Travel to North Dakota/Minnesota

The absence of Canadians is being noticed in North Dakota. A column this past weekend in the Fargo Forum lamented the loss. However, there was a war of words between liberal and conservative commenters after. Some indicated Canada was getting what they deserved and that it didn't matter what we did and it had no impact. There were others though that talked about the longstanding relationship being trashed.

To our friends in the U.S., it should be said that, most Canadians have responded with hurt and anger. Most of the trade that passes between the two countries has no tariffs. However, some items in both countries are protected by quotas. In the U.S. it is sugar and in Canada, it is milk. There is room for negotiation but accusations that Canada is a main source for fentanyl headed to the U.S. is a fiction shown clearly from America's own numbers. 

Ever since the election of Trump, Canadians have re-thought their travel and investment in the U.S. for winter housing, business and the like. Smooth travel across the border is always a concern. No one wants to be stopped at the border when they cross. Being asked questions about whether you support Trump and the answer dependent on if you cross is not exactly what anyone wants to hear. Also, knowing that any and all your electronic devices can be searched is enough to discourage people. What if you have business materials that you don't want your competitors to know on pricing, specifications and so on? Does this get passed along to U.S. business? You don't have any rights when you cross as a Canadian. You can be denied for whatever reason. In the past, this was not nearly as aggressive as it is now. Being denied entry because you brought a pre-paid phone instead of your regular phone has happened as well.

Crossing at Winnipeg International Airport or through North Dakota and Minnesota crossings seems to be less of an issue than at other crossings in Canada. Perhaps, those entry points are different than others but who can say? Regardless, traffic is down by a significant margin at those crossings. It isn't just the value of Canadian dollar either. People continued travelling to the States when the dollar was much lower. No, the problem now runs much deeper. Many are choosing not to go because of deeply felt convictions that it is wrong when Canadian sovereignty is threatened.

State and federal officials from the U.S. have appealed to Canada to return as tourists and encourage trade. Many have come to Canada to make their pitch. The thing is that a discount or appreciative banners on streets saying: we love Canadians is not going to remove the fear of border crossings or feelings in regards to 51st state talk. It is a question of respect. It may be that we are in for an even rougher road ahead. The full free trade act comes up for renewal next year.

Every long weekend since the beginning of the year, the car traffic to North Dakota and Minnesota has dropped. It will likely not completely die off. Too many Canadians have family in the U.S., or kids in school, work, conferences, winter homes that they have owned for years or holidays planned for a very long time. All of that will continue. Not to mention it will be hard to keep Canadians from wanting to see Team Canada in the Los Angeles Olympics, of soccer's World Cup in 2026. This applies to Blue Jays game and playoffs and NHL teams over the next months.

It is likely though that many Canadians will limit their travel or spending plans in the U.S. for some time to come unless there is a dramatic de-escalation of tariffs, tensions and other irritants. So states like North Dakota and Minnesota will likely still see reductions in Canadian travel and that could be more pronounced in the weeks and months ahead.

For the U.S., it is probably not just Canadian travellers who are absent this year but so far the overall decline is listed as 30% below last year's levels. From all tourism that is a $30 billion hit. There is no evidence that this is changing. Canadian tourism is up 30% as more in Canada have travelled elsewhere in the country.

America First is looking more like America alone. And Trump says this is only the beginning.

Trees in Winnipeg

Along any of the three rivers through Winnipeg, the trees are thick and the temperature cooler than the open areas beyond. It is probably no wonder why the city grew up around the rivers. It was sanctuary. However, in the founding of the city. it seemed like every tree was felled to build the one or, at most, two floor structures that stood across massively wide unpaved streets. It looked muddy and hot or snowy and hot. Even at the The Forks, is became an industrial section of railway station and yard.

Portage and Main was devoid of trees. It was just mud and unpaved roads. Even for the commenters who see old pictures of Winnipeg, few say how nice it was back then. It isn't an image that inspires nostalgia. It looked like hard living times and it was. 

It should come as no surprise that the inhabitants of the city didn't want to be mud covered and devoid of any shade or wind cover. Streets were paved, sidewalks put in and trees planted. The trees were not an option. Every residential street in the city had trees planted and cared for. This may have been the influence of the Arbour Day movement that originated in North America in Nebraska in 1872. The timing is important because so much commerce was people going back and forth along the rivers and trails north and south. By 1883, Canadian politicians led the charge in Canada to ensure children were given seedlings to plant and beautify school grounds.

If there was once flaw in the planting, it was the lack of diversity in the trees. Many elm, green ash and maple were planted. And while they turned into one of the best canopy forests on the continent, they were vulnerable to diseases such as Dutch elm disease and ash borer beetles. Even chokecherry trees have been blighted in Linden Woods. Toronto planted far more diversity over the decades and it has helped them avoid what Winnipeg has gone through. Still, even in Toronto, it is a battle to keep the large trees going even as age, disease or terrible weather takes their toll. Experts in Toronto are harvesting seeds from the large trees to re-fill the canopy in the city.

Winnipeg now has a non-profit dedicated to trees and schools and communities have embraced the program of planting trees. Our family has donated 150 trees to the Winnipeg School Division. It is good to see schools each plant trees. Many schools have lost trees to disease and some really have never had that much in the way of greenery to begin with.

It might be of interest that the city keeps a record of every tree in Winnipeg on property they maintain. Each tree is identified by location and type. This type of record keeping helps keep a number of trees removed with trees added and the city in the last year has fared much better on replacing trees. There are still years to catch up.

A federal program is being utilized to plant around 600 trees in Assiniboine Park. Some died there from disease, others from building infrastructure. Regardless, the park needs to replace trees. This isn't the only city park that needs love. All the parks have had tree loss with no replacement in most years.

The loss of trees extends to private property as well. Disease, storm damage and age have killed off a lot of trees. Some people have been encouraged by the trees programming that they have bought trees for their yards. However, there are just as many who have cleared their entire yards in favour of vast lawns. Some of the new neighbourhoods can be absolutely oppressive for heat. Trees along city sections of the land, parks and schools are often the few areas where shade can be found.

It has to be mentioned that Manitoba Hydro lines, salt from road, collisions with the vehicles, beavers and vandalism also contribute to tree loss. Hydro lines down Portage Avenue West means it is devoid of trees. The rest of Portage produces so much salt that it kills trees. It is a long depressing tree-free ride along Portage Avenue. The only saving grace is the beautiful flower boxes along the street.

In the past, cities and provinces found that in budgetary cuts it was easiest to cut the forestry budget. Diseased trees overtook that complacent attitude. As for forests, the multiple years of fires shows forest management, fire prevention and fire suppression can't be kicked down the road. The results can be far more costly. Manitoba right now is purchasing water bombers. However, they are now far back on the list of when new planes will be ready. Many countries are now buying them and Canadian provinces like Manitoba have to wait till fill their order.

The one piece of good news is that there seem to be a significant movement to plant trees to replace what has been lost and to actually plant in new areas such as private land, schools and parks. The beauty, shade and carbon storage of today's urban trees started because people with far less than what we have made it a priority to plant trees and plan parks. It is comforting to know that more effort has been made to create a new healthy greenery in the city of Winnipeg.

Banjo Bowl Saskatchewan Roughriders Car Smash

For the fundraiser for KidSport for 6 PM Saturday after the Banjo Bowl.

Donated from River City Ford.

Behind Underdogs restaurant on Portage Avenue.

