Charleswood has been experiencing some building south near Ridgewood and some more density along some of its major roads. However, the suburb continues to be one of ditches and roads resembling a small town that what might be seen in some other areas of the city.
The AHL Moose and the Winnipeg Sea Bears basketball team also share the facility which makes for a pretty full selection of teams calling the arena home. On top of that are concerts and entertainment events. The True North organization has also been building out with real estate. Since 2004, ownership has built out north, west and south of the arena. Across the street, they partnered with others to build restaurants, offices, hotel and parking lots.
The Burton Cummings Theatre is now part of the True North organization. In part, this is to have entry level entertainment in a venue more well suited for some groups and individuals. This builds relationships and street life in the entertainment district. Street parties are held regularly in proximity to the Burton Cummings. This is important as the creation of an entertainment district cannot revolve around one sport and building. This is why True North also does concert/event work as promoter. Not all of it is at the Canada Life Center. In the past, True North has done Cirque du Soleil shows under the big tent on Kenaston. This year they are doing a two day music event at the Princess Auto Stadium.
The Canada Life Centre has room for more concert/show events on its schedule but clearly there are limits based either on small or larger sizes and whether it can be fit in between the three sports teams that call the arena home. There are also other sports leagues that would like to come to Winnipeg but find there is no facility to host them. In particular, professional women's hockey and basketball. Therein lies the conundrum. It is the downtown arena or nothing. Even a WHL team could not survive in Winnipeg without a facility larger than the Sanford Fleming Arena at the University of Manitoba.
It is clear Winnipeg needs another arena. But what size? Some say it should be smaller as in the 7,000 seat range. Is that thinking too small? I don't know too many people who thought the Sea Bears would regularly pack in 15,000 people for basketball games. Imagine building a 7,000 seat arena and finding professional women's hockey selling it out and then some. Could they have used a 15,000 seat arena instead?
A scanning of NHL arenas will show Winnipeg's facility is not the oldest. It is nearer to the newer ones as it closes on 25 years having being built in 2004. Many present facilities in the league are from the late 1990s. The average lifespan of an arena is considered to be 25 to 25 years. This would apply to Winnipeg's present facility.
The next question is the location of a new arena. Some people would love to see it down by the University of Manitoba so that it could benefit Bisons sports programming. There is a good case for that. And there is likely space for it although anyone who knows how much of a crowd Blue Bombers games have and the traffic involved is probably hesitant. The 41 games that say Jets or Moose play and 4the 0,000 university population from fall to spring are considerable numbers in one place. It can be managed but it is worth considering.
The Chipman and Thomson family have put in considerable investments downtown and continue to do so. Their concern just doesn't extend to the bottom line but to the welfare of those living and working downtown. This has been aptly demonstrated in the donations and leadership of the pair over many years. To that end, I'd expect the location on a new arena would be downtown.
There isn't an obvious spot for the new arena to be located. There are quite a lot of surface lots where the beginnings of arena could be. However, it might be like how the Canada Life Center came to be and that was from the demolition of existing buildings such as Eaton's and part of Cityplace.
A big question is on whether the Canada Life Center will be expanded to 17,000+ seats or remain the size it is and another arena built of 17,000 seats. My opinion is the Jets would move to a bigger location as there are changes to what corporations want in terms of season tickets than just box seats. Many businesses are looking for meeting spaces as well attached to entertainment so some new arena designs are reflecting this. Many new arenas are also doing more to become concert friendly and that comes from initial design.
In the picture above, Hamilton's Copp Coliseum is being designed to fulfill a concert mandate in the greater Toronto area. While a single use facility might work in that part of Ontario, in Winnipeg the need is for multi-purpose facilities. There really just isn't a venue of size indoors after the Canada Life Center. An attempt to get a 6000 to 7000 facility for the Winnipeg Ice failed. One of the reasons the Chipmans might go for a new arena is to forestall a competitor such as the University of Manitoba building one.
