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Disillusioned Gen Z, millennial consumers can drive real change
By Eugene Y. Chan 5 minute read PreviewDisillusioned Gen Z, millennial consumers can drive real change
By Eugene Y. Chan 5 minute read Yesterday at 10:31 PM CSTWalk into any classroom, scroll through TikTok or sit in on a Gen Z focus group, and you’ll hear a familiar refrain: “We care, but nothing changes.”
Across climate action, racial justice and corporate ethics, many young people believe their values are out of sync with the systems around them and are skeptical that their voices, votes and dollars alone can address deep systemic problems.
If you feel this way, you’re not alone. But are young consumers truly powerless? Or are they simply navigating a new kind of influence that’s more diffuse, digital and demanding in ways previous generations did not experience?
The rise of political consumerism
ReadPolitical consumerism — the act of buying or boycotting products for political or ethical reasons — is on the rise among younger generations. (The Associated Press files)
A step forward, but many steps remain
4 minute read PreviewA step forward, but many steps remain
4 minute read Yesterday at 10:27 PM CSTThe Manitoba government’s plan to add physicians to Health Links–Info Santé announced last week, is a sensible improvement to a long-standing service.
For years, Manitobans calling the nurse-managed phone line have often received the same unsatisfying advice: “Go to the ER.”
Bringing two doctors into the mix — now available 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in a six-month pilot project — will undoubtedly give some callers more precise assessments and, in many cases, better access to primary care.
But the government’s accompanying claim that a few more virtual doctors will significantly reduce ER overcrowding is, at best, wishful thinking. At worst, it diverts attention from the real, entrenched causes of ER backlogs.
ReadThe Emergency Room entrance to the Brandon Regional Health Centre. Manitoba hospitals routinely operate at or above capacity. When no inpatient beds are available, admitted patients are kept in the ER, sometimes for days. (The Brandon Sun files)
Ditching doctor’s notes is overdue
3 minute read PreviewDitching doctor’s notes is overdue
3 minute read Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025It is becoming increasingly clear that the battle to recruit physicians within Canada — and across North America — may come down to the quality of life a jurisdiction can offer, and not the size of the paycheque.
Case in point: in the recent throne speech delivered by Manitoba’s NDP government, there was a pledge to pass legislation banning employers from seeking sick notes for employee absences of one week or less. Although this may seem like small, bordering on insignificant, gesture, it is directly connected to a major campaign to streamline the practice of medicine by reducing the administrative burden faced by physicians.
Doctors Manitoba, the organization that represents physicians in contract talks with the province, has long argued that indiscriminate demands for sick notes was adding an unnecessary burden on physicians. Physicians claim that sick notes for employees who miss a week or less of work are a waste of time; one in three people seeking notes for short-term absences are actually symptom free by the time they get in to see a doctor. Requiring the notes seems more like a litmus test for trust in employees than it does an actual barometer of employee health.
Earlier this year, Doctors Manitoba estimated more than 36,000 hours of primary care time was consumed writing 600,000 sick notes at a cost of $8 million annually to the health-care system.
ReadNichelle Desilets, president of Doctors Manitoba. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun files)
What would Marx say about the AI bubble?
By Elliot Goodell Ugalde 6 minute read PreviewWhat would Marx say about the AI bubble?
By Elliot Goodell Ugalde 6 minute read Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025When OpenAI’s Sam Altman told reporters in San Francisco earlier this year that the AI sector is in a bubble, the American tech market reacted almost instantly.
Combined with the fact that 95 per cent of AI pilot projects fail, traders treated his remark as a broader warning. Although Altman was referring specifically to private startups rather than publicly traded giants, some appear to have interpreted it as an industry-wide assessment.
Tech billionaire Peter Thiel sold his Nvidia holdings, for instance, while American investor Michael Burry (of The Big Short fame) has made million-dollar bets that companies like Palantir and Nvidia will drop in value.
What Altman’s comment really exposes is not only the fragility of specific firms but the deeper tendency Prussian philosopher Karl Marx predicted: the problem of surplus capital that can no longer find profitable outlets in production.
ReadSam Altman participates in a discussion during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in November 2023, in San Francisco. Altman recently told reporters he believes the AI sector is in a bubble. (The Associated Press)
Wildlife, tourism at risk in Churchill
By Ron Thiessen 5 minute read PreviewWildlife, tourism at risk in Churchill
By Ron Thiessen 5 minute read Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025Churchill’s marine environment stands on the edge of profound change. Government investment is accelerating to transform the Port of Churchill into a year-round shipping hub.
Without careful planning, the very wildlife that makes this region globally renowned could be irreparably harmed.
Western Hudson Bay is one of Canada’s most ecologically important — and vulnerable — marine regions. These waters host tens of thousands of beluga whales each summer, are home to the world’s most famous polar bear population, and provide a critical stopover for migratory birds linking ecosystems across continents. The region’s wildlife is integral to Indigenous cultures and forms the backbone of Churchill’s world-class tourism economy.
In 2018, Parks Canada proposed establishing a national marine conservation area in western Hudson Bay. Since then, 12,000 Canadians and the Town of Churchill have sent written correspondences to the federal government urging it to launch the long-overdue feasibility study for the conservation area.
ReadA polar bear mother and her two cubs walk along the shore of Hudson Bay near Churchill, Man. in November 2007. Ron Thiessen writes that now is the time for a long-awaited feasibility study for a national marine conservation area in western Hudson Bay. (The Canadian Press files)
Experimental course proves prescient
By David McConkey 4 minute read PreviewExperimental course proves prescient
By David McConkey 4 minute read Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025“Next Stop: Latvia.” That was the headline of a recent Brandon Sun story about soldiers from Shilo on their way to a NATO operation in the Baltics. Unremarkable, yet unthinkable until recently. Reading that headline reminds me of the prescience of a high school course I took decades ago.
