Opinion
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The real peril of H1N1
Well, it had to happen eventually. Despite all of the gaudy comparisons to the Great Depression, the news story candle that is the ‘global recession’ had to burn itself out of fashion sooner or later.
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Lost Winnipeg
South Point Douglas, that narrow peninsular neighborhood east of Main Street and south of the CP Railway, experienced a 35 per cent population increase between 2001 and 2006, the 2006 Census revealed. And while that might sound impressive in a city that had an overall increase of just over two per cent in the same period, the boom only brought South Point Douglas’ population to 230, up from 170 persons.
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Complaining about those who complain about marijuana, which doesn’t need to be complained about
So another Winnipeg winter has come and gone, and spring is finally here. We as Winnipeggers now find ourselves in limbo between the two main complaining seasons. Spring and autumn can be very trying times for all of us in this fair city as it can sometime be unclear exactly what we should be complaining about.
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Just do it!
Well, here we are Gang; it’s already the last issue of the school year. Pretty soon most of you will be done classes and up to your elbows in meth and hookers.
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Looking back on our future
By the 1960s the teeming optimism that permeated Winnipeg’s civic condition at the turn of the century had long since vanished. Never mind Chicago of the North, the city was poised to play second fiddle to Calgary and Edmonton. In the midst of the jet age, Winnipeg’s tallest office building was still an embarrassing 13 floors – the McArthur building at Portage and Main, a slender but tacky relic from 1910.
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Urban or suburban? The final frontiers
Point - counterpoint: Where we live says a lot about who we are. Though Winnipeg’s unicity planning has resulted in a variety of unique neighbourhoods, there is still a strong dichotomy between the downtown core and sprawling suburbs.
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Capturing our potential
In political campaigns and social movements in particular, it is important to inspire a groundswell of support. This support can be hinged on a volatile issue of values or founded on the basis of sustainability.
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Yes we…could
When it comes to the discourse of the city we call home, Winnipeggers are a paradoxical lot. For example, typically disparate social strata-like developers, business owners, activists and ordinary residents alike agree that something must be done about the malaise of our downtown, but most of the city still performs a mass exodus of the area every day at evening rush hour.
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No progress here
Imagine a minister of justice who believed in stoning adulteresses or a minister of health who prescribed exorcism.
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Growing up is tough, unless you’re a gynecologist
Hi Gang. It’s me, J. Williamez. I’m back for yet another edition of my weekly column “Good and Evil with J. Williamez” (because there are clearly not enough people complaining about it to make the editors force me to stop).
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Nowhere to stay
Refugees living in Winnipeg face a huge obstacle to their settlement: a serious lack of adequate housing. The plight of new refugees and immigrants is hidden between the cracks of government bureaucracy, but cannot be ignored.
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There are no slumdog millionaires here
KAMPALA, UGANDA – After spending the last two months working in one of Kampala’s largest and poorest slums I can’t say I’ve seen much I didn’t expect. It has been a personally rewarding, emotionally taxing and incredibly human experience – but that was anticipated.
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Two-faced Harper can’t decide
Stephen Harper does not seem himself lately. Gone are the days of the fiscally responsible hardliner, with his dogmatic adherence to the government bottom line. That persona seems to have died the day that the ill-begotten trio of opposition party leaders raised their collective voice in outrage at the timid Conservative government response to the country’s economic plummet.
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And we let them run the country…
Our House of Commons is not plagued so much by our lack of messianic instruction as it is by the carpet bagging and the opportunism of our political left.
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Police prejudice blinds us
There is an ongoing battle between police and regular citizens. The inquiry into Robert Dziekanski’s death shows that the battle is not based around whether or not the police are enforcing the law, but rather how they carry out their duties.
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Adults can read comics, too
Are comic books cool yet? Hyper-popular books like Watchmen sure are, but the genre is still learning.
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Where is our civic vision?
A newfound interest in how Manitobans portray themselves to the world seems to have begun in earnest.
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Birthdays: Bad for You, Good for the Economy
If you’ve ever celebrated a birthday at a bar or licensed restaurant with any more than one friend, then you know that birthdays can be very hazardous to your health.
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Liberty or death
While I was sitting down the other day for a nice long think, I noticed something ironic. Well, at least I think it was ironic. I’m never really sure when something is ironic or not.
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Crimes against society
Fortunately, the trial of Vincent Li – the man who murdered Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus last summer – has ended.