Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 28, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba 28 THU 29 FRI 30 SAT 1 MON 2 TUE 3 WED Monday – Wednesday 8AM – 5PM; Thursday – Saturday 8AM – 6PM; Closed Sundays 1 Frozen Turkey (Frozen 3-5Kg), 1 Picnic Ham, 1 Ring Garlic Sausage, 2 Cans Vegetables (398Ml), 2Lbs. Fresh Carrots, 5Lbs. Potatoes, 1 Box Of Stuffing Mix, 1 Dinner Buns, 1 Can Cranberry Sauce, 2 Pkgs Gravy Mix, 1 Thaw & Serve Pie 5lbs. Boneless Chicken Breasts 3lbs. Bone-In Chicken Breasts 5lbs. Chicken Legs 3lbs. Bone-In Chicken Thighs 3lbs. Chicken Drumsticks 6lb. Roasting Chicken 2lbs. Chicken Wings REG PRICE 149.99 SALE 145 99 /ea 3x1lb. Lean Ground Beef 1x3-4lbs. Beef Roast 4lbs. Pork Butt Steak 4lbs. Chicken Legs 4lbs. Pork Chops 1lb. Bacon REG PRICE 106.99 SALE 99 99 /ea FROZEN #2 Meat Pack FROZEN #13 Chicken Pack LOGAN LOCATION ONLY. FROZEN ONLY. FRESH MEAT PACKAGES ARE SOLD AT REGULAR PRICE + $10 LOGAN LOCATION ONLY I N B U S I N E S S S I N C E 1 9 4 3 FOR CURBSIDE PICK-UP AND CONTACTLESS DELIVERY, GO TO WWW.CANTORSMEATS.COM P R I C E S I N E F F E C T THURS. MARCH 28 - WED. APRIL 3, 2024 LEAN GROUND BEEF *LOGAN & CANTOR’S EXPRESS BONELESS BEEF BLADE STEAK OR ROAST *LOGAN & CANTOR’S EXPRESS LEAN GROUND PORK *LOGAN & CANTOR’S EXPRESS PRIME RIB STEAK OR ROAST *LOGAN & CANTOR’S EXPRESS RIBEYE STEAK *LOGAN & CANTOR’S EXPRESS BONELESS SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS *LOGAN & CANTOR’S EXPRESS 5 69 /lb $12.54/kg 7 99 /lb $17.61/kg 2 79 /lb $6.15/kg 15 99 /lb $35.24/kg 6 99 /lb $15.41/kg DEALS OF THE WEEK LOGAN & EXPRESS LOCATIONS! LONG ENGLISH CUCUMBERS 1 99 /ea RED OR RUSSET POTATOES 10lb Bag 6 99 /ea RED BELL PEPPERS 3 99 /lb 8.80/kg CAMPBELL’S CHUNKY SOUP 515mL 2/7 00 KELLOGG’S CHEEZ IT CRACKERS 191-200g 2/6 00 CRACKER BARREL REAL CHEESE SLICES 200-240g 5 99 /ea 1445 LOGAN AVENUE 204-774-1679 OR 1-800-874-7770 FRESH STRAWBERRIES 454g OR WHOLE PINEAPPLES 3 99 /ea MANDARIN/ CLEMENTINES 907g 5 99 /ea LARGE HOT HOUSE TOMATOES 2 99 /lb $6.59/kg LARGE LEMONS 69 ¢ /ea 14 99 /lb $33.04/kg Logan Location Only! DELI SPECIALS!! Logan & Express Locations FROZEN GRADE A TURKEYS WINKLER HALF HAMS Limited quantities available. Must be pre-ordered in store or online Deposit is required. PORK CROWN ROAST MITCHELL’S SLICED BACON 1Kg 1 59 /100g $15.90/kg 1 99 /100g $19.90/kg 1 10 /100g $11.00/kg WINNIPEG OLD COUNTRY GARLIC ROLL WINNIPEG OLD COUNTRY OLD STYLE DRY COOKED HAM OUR OWN GARLIC COIL 2 99 /lb 6.59/kg 6 49 /lb 14.30/kg 5 99 /lb 13.20/kg 12 99 /ea 119 99 / ea EASTER SPECIAL 2024 CLOSED GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 29TH. CLOSED VH Stir Fry, Cooking or Dipping Sauce 341-355mL 3 69 /ea French’s Ketchup 1.5L 5 99 /ea China Lily Soya Sauce 483mL 3 49 /ea Shake N Bake Coating Mixes 142-184g 3 99 /ea Popsicle Assorted Ice Pops 576-600mL 4 99 /ea Liberte Mediteranian Yogurt 500g 3 99 /ea Chapman’s “Super” Frozen Novelties 8-18 Count or Frozen Yogurt 2L 6 99 /ea Michelina’s Frozen Entres 128-284g 3/ 6 00 Campbell’s Top 4 Soups 284mL Chicken Noodle, Tomato, Vegetable or Mushroom 3/ 5 00 Pepsi, Diet Pepsi or Crush Rainbow Pack Canned Soft Drinks 32x355mL 14 99 /ea Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese Brick or Tub 200-227g 2 99 /ea Ruffles Potato Chips 200g 3 69 /ea Doritos Assorted Flavoured Tortilla Chips 235g 2/ 8 00 Old Dutch Bagged Potato Chips or Ridges 200-235g 3 99 /ea Clubhouse Gravy Mix or Select Seasoning Envelopes 21-47g 99 ¢ /ea Green Giant FrozenVegetables or Valley Select Blends 400-750g 3 69 /ea Compliment’s Thaw & Serve Pies 580-750G 5 99 /ea Imperial Soft or Quartered Margarine 1.28Kg 8 49 /ea Cracker Barrel Shredded Cheese 200-320g 7 99 /ea Gaylea Sour Cream 500mL 2 99 /ea Yoplait Yogurt Tubes 448g 2/ 6 00 McCain Superfries or Select Frozen Potatoes 454-800g 3 99 /ea Pillsbury Pizza Pops 380g 2/ 7 00 Nestle Parlour Ice Cream 1.6L or Novelties 12s or Breyers Creamery Ice Cream 1.5L 5 69 /ea Mr. Noodle Cup of Noodles 64g 1 39 /ea Christie’s