NEW: Winnipeg Rapid Transit Map

You are probably familiar with the London Underground “tube map”. Even people who have never been to London have probably seen it in a magazine or on the internet somewhere. The iconic map designed by Harry Beck in 1931 sacrificed geographical accuracy in favour of clarity and ease of use, and it has become the…

Manitoba Hydro: Finally figuring it out.

For years Manitoba Hydro has been promoting energy efficiency through its Power Smart program. They paid for numerous TV ads, they had a trade-in program for LED Christmas lights, they sent me not one but TWO packages of CFL light bulbs, and if I stop procrastinating and finally get around to insulating my attic, they…

Peavey Mart opens in Winnipeg

Retail is kind of a big deal in Winnipeg, so much so that mayor Sam Katz cited Bed, Bath and Beyond as evidence that Winnipeg was undergoing a “renaissance” in a recent address.-fp– The opening of IKEA rocked the city and everyone is exciting about H&M coming to Polo Park shopping centre. Big international or…

UPDATED: Sourcing pictures in the internet age

CTV News picked up on an amusing story that developed on Twitter Wednesday night about Manitoba Government mailer gone wrong. The interesting twitter exchange started with journalist Steve Lambert posted the following: Is this a trick question? Why does it have to be in Manitoba? Well, because … That structure in the bottom left corner…

The real impact of Manitoba’s Core Infrastructure plan

Not long ago the provincial government in Manitoba announced an ambitious plan to spend $5.5 billion on “core infrastructure” over the next 5 years. This is the main pillar of the NDP’s economic strategy, and as such the government needs to show that it’s all worthwhile. To that end, the government commissioned a study by…

The state of spam these days …

I want to depart from my usual bitching and moaning about governments to talk about something else that has been on my mind lately: the poor quality of the spam and phishing schemes that have been sent to me lately. It is really appalling. Just appalling. For example, the following email came to me recently:…

The long road to the truth

On April 18, 2012, an email was sent out by the government to immigration workers and support agencies inviting them to attend a debate in the legislature the following day over a NDP motion to request the Federal government back down from their plan to take over certain immigration programs. After 9 months of relentless…

Is the mayor a bully?

Seemingly out of nowhere, Winnipeg’s mayor has decided to sue a university newspaper and its writer for a column that was published two months ago. – Free Press– The column titled The Local Political Blunder – Sam Katz strongly insinuates that Katz orchestrated inside deals behind a corrupt fire hall tendering process.* The first question…

Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Forward

I was scanning the Winnipeg Sun today when I came upon a full page ad directed at Manitoba Hydro employees: The ad starts by buttering up Hydro employees by telling them that they “have done a fine job”, then sets about explaining why their employer is going to shambles. The ad explains that the NDP…

Jon Montgomery and Sochi 2014: what could have been

The Canadian men’s skeleton team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia will only have two athletes, and one of them will not be named Jon Montgomery. Until recently many people, myself included, assumed that Jon would be there. Why wouldn’t we? He is the reigning gold medalist, he was the fastest Canadian in…