Thursday, October 5, 2023

News roundup, 5 Oct 2023

- The Manitoba PCs have been forced to do some soul searching as they try to come to grips with their defeat. One defeated MLA admits that she was appalled at the ads opposing a landfill search. Others are wondering if Stefanson's hard-right tone during the campaign was helpful, especially as it may not have come across as authentic. The thing is, a substantial portion of their base probably approves; the federal party is grappling with the same kind of thing. In any case, we won't have Stefanson to kick around any more.

- The new premier is sympathetic to striking MPI workers, though he is being cautious to avoid inappropriate interference in labour negotiations.

- The City of Winnipeg is asking for the province to give it new powers to collect fines from property owners, by putting the fines on property tax bills and by preventing renewal of driver's licenses and vehicle registrations. The hope is that this would allow action against derelict properties that isn't possible now, though this could apply to other fines as well, such as parking tickets.

- A proposal has been made to close Assiniboine Avenue between Fort and Main Streets. This would be beneficial for the neighbourhood, though probably annoying to some commuters. The proposal also includes putting a pedestrian scramble at River and Osborne (anywhere except Portage and Main I guess).

- It appears that back in 1987 a member of the same Waffen-SS division as Yaroslav Hunka was appointed to the Order of Canada. Now, belatedly, this is being reexamined. Also rather awkward is the fact that there is a memorial to this division in a cemetery in Oakville, and that this is a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis and similar deplorables.

- The US House of Representatives is effectively paralyzed due to the lack of an elected speaker; the interim speaker has limited powers and new legislation can't be introduced until a new speaker can be elected; this could make a government shutdown more likely and put a stop to aid to Ukraine. McCarthy is not running again and it's not clear who his successor will be.

- Teachers around the world face harassment from parents; in South Korea it's so bad that teachers are seeking new legal protections from said harassment.

- The walkway at Fort Gibraltar that collapsed last spring, causing severe injury, will be removed.

- The Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to the developers of "quantum dots", a technology key to many of the monitors being used to read this post.

- A UN report has called for an end to new fossil fuel exploration by 2030. Pity the UN doesn't run everything like the conspiracy nutters think it does.

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