Time for a New Manitoba Flag?

The Manitoba Vexillogical Society has asked Manitobans if we should have a new provincial flag. The group, which is dedicated to flag, has ranked Manitoba's flag very low.  It was approved in 1965 and officially approved in 1966. It was based on the old Canadian flag and looks remarkably like Ontario's flag.

Changing flags is not usually a vote winner for political parties. The debate over the Canadian flag change had many hurt feelings but went through. It is widely regarded now as being the right choice and recognized around the world instantly.

The flag in 1966 reflected the strong British feelings that still remained within the province. It didn't take much account of the French presence that was as much a part of the province's development and still was at the time. Nor did it show anything about the indigenous presence.

The British flag evolved over time so if our example is Britain, we can use that as a basis for change. I think there are areas of the present flag we can agree on. A bison is a great symbol for a flag. The colour isn't bad. But a crest on a flag is too busy and the Union Jack is too prominent give the founding of the province and those involved in making it happen. 

Will a new flag ever come? It seems unlikely the new NDP government would wade into that one. However, if political pressures come groups of people left off the present flag, they might have second thoughts that they didn't have an international competition to determine a design that wins acclaim. 

One thing worth considering is that if organizations like the Jets can have a new uniform and a heritage uniform, why can't a province? It isn't like the flag need disappear for ever.  The Canadian Red Ensign flies at war memorials. Perhaps, there could be protocols of when the old Manitoba flag is flown such as Manitoba Day.

Flags do change. Manitoba is over 150 years old. The present flag does not accurately reflect the past and it certainly look like it represents the future either. A confident government might let the process play through and not put their thumb on the scale. Let's see what Manitoba thinks.

Will Dinner Theatre Ever Return?

 For the first time in decades, Winnipeg has no dinner theatre. It has been some time since Celebrations has closed. A combination of years of Covid, rising inflation and a union strike made theatre owners throw in the towel. It remains to be seen whether a private theatre serving dinner will ever be able to get off the ground again in Winnipeg.

Over the decades we have had Holly Mug and Stagewest Dinner Theatre in Winnipeg. The only one listed as still active in Winnipeg is the Tara Players Irish Theatre and Dinner. It is unlikely that Winnipeg has tired of dinner theatre but the margins much be tight and renting a spot in a hotel has to be difficult. Owning your site is probably helpful but that rarely seems to be the case.

Still, Celebrations was around since 1990 and probably able to keep its costs downs by having the same theatre production show in Calgary as well as Edmonton. The days of Canad Inns having their nightclubs and other attractions filled has obviously been more challenging the last few years.

You never want to say never say never when it comes to things making a comeback. Yuk Yuk's is back with a comedy club in Winnipeg at the Hotel Fort Garry after many years of not being here. 

Some dinner theatres like Medieval Times around North America rely on tourism. While tourists likely came to Celebrations, it relied on Winnipeggers and surrounding areas for the bulk of their audiences. The shortage of restaurant staff and the uncertain dynamic post pandemic probably means no business will be in a rush to open. Sill, it will be curious what Canad Inns does with the property. Additional meetings rooms? Performance space?

Stagewest success, which started in Edmonton, was that that they were operators of hotels and wrote literally thousands of plays to perform in their dinner theatre. The Winnipeg operation only closed on Kennedy Street because of the construction of Portage Place. 

I think dinner theatre remains something that Winnipeggers want but it will likely not get unless it has a major partner from a hotel, restaurant or theatre company.  In Calgary and Edmonton, Jubilations (Celebrations sister locations) are based at shopping malls including the West Edmonton Mall. 

The two most likely spots for a dinner theatre would seem to be Polo Park or St. Vital Shopping Centre. However, both are nearly full or completely leased and would likely have to be fully committed to the concept. I am more surprised that neither mall has added a hotel attached to the mall as an amenity. Give the approvals CF Cadillac Fairview has for development around Polo Park that isn't a bad bet. Still, we haven't seen the type of hotel development around malls in this province that U.S. malls have. Even Columbia Mall in Grand Forks which could be called a failed mall still has several hotels surrounding it.

I don't think anything will happen soon but after decades of dinner theatre, it is hard to imagine that it will never return.

Thom Bargen Coffee Coming to Tuxedo

Tuxedo used to be a town before being absorbed into the city. It didn't have a very big commercial area but what it did have was on Corydon and had enough to support the residential area.