The year was 1968 and I was in Grade 12 at Vincent Massey Collegiate in Winnipeg. By chance, I found myself taking an experimental social studies course. It was taught by Gerry Labies, a history teacher at the school. Labies explained to our class that he was a member of a curriculum development committee. As part of that project, he would be testing a new course with us. We teenagers didn’t appreciate it at the time but we would be treated to a gifted teacher free to explore his vision, untrammeled by precedents or textbooks.
The course was centred on the rise of authoritarianism in the 20th century. We studied communism in Russia and China, Nazism in Germany and fascism in Italy and South America.
Even more than 50 years later, I can recall the scenes Labies painted with his passion and his words. We could imagine that we were there: with V.I. Lenin in 1917 on a sealed train speeding across Germany towards Russia; with Adolf Hitler in 1923 in Munich during the failed beer hall putsch; with Mao in the 1930s in China on the Long March.
ReadCpl. Aaron MacLennan sits at the front of the bus that left CFB Shilo in December 2024. About 175 soldiers were deployed from the base to Latvia. David McConkey describes how Latvia’s independence — and a special teacher — taught him the value of hope. (Connor McDowell/The Brandon Sun files)
Acknowledging World AIDS Day
By Abby Wronowski 3 minute read PreviewAcknowledging World AIDS Day
By Abby Wronowski 3 minute read Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025World AIDS Day has been celebrated worldwide on Dec. 1 since 1988. World AIDS Day falls right between AIDS Awareness Week, which runs in the last week of November, and Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week, which is held in the first week of December. This year’s theme is “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response”; the goal for World AIDS Day is to accelerate the response to HIV/AIDS, and work towards an end to the epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. World AIDS Day is also used as a day to spread information on HIV/AIDS, end the stigma surrounding AIDS, and remember the loss of loved ones who have passed away from AIDS.
What is AIDS? According to the Government of Canada Website, AIDS, which is short for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is a worsened stage of HIV, which is short for human immunodeficiency virus. HIV attacks the body’s immune system. People who are diagnosed with HIV are not all bound to get AIDS. With the right treatment, HIV can be managed, and people can live long, healthy lives even if they have HIV. When HIV is left untreated, the problems start to arise. HIV targets the body’s immune system, which is the body system used to fight infections. Without a strong, healthy immune system, the human body is susceptible and unable to fight severe infections. This is why HIV leads to AIDS.
In the 1980s, when AIDS was first discovered, there was a huge epidemic, as it was first presented as a mysterious and terrifying disease with no cure. Through the years of research and studies, scientists and doctors were able to identify that AIDS was the final stage of HIV. With that knowledge, treatments have emerged for people with HIV to receive and prevent AIDS. The epidemic is still not over; it is just managed with the help of treatments. According to the public health services section of the Canadian government website, an estimated 65,270 Canadians were living with HIV in 2022.
Originally, the symbol for AIDS awareness was a red ribbon. However, in 1991, the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection (RHAC) created the symbol of a red-coloured scarf, to illustrate your support, awareness and solidarity for those living with AIDS.
ReadUNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima speaks to the media about World AIDS Day 2025 during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via The Associated Press)
A tough decision for women
By Deveryn Ross 4 minute read PreviewA tough decision for women
By Deveryn Ross 4 minute read Friday, Nov. 28, 2025Earlier this week, the Sun reported that a committee named “Her Seat at the Table” is encouraging women to seek positions on city council in the next municipal election. As part of that effort, the group will host a gathering on Dec. 3, at which there will be a range of information available for those considering running. That meeting will be followed by a second session in February, which organizer Tracy Baker says will be “more strategic.”
I have no doubt that the “Her Seat at the Table” initiative is well-intentioned, in that it seeks to resolve the gender imbalance that currently exists at the city council table. That said, it is important that anybody thinking of running for any elected position — women in particular — have a very clear idea of exactly what they are getting themselves into.
Over the past 20 to 30 years, I have often been contacted by people who were pondering being candidates in an upcoming election, whether it be at the school board, city council, provincial or federal level. Their concerns have ranged from the cost of election campaigns to the time commitment required to do the job if elected, and everything in between.
More recently, their top issue by far is the amount of abuse they will experience during the campaign and, if they are elected, during their tenure as an elected official.
ReadFamilies Minister Nahanni Fontaine’s constituency office is shown after it was vandalized in September. Vandalism or even worse forms of harassment is something women in elected and non-elected leadership positions face every day, Deveryn Ross writes. (Mike Deal/Winnipeg Free Press files)
Get to the bottom of BU allegations
1 minute read PreviewGet to the bottom of BU allegations
1 minute read Friday, Nov. 28, 2025Regarding article: “Former Brandon University dean accused of ‘mathematically impossible’ grade change.”
This is a serious allegation. This is the kind of insanity I would expect at the junior/senior high school levels, NOT our own university!
As a Brandon University alumnus, this disturbs me to the core. Most students past and present work very hard, put in countless hours of lectures, labs and studies to meet the high standards required for academic recognition, and future entrance into further professional studies. This isn’t something to be take lightly!
There is only one way to determine whether the allegation holds any merit. An outside independent academic body of retired professors, not aligned with Brandon University, should investigate the allegations and produce a public report.
ReadThe Brandon University campus. (The Brandon Sun files)
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