Another important reason the True North will push for a new arena is that they have an agreement with the province to not fund any new covered facility in Winnipeg for the length of time of the mortgage, This blocked the Bombers from having a covered stadium. When the agreement expires, there is nothing preventing Bombers from going forward with a covered stadium and also getting an agreement preventing anyone from new facilities built with 25 to 30 year terms. This is definitely something the Chipman's won't want.
I don't expect anything in the next two years as True North finishes the work on new asset Portage Place as well as see Sutton Place Hotel built but expect something soon enough. The end of prohibition on government facilities and the desire for more professional teams will drive the timetable.
Two new Costcos in the 160,000+ square feet size in the west and north of the city are gamechangers. In truth, the city will have little say about the one on North Main as that is a block or so into the West St. Paul Municipality. Approvals are likely to speed through there. It is possible the province might have something to say about urban sprawl or traffic along Main. Meadowland and Main could become exceptionally busy.
I don't think there is anyone in Winnipeg who will deny that the three Costcos in Winnipeg now are packed to the rafters. Kenaston's store can be a nightmare at any time in the next and on any day. Getting to the store along Kenaston is just as bad and those coming into the city or across the city to get to any Costco must dread it.
It is without a doubt that people in the west and north parts of the city will make the new Costcos their chosen location. To be sure, it will relieve some of the strain on the other locations. However, the business is growing even now so people should not expect wide aisles with no one around to be annoyed as you stroll slowly with your cart sideways.
As for the smallest Costco, it will be closed a few months to become a Costco Business Center. It is very likely we will see a publicity push to explain what that is. For all intents, it will be a bulk supplier of goods and more suitable for a restaurant than say a family kitchen, better for an office manager than printer cartridges for the family office and so on.
In essence though, by the end of 2026, Winnipeg will have four Costcos and one Costco Business Center. They will cover all four quadrants of the city and the more central Polo Park area. The new locations will transform the north and the west retailing when they go up. That is to say that retailers who sell gas, do car repairs or sell services will have to better match prices. No more premium on gas sold on west Portage or north Main. Competitive prices on tire sales, tune-ups and the like.
Grocery stores in the area will have to keep watch on prices at Costco. And restaurants will want to locate near Costcos. This is true for retailers as well. I can't imagine a liquor or cannabis store will want to be too far away. Just think what Costco did for the Kenaston area. In short, could Costco on west Portage result in Moxie's, Earls or Joeys opening nearby? Expect there to be a rush.
For more than 30 years, the former Birchwood Inn has been the Holiday Inn Airport West. Prior to Birchwood when it was first built in 1976 and was called the Wandlyn Inn. It only stayed that with name till 1977. The hotel had been built atop Birchwood Bowl and the bowling alley was part of the hotel for decades. The Birchwood name was hard to lose.
The Ladco Company built the hotel along with several of the apartment blocks along Portage in the 1970s, They still own the hotel today. At fourteen floors with three floors of balconies facing west, the hotel was a landmark. As the avenue curved, it was in a very prominent spot to be seen travelling west or east.
When the Charleswood Bridge was built, it became even more important on both sides of the river for banquets, relatives and out of town guests. Just prior to the pandemic, the hotels had conducted $11 million in renovations. In 2025, they expect $4 to $5 million more in upgrades.
.jpg)
Polo Park has found new tenants after losing Brettons, Eaton's, Safeway, Zellers and Sears. There are still some big retailers worth looking to attract. London Drugs is moving into the second floor of Polo Park which is a big win for the mall. Likewise, St. Vital Centre has replaced old tenants such as Eaton's, Woolco and Safeway. They will now have to replace The Bay.
When Polo Park lost Sears, there were no obvious choices to fill such a large space. They turned to EQ3, the furniture store that had been in the mall parking lot, to move in The remaining space was on the first floor was taken up by popular store Zara. Even with the expanded space, the second floor was unoccupied so Intouch 24/7 call centre moved in.
There are no obvious choices for an anchor for the Bay location. Simons, a family owned department store would be ideal but they might only be interested in one floor. They expand very slowly and they are in the middle of an Ontario expansion so might not be able to do. Their expansions have always been slow and self-financed.