A Safeway and a Shopper's Drug Mart anchor a retail mall and the far end of it is Winnipeg's oldest and most resilient comedy club Rumors. 

A retail mall across the street has provided a host of services and restaurants over the years and for the most part has been fairly stable in what businesses are there. For example there has been a Perth's drycleaner there for decades. Till recently, the Tuxedo Family Restaurant was a staple but controversy over pandemic regulations likely contributed to it closing. A Winnipeg favourite George's Burgers & Subs has taken over and appears to be quite busy.

In 1992, the corner location which had been a hair salon for many years was taken over by a franchise of Grabbajabba. It was an opportunity for many in the area to buy coffee beans for their new machines at home but also a place to sit down, have a coffee, latte and the like with windows all around. Musical artists would play Fridays and Saturdays. The patio came a year later and was a popular spot for dog walkers and bikes.

Th coffee shop lasted several years before Timothy's World Coffee took over and until this year had served the community. The closure was likely disappointing to many who had gotten used to a coffee place on the corner. A Starbucks in the mall at least was still available but often fairly busy.

It must have come as a relief when Thom Bargen Coffee announced they would be taking over and adding to the three locations they already have on Kennedy, Sherbrook and further down Corydon in the Fort Rouge area. The ten year old company is truly a Winnipeg institution and the opportunity to be in a place with patio and parking as well as walkable was likely to go pass up.

It is always tough to run a restaurant business. Many have had tough times these last years. It doesn't matter if it is a franchise or someone's family place. However, we have seen a few close and a few go up in their place. Some areas such as downtown still struggle as they cope with lost customers who no longer live or work in the area. Foot traffic has dried up in many years. Some from endless construction, bike paths on their street that block easier access and crime.

The Tuxedo Mall across has had a makeover in the last few years for its facade as well as the Safeway. The Shell station is gone in favour of an apartment building going up. The parking lot is always filled. This is an important thing to note. The area has always been a mix of recreation, residential, commercial and retail. Vacancies come up from time to time but this particular area has been resilient. 

Thom Bargen should have good success in Tuxedo. And not just because of wealthy customers but because the area draws people every day for everything from groceries to dentists.

As 2024 progresses, we are likely to see more vacancies filled, especially within areas that have shown consistent abilities in drawing people. The more people, the more secure an area feels. And not just feels, actually is. Many stores and businesses in the Tuxedo area are open till 11 PM on most nights and early every day. 

Will this be the last expansion for Thom Bargen? Maybe yes, maybe no. With 10 employees at the new Tuxedo location and not being crazy large, this could be a template for other areas. The problem is that some of those ideal places might just have too high rent. It is a mystery why some landlords don't lower rent to get places filled.

Business announcement have been happening fairly regularly so perhaps we have started to emerge of those tough years,

Long and McQuade to Move to Polo Park Area

 

Long and McQuade, a Canadian national music store, started off pretty small for its Winnipeg location. They were the third location in Canada to open in 1971 and took over Winnipeg Piano, a city institution on Portage. Business boomed at Long and McQuade moved to Osborne the following year. By 1978, they had moved to Corydon.

My impression of Corydon was that it wasn't a big store but I was not sure how deep the store went or if it included a basement. One thing is clear is that the move to Stafford was one of constant expansion as they took over large swaths of the old Videon building in 1997 until there was little left that they didn't operate from. The move to Pembina Highway was a purpose-built store of 25,000 square feet in 2016. 

There are three locations in the city now at Wall Street, Henderson Highway and Pembina Highway. It is the Wall Street location that is moving to Polo Park because there is very little room to expand at their present location. At one point there was a very music shops all along Portage and Wall Street but pretty much the only one left is St. John's Music. The Pembina location boasted it had the largest curved wall of guitars in the world. At 400 guitars, they might be right.

The old Wall Street location used to be Gorden Price/Mother's Music and became a Long and McQuade in 1993 and full renovation in 2014. Mother's Music used to be right across from University of Winnipeg in the 1980s.

The Henderson Highway location is fairly new at 2019. It was a former location of River City Sports. Henderson Highway is filled with music stores.

The location for the relocated Wall Street/Polo Park location is on Ellice just east of Empress Street. It is a multi-million purchase of the whole 9 acres and 120,000 square foot building where Long and McQuade will occupy 50,000 square feet of what is presently Bianca Amor's Liquidation Supercentre.

