, but his message was, even to me as a young boy, quite clear. He did not agree with what was happening. He believed the school was infringing upon private family matters.

Next Month: Schizophrenia, Chapter 3: The Outcome Wayne Douglas Weedon is a Manitoba author who writes a combination of fictional and factual stories, essays, and novels. whatsupwinnipeg.ca

13

Gone but not forgotten

T

his is the time of year when a lot home. Case in point, Eskimo Pie, is now of people tend to have moments called Edy’s Pie as of 2021 as the former of melancholia as we reflect on was believed to be derogatory toward the Inuit people. friends and family who There was a time when are no longer with us. I’m most every home had a no different. Except that, box of Spic and Span unfor some reason, I started der the kitchen sink. I remembering all kinds of remember coming home products and, in some from school and knowing cases, the people or faces my mother had spent the behind them that are no day cleaning the house. longer with us.

It was not only spic and I’m not going to list the span, which literally means names of all sports teams neat and tidy, the crystalthat changed their origilike cleaning compound nal names from what peoalso made the house smell ple finally found offensive Jim Ingebrigtsen wonderful. But some to something more apoverzealous politically corpropriate. The first two rect pundit raised a stink that come to mind are the Edmonton Eskimos to the Elks. Hard to about it because the word spic is an ethbelieve Eskimos hung around as long as nic slur used against Hispanic and Latino it did. And of course, the Washington Americans. Guess what? Spic and Span is Redskins are now the Commanders. The still around. The complaint was dropped reason for the changes is obvious, they after it was explained the words spic and were considered offensive to indigenous span can be traced back hundreds of years peoples. I wonder why it took so long with spic being totally unrelated to the for the Department of Indian Affairs in modern-day epithet.

And lest we forget, Aunt Jemima and Canada to change to Crown-Indigenous Uncle Ben. I think it’s fair to say we all Relations and Northern Affairs?

And then I thought about the names grew up seeing these happy, friendly of things that are, or were, a lot closer to faces in our kitchens. Aunt Jemima dis-

appeared in 2020. Although there were a number of updated versions of that warm and friendly face, in the end, it was now considered inappropriate and a move toward being more inclusive was needed.

It’s now called the Pearl Milling Company. I now make my own pancakes from scratch.

Uncle Ben is dead. Unlike Aunt Jemima who was created, Uncle Ben was Benjamin Franklin Randolph who was an African-American rice farmer and mentor to the two men who founded the com-

pany in 1943. In light of the Black Lives Matter movement and putting an end to racial bias the face of Uncle Ben is gone.

I simply thought of “the face” as a nicelooking man who I identified with good tasting rice. I think I’ll leave Mrs. Butterworth (syrup) and the old face of Cream of Wheat alone for now.

And hey! How about Winnipeg’s Bill Konyk of Hunky Bill’s Perogie Makers?

Bill was born in Point Douglas in 1931.

He invented the perogy maker which comes in two sizes, big and little. It cuts, seals and forms perogies in one easy step.

He received a formal complaint in 1980 from the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association. They said the word “hunky” was an ethnic slur. The complaint was dismissed by the Human Rights Branch. Thankfully, you can still find Hunky Bill’s Perogie Makers across Canada and in the U.S. Bill passed away in 2019, he was 88.

And so, we bid farewell to all the vanishing friendly faces that once smiled at us from jars, bottles and packages on products we loved but, TIME and TIDE wait for no one. In these interesting times we live in, business must move forward and … so do we.

Jim was a writer-broadcaster and producer on television and radio for 40 years.

Today I am a winner

I

told my friend that I had changed my did show up, so that must surely count for mind, and she said “Good. I hope this something. The podium might get a bit crowded, and because every Nation will one works.”