Polo Park did have a grocery store for many decades it. Safeway was the last store to be located there. They surprised the landlord when they didn't renew the lease and instead located to a supersized format on Madison. While the mall adjusted and brought in other retailers, a grocery store is a very good way to bring in people seven days a week. Could it be that we see a grocer like T&T or Co-Op move into the ground floor space?
The Shopper's Drug Mart has some grocery in it as does the Dollarama. Some critics on social media have blamed the Dollarama for a spike in undesirable elements at the mall. Some have blamed the conversion of the former Clarion Hotel to a medical stay for the government of Nunavut. Attributing bad things to the Utuutaq Centre where pregnant women come for medical stays seems a bit of a reach. As for the Dollarama, there have been a few in the surrounding area for years.
In the post Covid world so much as moved online. Recent stories on the news have reported that stores are migrating to Internet-only sales. Many have said foot traffic patterns have declined. Costs to run a brick and mortar business have gone up. If commercial streets and malls have more stores migrate to online platforms, what is left? For some malls in North America it has been more entertainment options, food halls and restaurants and in recent years residential units.
Polo Park has already indicated they are looking at residential units going in on their expansive property. These will likely go up in parking areas before anything attached to the mall but that might change with the departure of The Bay. The trick is to find tenants that have customers that come in seven days a week over the course of an entire day. As mentioned, grocery stores and pharmacies meet that criteria. Fitness centers do as well in that category. Polo Park has had a 20 lane five pin bowling alley since 1959. It is things like that which have lasting power.
There has been a rumour that Cadillac Fairview was interested in bringing Cineplex Odeon's Playdium to the mall. In 2024, the company opened their first game arcade in a Toronto location. Something like that occupies about 20,000 square feet so it would not fill 200,000 feet of space of empty Bay store but it could be a start.
And what of St. Vital? There is already a gym and two grocery stores as part of the mall and on the property. It already has a movie theatre. It is possible they too could try for an arcade but it is possible they might pull in retailers such as Old Navy into the store instead of the parking lot. However, they too have a size problem in terms of filling the space. A residential option seems unlikely for St. Vital. However, a hotel option might not be out of the question.
Filling nearly 400,000 square feet of space will require some innovation and patience. It is worth noting that Canada does not have nearly as much retailing space as the United States and top malls like Polo Park and St. Vital have been surprisingly resilient. The real estate value of the malls mean that careful consideration of how space is utilized. Even parking space has become too valuable for it to be empty for large parts of the day. And while some might find comfort in a certain consistency and uniformity in malls, they will have to have something unique that you can't get from online scrolling/
There are six elected Liberals in Manitoba. The Carney government has members of parliament in every province so this is reflected in the cabinet. Saskatchewan's solely elected Liberal MP has a junior cabinet spot as Secretary of State for rural development. Alberta has one full minister. That is three for the entire prairie region. It means Winnipeg, Edmonton, Regina and Saskatoon will have no representation at the cabinet table.
In a smaller cabinet, not every city, region or territory will have a seat at the inner cabinet. And if the cabinet numbers 40 people, as it has in the past, does being there give the cabinet member a budget or responsibility to do the job? One effective way to get Manitoba's message across is for the six MPs to meet regularly as a caucus to argue for important matters to Winnipeg and the province.
It is important to remember that while the Liberals MPs are there to represent their riding that they should remember to advocate for the province as a whole. Likewise, is good to work with the province and the municipalities to push through policies and projects important across the board. The competing interests in Canada among the MPs will be tough.
The new prime minister has said that projects of national unity are critical. It will be important to identify how Manitoba can be part of those projects. It could be that the focus on Churchill and the north could be a boon for the province and Winnipeg itself. Hydro connections to Nunavut, port improvements for imports and exports. Could Churchill be and LNG port? For Winnipeg, it could be moving the CP and BNSF rail lines to Centreport as part of improvements to rail transport. It would open huge areas to housing in parts of the city.