In 2007, the whole complex was purchased by Cabela from Sidney I. Robinson who used to operate S.I.R. Warehouse, a business not dissimilar to Cabela's. Prior to that, the building was used by MTS for their fleet vehicles. 

Much of the area around Polo Park was industrial right up to the 1980s.

For those wondering what happens to Bianca Amor's, it has found a smaller spot on St. James.

The new Long and McQuade's is modelled after Halifax and Calgary which feature a store and distribution centre. The company has quite a bit of product going from place to place and at 50,000 square feet of space, the new Polo Park location can handle that.

This is a massive investment in the city and evidence that music lessons and musical instruments are big business. There isn't a company that I know of quite as coast to coast in their field as Long and McQuade.  An employee increase for the people hired for the distribution centre and for music lessons is guaranteed. Total numbers are not known. And of course, the construction and millions spent will help the economy here in 2024.

John Sauder Retires from CBC Broadcasting

For nearly 40 years John Sauder has been a broadcasting legend in Winnipeg. For many, his introduction came as Captain John in the KY 58 traffic reports from 1984 to 1994 from his Cessna. Pretty much every other radio station would listen in and use his information in their own traffic reports. As Sauder tells it, he didn't know he would be the one making the radio reports. He had thought he'd be just flying.

It is worth noting that when budget cuts ended the air traffic reports, there were no air reports for many years. Most cities in Canada, if they do have air traffic reports, use a company that that flies helicopters and supplies the report. I don't believe we have had that in place for a number of years now.

Sauder's personality came out in his reports and they were by far the most accurate and up to date reports on car traffic in the city. Think it made people think we were now big enough to have these type of reports. We'd all seen the chopper reports from the U.S. and although we didn't really have highways in the city, any tips to avoid the trains was more than welcome.

The end of air traffic reports must have left Sauder not knowing what to do next but he ended up at CKY doing weather reports for a number of years and that became permanent full time in 2000. He also got his meteorology credentials which cemented his reputation for forecasts.

It was in 2007, after so many years of radio and TV broadcasting at CKY/CTV, he went to CBC and it is there after 39 years he announced his retirement in 2024. Not entirely sure who is replacement is or if there will be one. Newscasts in Canada are almost all going to one anchor only. They have dropped their second anchors, sportcaster and in many cases weather reporter.

Say what you will about U.S. local broadcasts but they generally have two anchors, a dedicated sports reporter and often a meteorologist. U.S. stations take weather forecasting seriously. We don't seem to have nearly the trained broadcasters in this area as would seem warranted. One would hope that we have not seen the last meteorologist to work in broadcasting in Winnipeg.

John Sauder was dedicated local broadcaster who took his specialty roles seriously whether it was traffic or weather and he attained the credentials to do the work  while being personable and community minded. He will be missed on the air.

Fit 4 Less St. James Opens Soon

Fit 4 Less is indeed part of Goodlife Fitness but it is the discount arm for the company and membership is not interchangeable. Unlike Goodlife, Fit 4 Less offers more limited staff hours, no classes and trainers and only a few amenities like tanning, massage chairs and hydro beds. It is open 24 hours with a card pass but showers are closed when no staff are around.

The pandemic was not kind to the fitness industry. Many Snap and Anytime Fitness Clubs were closed permanently. Many Goodlife Fitness locations were slow to re-open or complete their building. Some of their locations closed as well or were changes to Fit 4 Less.

The St. James location will bring the the number of Fit 4 Less in Winnipeg to three locations. One of the more prominent locations of the company is at St. Vital Mall.

Since the pandemic many new apartment buildings have been adding amenities such a fitness centres but plenty of places still don't have them nor maintain them if they do. And few offer 24 hour service. In other words: There is a need for them across Canada. 

The grocery locations for Goodlife have served them well over the decades. But the big premium locations often stand alone. The old Goodlife on Kenaston is about to become a gym again. No word on the new name but will report when more is known.

The gyms re-opening and new ones coming is a sign the pandemic is being put behind many people. However, make no mistake it changed the industry. Reserving a group exercise spot and not crowding space remains in place. It changed some people's workouts to home units as well. But for the most part, gyms are coming back. It it still an open question if we see a bunch of Snap and Anytime Fitness places to pop up all over again.

