The Black Rod

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 ...

It started March 21st. It was near the end of a long, boring meeting of a committee of the Legislature at which the Opposition gets to ask questions about crown corporations like the Liquor Control Commission. Out of the blue, Ron Schuler (P.C. St. Paul) asked," Is the MLCC a season ticket holder of the Winnipeg Jets ?" The resulting discussion was hardly momentous. Roman Zubach, acting president of the liquor commission, answered,"We do hold 10 season tickets..." Schuler asked Jim Rondeau, minister responsible for the Liquor Control Act, "Has the minister been to any Winnipeg Jets games using MLCC Jets tickets?" "No," said Rondeau. "Could we have a list who has access to those tickets?" asked Schuler. Rondeau squirmed a bit about providing names of citizens who won tickets in contests but "(i)f it’s talking about board members or MLAs or Cabinet ministers, absolutely. I have no difficulty whatsoever providing that to you...

Ten days into the Manitoba election campaign, neither party can claim to have momentum. But Conservative Party leader Hugh McFadyen has drawn first blood. Or, more accurately, Winnipeg Sun columnist Tom Brodbeck drew first blood and McFadyen is riding piggyback on Brodbeck's work. Still, when even NDP apologist Dan Lett has to admit, grudgingly and reluctantly, in the Winnipeg Free Press that he was wrong, and Brodbeck and McFadyen were right, it's time to call in the cut man. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/muddying-the-waters-on-budgets-129865583.html It's too early to say if this is the game changer, but the NDP's phony deficit figures could turn into just the integrity issue that tips the election. Unelected Premier Greg Selinger thought he was being clever when he delayed officially calling the provincial election until after his government released the final accounting of the 2010-11 budget on Friday, Sept. 2. The public ac...

We don't know who's more insulting, politician Andrew Swan or reporters Mike McIntyre and Gabrielle Giroday. But its clear that this trio is guilty of grossly misleading the public. The team of McIntrye and Giroday should have been collecting accolades for their revelation that the teenager charged with killing a motorist by smashing into him with a stolen Hummer was a car thief previously convicted of involvement in another car crash where a taxi driver was killed. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/accused-thief-has-a-dark-past-79392032.html Instead, by simply regurgitating the political lies of Justice Minister Andrew Swan, they negated their good work and deserve to share the disgrace. Their Wednesday story concluded with the obligatory search for a solution: "Attorney General Andrew Swan said provincial governments have been pushing Ottawa for changes to the Youth Criminal Justice Act that would allow judges to take deterrence into account when sentencing young o...

Who's stealing all those cars? That, in 2002, was the burning question facing Winnipeg police---and Manitoba Public Insurance which was paying the cost. Or, as the authors of the submission from the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy put it in their submission to the Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing “Why was auto theft so attractive to young people that some would go out in -30 C weather to spend the day stealing 5 cars?” MPI forked out some money to get the answer. They had to. The problem was costing them millions. And it was getting worse by the year. Starting the very next year, 2003, to 2007, Winnipeg had the worst car theft problem in North America. In 2007, the theft rate here was 1714 per 100,000 of population. The city with the highest rate in the United States was Modesto, California, at 1048/100,000 . The cost to MPI would eventually climb to nearly $40 million a year. In 2002 MPI funded a study of jailed car thieves to get their...