The Return of Zellers to Winnipeg

Zellers keeps trying to make a comeback. After the closure of The Bay where Zellers pop-ups were thought to make the department store relevant again, it seemed we'd seen the last the last of attempts to revive the brand. In the 1990s, Zellers numbered 350 stores across Canada. By the time Target came in and bought 220 Zellers, it left and orphaned and unwanted 70 locations that began slowly closing until there was none. As for Target, it was only a few shorts years in Canada and they retreated back across the border. All the old locations now have different stores in them.

As The Bay struggled in post-Covid times, Zellers was brought in to help the store sales with a wave of nostalgia and product lines. However, the American owner of HBC had pretty much sold most things of value and so the oldest company in Canada was liquidated including the Zellers popups in Bay stores across Canada.

In receivership, leases and namesakes and anything of value are being sold off with oversight by the court. Canadian Tire bought The Bay name and key intellectual property for around $30 million. It is believed that they open parts of the business under The Bay name and sell things like Hudson Bay blankets.

But no one knew what was to come of Zellers. No mention was made whether it's name or intellectual property was sold. Now we know the answer. It was. A group associated with retailer Fairweather. The details on the new Zellers are few. It is in Edmonton's Londonderry Mall and around 60,000 square feet. But whether it has a grill, carries certain products and the like is a mystery.

The word is though that the new Zellers is looking at Winnipeg but it unknown whether it will go to St. Vital or Polo Park or neither. A credible owner now has control over Zellers. A lot of eyes will be on the new Edmonton location to see if it will be turning up in Winnipeg in 2026.

Bath Depot Now Open Regent West

In mid August Bath Depot opened their first prairie location on Regent Avenue West. It is the 48th location for the Quebec-based retailer founded by four brothers in 2008. The whole family had plumbing experience but wanted to bring under one rood manufacturing, distribution and retailing of bathroom items.

The goal of the family business was to be a box store and boutique but to keep prices reasonable. With tariff problems being what they are, it makes more sense than ever to have manufacturing and supply chain tied into a Canadian closed loop.

As the first venture into the prairies. Bath Depot is straying from the denser population of central Canada. However, the reward is a stronger west economy and becoming a true national retailer. There is probably room to challenge retailers such as Home Depot and Rona.

Some Canadian retailer have managed to do very well in Canada. There is likely room for more stores beyond 1530 Regent. There are opportunities in south, north and west Winnipeg still. Initially, it might be contractors who discover this store and then a wider audience will start to pay attention. Expect to see more stores soon.

The Federal NDP Convention in Winnipeg March 2026

In the last federal election, the NDP was reduced to seven seats with their leader Jagmeet Singh losing his seat in British Columbia. He has subsequently stepped down and an interim leader has been chosen. The party has arranged a national leadership convention set for Winnipeg on March 29 of 2026. Only a very few have indicated their possible interest. The vetting process has to be satisfied and $100,000 entry fee paid in four payments must be paid to run. The maximum amount to spend on the campaign is $1,500,000.

So far only two potential candidate have announced they will run once vetting is over. The new people are Avi Lewis and Heather McPherson. Presently, both are in the west. Since 2019, Heather McPherson has been a NDP MP in Edmonton. Lewis is NDP royalty with both his father, grandfather and even great grandfather connected to the labour movement and the NDP. He is working as a professor at UBC in Vancouver. Lewis is known to many Canadians as a former journalist for the CBC who is married to Naomi Klein. McPherson has been a resilient member of the NDP opposition and supportive of the oil industry. Her past work was with a social agency in Alberta focused on international development.

There are sure to be other candidates but plenty of people have passed including people like Wab Kinew. It seems unlikely that a powerful new premier wants to lead a party where he spends a lot of time in opposition with possibly no chance to be prime minister. The B.C. premier also rejected the chance to run. It is a job that may have no real upside for many years. Even Kinew, had to serve in opposition for 8 years, 9 as a MLA, before becoming premier in Manitoba. For Eby, it was a decade in opposition, three as leader before becoming premier.

Any new leader of the NDP had better be realistic that they might need to go thought at least two and maybe three election cycles. And even then, it might only be to be the third or fourth party. In a minority government, the NDP had more power than they had had in decades. Singh gave a list to the Liberals and a lot of the agenda was adopted. But for what? For the NDP to wiped off the board next election? Sadly, this has been the pattern for decades for those who support a minority government. It nearly never results in a win in first past the post elections.

And while the NDP federally wants proportional representation, the provincial NDP in the west don't want anything to do with it lest it see Liberals get more seats. What good for the goose is good for the gander. Can't really promote it federally and not want to talk about it provincially.

The choice to have the leadership convention in Winnipeg makes sense. The provinces with NDP governments are in B.C. and Manitoba. Surprisingly, Vancouver has only hosted one leadership convention in party history. The convention in Winnipeg likely makes the city the most frequent NDP convention site ever used. In a way that makes sense. It has generally been safe territory for NDP provincially and federally for years. The federal party will be able to get the warm support from their provincial counterparts. Wab Kinew is a likely prominent speaker. This week he is a prominent speaker for the Assembly of First Nations convention in Winnipeg.

The NDP is likely to have a very important debate about the directions of the party. The Socialist wing wants to defund the military, recognize Palestine and end the oil industry. The centrist part of the federal party is far more pragmatic. One can argue that the more dogmatic aspects of the Manitoba NDP were suppressed to attract Liberal votes to win the election. Most times Kinew will avoid the former pitfalls that befall NDPers such as being anti-military, anti-Jewish or anti-business. He still can't resist being hyper-partisan on the provincial front and that might be his Achilles heel.

The NDP would very much like to displace the Liberals federally as they have in the west and rarely done elsewhere, including federally. The problem for the NDP is they need to court Liberal or centrist votes if they hope to win office regularly. It seems most times they don't want to do that and push further left which alienates the party and keeps them from being the brokerage party the federal Liberals are.

The Winnipeg convention will be a battle for the future of the party. Is it a movement or a political player ready to govern? That is the question. Regardless, it might be possible the next general election comes in the new year as it still a minority government. It will really only take two parties to vote together to bring the Carney government. With that in mind, the NDP needs to formulate policies and recruit candidates to, at the very least, try to get party status and a leader in the Commons to represent the party.

And what of the Manitoba influence on what is to come of the federal NDP? I suspect that it will be a lot. The people coming to the convention will hoping their provincial counterparts will give them a masterclass in how to win elections and what policies might be winning ones and what policies will be losers for them. They will also get an education on how to build a leader. There is a time expiry for leaders and policies. The federal NDP and Conservatives have been less adaptable than Liberals. It might annoy the other parties but the Liberal pivot was breathtaking. However, it wouldn't have been possible if the public didn't want to go there.

Expect some fire at the convention but it should be interesting to see how Manitoba influences it all.

Modern Ambition/Mondetta Coming to True North Square

 

Mondetta has been a fashion brand based out of Winnipeg Winnipeg since the 1980s. Their flag-based shirts and jackets have been a staple for years although they a number of different brands that they sell. The 2014 Winter Olympics featured their clothing on the athletes. In 1995, Mondetta World Cafe opened in The Fork partnered with Danali which was founded the same years as Mondetta in 1986, That store and restaurant closed in 1995. Danali continues to be a clothing store at Kenaston and Grant and is opening a consignment store on Corydon in the fall. After Danali will be located in the former October Boutique after the former owner retired after nearly 25 years.

