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.