I have said it before, and I will say it need to be recognized, the playing of all the Anthems would take up again. I don’t believe in a lot of time. But no one’s participation ribbons. Why feelings would be hurt, and reward someone for just after all, they did show up, showing up? Where is the right? incentive in that? I can I don’t believe in parremember taking part in ticipation ribbons. You win Sports Days when I was in some and you lose some. school. I never came in first Get used to it. A few years or second and I doubt that ago, I went back to AbbotsI ever finished in the top ford for Christmas and while ten. I never got a ribbon. there, I watched my 9-yearAny ribbon. I don’t recall old grandson play hockey. I experiencing any trauma Rick Duerksen noticed that the time clock/ because of it, but this was scoreboard wasn’t working back in the 1900s or whenReach and asked Asher’s Dad how ever it was that I was still they were keeping track of in school, and the educators the time and the score. I was of the day were oblivious to the obvious. Everyone must be rewarded, told that it was just a pick-up game, that lest they have their feelings hurt. Nowa- they had gotten some extra ice time, and days, if you show up, you get a ribbon, that the game didn’t affect their league regardless of where you finish, regardless standings. The game was just for fun and didn’t mean anything. Someone must have of if you even finish.

I don’t believe in participation ribbons, forgotten to tell the kids. After the game, and I can see this participation ribbon idea Asher came up to me and I said, “Boy, going to extremes. At the first Olympics, Asher, you sure played hard out there”. only the winner received a prize. Now, the He nodded and gestured to me, indicattop three athletes get recognized. Perhaps ing that I should lean down to his level. I it is time to address this inequity and award bent down and he glanced around as if to every contestant a medal. After all, they make sure no one was listening, and then

“Today I am a winner! whispered. “They weren’t keeping score, but Grandpa, we won!” Even in a game that supposedly meant nothing, the kids played to win. They played like it was the final game in the series, that the Stanley Cup was on the line. They didn’t want a participation ribbon. They wanted to win.

I don’t believe in participation ribbons, but maybe, some days? I was talking to a group of men at AFM (Addiction Foundation of Manitoba) a short while ago.

AFM is a rehab facility that offers a 28-day live-in program that helps men who are at the start of their recovery from addiction, and it is where I began my recovery, a little

more than two years ago. The men there, that evening, all had different stories and different backgrounds, but they all had one thing in common. They all wanted to break free from their addiction and they wanted to win. I looked at them and remembered when I was one of them, when I was sitting at that table. I remembered how hard it was to admit that I had a problem and that I needed help. I remembered how hard it was to walk through the doors of AFM, how hard it was to attend that first meeting. But I did walk through the front doors, and I did attend that first meeting. I showed up.

I don’t believe in participation ribbons, but I have changed my mind. I still don’t believe in participation ribbons, but I have changed my mind on how I define participation. Maybe, sometimes just showing up does make you a winner. The competition is more experienced than you are, they are stronger, bigger, and don’t have to play by the rules. The ref will never blow the whistle when they have the puck and even the home crowd is against you. But you show up anyway. You lace on the skates and step out onto the ice.

You showed up. What you accomplished yesterday is ancient history, tomorrow is a month away, and today’s game will be 37 hours too long. But you show up anyway.

You show up, and that lets you say, “Today I am a winner!”

Advertise in and get noticed!

To book book your To your ad adcontact contact Gord Gage at 204-940-2701 or Ian at (204) 940 2707 or gord.gage@pegasuspublications.net

ian.leatt@pegasuspublications.net

14

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

January 2024

Multi generational company, Robinson Supply, almost as old as Winnipeg Business and community leader Ross Robinson has a particular passion for aviation

R

oss Robinson uses the analogy of a four-legged stool to explain his philosophy of life.

His first priority – the first leg of the stool – is his family – followed by friends, a satisfying workplace which pays him enough to provide for his family and, finally, philanthropy.

I first met Ross and his late brother, Bruce, in the early 1980s. At the time, I was writing for several local business magazines and was assigned to do a number of articles on the family business – B.A. Robinson Co. Ltd. (recently rebranded as Robinson Supply). I was impressed both by their Ross in front of A-26B Invader (combusiness acumen and their commit- pliments of Royal Canadian Aviation ment to community. museum).

This community commitment was inspired by their father, Burt A. Robinson, who founded the company is da. The company remains a leader in 1936. Burt Robinson was already the the lighting and plumbing business in third generation in his family to be- Canada.