As for St. James: Have we see the last of the Goodlifes in the region? I'd say no. Expect something bigger coming.

Downtown Recovery in 2024?

It takes forever to get development projects going in Winnipeg.  Zoning seems to be only one thing that holds it all up. In the case of the demolished Civic Parkade and Public Safety Building, it has been a long while. The primary reason is that most of the land had a public mandate when it was originally donated. This was likely missed by those who thought they could make a quick sale to private owners in one of those proposal walked onto council floor.

The pandemic crushed foot traffic downtown and despite a return by some businesses back to the office, some workers have remained at home or do a work hybrid. A number of apartment buildings have gone up including the tallest building in Winnipeg. This is a good development and has led to a rejuvenation of Winnipeg Square with Earl's, Goodlife and OEM opening. A few other apartments have opened in the last year but the slow return of workers downtown has meant street life is still not where it was in 2019.

Several announcements of projects for 2024 should help kick off a new wave of investment. Portage Place, The Bay and the Market Lands project all look to have start times in the new year. The Market Lands work looks to start the soonest beside City Hall. Every project has a housing component to it. This is good because the days of retail, commercial and residential of the last decades is disappearing. 

The Seasons of Tuxedo lands are almost complete as a mixed development. Polo Park has gotten approval to go in the same direction so there should be a number of proposals coming soon. One apartment is already working its way though the zoning maze at City Hall. Using the existing infrastructure of roads and utilities is one effective way of cost management for a city. Sadly, the history of Winnipeg has been sprawl which has increasingly led to unsustainable costs.

The various levels of government can't support ultra low density areas with road infrastructure that involves long commutes from where people live to where they work. Already in Winnipeg, we see those who live outside the city come in only to be choked in traffic along some of the main corridors. Adding lanes to Kenaston probably won't help given the building of residential outside the city as well as future Kapyong work coming in 2024.

The bus service is supposed to get a security team because staff and transit users don't feel safe. This is absolutely essential. Even those who sympathize for those who are homelessness and have addictions, it is awful to navigate personal safety red flags. The fears are not unjustified. You only have to have something happen once and it can change your behaviour forever. Presuming, you can walk away from whatever happened.

There are so many aspects of rehabilitation for a city and as many ways for it to all turn bad. Winnipeg's problems are not unique. We were modestly successful in 2019 with a list of economic and social achievements that gave many confidence. The pandemic, drug issues and loss of so much housing has us and much of the continent on its back foot.

The federal government walked away from having a housing minister in the 1970s. They funded provincial governments as it was mainly their responsibility to determine their housing needs. Cutbacks from both federal and provincial governments and restrictive zoning from municipalities have seen multi-unit housing disappear when the need has never been greater.

Single detached housing or one or two bedroom luxury apartments are not the only type of housing that should be approved and built. And yet, that is what has happened. Even downtown much of the new apartment housing has been high priced rentals and condos. While this has helped raised the population in certain areas such as Assiniboine Avenue as well as Waterfront Drive, there has been a loss of some affordable housing that has been torn down or burnt down.

The lack of connectivity makes downtown development difficult. And no, a skywalk isn't the answer if the street level is devoid of life. The construction of the arena has been only one part of bringing activity to Portage Avenue. The True North people through the Chipmans and Thomsons have been good at adding components supporting an entertainment district. As with most things, such as The Forks, it takes quite a while to put the parts together. And there can be setbacks as well.

For The Forks it has been piece by piece and largely successful although the next years of reaching financial self sufficiently will be critical. It has to be commercially as well as socially successful. Security has to be a priority. And it has to connect various areas of the city with things like the walkways, ice paths, Forks to downtown, to St. Boniface and elsewhere. It does quite a bit of that now but once the last section across from Human Rights Museum is filled, it will be interesting if a focus will be reclaim the spaces along Main Street.

Wab Kinew has said that Portage and Main is not a priority for him and his new government into 2024. It remains to be seen what the Manitoba Metis Friendship Centre might think of that as they spend $33 million renovating the Bank of Montreal building they acquired in 2020. Access to it was one of their key goals. The Richardsons are already closing the dangerous Concourse access outside their building. What will be done with the one outside the MMF building?

