Opinion

Opinion

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Archives A few thousand people enjoy the sunshine at Grand Beach on Canada Day in 2012. Sunbathers won't be able to smoke on beaches starting in 2014, provincial officials announced Thursday.

Water safety must be a priority in Manitoba

4 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

The headlines persist.

Every summer, across Canada, people learn of drownings and deaths that could have been prevented if the people involved had taken water-safety precautions — learning to swim, supervising children, observing boating safety rules, wearing personal flotation devices (PFDs) or being cautious in and around fast-moving waters.

Also every summer, the Royal Lifesaving Society of Canada — which runs the Swim for Life program of swimming lessons across the country — designates the third week of July as National Drowning Prevention Week, as July is when Canadian water-incident rates peak.

The aim of Drowning Prevention Week is to promote water safety of all kinds — and the need is real. According to the Lifesaving Society, more than 450 Canadians die annually in preventable water-related incidents. In Manitoba, there are 22 fatal drownings, on average, every year.

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Opinion

Ships are framed by pieces of melting sea ice in Frobisher Bay in Iqaluit, Nunavut, in July 2019. Canada is equipped to compete with Russian ambitions in the Arctic, if it gets its house in order, write Alexander Dalziel and Sergey Sukhankin. (The Canadian Press)

Canada needs to confront Russia’s Arctic aspirations

By Alexander Dalziel and Sergey Sukhankin 5 minute read Preview

Canada needs to confront Russia’s Arctic aspirations

By Alexander Dalziel and Sergey Sukhankin 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

As the U.S.-Iran conflict pulls eyes to the Middle East, Canadians need to maintain a steady gaze north. When it comes to protecting sea lanes, not all the action is in the Strait of Hormuz. At the recent NATO summit in Turkey, Canada and its allies pledged to strengthen maritime security in the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans. But dealing with Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian Arctic ambitions will require Canada to act at home and abroad.

Russia is determined to control access, setting the terms for exploiting regional shipping and resources. It wants to extend command over stretches of Arctic water, with little justification under international law. If Canada wants stronger maritime security — as the Canadian Coast Guard’s transfer to the Department of National Defence last September suggests — it must grasp Russia’s Arctic plans and the long-term persistent threat they pose.

The Arctic is central to Russia’s deepening partnership with China and its broader authoritarian agenda. Moscow is courting Chinese investment while giving Beijing access denied by Arctic democracies. China is using Arctic waters to diversify its export routes while gaining experience operating in the region. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service says that both countries are increasing their espionage activities.

Russia’s strategy is layered presence and power. The most lethal layer is its navy’s formidable nuclear submarines — and yet another one of these is under construction. Another is positioning the paramilitary Russian Coast Guard to exert control over access to the Northern Sea Route, which runs north of Russia and borders on the United States in the east and Norway in the west.

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Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Opinion

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a cabinet meeting on Friday. Trump — and many other politicians — depend on confusion, outrage, hyperbole and anger to keep the public off balance. (The Associated Press)

Blutterbunged. An old word for modern times

By David McLaughlin 5 minute read Preview

Blutterbunged. An old word for modern times

By David McLaughlin 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Are you not blutterbunged?

If Russell Crowe’s second century gladiator character had uttered a 19th century equivalent of “Are you not entertained?” that fit the mood of today’s 21st century, that would be it.

Definitions first. Blutterbunged is an obscure regional dialect word from England that means everything from astonished to confounded to bemused or shocked into speechlessness. Its composition suggests something both more and less, namely blustering bloviation (that’s the more part) and empty words (that’s the empty part). These days we would more naturally punctuate our reaction to an event or statement with a profanity.

But you get the drift.

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Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Opinion

This 1904 picture shows the original residential school building in Brandon, then known as the “Indian Industrial School”. (SJ McKee Archives, Brandon University)

Letter to the editor — McCrae correct to question whether the term ‘genocide’ is applicable

By Michael Melanson 2 minute read Preview

Letter to the editor — McCrae correct to question whether the term ‘genocide’ is applicable

By Michael Melanson 2 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Re: “No room on board for unchastened apologist (July 28).”

In an attempt to pejorate James McCrae in his campaign to be elected to the school board, the Editor questions “the wisdom of entrusting the continued education of our children to an individual who has gone to great lengths to downplay the harms caused by the Indian Residential School system.”

Why should we trust educating our children to people who want to convict Canada of IRS genocide without any presumption of innocence?

McCrae was correct to question the applicability of the term, “genocide,” to the IRS system. For one, the Rome Statute prohibits any prosecution for genocide to any events that occurred prior to July 1, 2002. This means that those accused of committing IRS genocide cannot either be convicted nor exonerated in any court of law.

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Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Opinion

“Canada’s strategy invests in infrastructure and technology, but says little about the people who help farmers put them to work,” write Khondokar Humayun Kabir and Ataharul Chowdhury. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun files)

Role of farm advisors overlooked in new food strategy

By Khondokar Humayun Kabir and Ataharul Chowdhury 6 minute read Preview

Role of farm advisors overlooked in new food strategy

By Khondokar Humayun Kabir and Ataharul Chowdhury 6 minute read Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Canada’s new food security strategy promises billions of dollars for a more affordable and resilient food system. But investments in technology, infrastructure and production will only work if farmers have the knowledge and support to put them into practice.

The need for such a strategy is clear. Canadians have faced among the highest food inflation rates in the G7 in recent years. Five retailers control three-quarters of grocery sales, and Canada imports 88 per cent of its fresh fruit and 72 per cent of its vegetables, leaving consumers vulnerable when supply chains are disrupted or tariffs increase costs.