Over the decades Mondetta has managed to stay relevant and get their lines of fashion in various stores in Canada. The head office is in Winnipeg and the core ownership group has remained intact. It therefore seemed appropriate that their new venture would be launched in the city.

The new venture is a 1,200 square foot men's business and casual dressy aimed at Gen Z and Millennials. There are suits in the $200 to $400 range and there are some suits out there in the $5,000 to $6,0000 or higher range. Tip Top, RW&CO and Moores are the most well know places in Canada to find suits as well as rental formal wear. Aldo Formal Wear and Mallabar's are also important because men will always need some places for events like weddings, funerals and grads. For more in the pricier business suits there is Harry Rosen which has been in Winnipeg since 1986. And for local flavour and often bespoke you have Danali, Eph Apparel, Hanford Drewit and Vittorio Rossi. 

Mondetta wants something in the middle and are looking at suits in the $900 range. But they also want to create an atmosphere as seen in their supplied pictures posted here. The location chosen for this venture is True North Square at the corner of Carlton and Graham. Opening will be in the fall and it remains to be seen whether Graham's closure might affect traffic. Businesses along the former bus route have complained that customers have dropped 80 per cent. The city has said for them to be patient for when workers return after the summer break.

The choice of location for Modern Ambition at True North is an interesting one. There are a number of head offices located in the nearby towers. The Canada Life Centre is just steps away. Restaurants and retail are nearby. The Liquor Mart is on the other side of the wall along with the square itself. Mottola Grocery all features prominently.

Aside from the diverted bus traffic on Graham, the long time obstruction of construction (or lack thereof) of Sutton Place Hotel and Suites. It is now headed into 8 years of squat. The owners have said it will be this year that it is complete but that seems wishful thinking. They also said maybe 2026. Perhaps that is possible since the company's other project The Sandman Signature Hotel is complete. That one took about 5+ plus years to get done.

If indeed the hotel and apartments are completed in the next 12 months along with Chop restaurant, then Carlton would be a far more active place with people making their way down it for the hotel, restaurant and Convention Centre generating traffic. As it stands down, it is a permanent construction site. As far as security goes, try and linger in True North Square too long and watch security exit 

Mondetta has generally been ahead of the curve and finding a retail location and a format that they take across Canada. There are a lot of projects all coming on stream in the next 12 to 18 months downtown. Portage Place, The Bay and Sutton Place should be reaching completion all around the same time. Men do need suits and a place they feel comfortable buying them at. Perhaps, with even more people returning to the workplace, the downtown area will be easier and the desire to explore the area greater. And more people in the office might mean more people need suits or dressy casual. At any rate, Mondetta's Modern Ambition will be there to make it possible.

MSNBC to Become MS Now

The owner of MSNBC, like a lot of media companies, has been trying to separate their assets into what can bluntly be called legacy media and new media.  The moniker MSNBC which used to stand for MSN and NBC. The portmanteau being MSNBC. The company started as a cable news network in 1996 to replace NBC's America's Talking that lasted from 1994 to 1996. CNN had been around since 1980 by this point. Fox News was founded the same year MSNBC started. For the entire existence of the MSNBC's existence, it has relied on NBC as the backbone. This all ends this year as nearly all the cable assets are spun off from NBCUniversal into its own unit. For MSNBC, it means a new logo ands call sign. It will be MS Now. It stands for My Source for News, Opinion and the World.

Microsoft sold off their shares of the network in 2005 and the website in 2012 leaving NBCUniversal News Group a wholly owned division of NBCUniversal. And all of it, of course, owned by Comcast. In recent years, Comcast has been confronted by cord cutting in cable and has looked to organize the company so that cable would be separate from network and from streaming.

Comcast is one of the largest communications companies in the world. It is still controlled by the Roberts family in Philadelphia that own a chunk of the shares. Comcast has its headquarters in Philadelphia. The company has owned NBCUniversal and all its operations since 2013. In recent years President Trump has taken to attacking Brian Roberts for the viewpoints of MSNBC and for the removal of a controversial Republican from the station. Since 2012 though, Roberts has not donated to any party nor endorsed any of them.

MSNBC started off, much like CNN, as a straight forwards news channel. Leaning almost completely on NBC, the channel ran rolling news coverage and broadcast quite a bit of programming from the local affiliates of the main channel. Meanwhile FOX had political leanings quite early on and couldn't lean on the FOX channel for news material since there was no national broadcast. Heck, even FOX Sports had only started in 1994 so the network was building everything from the ground up. This largely came from recruiting people from other networks including their exec Roger Ailes who came from the precursor to MSNBC.

CNN has always has had their there own service which theur built from the beginning 1980. Presently, in a more polarized America, CNN has ranked third among news services but internationally, it is the gold standard and runs well. CNN also recruited from U.S. and world networks but they built their own reporting infrastructure. Many times CNN just kept rolling coverage and beat all the competitors with being present and reporting. It wasn't all punditry which has people switching off if it isn't reporting an ongoing event.

The FOX approach to all politics all the time and the flashy, eye-catching graphics changed both CNN and MSNBC to feature the same. MSNBC decides to lean towards the Democrats whereas FOX was all in for Republicans. CNN was more in the middle and as such, bled viewers to the upstart networks. No network mainstream or cable has not seen a plunge in numbers year over year. It remains to be seen whether changes by MSNBC or any anything in television will work to keep news networks functional.

The host-based programming tends to eat their own. It doesn't matter what the networks do. The days of Larry King being around for decades on CNN is unheard of today. In the constant jockeying for position comes burnout and scandal in the the various hosts. Ratings have always been important going back to the radio days. However, the levels of scandal taking down hosts, execs and the like has been rather astounding.

Not many of those hosts of shows around the time of the pandemic are around on many of the news networks today, including MSNBC. Rachel Maddow, one of the stars for years is down to one day a week. However, she is the only one to crack the top 15 shows in the ratings. The rest all belong to FOX. There are no CNN programs in the top 15. Given the decline in overall numbers and the cord-cutting, no network can be happy with their ratings if profitability keeps declining.

The changes of MSNBC to MS Now could give it the leadership and resources needed to help it be less reliant on NBC and more likely able to move to digital more fully. There are some mocking the new call sign and logo. Some of that is political mockery from Trump and his allies on the right in media. There are others legitimately questioning  using MS with it being known as a shorthand for Multiple Sclerosis. Some even thinking using NOW is questionable since so many titles include it already.  Some on the right are calling BS Now.

MSNBC probably thought they couldn't use MS+ or MS Max either with the plus and max being a frequent add on. Personally, I would have opened for The Independent which was Universal Studios original name and in keeping with the present ownership but now independent of NBC. To distinguish from the British online newspaper of same name, they could have just added a tagline such as Citizen or News or whatever.

The important thing for the new enterprise is to make the most of their new start. Subscription and digital remains the future of almost all cable television. And mainstream TV for that matter. It is hard to know what the future will be for news and broadcast in general. I should make clear that I want a variety of news options. When local news closes, it starts to limit the information coming in. I have repeated that Winnipeg is lucky to have to daily newspapers owned by Winnipeggers. We have sports and news podcasts. We have two radio stations that do regular news. We have several ethnic press and radio news. We have a national indigenous broadcaster based in the city.