Today, Ross’ sons, Shea and Matcome a supplier of lighting products. thew oversee the comBurt’s father, William, pany’s day-to-day operahad come to Winnipeg tions while their father in 1900 and became focuses on philanthropy. the first to supply preHe is particularly interwired lighting fixtures ested in where philanin Western Canada. thropy intersects with Burt’s sons, Ross and aviation. Ross notes that Bruce, joined the famhis passion for flying ily business in the early also reflects his father’s 1970s and, by 1973, interest in taking to the had taken charge of the air. business. Under their “Dad trained as a pilot leadership, the company in the late 1930s,” Ross grew. By then they were Myron Love recounts. “When war also supplying electrical, broke out though, he plumbing, and heating was considered at 29 too distribution products to installation contractors. Branches old to fly for the RCAF.” Ross earned his pilot’s license in were opened in Brandon and Thompson, Kenora, and Vancouver. In the 1975 and has a hangar at St. Andrews late 1970's, Robinson Lighting, a free- Airport. “I am one of the oldest memstanding lighting showroom, opened. bers of the Canadian Owners and With the addition of Robinson Water- Pilots Association (COPA) in Maniworks (now Robinson Bath Centre), toba,” he points out.

Over the years, he says, he has owned the company expanded to become Western Canada's largest showroom- several different planes for both busibased distributor of lighting and lux- ness and pleasure. One of his proudest and most notable purchases was a ury plumbing products.

In 1999, Ross and Bruce parted 1952 Harvard training plane finished ways. “Bruce was always most inter- in grey RAF camouflage colours.

“I happened to be in a town called ested in the lighting side of our business,” says Ross. “He maintained Oliver in B.C. when I met this 86-yearcontrol of our lighting stores in Win- old former pilot who was selling the nipeg, Kelowna and Burnaby and I plane,” Ross recalls. “It was one of the oldest Harvards in Canada. I flew that carried on with our other divisions.”

Under Ross’ management, the com- plane in air shows in Saskatoon, Porpany further expanded, adding new tage la Prairie, Kenora and Gatineau, locations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec.

“Five years later,” he continues, “I and British Columbia. Today, Robinson Supply operates 32 branches and was in Edmonton on business when I employs nearly 600 staff across Cana- came across another older gentleman

January 2024

Ross in the middle with late brother, Bruce on his left and brother Neil on right. Dad, B.A. Robinson is seated. with vintage aircraft to sell. He had 18 1944 Douglas B26 Invader water bombers which were being retired. I have flown the B26 with all-volunteer crews at different air shows as well.”

With his passion for flying, it was only natural that when his good friend Hartley Richardson asked Ross in 2012 to take the lead in the Royal Canadian Aviation Museum’s ambitious capital campaign to raise money for a brand-new facility for the now 45-year-old institution, it was a perfect fit.

“We had Prince Edward, our royal patron, fly in for the campaign kickoff in 2014,” Ross notes. It was a great event.”

“We set a goal of $35 million,” reports Terry Slobodian, the museum’s executive director. “Thanks to Ross’ leadership, we were able to raise $48 million by the time we closed the campaign last January. No one else would have been better suited to lead this campaign.”

Ross also supports the Manitoba Air Cadets program, and, for five years,

he served as an honorary colonel at 17 Wing, the RAF’s base in Winnipeg.

“I got to renew acquaintances with King Charles and meet Camilla on their last visit here,” Ross recalls. “I first met Charles when we were both 18 at a luncheon organized by (the late) Maitland Steinkopf.”

Ross has been involved in another major fundraising campaign for St. John’s-Ravenscourt. He is also a long time and generous supporter of the United Way. His current project is an effort to help Agape Table raise $8.2 million to erect a new building on Furby Street. Agape Table provides inexpensive meals as well as free groceries and clothing to the many disadvantaged in our community.

“We hope to begin construction soon,” he reports.

“I give everywhere I can,” he concludes. “There are so many people in need. I believe that there is no greater joy than to give to others after you have enough to support your own family.’

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

15

16

whatsupwinnipeg.ca

January 2024