The Black Rod

Two things sent chills down our backs this week. First, was the magnificent performance of Winnipeg's own Samantha Hill at the Tony Awards, a show which was watched by 7.2 million people.  She had the honour of singing the immortal showstopper 'Music of the Night' during a tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'The Phantom of the Opera', which, this January  became the longest-running show in Broadway history. This year Hill reached the top of the theatre mountain, taking the female lead of Christine Daee in the Broadway production, opposite Peter Joback as the Phantom. If you missed it, you can catch their performance at the Tony's here:   http://broadwayworld.com/article/VIDEO-PHANTOM-OF-THE-OPERA-Cast-Performs-at-Tony-Awards-20130610 At the other end of the scale, we read the full 30-page heart-stopping commentary by Graham Lane, former chairman of the Public Utilities Board, on Doer's Folly , the runaway tr...

Two months ago the Stephen Harper government announced they were shutting down the Experimental Lakes Area, a one-of-a-kind science research project, run by Winnipeg scientists. They said it was to save $2 million a year, a half-a-gazillionth of the federal budget. The ELA consists of 58 lakes near Kenora. For 44 years scientists were able to use the closed ecosystems of the lakes to do groundbreaking research on acid rain, toxic metals, the effect of phosphates on freshwater lakes, what spawns algae blooms that kill lakes, and climate change. One story on the closure declared "the ELA was to water ecology what the supercollider is to physics." As a result of the defunding of the world-reknowned project, 40 biologists, chemists and other scientists from Winnipeg will lose their jobs. Scientists from around the world have decried the Harper government's action, giving Canada a bad name in science circles everywhere. But the governm...

When Premier Greg Selinger released a list of 13 NDP MLA's who got free tickets to Winnipeg Jets games he forgot one name -- his own. On Oct. 9, 2011, the Winnipeg Jets played their home opener and Greg Selinger was among the invited guests, along with former NDP Premier Gary Doer and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Blogger Allison Pattison, a Creative Communications student at Red River College, wrote about Selinger's attendance at the game. http://passittopatty.blogspot.com/2011/10/fans-still-love-ya-jets.html . "The MTS Centre was packed to the roof. Literally. I would say about 80% of the fans in there were in white, which was a good thing because that means when the Jets request a white-out, fans will know what to do." "The game started off with a ceremonial puck drop; Rick Rypien's mom had the honour." "Along with Rypien's mom in attendance were a few other known names. Our Prime Minister Stephen ...

Yep. Still dead. We had to check after Monday's media wallow over the death of the new Moses, Jack Layton, aka the man who accomplished nothing in his federal career apart from propping up the corpse of the Liberal Party until it literally fell to pieces. Let's see, he was leader of the fourth largest party in Parliament, never spent a day in government, and waited until the Liberals finally imploded to pick up the pieces and lead a gaggle of Quebec students and separatists to Ottawa under the NDP banner. Then he expired, leaving the party in the hands of a 68-year-old woman with the English language skills of Stephane Dion and who, when elected, was a card-carrying separatist party member and financial donor. Way to go, New Moses. But while the mainstream media commentators rushed to buy sackcloth and ashes before prostrating themselves at Layton's cold dead feet, they studiously avoided the only question anyone wanted answered--- who is going to lead...