Nationally, I read Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail and National Post. I watch CBC, CTV and local TV news. In the U.S, I read or watch whatever I can from FOX to CNN, I listened on Sirius XM. I read British, Australian and Israeli newspapers fairly often. I listen to news and opinion podcasts. The point is: I like a wide range of material to stay informed across the spectrum. I hope the new MS Now will be part of the conversation.

CBC Manitoba Adds Steinbach Bureau

 

Between CBC Manitoba Radio One and CBC Manitoba Television, CBC has a fairly large presence in the news department. Aside from Brandon, CBC Manitoba has a fairly light presence in covering anything outside the perimeter. The radio unit does make regular attempts to send the team to various parts of the province. And the TV unit does cover stories outside Winnipeg but the capital remains the biggest source of news material.

Brandon has had a news reporter based in the city for many years. They have needed one since their affiliation with CKX television in Brandon ended. That brought the station to an end in 2009 and CBC now had no real coverage for the second largest city in the province. A number of correspondents have worked the Brandon bureau. Their assignment is the city of Brandon and rural issues.

For decades some of the biggest advertisers on CBC Manitoba's evening news was ag related commercials. It is less so now. While CBC Radio One's Winnipeg broadcast is number 1 in the ratings, that is not true of the CBC local TV news in recent decades. It was once the top newscast but changes at the anchor desk and consistency at the other stations saw CBC slip to second and then third.

In today's market of cord cutting, as people sign on for streaming services and the like, the audience for local news goes down or appears to be on the decline. Certainly, how media reaches their audiences has changed greatly. When Bell dropped sports radio, it opened up several podcasts for former broadcasters and new entries in this niche. It is fairly shocking how pretty much all the local stations have dropped their sports reporting.

It certainly isn't written in stone that this is the best approach. Looking south to Fargo, North Dakota, we see WDAY use digital options to create a sports channel offshoot of their ABC slot dedicated to high school and university sports in the state. No media comes close to this coverage in Manitoba and North Dakota has a smaller population.

The overall CBC English and French service receives a lot of federal money. However, compared to other industrialized countries, it is below almost everyone except the U.S. The American have even cut their support more but have left the tax credits in place for people who donate to PBS and NPR.

In the last election the Conservatives said they would end CBC funding while the Liberals said they would increase spending. Since the election, Prime Minister Carney has ordered CBC to look for savings but kept the increase promised in election. All government departments have been asked to make cuts so the CBC is among those departments and Crowns. At the billion mark, there is a lot of money in the system. CBC Radio and Radio Canada, the French service punch above their weight class. They are both popular services and in the case of radio, have no advertising taken away from private broadcasters. CBC North can be regarded as an essential service given the lack of any alternatives.

The CBC English TV, with the goal of trying to serve a wider audience, the network decided to hire 30 more journalists in 22 communities. The Prairies would see the most of any region with nine communities having reporters. For Manitoba, the Steinbach/Hanover community the allocation is to be two reporters. The first one has already been hired. The second one will be soon. This will increase the coverage from 48 to 66 stations and bureaus across the country. It is long overdue.

CBC Manitoba is often accused of perimeter-itis. While it has reporters who know the outside of the city, it is not as often reflected in news. It isn't in their remit if they are reporting on city hall or the legislature. It remains to be seen how the new reporters will be utilized from Brandon to Steinbach. The Brandon reporter in recent years seems to have one digital story a week and regular contributions to the broadcast through the week. 

The CBC Manitoba evening news has a new set. The one old overlooked Portage at Spence. 

Brittany Greenslade took over as full time anchor after a period of rotating anchors when Janet Stewart left to take over the noon radio call in show for a year. While there isn't anything wrong with the new set per se, it really doesn't allow for much interaction between anchor and guest. Compared to APTN down the street, it isn't a very active set. National CBC programs have far more interesting sets for discussions which largely seem absent on CBC Manitoba.

I mention the news desk set because with two bureaus outside Winnipeg, it would be interesting at times if the Brandon or Steinbach correspondent could have a segment where they interact with the anchor. There have been occasions when correspondents have interacted in analysis segments. The Kives/Kavanaugh explainers were always interesting. Most of the interactions are now between weather anchor and new anchor. No stations carry sports reporters anymore. It is disappointing because nothing gets reported in Manitoba on high school and university sports. It isn't what happens south of the border. Nor does it happen in Britain. The BBC is full of sports coverage. That will be a discussion for another day.

The most important thing from the posting outside of Winnipeg will be new perspectives from those areas. And so it will go with all of the new bureaus. Will it magically make CBC television news number 1 in the markets it serves? No. There still needs to be a review of what CBC offers Canada. The future for CBC would appear to lie in streaming and they have moved local broadcasts to that format but so far it doesn't seem to coordinated enough to extend this service world-wide like BritBox or Acorn does with British programming.

I expect we will see more reporting from the bureaus across Canada in the fall as they are fully staffed. Given how many parts of the country have lost newspapers and radio stations, it may be the first full time reporter for those communities.

Housing and Rental Prices in Winnipeg 2025

The last couple of decades it has seemed that the prices for housing and costs for rent would increase upwards every month. In some parts of Canada, the costs have gone up around 375%. They are only now starting to go down. A lot of developers are slowing their housing starts because interest rates are still too high, uncertainty in markets and supply chain, tariffs and now immigration. 

Housing prices dipped in the downturn in the 1990s and again in the stock market crash of 2008. And for people who want to go back far enough, the 1980s had a housing collapse linked to oil prices and deep recession that had people hurt badly in Alberta. Back then, prices dropped around 30%. In Winnipeg, prices really didn't budge for years in the 1980s.

It goes to show that there isn't a constant trajectory upwards for house prices and that expecting a 10% return a month is insanity. Those buying a house now for hundreds of thousands today have to ask themselves what the value of the house might when they sell it. If it is much lower, then is going to be painful selling. The seller who is downsizing stands to win if they bought decades back. Still, buying is more expensive no matter what size place. The interest rates, the prices of houses and taxes are all contributing to this.

The Feds under Mark Carney have ended GST for new house sales capped at a rate high enough for most buyers to benefit. The accelerator fund started under Trudeau, which sends federal money to municipalities for shovel-ready projects. In Winnipeg, the program has filled not once but twice. Some of those projects are well under way now.  Affordable housing is key to those projects going forward and they just aren't provincial housing but housing owned by non-profits, churches, universities and the like.

One of things learned about developing affordable housing is that it involves all levels of government, various private, no-profit and charity groups, supply chains and financing. To make matter worse, to get any zoning done in any jurisdiction means having people say how important housing is while making it impossible to build it. 

 We have some cases in Winnipeg where it has taken decades to get stuff built even on land not occupied. There are cases like that all over the country. In some cases having to go to court for obstructions on the part of local governments. Give the shortage of housing, this seems completely irresponsible. Literally thousands of housing units have been held up for years because of council and administration bungling and deliberately sabotage.

The best way to avoid homelessness is to stop tearing down people's home or letting them burn down. And to stop evicting them for renovations and huge increases in rent they can't afford. Or to sell their building once the federal or provincial supports end and once again putting people on the streets. The goal of provincial and the federal governments has to be preserve housing rather making it unaffordable and putting people on the streets. People who are homeless now once lived somewhere. More needs to be done to stop demolitions, arsons or derelict buildings to sit idle or people on the street will accelerate further.