In June, the federal government launched Canada’s first National Food Security Strategy, committing more than $3 billion over 10 years to strengthen grocery competition, expand food processing, increase greenhouse production and reform regulations.

The plan aims to increase the share of healthy food produced in Canada from 75 to 85 per cent by 2032, double the value of greenhouse and indoor farming, and reduce greenhouse labour and energy costs through automation.

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Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

Opinion

Prime Minister Mark Carney listens to questions from journalists after making a statement outside the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council in Ottawa, on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

We’re giving and they’re taking. Where’s the win?

4 minute read Preview

We’re giving and they’re taking. Where’s the win?

4 minute read Thursday, Jul. 30, 2026

In the give-and-take of negotiations so far, Canada seems to be doing all the giving, while the United States does all the taking.

In the last few days, the Canadian government said it was backing away from a five per cent levy to be paid by American streaming services such as Amazon and Netflix after, earlier, dropping the three per cent digital services tax.

Then, there was what now appears to be succumbing to American President Donald Trump over the Gordie Howe International Bridge, where Canada agreed to let the U.S. share the net revenues from the bridge, even though Canada paid for the entire construction.

Now, Prime Minister Mark Carney is signalling he won’t use energy exports to the United States as a bargaining chip in the current talks on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement, saying he didn’t “see the value” of using Canada’s energy exports to the U.S. as a trade bargaining chip.

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Thursday, Jul. 30, 2026

Opinion

First it was casinos and VLTs. Is sports gambling the next government money-maker? Peter McKenna asks about the personal costs. (Mike Deal/Winnipeg Free Press files)

Online gambling has same risks as VLTs

By Peter McKenna 5 minute read Preview

Online gambling has same risks as VLTs

By Peter McKenna 5 minute read Thursday, Jul. 30, 2026

The province of Ontario was the first jurisdiction in Canada to offer a private online gambling (sorry, gaming) market in April 2022. Alberta has now followed suit and officially launched its own regulated, online sports betting market. Will Manitoba be next?

There is certainly money to be made. Ontario added roughly $469 million in online gambling profits to its governmental coffers for the 2023-24 period. And you can bet Alberta has its eyes firmly fixed on the potential for proportionate dollar amounts flowing into its provincial treasury.

What strikes me are the obvious similarities between video lottery terminals (VLTs) and online sports betting. The same governments (and not the Mafia) trying to separate people from their money, and the attendant damaging outcomes — but with different technology. Even the political calculations and implications are a carbon copy of the politics of VLTs.

I vividly recall a government official from the then-Nova Scotia Alcohol and Gaming Authority telling me that VLTs — the crack cocaine of gambling ­­— were operating on old technology that would eventually be overtaken. Little did I know that the new technology would enable people to gamble on ubiquitous online platforms.

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Thursday, Jul. 30, 2026

Opinion

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Letter to the editor — U.S. doesn’t want fair trade

2 minute read Preview

Letter to the editor — U.S. doesn’t want fair trade

2 minute read Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

As stated previously by many, America is not interested in fair trade. It is interested in the vassal subservience of all nations wishing to have access to its vast market. It has stated that it considers itself the predatory nation of control and will exercise use of its perceived manifest destiny to achieve that end.

Canada is not the only country facing tariffs worldwide. If a country kisses the U.S. ring, then it will have access to that market. And it will be on American terms.

This means the only deal you can get with the U.S. under its current arrogance is a bad one, and that country will be humiliated on the world stage by President Donald Trump as having caved to the U.S.

Once a country decides to go down this path with the current U.S. administration instead of setting trade and diplomatic boundaries, it’s over.

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Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

Opinion

Letter to the editor — Bracket creep: not-so-bitter medicine

2 minute read Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

I’m somewhat disappointed that you ran the piece bracket creep, “Bracket creep is a stealthy tax increase,” by Gage Haubricht, The Brandon Sun, July 29.

Bracket creep is a real thing, and it is in fact what he describes: the brackets do not increase with inflation and cost of living. But the author states that the average taxpayer will “lose” money by this, should they receive a cost of living adjustment.

The reality is that no one “loses” anything. Manitoba has a progressive rate, meaning you only pay the higher amount of taxes for the amount of income earned over the bracket amount.

To use his example, if the bottom of the next tax bracket was $60,001 and someone made $60,000 and received a modest $2,000 increase, the higher tax rate would only apply to $2,000 of their income. The rest would continue to be taxed at the lower rate. The rest of the money is theirs to keep.

Opinion

A mosquito plunges its sharp proboscis into a human arm. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun files)

Letter to the editor — City needs to boost larviciding

2 minute read Preview

Letter to the editor — City needs to boost larviciding

2 minute read Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

City council directed their administration to begin fogging for mosquitoes on Monday. While I disagree with their decision, I understand their reasons for it.

However, the consequence of this directive is that we may no longer have any more fogging chemical by the end of this year. Certainly, we’ll have about half of what we started with. And there’s no more coming. Per a CBC article from April 2024, the manufacturer of the chemical pulled out of what was apparently a niche market.

Perhaps the veteran members of council who know the machinations of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities can lobby higher levels of government to lower the barriers to that niche market, but don’t count on that happening fast.

With this in mind, the next council — in concert with their city manager — needs to take a hard and serious look at our practices, which attack mosquito populations while in their larval stages. The city’s website notes that just four staff are responsible for an area of 264 square kilometres.

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Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

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