It will be interesting to see what priorities Carney has out the gate and how our one cabinet minister will handle their portfolio. His focus on the economy is a good one as this is where most Canadians seem to worried about the most.
To be fair, twinning of Trans-Canada to Ontario is going through the planning stages now and we'll need those east-west corridors even more. However, it shows what our priorities have been. It has been those north/south road, rail routes, pipelines and airport connections all focused on the States. There have been a few projects to enhance other economic routes such as Trans-Mountain Pipeline, the railway to Churchill, Trans-Canada Highway improvements and LNG projects.
Alberta has been focused on pipeline projects headed south but that always results in discounted oil prices. Neither Trump or Biden got pipeline projects approved. Harper didn't either. Trudeau actually got an expensive one built but probably got no benefit from it in Alberta. For that province though, it is the best paying oil pipeline the industry has. Funny, how that goes. The Trans-Mountain Pipeline has been selling higher priced oil than anything shipped through southern pipelines. Given the costs of the line, even if western pipelines were approved, it is possible companies would be hesitant due to the enormous costs. Most are shying away even though most think tanks keep saying give the private companies the freedom. Most won't commit even if all restrictions are gone. The costs of infrastructure, labour and supplies are high.
Manitoba has decided not to re-new a hydro energy deal with U.S. company Northern States Power. Part of this is to ensure the province has capacity but also for exports to western provinces and the north. With federal help, hydro can be extended all the way to Nunavut. To that end, the premiers of Manitoba and Nunavut have signed an agreement to get this work done. This is a project of national importance and sovereignty. It is a $1.6 billion project to connect five communities in the north to Manitoba Hydro. Some infrastructure would be built in Manitoba and quite a lot in Nunavut. It is no doubt one of the biggest nation building projects west of Ontario.
For many decades though after its motel days it was been an auto dealer site . Many will remember it as the Holiday Chevrolet Oldsmobile location, a family owned dealer. It had been part of the Haddad family holdings till at least 1983. he used to market himself as the Mad Arab. He co-founded Birchwood Auto with Robert Chipman. He was well know for charitable work in Winnipeg.
As was common for much of Winnipeg's history, there were dealerships down nearly every commercial street in the city. Now, most have moved to dealer parks so that buyers can peruse several dealers and collision centers. Portage still has a few dealers left on their southside near Unicity.
It was his book Shogun that starred Richard Chamberlain in 1980 on NBC where everything took off. Or to be fair, the book Shogun, released in 1975, became a bestseller just as Tai-Pan had in 1966. It often took Clavell years of research to write his Asian series of books. Noble House came out in 1981. It was shortly after Shogun came out in 1980 as a huge mini-series that the Clavell books popped up everywhere in paperback. And so I began my reading of the doorstop thick books of Clavell.
The Chamberlain Shogun series was a monster hit in North America (a total failure in Japan). While there had always been fascination with Japan especially after WWII, this introduced an interest in the early origins of contact between west and east. A theatrical version of an earlier Clavell novel was made in 1986 in China and was box office failure. It focused on the origin of Hong Kong but tried to cram too much into a movie format.
Noble House, written in 1981, raced up the bestseller list in the year after Shogun was aired. Not surprisingly, U.S. networks raced to acquire it for mini-series broadcast. The subjects for mini-series such as Roots and Shogun focused on large casts and more detailed stories than one hour police or hospital procedurals and the like.
The casting for Noble House suggests that some of TV and film's leading men were considered and either rejected the role or weren't able to do it. Timing is everything and for 1988, Pierce Brosnan became available when his series Remington Steele ended but his chance to play James Bond passes when Timothy Dalton was cast instead.
The series Remington Steele was one of the most popular and influential show in the 1980s. Airing on NBC, it starred Stephanie Zimbalist as Laura Holt, a woman who runs a private investigation service but creates a fictional male owner to overcome doubts about a woman-led company. Pierce Brosnan, played a con-man who took on the persona of Remington Steele and the two formed a partnership. While he lacked her skill as a investigator, he quickly learned.