Even as the governments push for more housing, there has been a slow increase as of recent in home sales. Interest rates and uncertainty in the market because of what is happening south of the border are affecting thigs. But pent up demand and the needs of the population won't be denied. Job transfers, retirements, children and other life changes mean people are looking to buy and sell.

The upcoming federal budget will see the government make an effort to get the costs down on things such as GST on newly built houses. The accelerator program will continue to add deeply affordable housing. Developers will only provide it generally if government mandates and funds it. Zoning changes at the municipal level can also help in terms of where building go up and how they are built. With better fire codes you don't need two stairwells or apartments built of steel and concrete. Wood is being used over the world for high rises.

It is going to take a combination of approaches to meet the housing needs. However, the country has done this work in the past and seems committed to doing it now. It still seems painfully slow but the main thing is to keep pressing on. Part of the problem we are facing now is years and even decades of not doing anything.

New Bus Service Flixbus Coming to Manitoba

Bus service has always been a hugely important service in Manitoba and across Canada. Even with all the choices for transportation out there, most developed nations have bus service of some kind within cities and between cities and communities. In 2021, Greyhound and Grey Goose bus lines stopped running in Canada. 

A few companies tried to fill the gap with varying degrees of success. Brandon and Dauphin already have had airport and appointment shuttles since 1997. The Brandon-based family business has slick mini-vans that can be seen regularly in the city of Winnipeg headed to the airport and beyond. As good as they are, they are not a coach bus doing a regular route back and forth at a reasonable rate.

Thompson has had a few bus services set up for Thompson to Winnipeg and has had varying degrees of success. Difficulties in bus comfort in terms of heating have been mentioned in the past. It is not easy to run a bus service in Manitoba. However, there is good reason to have it.

Anyone going to the airport doesn't want to necessarily park in long term parking for two weeks although many do and appreciate that option. It is probably easier if there is a regular bus one can catch and take to the airport in comfort. It is doubly worse for people who have to come in for medical appointments. No one, and I mean no one, wants to park all day at the hospital regularly?

Greyhound went under in Canada in 2021. Ridership was down and the pandemic kicked them to the curb after many decades in business. There was no obvious competitor in much of the country to take over. In Manitoba, there had already been supports in place by the government for smaller communities. In the end, it was not enough.

There are really not enough options for a coach bus throughout the province. Rider Express has one stop here with routes across the country. However, the stop is at the Southdale Mall. Not exactly central. It is hard to find any service that uses a central or airport location for a stop.

The Greyhound name got scooped in 2021 up by the big German Flixbus that began operations in Canada in 2022 with three provinces. Manitoba is now going to be the next province to see bus routes added. The result will likely be routes that connect Winnipeg and Brandon and go beyond to the Saskatchewan border. The route east through Kenora and on to Thunder Bay would likely next. 

The key to Flixbus's success has been hiring local expertise, routing through airports, bus depots and train stations and keeping prices affordable but not building, owning or managing infrastructure like Greyhound did. The goal is to set up routes where air travel is not practical or cost effective and where car travel is inconvenient such as flying home and the last leg being a bus ride a few hours away.

Flixbus and others like it are helpful after the crushing blow of losing decades long service. It gets worse as the population ages. My seniors just might not be able to drive to go visit their kids or grandkids. An affordable bus from places like Dauphin or Brandon or Steinbach or Kenora might be perfect. There will be many communities still left out. And worse, the cargo trailers that Greyhound towed have not made a comeback. However, maybe this is the start of something new for buses in Manitoba.

How to Make Health Sciences Centre Safer

I have written about Health Sciences Centre a few times. It is the oldest and largest hospital in Winnipeg covering 39 acres and 800 medical beds. In 2023, an announcement of a $1.5 billion upgrade was made. All of this will mean nothing if the hospital can't recruit nurses who don't feel protected inside and outside the property. This is happening all over North America. Here in Manitoba, the violence is in a lot of hospitals but HSC and Dauphin get mentioned the most. Five sexual assaults in one day on staff and visitors should have brought a full court press. It didn't.

Nurses are voting with their feet. Sadly, patients don't have that option. While some people have sympathy for those who are in need for mental health, hunger, injuries and addictions, it does not mean tolerance for rape and murder. It doesn't mean rampant assault, arson and theft are something we just have to accept because these are crimes from people trying to survive.

The nurses "grey-listing" of the hospital is not some racist response from some colonialists on stolen land who target poor people for being poor. These are public servants providing service to everyone who are risking their personal safety. As for all the other people coming to the area for service, they shouldn't have to fear for their personal safety and property at every step of the way inside and out of the the building.

There IS security at HSC and there seems to be police in the building regularly. However, Five assaults in several minutes is just over the top. And there is violence and thefts non-stop. The parkades, the tunnels, the waiting areas, the streets nearby, the wards and the public areas are all potential attack spots. The provincial government has to stop looking dumbfounded at what to do.

To combat the violence, every entrance has to have screening for weapons and controlled access to the building. No more unmonitored entrances. There has to be better lighting on the outside, foot patrols, video cameras and panic alarms. The staff need swipe cards for tunnels and staff areas. There shouldn't be anyone without ID lanyards with their pictures on it. Even this may not be enough. It could come down to having to register to enter the hospital. Either ID or sign in of some sort. There will be complaints about this but is the Manitoba Legislature any different? You cannot drive onto the grounds without being vetted by security. You can't enter the building without another layer of security and cameras and panic buttons are in every office.

The hospital cannot continue to function like this. Or any hospital for that matter. The law for assaults on medical, emergency and allied health workers has to make it clear that there are consequences. Releasing people who assault people on the front lines results in many not wanting to take those jobs. The legal response has to be firm or people vote with their feet. And they are. Moreover, the provincial government can't slough this off as a local hospital issue or a city issue.

There are some pundits blaming the government for lack of police or attention to security. They need to check their own lack of response when they had power or those they supported had power. This is an issue that has grown worse. And much like how the government eventually had to respond to liquor store robberies, the province has to protect the hospitals and quickly. It took some time until they protected the liquor stores. It was only when staff were brazenly assaulted and it was captured on video that the government moved with haste.

Given the amount of staff at HSC, it makes sense they have an alert call that goes out to all staff when an emergency happens. They are already keyed to alerts such as heart attacks, why not for intruder, sexual assault or shelter in place? The attack on the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta this week should put the issue in sharp focus. A police officer died protecting the public.

While much can be done inside the buildings to ensure safety, it is probably better to think of the entire HSC as one campus. The federal virology laboratory just down the street takes security seriously. The entire facility is fenced in. No one from the street is wandering in. The Microbiology lab is a level 4 containment facility with no patients but even their parking lot if fenced in. The biggest security threat there has been espionage when two Chinese spies were escorted out by the RCMP.

Could HSC be fenced in? The answer is yes. Every street into the campus could have checks for both vehicles and pedestrians. A bigger conversation about what entrances to close and a safety audit has to be conducted. There is just far too many ways for people to enter the hospital area with ill intentions. 

There are examples of road closures already at HSC. Bannatyne is not continuous through the campus as McDermot is. It begs the question about whether McDermot might be next to close and serve for hospital as well as University of Manitoba use. Even if the roads are not built over, controlled access to the campus can happen at every road and sidewalk. These are drastic measures but HSC is a massive complex with too many entrances and unique security concerns. 

