Looking Back — April 15, 2023

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/04/2023 (1265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SIXTY YEARS AGO

Made honorary deputy mayor of the City of Brandon by Mayor S.A. Magnacca, South America-bound D.M. “Mike” Doig was given a letter to deliver to the mayor of Sao Paulo, Brazil, as he boarded the first flight of TransAir’s new Prairie Service schedule from Brandon. Magnacca entrusted the letter to Doig, who will be part of the Canadian pistol team in this month’s Pan American Games in Brazil.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

Two hundred and sixty horses were auctioned off at the Manitoba Horse Breeders Association sale held at the Keystone Centre. Horses brought in total receipts of nearly $35,000.

A fire this evening consumed a wooden counter in the clerk of county court office on the right side of the Brandon Court House’s east entrance and damaged most of the office and furniture through intense heat.

W.H. Shelvy, Calvary Temple’s eldest worshipper, had the honour of turning the sod today for the new temple to be constructed on 34th Street, south of Victoria Avenue.

FORTY YEARS AGO

Hairdressing, social services and clerk-typing will be cut this September from Assiniboine Community College and the nine instructors who taught the programs are to be retained or shifted to other areas of the civil service.

Two major nursing home projects in Brandon include a 60-bed personal care home to replace the Bullock Booth and Eventide Homes and a major addition to the Fairview Home. Total cost of the two projects is estimated at $10 million.

THIRTY YEARS AGO

Red Lacquement recently purchased the Nevada Bob’s Discount Golf and Tennis franchise and is renovating Spectrum Sports on 13th Street to accommodate the multi-national chain’s merchandise. Nevada Bob’s is a Las Vegas-based operation with several hundred outlets worldwide and 15 in Western Canada.

TWENTY YEARS AGO

While drivers will soon zip across the flat lands of both Alberta and Saskatchewan at faster speeds, Scott Smith says he still wants motorists on the brakes at the Manitoba border. Starting June 1, people driving on Saskatchewan’s three four-lane highways will be allowed to travel at 110 kilometres per hour.

Smith, Manitoba’s transportation minister, says he will watch the Saskatchewan move with interest but doesn’t plan to up the speed limit on the Trans-Canada Highway or Highway 75 south of Winnipeg.

A stuffed class will hinder a student’s learning environment, says Brandon Teachers’ Association president Wayne Bradshaw. Bradshaw voiced his concerns about increased class sizes at Crocus Plains high school. He pointed out at the end of last year, the school had 1,145 students with 77 teachers. This year, teaching staff is down to 45 teachers, he says, with student enrolment already at 1,145.

TEN YEARS AGO

Brandon University’s campus bar is not only expected to break even, but turn a profit for the first time in many years. SUDS (the Student Union Drinking Spot) has been plagued with financial losses for at least the past five years. Brandon University Students’ Union president Carissa Taylor says a number of factors have managed to turn the bar around.

Justin Trudeau is vowing to usher in a generational shift in Canadian politics — younger, more hopeful, less negative — after winning the federal Liberal leadership by a landslide Sunday. And he signalled that putting an end to negativity starts with the Liberal party itself, whose spiral into a third-party rump can be traced to the perpetual internecine leadership wars triggered by his father’s ascension to the Liberal helm 45 years ago.