The show innovated the "will they or won't they" romantic sub-plot used used often now. With no Remington Steele, it is unlikely there would have been no Moonlighting. The show had legions of fans who loved Zimbalist as a relatable character who got things done but usually did so with some guy who got credit, in this case a fictional person who eventually became real.
Pierce Brosnan was an incredible actor to have available for Noble House. Deborah Raffin was cast in the female lead. Surprisingly, one of Raffin's films in the U.S. has become popular in China and she was one of the most famous of Hollywood leading ladies in that country. Filming took place in Hong Kong while still under British rule. Instead of the 1960s storyline of the books, the TV series bumped the time to 1980s Hong Kong.
The series had a mix of exotic and western at the same time and Pierce Brosnan as Ian Dunross was dashing and debonair for the whole four episodes. John Rhys-Davies made just as suave villain as Quillan Gort. The Clavell plot was slimmed down but still retained a bit of romance, espionage, action and thriller all at once. And the Noble House headquarters building using the the Jardine Matheson building was breathtaking.
Noble House has appeared on Prime before but it is never there for long and sometimes it seems like 10/15 years before it reappears but this is a great movie if someone has seen the old Shogun and new Shogun and loved Clavell's books. The original series was up against Winter Olympics programming and didn't fare as well as Shogun But make no mistake, Noble House is worth binging now.
The post election speeches were telling. Poilievre congratulated the new leader and didn't dispute the result despite losing his own seat. Singh, losing his seat as well and party status, announced he would be stepping down. Blanchet lost a third of Bloc seats. He has only had to face criticism from the Quebec government for a poor campaign. Very quickly after the election, Blanchet indicated he won't be bringing the government down any time soon.
As far as Poilievre goes, he has to face his caucus to see if he can retain their support going forward. Since he lost his seat, Parliamentary rules clearly state the Opposition has to pick a leader in the House. This can be an interim leader but it has to be someone who is a MP. It appears Poilievre has called everyone to solidify his support. But his loss means he is out of the Commons for at least a few months and out of the official residence at Stornoway which is only for elected officials.
One thing is clear is that Poilievre won't be in the Commons until the fall unless Parliament has a summer sitting. And they might if Conservatives make a big deal about it. The G7 meeting is in Alberta in July and it is expected that there will several trade missions around the world. July 1 is the self-imposed deadline for a provincial free trade agreement and it looks like the country made finally get one.
The Trump Effect is not just limited to Canada. Australia just elected a a majority Labor government and the opposition Liberal (conservative) party lost, including the leader's seat. Similarly, the opposition leader in Australia had held the seat for 20 years just like Poilievre. This reversal of conservative wins worldwide will be monitored by many.
In Carney's press conference, the need for speed was emphasized. The Trump tariffs are hurting Canada and they are hurting the U.S. as well. Carney will be looking to get tariffs off of Canada in some sort of agreement. Nevertheless, the U.S. could still have a hard economy due to trade pressures around the world. This affects Canada too.
In Trump's first term, Canada tried to stay below the radar and got a trade deal. However, any hope of getting a pipeline through even under Trump's administration has proven to be fruitless. However, there are LNG projects that will come on stream in B.C. that will benefit all of Canada in terms of economic gains. On Friday, Carney met Premier Danielle Smith and she was reasonably satisfied that the discussion was productive.
An Alberta tradition is to bash Ottawa. However, I think she is aware that if she takes it too far, it may involve violence towards the federal government. There is no control if it devolves to that. As in the time of Covid where some Albertans gathered arms and planned an event at the border, the fear is that there will be a move from politics to terrorism. It seems very unlikely Alberta wants to see what happens to districts that vote on separation. It hurt Quebec badly and still places them in jeopardy.
Carney will have a difficult time to navigate the path on the U.S. but the key will be to agree to negotiations. Any growth plan he has for Canada will have to be get free trade in the country moving. Infrastructure will be key. And looking for trade relationships outside of the U.S. As for the rest, I expect Carney will be looking to keep free speech and democracy strong. He is likely to show tolerance but not be the lightning rod that Trudeau was.