Making HSC a fort like the virology lab is not really possible given how many people in and out each day. It also likely that those outside any fencing would still face trouble from assault, robbery and other crime as they made their way in and out of the hospital or had business in the area. The police have to be part of the process of making things safer in the area. Safe walks, cameras and the like will only go far and won't even cut it with gang activity, organized car theft or intent to harm.

A lot of work has to be done. Hopefully, the government is still not on vacation. This issue is not on holiday. Haste is required.

 

Cricket Fields Open at LaBarriere Park

 

LaBarriere Park is outside city limits but is a city of Winnipeg park. It is a legacy of Metro Winnipeg acquired park space they deemed important to the history of the region. There was no Unicity at the time. That didn't come until 1972 and the city of Winnipeg simply took ownership of LaBarriere and that continues to this day.

The park was set side to honor Louis Riel who had set up a barrier on the Pembina Trail in 1869 to stop envoy William McDougal from the east entry to the Red River Settlement. The Metis controlled much of the territory and would not roll over to the imminent transfer of Rupert's Land from the Hudson Bay Company to Canada. 

Preventing McDougal from getting to Fort Garry meant the government of Canada had to negotiate with the Metis. The stance meant that Manitoba came into confederation in 1870 as a province of Canada. As old as Riel's struggle in Manitoba is, it is not older than the cricket in the province.

The North-West Cricket Club began in 1864 making it one of the oldest organized sports in Canada. It would seem only fitting that cricketers would have cricket fields established in such an historic park. As perhaps the fastest growing sport in the province, the desire to build more sports facilities was paramount. Prior to 2018, the best known pitch to play on was on the south lawn in front of the pavilion at Assiniboine Park. A few other pitches were also in the city nut with ever growing interest, the need for an actual facility grew.

Players from the Carribbean, Indian and other communities were held back by the availability of land and the costs to build. With only nine pitches, most not regulation size, players were left trying to do what they could, where they could. The Manitoba Cricket Association had about 2000 players to figure out how to schedules for and find facilities. To make matters worse, the Assiniboine Park pitch was undergoing upgrading so the need was even greater.

Meanwhile, LaBarriere Park was sitting at the end of Waverley often neglected. The low lying bridge across the LaSalle was under water a lot of the time till finally there was no choice but to replace it. The washrooms were falling apart. They were locked overnight in favour of outhouses. The parking lot was always problematic for break-ins. And if those happened, you had to call the RCMP because the park was outside city limits. The former Park Police and later security were only responsible for locking and unlocking the gates. 

The house outside the park and just in front of the city owned Camp Amisk was the park caretakers house. Yes, indeed, the city rented a house for an onsite park caretaker. The city has upwards of five to six staff assigned to the park 7 days a week from spring to fall and the park caretaker the rest of the years plus regular snow removal. While there are washrooms, for years in winter the pit toilets were in use. Camp Amisk itself was pit toilet and still is to my knowledge.

At just under 350 acres inside the dike but just outside city limits, the park didn't get the same love that Kildonan and Assiniboine did. No conservatory for LaBarriere. No flower gardens. Just natural river bottom forest stretching out along the LaSalle River. A few picnic areas that can be booked as well as a couple of baseball fields. Back in the 1980s, Eaton's and Sears would have their company picnics and softball games on and it attracted thousands. There were real battles between the two defunct department stores as the baseball diamonds were first come, first serve.

As the city began to allocate less and less attention to some parks such as LaBarrier. Other parks were getting donations of theatres, sculptures and programming while the park at the end of the city got torn up by gopher holes and less frequent grass cutting and painting. It was probably one too many flooding of the bridge and boat launch and the loss of so many trees to disease that began to get the attention of some councillors.

Eventually, money was set aside for new washrooms to replace the decrepit, seasonal washrooms in 2019. The previous washrooms had been built when the park was built in 1969. It is unclear if the old washrooms and pit toilets will be demolished. The washrooms cost $500,000 but were needed if there was any hope of expanding programming in the park. Covid brought out many more to outdoor parks and it seemed safer than gyms.

Meanwhile, south Winnipeg has exploded in suburban growth and where the park seemed distant for decades, it was now the closest large park to many people. The Indo-Asian people were looking for more fields for their favourite sport of cricket. In the past, the wide expanse of fields stretching along the fence line of LaBarriere were largely unused. Over the summer it could get quite hot out there as there was no trees at all. The shade was all closer to the river.  

I worked at LaBarriere for my summer job when I was a university student and saw people out in the fields rarely, When I did, it might be flying kites or sometimes using remote aircraft. People don't realize how and unrelenting it is on those open fields. It is why the Manitoba Cricket Association knew that just putting cricket fields near the parking lots and down the fence line was going to require some shade or trees. This may seem strange for people from India that have even higher temperatures in the country as a whole. But the surface temperature at LaBarriere out on those fields could reach around 60 C. This was actual recorded temperatures during the time I was working there. 

The cricket people since 2019 and been slowly building up the playing fields with bits and pieces of financing over the years amounting to $1.5 million. The full season washrooms were essential to expanded programming in the park. However, the rest of the park is need of care too. Over the decades, the trees have been ravaged by disease and bad weather. Gopher holes are a problem all over the city parks. The cricket and disc people will have to fight to make sure other areas of the park are cared for too.

Even Assiniboine Park has received federal funds for trees since so many have been lost over the years. There will be 600 trees planted over the next three years there. Truth is that every park has been devastated over the last few years from disease and in some same cases, trees being cut down for development. It is shocking how long it takes to replace trees as opposed to cutting them down.

The cricket association has been getting incremental assistance from constituency funds from Councillors. They have heard the call for years for more cricket pitches but very little has been added to recreational lands for a very long time. With the seed money given, the cricket association was able to upgrade the a section of the lands near the parking lot in 2019. Two pitches were developed along with the year round washrooms.

The deficiencies of the area were the next thing to try and resolve. The first was that demand had exploded so another pitch was needed. However, the issue of shade became very apparent. I have worked that fence line along the posts cutting grass and after two hours the heat was unbearable. I can't imagine what it is like after an afternoon in the open. It is not surprising that shade trees and shelters are part of the plan for the three pitches.

Cricket and Disc sports at LaBarriere will likely drive demand for more improvements at the park. It is a welcome change for a large and underutilized park.

Rumours of Stores Coming to Headingley Costco Site

The Costco is already having an impact along Portage Avenue in terms of retail renovations and filling in some of the empty spaces along the street. The landlords with property sitting idle might get some calls of interest. Still, renovations to update tired spots is accelerating. Safeway and Walmart have renovated. Uncertain if other grocers such as Sobeys on Portage have renovated but most stores may require a re-fresh to compete. As mentioned, Costco 's imminent arrival will change traffic patterns and attract other retailers as well as residential.

This is an important thing to note about the Headingley Costco compared to the others in the city. The west Winnipeg one will have so much housing on site. It is only now, decades later, that apartments are going up on McGillivary are within walking distance of the Kenaston store. The problem is that there will never be enough housing around that store unless they decide to take over something like Rona property or build up vertically. And that wouldn't be instant.

Headingley has already seen a lot of residential building quite separate from the Westport Festival where the Costco is to reside. As seen in the plan above, there are a ton of apartments within walking distance of the store. Mixed developments are what every retail area tries to achieve now. The vulnerability of big box and regular malls to major retail closures has become all too apparent. The United States has found that even having a grocery store is no recipe for success for a mall since so many grocers are closing locations.

