Spring has finally arrived and the scourge of COVID-19 is slowly being beaten back. Manitoba’s economy was in trouble before COVID-19 and the last 15 months have weakened it even more. Before COVID-19, the province’s economic weakness could be attributed to its...
Former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall’s report on Hydro’s Keeyask dam and Bipole III transmission line expansion is a damning verdict on Manitoba Hydro’s past boards and executives and Manitoba’s NDP and PC governments. While Wall’s public criticism concentrates on...
Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) is in the process of updating its computer programs and associated practices. Through an estimated multi-million dollar effort, MPI plans to provide its customers with online services. With MPI’s long-needed revamped technology,...
For a public sector workforce expecting to retire with a good pension, the “health” of their defined contribution pension plans are dependent on both the market and the actions of the provincial government. Recently, Pallister’s government seems to be stalling on...
In a recent New York Times article, David Wallace Wells asked, “How did No-Mandate Sweden End up with such an average pandemic”. Let’s be clear. This admission from the New York Times, who tried to destroy the response to Covid-19, starting in April 2020 and...
Candida Auris is a fungus that, unlike most fungi, can survive in a human body. It is capable of spreading within the body, resulting in an agonizing death. For unknown reasons the fungus is spreading at a rather alarming rate. So far, cases have been confined to long...
Natural gas is in the news. Price increases due to cold weather; the increasing use of gas for electricity generation; a spectacular explosion of a portion of TransCanada's pipeline south of Winnipeg; a call by Pembina Valley for natural gas service for its...
In the midst of a multi-year drought, California could use a few feet and more of that high drift of snow that now blocks your view as you approach an intersection. With a population of 38 million and a huge agricultural industry requiring massive amounts of water...
Perhaps, and hopefully, the Selinger government and its captive utility, Manitoba Hydro, will listen to the latest voice in a growing chorus calling for a pause and a rethink of what Hydro euphemistically calls its "preferred" development plan. La Capra Associates, an...
For decades it was a criminal offence to charge more than 60 per cent annual interest on a loan. It still is, unless it is a "payday loan." Following pressure by provincial governments and the NDP, payday loans were made legal in Canada. Payday loans can't exceed...
Winnipeg's taxi business represents a textbook case of what economists call "regulatory capture" -- the Taxicab Board pays more attention to protecting cab owners' capital gains than the needs of their customers, who want more cabs, better service and lower prices. In...
As the next election approaches, Manitoba's NDP government will likely try to scare the public by trotting out its favourite hoary old political chestnut -- privatization. The NDP will increasingly accuse the opposition of "dark plans" to privatize Manitoba Hydro,...
Finance Minister Jennifer Howard seeks advice for the 2014-15 provincial budget. Does she truly want advice, or is the offer made to provide the illusion that government listens to taxpayers? In the 2011 election, the NDP pledged no tax increases. Then it extended the...
Based on Finance Minister Jennifer Howard's recent update on her government's financial situation, taxpayers should be alarmed. Despite the unexpected tax and fee hikes of the last two years, she not only expects a deficit of close to $500 million for the NDP...
Manitoba Hydro, pressured by the provincial government, continues to spend and make commitments for its $22-billion "preferred development plan." The plan involves the construction of Bipole III, down the extreme west side of the province and through prime...