In the end, being an adult, focusing on the economy might be enough to forestall and election for a year or more. Trudeau managed to keep his government going till the edge of the cliff. The trick will be to avoid senseless provocative stances and continue to focus on economy. Even environmental work needs to focus on affordability and sensible and measurable improvements in people lives. A national energy grid comes to mind. Electricity, natural gas and the like but also a real push for supports for new windows, doors, insulation and new technologies. And most importantly, housing. This is what hits many people the hardest. Improve on that and some of the other things will feel less terrible.
What a night. It is with great humility that I take on the task of this great enterprise we can call Canada. I couldn't have done this alone and I thank my family and my party that helped and guided me from coast to coast to coast. We have elected MPs in every part of the country, my friends, in places where we haven't had representatives in some time. It is a huge honour and a responsibility we take seriously. And we will not let the Canadian people down!
To all the candidates from all the parties, I thank you for committing to the great democratic process of Canada. I have spoken to my opponent in the election and wish him and his family well. His public service over the years deserves recognition and while we disagreed over policy, I wish him the best. Likewise, I extend my gratitude to the other opposition leaders tonight for their service.
(repeated in French)
The mandate we have received this evening from Canadians is a strong one. It is an expression of national unity that comes along at certain times in our history and it is one that Canadians have consistently answered. It is fair to say that external factors made us take a hard look at ourselves and we have risen to the occasion. Tonight's election results are proof of that!
The strong and cross country mandate means we go back to our nation's capital with both determination borne of national unity. We are not an artificial country as described by one individual. We are not a 51st state as said by another individual. We are a country bounded together by language, culture, business and 13 provinces and territories with common cause. One country, united and strong!
(repeated in French)
I know that when we return to Ottawa, we will have the support needed to respond to the challenges to our sovereignty. Our goals remain the same as what we campaigned on. We wish to unite the people and to thwart those that would try to annex us or break us a part in separation. To that end, I say to those that didn't vote for us: We have heard you and we won't let you down.
In the past, it was too easy for us to think we could tie ourselves to peace, security and prosperity with our southern partner. At home we have faced extraordinary challenges and continue to navigate through them. This has resulted in inflation, supply chain issues, tariffs and employment instability. What has been unexpected has been that our longtime friend and ally has targeted Canada in ways that they have not even done to long time rivals! We have defended ourselves in the past and we will do so in the present and in the future!
(repeated in French)
Canada's energy needs at home and exports abroad need to move through Canada. Eastern Canada relies on pipelines that go through the U.S. which makes the country vulnerable. Future pipelines south have not had much success through three administrations. The TMX pipeline built by the Liberal government has been the one that has helped the west along with the approved LNG plants on the coast. Oil will continue to be important to Canada until we improve renewables through infrastructure and technology.
To that end, we will be supporting east-west energy grids as well as ones extending north. We will be reaching out to our provincial and indigenous partners to make Canada independent for our own needs and to whom we sell to. And we will looking to do more carbon capture, accelerating tree planting (the ultimate things to remove carbon) as well as move to cleaner renewables through investment an technology. We can not let people suffer from loss of employment, living in poverty and depravation because of moves to cleaner energy. Nor can we let communities be consumed by fire, flood and loss of life due to inaction on climate. It will require balanced and caring approach and that is what you will see from this government!
(Repeated in French)
We have heard Canadians and will make housing, healthcare and affordability priorities. We have heard our allies and will commit to defense spending as well as purchasing it more at home and using our steel and aluminum. We are committed to our indigenous communities, the north and provinces from west to east. We will fulfill our obligation for a just and peaceful society based on law and convention. People need to know they are safe to live their lives and not fear crime will rob them of their right to live without fear.
We have a renewed sense of pride and purpose in Canada and we will make this journey together. All of us. Together!
(Repeated in French)
Lastly, while talk was of elbows up in the country, we always remember when it is at the end and all is said and done, we shake hands because that is the country we live in. (In French) Canada will be united and joyful about what who we are. (In French) Thank you, merci and good night. Thank you, merci, Canada!