The rumours about what will join the Costco have been flying in the last weeks. Are announcements coming soon? The clues can possibly be seen once again in the plan above. There are two large retail spots that look suspiciously like a Red River Co-Op or a Save on Foods. Neither of these two have stores in the west part of the city. It is unlikely both grocers move in but expect an announcement of at least one of them coming. The other rumour is that now that Rona has rationalized their Lowe's Home Improvement stores into their national group and closed stores literally across the street from one another, they are looking to build a Rona in west Winnipeg. It could be that Home Depot might try to usurp Rona in their plans but they might be happy with the amount of stores they have now.

There is at least one hotel listed as going up. Rumour it was some kind of Hilton but  given the proximity to the iceplex, Assiniboia Downs, Red River Ex and the city of Winnipeg. A hotel, as opposed to a motel, is very much needed in the west part of the city. Large hockey tournaments consistently fill every motel along the strip. Two other motels on that stretch of Portage are usually jammed with hockey parents. It is not inconceivable that more hotels might be added to the plan given the attractions nearby.

Lots of restaurants were being added. It appears McDonald's to have a place by the roadside. They have a location at Walmart nearby but the nearest drive-thru is at least several minutes down Portage. There has also been talk of everything from an Earls to a Moxie's to a Joeys locating on the site. As far as new restaurants to the city, rumour has been Jersey's Mike's has been looking at the site. Also on the list has been an additional city location for Freddie's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers. In addition Shake Shack, Fazoli's and Chick-fil-A have all been mentioned as possible. Not on the list at all is Cheesecake Factory which has no Canadian expansion plans.

As far as other retail, it is likely some sort of sports store is likely although SportChek closed down just down the street. However, one story going around is they didn't want to sign a new lease if they were interested in the site near Costco. 

Another interesting rumour has been that a major gym will build a large fitness center in the shopping area. Whether this is Goodlife, Altea or a re-located Shapes or maybe something else entirely. 

Coscto's completion is expected this year so it is very likely a flurry of announcements comes soon on what joins it. It is worth noting that much like Seasons of Tuxedo, it could take a decade or more to fill all the space. Given the rumours though, it appears there is huge interest in the site.

The Ten Commandments Returns to Assiniboine Park

 

Many of the things we associate with the greatest contributors to North American social and community well being comes from fraternal organizations or religious lay organizations. The Fraternal Order of Eagles in Winnipeg contributed a large monument of the Ten Commandments in 1965. The Eagles had been doing this all over the U.S. and this was the only one in Canada. They had been doing things like this since the 1940s but it really took off when the Hollywood film The Ten Commandments came out in 1956.

This was not unusual for the time and the Eagles were people who advocated for the creation of Mother's Day and proponents of social security in the U.S. In other words, they considered to be supporters of the common good. At the time, the majority of the population was Christian. And the Ten Commandments was the basis of many a constitution as a basic set of rules.

The separation of church and state is a complicated thing. In Quebec, the government tries to eradicate  

The Eagles started off with a close relation to the arts in 1898. The were the ones that pushed for Mother's Day and were huge supporters of social security. Some of the most prominent citizens in the U.S. and Canada were or are Eagles. It was back at a state legislature that a big deal was made about Ten Commandments monument donated many years before by the Eagles. It took a Supreme Court decision to get the monument put back.

In Winnipeg, it took a prominent Jewish philanthropist Gail Asper to make a plea for the return. It was quietly put back when the Eagles declined the return. And why should they have? Likely they were community builders from the greatest generation, undoubtedly World War II vets among them who wished only the best in their community. In that vein, the Eagles donated Ten Commandments monuments in the U.S. and Canada.

For years the monument sat in the northwest corner of the park without much controversy. The construction of The Leaf entailed storing it and herein lay the problem. The Assiniboine Park didn't know if they should just re-position it. This created way too much controversy whereby they asked the Eagles if they wanted the monument back which they didn't. Adding to the awkwardness is the fact that Kildonan Park also had a Ten Commandments monument donated by the Knights of Columbus.

At this point, leading citizens like Gail Asper stepped in to give clarity. There are some who probably will like a cleansing of religious symbols in public but then it can go so far as banning of religious symbol on your person as we see in Quebec. In that province, crosses and turbans are banned. The only way to do that has been to invoke the notwithstanding clause in the constitution. To go against freedom of religion and freedom of expression is a heavy price to pay. And it raises the question if atheism is itself a belief system.

Assiniboine Park did the right thing when they returned the monument. Quebec as turned atheism itself into a belief system so that it scrubs all religion away even when it is someone's personal body.  Surely, we should be able some flexibility going forward. Manitoba is generally a tolerant place. We have churches and synagogues across from one another. Religious schools everywhere. 

I understand re-naming some things and removing some things is the way of the world. But an old names or item can also be used for education. For example, a re-thinking about re-naming Wolseley is being considered. And this is by the Metis themselves. Does washing the name away teach anyone about history? Was destruction of statue of Queen Victoria meaningful over long term? Would moving it have been a more educational. One thing is certain and that is the occupation of the Legislature has turned it into an armed enclosure. It is unlikely anyone will ever damage, vandalize or otherwise engage monuments except in the most closely monitored protests there ever again.

As opposed to the Ten Commandments, which should live on peacefully in the park as before.

Polo Park Billion Dollar Development Stalled

It should come as no surprise that Polo Park developer Cadillac Fairview along with Shindico went to great trouble to change the zoning around Polo Park to allow high rises. The airport opposed and was overruled so the go ahead to proceed to the planning phase began. And then nothing.

I suppose they might be forgiven in that other major priorities have them occupied which they are reluctant to say. For Cadillac Fairview, it has been to fill the second floor with the new London Drugs. The former Zellers site as been a frequent site for changes and London Drugs is an anchor worthy of the mall. The next task is to fill the huge empty space left by the closure of the Hudson Bay Company.

For more than a year, Polo Park and St. Vital Centre has girded themselves for what was to come if and when The Bay closed. They both have filled spots in the former Sears locations but it can't be easy to backfill constantly major retailers that have collapsed. Sears Polo Park was a major anchor and it required some innovative thinking to fill the spot. Likewise, St. Vital Centre also needed so do some thinking to fill the spot left by Sears closing. 

Cadillac Fairview would probably like to develop the properties they own where the old arena and stadium stood but is constantly having to work on the mall itself. While it remains the largest mall in the city, it is has lost some luster to Seasons of Tuxedo which continues to see more stores, restaurants, hotel rooms and and housing built. Presumably, all the things Polo Park wants. St. Vital Centre is pressed to expand anywhere. It is as hemmed in as you can get. Once they find something to fill the HBC spot, it will be interesting to see if they look to something different such as build up.

Polo Park's location along Portage Avenue and next to Route 90 could not be more well positioned for growth. Cadillac Fairview probably has another year or so till get their mall in shape. Once London Drugs is in place and The Bay filled in, I expect they will look at building the multi-unit housing that is in the plans. It is all so painfully slow.

As for Shindico, the actual construction of Costco after years waiting for the announcement is sure to trigger more of the development surrounding the big store through 2026. There are already large blocks of apartments and other residential units going up either side of Winnipeg and Headingley. Nearly all land preparation and traffic lights have been put in to support this development. One can imagine though that it is likely not enough. Already, Coscto has triggered Walmart Unicity to conduct a massive hundreds of thousands of dollars upgrade to their store. It is a huge improvement there.

