Gord Leclerc Laid Off from CTV News Winnipeg

At one time CBC News in Winnipeg was number 1. CKY and later CKND and much later than that MTN were way behind in the ratings. Garth Dawley read the news from 1970 to 1983 and CBC was solidly in front. In 1983, CBC enhanced that success with the changes both nationally and locally. The National and The Journal had moved to 10 PM and the Winnipeg 24 Hours supertime broadcast had Sandra Lewis in 1985 and Kevin Evans in a solid combination that dominated the 1980s news. Often full length 24 Hours documentaries from Winnipeg would headline The Journal. The product being produced was that good.

CBC would tinker with the format nearly non-stop from 1990 to 2000 due to cutbacks or news format changes such as the Canada Now experiment that tried to place a national news broadcast at the supper hour. That experiment extended to the national news moving to 9 PM with poor results till it moved back to 10 PM.

Sandra Lewis would move on and the news in Winnipeg would be anchored by Diana Swain from 1995 to 2000 with some maternity leave breaks in there as well. It was around 2000 when Swain left that the local news in Winnipeg switched. It was no longer number 1 in the market. They stuck it long term with some familiar faces that were not headed off to Toronto like Lewis and Swain. It was a bit of a revolving door after that. Krista Erikison and Jennifer Rattray along with some fill in anchors for seven years with multiple format changes with Canada Now.

Meanwhile, CKY stuck to its knitting. They brought a reporter called Gord Leclerc in 1995 and in 2002 he became the news anchor. The one format remained intact and they allowed for community personalities to evolve. Sylvia Kuzyk in weather gave a sense of continuity. Janet Stewart as Leclerc's co-anchor and John Sauder would add to 6:00 PM lock on number 1 for CTV News.

In a uprising change though, Janet Stewart left CTV tin 2006 to anchor CBC News at Six in January of 2007. She would not make the move alone, John Sauder who had also been at CTV since 2000 would also join the CBC broadcast team in 2007. Sauder was a well known commodity for Winnipeg for being the pilot and traffic reporter for Winnipeg from 1984 and flying at "Captain John" for decades. Alas, Stewart and Sauder were not able to break the stranglehold CTV had on 6 PM news. However, you could say that a partnership was more solidly worked out with the radio division using TV news people that has helped CBC Radio One achieve number 1 status in Winnipeg and across the country.

Leclerc at CTV would be eventually joined by Maralee Caruso in 2007. Caruso was a veteran of the newsroom since 2001. Together, the two anchors continued CTV News at Six dominance despite the efforts of CBC to re-take lead with Stewart and Sauder.

In 2019, CTV News in Winnipeg unceremoniously dumped Gord Leclerc and wiped him from website. It was described purely a budgetary matter. All of the past years has seen CTV cutting staff. They're not the only ones. CBC across the country wielded the hatchet this week, mostly in Toronto.

After nearly 25 years, Leclerc was erased from the news. Were it not for his industry friends, it is likely no one would have known the day it happened. Not even an acknowledgement the broadcast took place. Maralee Caruso continues to be solo anchor but it must have caused a chill for all of CTV Winnipeg. The rumour has been that the network has been interested in maybe cutting even more.

The years of community engagement and charity work counted for nothing. And while it is a business, it is a pretty cruel one. The chasing of ratings and advertising money has meant people come and go. However, it is worth noting that Leclerc helped them achieve and maintain number 1 in the market. The very stability and consistency that made CTV number 1 might tip the tables back in favour of the CBC News at Six program.

Can a job offer from other media in Winnipeg for Leclerc be in the offing? Or will all those years of community engagement bring other job offers.

Still, if CBC really wanted to stick CTV in the high, they would hire Gord Leclerc.

Paradise Restaurant Closed on Portage Avenue

After 40 years some things just seem permanent. Even if you never went into the place, Paradise restaurant at the split between Broadway and Portage Avenue felt like it was always going to be there. The Since 1978 written on their sign affirmed that it had outlasted many other restaurants of over year. So successful was the brand that they opened another Paradise on Leila in 1983 and it too stood its ground.

Alas, Paradise is no more. A sign in the window said that the restaurant was having staffing issues the last five or six years. Vince Magro and family that owned both locations retreated to their Leila location which they still run. At 100 dining seats and 50 lounge seats, Paradise was probably a beast to run, especially when it didn't have a breakfast menu.

It is a difficult thing to run a restaurant and do so successfully. The changes in demographics, neighbourhood changes and what people like to eat can vary. People who like this restaurant can take comfort in the fact that one will still exist in the city although it may be a longer ride for some.

As for the future of the restaurant site? Once the infrastructure is in place for a restaurant, the building often comes back as a restaurant. This will be a site to keep a close eye on.

Wall Street Co-Op Store 1957

From 1957 to 1983, Red River Co-Op ran grocery and pharmacy stores in Winnipeg. The 20,000 square foot store on Wall Street was the first and last of the grocery stores to operate before the Co-Op got back into the business in 2014.

The Red River Co-Op got its start in 1937 as a fuel supply company and had a number of coal yards and gas and diesel supplied from the Federated Co-Op from mines and refineries in Alberta and Saskatchewan. By the 1940s the fuel yards added general stores.

In the post war boom, grocery stores were becoming bigger and Co-Op felt they had enough members and demand and built one of the larger grocery stores of the day on Wall Street for around $750.000. The store had more in common with a Walmart in that it had general merchandise and a pharmacy as well as appliances. There was also a credit union, gas station and farm supply building. At the time there was only 4000 members of the Red River Co-Op but this investment proved to be very successful.

Other stores followed and the Co-Op grew although slower than some other areas in the west. Still, by 1978 there were eight grocery stores in Winnipeg and surrounding area. In 1979, Red River Co-Op made a critical misstep when they built a $10 million Home Center that was around 5,600 square feet at McPhillips and Stardust.

One year later Winnipeg had one of the worst years since the Great Depression. It was in 1980 that Swift's, Canada Packers and Winnipeg Tribune collapsed and the province sunk to numbers of unemployment, stagnation and inflation all at the same time. Red River Co-Op was in debt and bleeding money as people left the province.

The grocery business collapsed and only the Wall Street location above managed to hang on till 1983 when it too closed.  Red River Co-Op held on as a fuel supplier and nursed itself back to health for decades after. At its worst, Co-Op was down to three gas stations and most didn't see a future for it.

However, each Co-op gas renovation would soon have a convenience store and after years of expanding to more location, they had become a confident retailer again. They got back into the grocery business when the merger of Sobeys with Safeway forced a sale of assets by the federal government.

It remains to be seen how Co-Op will look in the future. Winnipeg is far more diversified than it was in the 1980 recession. And this helps businesses like Co-Op stay viable and gives good returns to those that use it.