Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 1, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A2 A 2 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM VOL 149 NO 323 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2020 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published seven days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204-697-7000 Publisher / BOB COX Editor / PAUL SAMYN Associate Editor Enterprise / SCOTT GIBBONS Associate Editor News / STACEY THIDRICKSON Associate Editor Digital News / WENDY SAWATZKY Director Photo and Multimedia / MIKE APORIUS NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL The Winnipeg Free Press is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an in- dependent organization established to determine acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please send them to: editorialconcerns@freepress.mb.ca. 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INSIDE Arts and Life D1 Business B5 Classifieds B9 Comics D5 Diversions D6,7 Horoscope D4 Jumble D6 Miss Lonelyhearts D4 Obituaries B10 Opinion A6-7 Sports C1 Television B3 Weather B12 COLUMNISTS: Gwynne Dyer A7 READER SERVICE ● GENERAL INQUIRIES 204-697-7000 The Free Press receives support from the Local Journalism Initiative funded by the Government of Canada CIRCULATION INQUIRIES MISSING OR INCOMPLETE PAPER? Call or email before 10 a.m. weekdays or 11 a.m. Saturday City: 204-697-7001 Outside Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 press 1 6:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Monday-Friday.; 7 a.m. - noon Saturday; Closed Sunday TO SUBSCRIBE: 204-697-7001 Out of Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 MPI ● FROM A1TESTS ● FROM A1 The tests are most likely to be sent to rural and remote communi- ties that have limited or no access to labs to test for COVID-19, or high-risk locations such as schools and long-term care facilities where being able to test a lot of people quickly is effective and helpful. They cannot be used for testing at home. Dr. Andrew Morris, an infec- tious disease physician at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, said it will be critical to determine which provinces get the tests first and which locations are prioritized for their use. He said getting them at all is a good step. “We needed them yesterday, so to speak, rather than, you know, six weeks from now,” he said. “I can’t imagine that we’re going to be getting them in the next couple of weeks. So on that side, I am definitely disappointed and I would have liked to have seen us have had them earlier, that’s for sure.” Dr. Prabhat Jha, director of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, said rapid tests should be used first to protect the health-care system by testing health workers, and people at long-term care homes. But he said after that, rapid tests can be a big help to keeping the economy going, such as by deploy- ing them at airports and in other key industries that need to get back to normal business. “It’s not sustainable for us to think the only tool that we have is to go back into a lockdown,” he said. “That would be a complete disaster.” — The Canadian Press At the time, the corporation pointed to fewer insur- ance claims due to COVID-19 restrictions and strong year-end financial results as the main reasons for the rebates. Effective March 1, 2020, overall basic auto insurance rates decreased 0.6 per cent in Manitoba. In June, MPI announced it had filed an application with the Public Utilities Board requesting an overall rate decrease of 10.5 per cent in 2021. If approved this fall, it would be the largest Autopac rate decrease in three decades. Byron Williams, a lawyer representing the Consum- ers Association of Canada, said the biggest driver of the surge in profits was the large reduction in collision claims. “From our client’s perspective, it also reflects an over-collection of rates from captive ratepayers, as well as modest improvements in efficiency, particularly in terms of MPI’s relationship with the automotive trade and other service providers,” he said Wednesday. Williams said, in recent years, MPI has sought better rates from the auto repair industry and other service providers, such as chiropractors. MPI’s revenue from premiums last year totalled $1.5 billion, while net claims totalled $1 billion. The Crown corporation handled 293,649 claims, with an average cost of $3,435 per claim. After launching its first fraud awareness campaign, the Crown corporation received a record number of calls (594) to its anti-fraud tip line. The campaign high- lighted insurance fraud costs each ratepayer an average of $50 per year. MPI said fraud prevention efforts saved the corporation about $15 million last year. The public auto insurer said, in the future, all Autopac customers will receive corporate financial information as part of their annual statement or renewal notices. The statements will include a graphic breaking down where customers’ premium dollars go, including the portion assigned to claims, operating costs, broker com- missions and other expenses. MPI is launching new coverage levels next year. This will include increased coverage for third-party liability and maximum insured value as well as new deductible levels. For the first time in more than 20 years, cus- tomers will have the option of reducing premiums by increasing deductible levels. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca A RISE in sales boosted by panic-buying early in the coronavirus pandemic helped Manitoba Li- quor & Lotteries Corp. finish its fiscal year with liquor profits of $409 mil- lion — an increase of nearly $9 million from the previous year. The growth is due to increased Li- quor Mart sales and a surge “due to uncertainty regarding potential clos- ures as a result of the COVID-19 pan- demic,” according to MLL’s 2019-20 annual report. Meanwhile, the report released this week does not say how much the Crown corporation spent on making Liquor Mart outlets safer, in response to public outcry over brazen thefts, in- cluding a violent robbery that sent an employee to hospital in November. Early in the fiscal year, it launched a theft reduction strategy to install con- trolled entrances at all Liquor Marts in Winnipeg. It had completed work at most of them by March 31. On Wednes- day, an MLL spokeswoman said there is still work to do at locations outside the city, and the corporation won’t re- veal a cost total until it’s done. “The controlled entrance project is currently in the last few months of completion, with the entrances being rolled out at select locations outside of Winnipeg,” she said in an email. “We anticipate the installations of the con- trolled entrances at these final Liquor Mart locations will be completed by early-mid December.” Revealing costs and budgets before that point could compromise the com- petitive bidding process, she said. Booze thefts amounted to $2.9 mil- lion in product taken from store shelves, doubling the total from the previous fiscal year, MLL president and chief executive officer Manny At- wal told a Crown corporations commit- tee at the legislature in May. In the annual report, Atwal said thefts and robberies “have declined significantly,” with staff and custom- ers confirming an improved sense of “safety and security.” Almost half of the revenue earned from liquor sales goes toward cover- ing the cost of selling booze, the report shows. Liquor revenues rose to $807 mil- lion from $794 million the previous year, while the cost of selling liquor increased by $5 million to $396 million in 2019-20. Licensed establishments, mean- while, logged an $11.8-million decrease in liquor sales from the previous year, as more Manitobans opted to entertain at home, the annual report says. The province’s gambling revenue also took a hit. Casinos were ordered to close March 18 because of the pandemic, with tem- porary layoffs affecting 1,300 employ- ees. The COVID-19 public health orders also affected VLT lounges. Together, casinos and VLTs represent 40 per cent of the Crown corporation’s over- all income. Casino revenues dropped by $8.6 million, to $246.6 million in 2019-20. VLT revenues dropped by more than $1 million to $354 million, and lottery revenues declined by $111,000 to $1.9 million. The first full year of legalized can- nabis sales resulted in weed revenue growing to $51 million — a $24.5-mil- lion increase from the partial year it was first offered for sale in Manitoba, starting in October 2018. In the final total, the province took in $606.3 million from MLL in 2019-20 — $10 million less than the $616 mil- lion allocated the previous year. It was far less than the budgeted allocation forecast of $630 million. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Crown’s liquor profit spurred by COVID buying spree CAROL SANDERS Beer sales down, spirits rise ● Beer sales fell to 70.9 million litres in the 2019- 20 fiscal year, from 77.5 million litres in 2016. ● Refreshment beverage sales increased to 7.8 million litres, from 5.1 million litres in 2016. ● Spirits sales increased to 7.6 million litres, from 7.1 million litres in 2016. ● Wine sales increased to 12 million litres, from 11.5 million litres in 2016. ● Beer was the top earner for MLL, generating $132.7 million in profit. ● Coolers (”refreshment beverages”) were the least profitable, taking in $26.8 million for the Crown corporation. ● Beer profits were down in 2019-20, taking in $132.7 million compared to $138 million in 2018- 19. Spirits profits soared to $159 million, from $152 million the year before. — source: MLL annual report 2019-20 CECILIA FABIANO / LA PRESSE Rapid COVID-19 tests are expected to be deployed to remote areas with limited or no access to a lab. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries announced increased profits of nearly $9 million from the previous year. MLL’s annual report says the growth is likely due to people stocking up because of fears of closures owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. A_04_Oct-01-20_FP_01.indd A2 2020-09-30 10:55 PM ;