All this development emphasizes the point that hundreds of millions are being spent on areas that have been waiting for years for work. The Costco in Headingley has been in the planning stages since before the pandemic. Now, it appears they are moving with haste on it as well and at the North Main Street location. The Polo Park location will become a Costco Business Centre.

The developer indicated that the new lower immigration rate, tariffs and other factors were contributing to the stall. There may be some clarity on the tariffs soon but it may be difficult to get to where we were in the last years with tens of thousands arriving each year. The truth is that immigration has been lowered because there was no capacity to house new arrivals. And capacity was a problem long before immigration was increased.

The federal accelerator program is now building affordable homes across the country that are shovel ready. This should be helpful as many projects, such as Polo Park, are more market driven and will not be viable for real affordability unless they receive some part of accelerator program money. The list of applicants is long. It is shocking how long projects take to get done. World War II was won in six years but building an apartment in Winnipeg can take a decade.

So much is happening in 2026. Portage Place becoming Pan Am Clinic, the Downtown Bay conversion, the old BMO Portage and Main becoming a museum, two Costco's being built and apartments all over the city. And Kapyong likely to take the next step on development. If Polo Park waits to long, they are likely to be passed by.

Gaza Starvation

It is 21 months since the Hamas attacks in Israel. Israel had a right to defend itself and free hostages brought to Gaza. It is fair to say that Gaza is not the same as it was prior to the October 7 attacks. There appears to be no end to the conflict. Israel says Hamas must release the hostages and they should. The U.S. and Israel have taken over food aid and according to Israeli media, it is not enough to sustain two million people in the territory.

Mark Carney has condemned the trickle of aid and Israel and its supporters blame Hamas. B'nai Brith and the Centre for Jewish and Israel Affairs has accused Carney of antisemitism and blame Hamas. This won't cut it if the pace of starvation continues to rise exponentially. The "kettling" approach to Gaza is making things worse and nothing going in or out is resulting in suffering with no discernible gains. 

The Israeli military and Netanyahu say there is no starvation but interviews with a Canadian doctor on the ground indicates he and his staff are starving and his patients are doing worse and some are dying. Israel's own record of food into the territory is not supportive of the narrative that there is plenty. Hamas might be terrible and blocking aid but it is Israel's national security minister that is calling for all aid to be cut off. It is Israel's policy that everything is being squeezed. Is this is the policy of the B'nai Brith and CJIA? Is it anti-Semitic to say that hunger appears to be a weapon?

Canada has declared Hamas a terrorist organization and defends the right of Israel to defend itself. However, that doesn't mean criticism of Israeli policy is antisemitism. If it is then Trump hates Jews for wanting the war to end. Defenders of Israel should take note that the prime minister Netanyahu has as much opposition to how he is carrying out the war as he has support  with Israel itself. Israel is very much divided on the man and an election is coming. Are the B'nai Brith and CJIA taking a political position of support for Netanyahu?

The Canadian government does not support terrorism and supports Israel. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz says that even Holocaust survivors who are critics of what is happening in the war putrid. However, the term is weaponized against anyone critical of Netanyahu policy. The fact that some Jewish organizations are looking for uncritical support of what is happening and naming Carney as anti-Semitic is likely not even supported by the majority of their own Jewish membership.

The fact that Israel is backing off shows they need international legitimacy to continue with the support that was fulsome 21 months ago. Even the Conservative Jerusalem Post has said Israel had to act. Calling all of it a hoax and a Hamas creation is not working. Even if Hamas is making propaganda up, they are not a rational actor and are prepared to hurt their own people by pushing them towards Israeli gunfire. Israel now knows this to be true so ramping up military incursions while cutting aid only makes Hamas take a harder line. They. Don't. Care. They will make their people die to serve their cause.

This bears repeating: Hamas is prepared for all 2 million Palestinians to die in the conflict. Israel should not fall into the trap of killing them all. Netanyahu needs to focus on getting the hostages back. Even Israelis are going to tire of the constant deployment and loss of their soldiers with zero results. If the war is to keep Netanyahu in power, it could come at a cost of Israel's support even from the United States. Trump won't be around in 3 1/2 years. Who can say a new President will be anywhere near as supportive?

As for Jewish groups supportive of Israel, stop throwing anti-Semitic labels around including at members of your own faith. It is 21 months since the attack. Rage against Hamas all you want but they are prepared to kill all their people. Don't be the hands that does it. Figure out how to end this. 

Old Robin's on Portage to Become KFC

For the last several years the restaurants west of Moray Street have been closing. First it was the German restaurant Gasthaus Gutenberg around 2016 and then Marigold next at about 2018. The same year Robin's Donuts across the street closed. Pizza Land was the last to close in2024 but has since been replaced by Triple Pizza. However, Pizza Land's iconic sign came down.

From about 2018 to now, there have been quite a few changes from Moray where Singleton's, Assiniboine Credit Union, HUB Insurance all closed. The mall there is full leased now with Winnipeg Insurance, Flamingo Cannabis, Healing Hands Pharmacy and Little Viet restaurant. The parking lot can be quite busy now.

Next door to that Pet 101 and Crystal Clear Water Centre closed in 2024 and has been replaced by Inspire Massage Therapy which refurbished the building. Next to that Gasthaus restaurant was closes and signs went up in 2023 for GotoDoctor,ca and St. George's Medical Centre. The doctor's office are close to being occupied and were delayed due the amount of hazardous material and other work needing to be done.  The karate business and apartments above have remained unchanged as as the leather and repair business across the street. The long time pizza tenant Pizza Land behind it closed in 2023 and was replaced by Triple Pizzeria shortly after.

After Marigold closed around 2018, it was replaced Elite/Elevate which did a fine job up restoring the two floor building into a sports injury and training facility. in 2024, the Birchwood Animal Hospital was spruced up on the outside completing the block. In 2025, once the doctor's offices are fully restored and refurbished, the entire black might be full leased and upgraded. 

The only spot west of Moray on south Portage that has waiting for for development is the former Robin's. It has been empty pretty much from 2018. For a time, Starbucks was planning on taking over but the pandemic pretty much ended the company's plans all over the world. Many Starbucks locations remain shuttered even today, including ones in Chapters bookstores.

There used to be many Robin's Donuts in Winnipeg but now it is down to a handful. The company is embarking on a re-building but from Winnipeg's perspective, it looks like a slow retreat.  The empty Robin's on Portage sitting empty for years has been difficult to ignore.

In recent weeks construction crews have been repairing the road, garbage enclosure and other aspects of the lot. The owner of the property till now seemed unwilling to repair the parking lot as it began to cave in. The only thing that changed on the property is when Conservative election signs went up.

Word has it though that the new tenant of the space will be a Kentucky Fried Chicken. On Portage Avenue, the closest KFC would be the one at Unicity which shares space with Taco Bell. The next would be a KFC in the food court at Polo Park and the next in the West End. It is unclear of the Moray KFC will share with Taco Bell. Undoubtedly, the franchise is attracted to the drive-thru which could be the only one available along Portage in St. James. 

The Portage and Moray has picked up after several years in the doldrums. Continuing west down Portage still has some gaps to fill heading west but the significant building on housing units in Headingley and, of course, the Costco. It is very likely there will be an uptick in business along Portage as well as higher density in housing. And while there is room for retail, the latest additions have been in things like medical and health services and residential. For the commuter though, it is the drive-thru that rules and a KFC near the Charleswood bridge is likely to be popular.