UWSA polls close

March 6 was the last day for University of Winnipeg students to vote in the general election for the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association. While election results won’t be ready at press time, they should be available by the time this issue of The Uniter hits newsstands. Check theuwsa.ca for election results.

Severe late-winter snowfalls

At press time, a heavy snowfall is blanketing southern Manitoba. The snowfall is expected to last until the afternoon of March 7, with some areas getting as much as 20 centimetres. Dozens of cities, towns and communities are under snowfall warnings, and there will be highway closures on Routes 1, 2, 5, 10 and 250. Winnipeg’s snow-plowing and sidewalk-clearing crews are in full mission prep, according to a city press release.

Province to expand labour protections

Manitoba’s NDP government has announced that it will end a ban on project labour agreements that was enacted by the previous Progressive Conservative government. Large government projects often hire both unionized and non-union workers. The PCs’ policy banned labour agreements that extended union benefits and labour rules to non-union workers, citing costs. The NDP has hinted at more labour legislation in the near future, including one banning scab labour during strikes.

Former PM Mulroney dies

Brian Mulroney, the Progressive Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993, died on Feb. 29 at age 84. His death came after a fall in his home in Palm Beach, Fla. Mulroney, who was seen as Canada’s counterpart to Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, was responsible for privatizing many of Canada’s vital public services. Mulroney sold off or dismantled 23 of Canada’s 61 crown corporations, including Air Canada, Petro-Canada and the pioneering Connaught Laboratories, which discovered and developed insulin as a treatment for diabetes.

CMHR architect dies

Antoine Predock, the New Mexico-based architect who designed the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, died on March 2 at age 87. Predock designed dozens of buildings during his career, primarily in the American Southwest and still has a project under construction – an inn at the iconic French Laundry restaurant in California’s Napa Valley. His design for the CMHR echoes the conceptual Tyndall-stone architecture of the Canadian Museum of History (Douglas Cardinal) and the Canadian War Museum (Raymond Moriyama and Alex Rankin) in Ottawa.

Gillingham supports opening Portage & Main

Mayor Scott Gillingham announced on March 1 that he wants to reopen the intersec- tion of Portage Avenue and Main Street to pedestrians. Portage and Main was closed to pedestrians in 1979 to appease developers, who wanted traffic diverted to the underground concourse. Community activists have argued for years that the intersection should be re-opened, citing the concourse’s confusing layout, inaccessibility and inconvenience. A recent study found that necessary repairs to the concourse would cost the city $73 million, which influenced Gillingham’s opinion.

Published in Volume 78, Number 20 of The Uniter (March 7, 2024)