Their purchase of the Wawanesa headquarters on Broadway and the $14 million boutique hotel project at 280 Fort Street in the former Carleton Club/yoga studio location all point to a downtown strategy by the MMF. The high profile MMF presence in the old Manitoba Sports Federation building and their Christmas lights display showcase is part of the $86.5 million spent in downtown Winnipeg over the years. 

As mentioned earlier, connecting one area to another is as important as the bridges throughout Winnipeg have been historically. The bridges from Winnipeg to St. Boniface were fundamental to commercial, residential and industrial development in the city. Rail, car and pedestrian/bike bridges have been a boon to the city. 

Likewise, when the East Yards relocated to Symington, The Forks created access to the Red and Assiniboine Rivers which connected the city to the water in a way that outlasted the big riverboats. The river walkways are used all year round and the skating trail has become a huge connector of citizens to neighborhoods all along the rivers.

The city has attempted to connect the city with bike paths but the lack of consultation has been ham-handed, disruptive and under utilized in a lot of cases. For every successful bike path such as long Sherbrook Street, the city puts up ones in the Exchange Area and Assiniboine Avenue that literally are dangerous to people crossing Main Street and have caused problems for many businesses along their routes. It doesn't have to be this way as demonstrated by Sherbrook.

Most people don't like the huge gaps in neighbourhoods. Downtown along certain streets has surface parking lots for blocks. While this might seem great when attending for work and attending a Jets game/concert, it isn't all that ideal when considering a restaurant, shop or even a safe place from the wind when walking three blocks. It certainly isn't welcome at night when being all alone walking to a car does not feel all that secure. 

Since 2010, the Winnipeg Jets have been a consistent draw of thousands of people several times a month. Add to that thousands from Moose games and concerts. The Jets owners add to the entertainment district every few years with things such as event centre for travelling shows, the development across the street that put the Alt Hotel, some restaurants, a condo and parkade in close proximity. And in recent years, the True North Square which continues with the hotel and condo component which has been painfully slow in building. Initially, the hotel was to be completed in 2021 but now it is 2025.

That is a lot of years of a street that is very difficult to walk down as construction has lasted years. Much of St. Mary's Avenue was miserable to travel down for all year. It is hard for other businesses to survive when construction is several years in the offing. Even worse when it is the city working on roads with no end in sight.

Portage and Main construction has been going on for some time too. Some time in 2024, it should be open for your choice of 529 or Hy's opposite each other. Earl's is a lot closer to the corner as well and with construction finally over this year, more foot traffic ought to find its way to their doors. The old Earls became Friskee's but has since closed. It still seems an obvious choice for a Moxies or Joeys.

There are a lot of empty storefronts all over the city but downtown has gotten pretty bad. The BIZ groups are trying to set up pop-ups which helps but it could be the landlords really need to move on price. It can't be very encouraging to have a place that remains empty stretching into years. However, sometimes one wonders if the goal is let it fall so much into disrepair that it can be turned into a parking lot.

As more businesses see a return of workers to offices and more housing gets built, retail and restaurants see opportunities close to where people are gathering. Innovative ideas such as a skateboard park at Portage Place or a festival/concert area can also generate traffic. The crux of things has been that foot traffic has been so low that it generates very little business and the less people, the less secure an area is.

Not surprisingly, the downtown areas that have schools, colleges and universities are areas that often have more vitality than spots where students are not present. Bus route locations used to prized but with security issues and homeless use of shelters it has been a challenge. It will be interesting to see if the new security service on board will mitigate the concerns that passengers and drivers have felt over the last years. The entire city depends on getting a handle on this because there will be rising numbers of people who will not have access to a car or who wish to use public transit.

As mentioned, Winnipeg is not the only place around the world trying to figure out how to navigate in a post-pandemic world in terms of cities. Every city seems to be having some angst about empty storefronts, closing music venues, troubled transit systems, crime, addictions and mental health. Housing is on the mind of every community whether it is downtown, suburbs or in the country. 

A recovery cannot really take off unless the business community is involved and we still have tentative investment as growth flags due to inflation worries. There is some evidence that it is coming down and we may have seen an end to aggressive interest rate increases. If this is the case, we should see more housing go up and this remains the most critical area of need in the country. We won't see huge office towers and more malls get built. It will generally have a housing component. For many developer this might be to enhance properties they already own and have a development on such as Polo Park or Winnipeg Square. This is the best bet for development of Portage Place.

We should see some work as early as January in the downtown but it will be some time before we some real progress in recovery.