Winnipeg residents who take the time to stand before city council deserve one thing above all else: respect. They are not lobbyists. They are not paid consultants. They are citizens who care enough about their city to show up at City Hall, often during work hours, to speak about decisions that affect their neighbourhoods, their taxes, and their future. Yet more and more, those residents are being treated as an inconvenience. Last week’s Executive Policy Committee meeting prov

What kind of country fines its citizens for expressing an opinion about biology? What kind of government inserts itself into everyday language and declares certain words mandatory? Canada is moving closer to that line. This month alone, two human rights tribunal decisions made national news. In Quebec, a Montreal salon was ordered to pay damages after its online booking system offered “men’s” and “women’s” haircut categories. In British Columbia, a former school trustee was o

In the private sector, there is a simple rule. If you do not return your customer’s call, someone else will. In public office, that rule should be even stricter. Taxpayers are not customers by choice. They fund the operation whether they like it or not. The least they deserve is a response. A Winnipeg resident recently wrote to Mayor Scott Gillingham and every member of council with a series of direct questions about zoning authority and municipal oversight. The questions wer

Recently, we asked readers a simple question: What is holding Winnipeg back? The responses were consistent. Business owners, professionals, tradespeople, seniors on fixed incomes and young families all pointed to the same five concerns. Crime and public safety. High taxes and rising fees. Social disorder and visible addiction. A weak economic vision. Political division and short-term thinking at City Hall. These are not abstract complaints. They affect daily life, investment

Kevin Klein has an adult conversation with Pete Hoekstra, Ambassador of the USA to Canada.

Every December, newsrooms do what they always do. We debate the biggest story of the year. The arguments come fast. The Grey Cup was a success. The Manitoba PC leadership race produced a winner who actually had fewer votes than the other guy. City hall approved historic property tax increases. Protest permits kept flowing no matter how extreme the cause. An NDP MLA mocked a controversial speaker assignment instead of engaging it. All of those mattered. None of them stood abov

“Early election? No way,” Premier Wab Kinew told reporters recently. Fair enough. Politicians say that all the time. But when words and actions do not line up, people are right to ask questions. And right now, the Manitoba NDP’s actions tell a very different story. Consider a fundraising email now circulating among party supporters. It is blunt, urgent, and revealing. The writer admits to being “worried.” They explain they must soon report directly to Wab Kinew and provide a

Winnipeg is going to court. Anyone paying attention knew this was coming. Mayor Scott Gillingham and a majority of council chose to ignore a clear recommendation from the Manitoba Municipal Board on the Granite Curling Club land. They overruled provincial oversight, dismissed a condition designed to protect a long-standing community institution, and pushed through a zoning by-law anyway. The predictable result is now in front of the courts, with taxpayers once again footing t

Canada faces a troubling moment when the federal government claims to be fighting hate, yet directs its energy toward policing faith instead of confronting the violence already happening on our streets. Bill C-9 was supposed to deal with genuine threats. It was meant to ban public displays of swastikas and terrorist insignia, and create stronger penalties for intimidation. Most of that is already covered by existing law, which tells you this bill is more political show than r

There is a moment, every so often, when a government makes a choice that tells you exactly how it sees itself. Winnipeg just had one of those moments. The city’s leadership is signalling that it believes it can effectively overrule the provincial government, ignore the authority of a provincial board, and do so on the advice of its own public service rather than independent legal counsel. That raises a question residents and businesses deserve to ask out loud. Who does the ci