The Gritty Business of Sio Silica

Who knew sand could be so controversial? Sio Silica, a company that detractors derogatively refer to as “an Alberta Company”, has proposed a large project to extract high-grade silica sand in eastern Manitoba for the manufacturing of solar panels, among other potential uses. Alberta or not (we won’t get very far if our economy is…

Another illegal parking lot

Winnipeg has a rich history of illegal and offensive parking lots. There is, for example, the case of ‘Jelly Bean Park’ whereby a quaint little park on Portage Avenue was converted into a primitive gravel parking lot in a business deal involving convicted cocaine trafficker Ray Rybachuk prior to his mysterious death by snowmobile accident.…

Vote Green in 2019 #cdnpoli

It is a coincidence that the 2019 federal election coincided with the North American tour of pint sized climate trooper Greta Thunberg, but it is appropriate. Climate change has been on the radar of scientists for decades, but as the tipping point towards irreversible catastrophic climate change approaches, it still seems as though most politicians…

What’s your plan for Hydro?

It wasn’t that long ago that everybody was criticizing Rana Bokhari and the Manitoba Liberal Party for a lack of substance in their platform. Rana’s performance was called “underwhelming” and specific policy ideas had been slow in coming. ‘Just wait’ Rana said to the skeptics, ‘the policies are on their way’. Well, true to her word,…

Election 2015: The Environment

If we’re doing these blog posts in order of importance, Prime Minister Harper would expect me to write about national security next. I will not. I will write about the environment next because to me it’s the next biggest issue facing this nation. I do believe that national security is important, but not necessarily for…

Moving nuclear waster across Manitoba

420 meters beneath the ground, microscopic particles of minerals hung in the damp air creating an eerie glow from the distant lights. Standing alone in the dark, damp granite tunnels of the Underground Research Lab near Lac Du Bonnet Manitoba, a person could easily imagine a dragon or balrog emerging from around the corner. The…

Lessons From Denver: Urban Chickens

The concept of small-scale urban homesteading has come up before in Winnipeg, but like most ideas that depart ever so slightly from the status quo, people assumed that it would make their lives miserable, and it ended up going nowhere. Although it fell on deaf ears, advocates pointed out that other cities in North America…