Assorted Snacking Crackers 175-304g 2/ 7 00 Dare Bear Paws, Viva Puffs or Wagon Wheels 168-360g 2/ 7 00 Nestle Coffee Mate 1.9Kg 12 99 /ea General Mills Cheerios or Pre Sweet Cereals 300-430g 4 99 /ea Maxwell House Canned Coffee 631-925g 9 99 /ea Kraft Singles Processed Cheese Slices 410g 5 99 /ea Heinz Ketchup 1L or Kraft Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip 650-890mL 5 99 /ea Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter 2Kg 9 99 /ea Koolaid Jammers 10X180mL 3 99 /ea Kraft Salad Dressings 425-475mL 3 49 /ea Activia Multipack Yogurt Cups 24x100g 9 99 /ea THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2024 A8 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I CITY / PROVINCE Thompson Bus passenger’s ticket cancelled after his complaint published It feels ‘vindictive… like I was targeted’ A THOMPSON teacher who endured a bone-chilling nine-hour over- night trip to Winnipeg last week aboard a bus with no heat says his ticket home was cancelled after he spoke out publicly about the ordeal. Erik Skeaff was one of about 80 passengers who boarded the Winni- peg-bound Thompson Bus & Freight vehicle Friday night on the first leg of his weeklong trip to visit family in Montreal. The journey was so cold it was borderline dangerous, he told the Free Press after arriving in Winnipeg Satur- day morning. He and many others were bundled up in parkas and snow pants, aware some of the company’s vehicles were operating without heat; Skeaff had previously taken a frosty trip on one of the company’s buses and was prepared. Some who arrived unprepared for the cold were shivering over the entire 650-kilometre route, he said. Skeaff sought a refund for the trip, and said he was offered a free return bus ticket for this coming Sunday by a Thompson Bus staff member instead, which he accepted. However, on Tuesday, the day the story with his concerns was published, he received a phone call without call- er ID from a staff member who re- fused to identify himself but informed him, “since the bus doesn’t meet your expectations, we are cancelling your ticket, you no longer have a ticket,” and he would not be allowed on the bus back to Thompson. “It does feel vindictive, it does feel like I was targeted for just saying the truth of what happens, I think, fairly frequently on that bus,” Skeaff said Wednesday. “It’s hard not to think that I was tar- geted to discourage me from speaking out and to discourage other people from speaking out.” Skeaff said he asked for an explan- ation in writing and was refused. Thompson Bus co-owner Siddhartha Varma declined to comment on Skeaff’s concerns Monday and did not confirm that the company cancelled his ticket Wednesday. “I will not be able to comment on anything,” Varma said repeatedly in re- sponse to questions before hanging up. Skeaff said he’s now looking at having to buy a pricey last-minute plane ticket purchase from Winnipeg to Thompson. On Wednesday, an online flight-book- ing website listed the cost of one-way tickets to Thompson on Sunday at more than $900. He uses Thompson Bus lines because it isn’t economically feasible for him to fly regularly and said he knows many others in Thompson or northern com- munities feel forced to use the service because they have no other choice. The only other bus line in the area, Maple Bus Lines, is not running in the area currently and has faced similar allegations of mechanical and heating issues. Skeaff doesn’t know what his next steps are. While passengers travelling by air are protected under the Can- adian Transportation Agency’s Air Pas- senger Protection Regulations, there aren’t similar required standards for long-haul bus operators. “Another reason that this is upsetting is that someone can just do this with impunity,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of actions that I can take.” Intercity bus operators in Manitoba have an open highway to act unethical- ly because the province’s regulations barely exist, said Kasper Wabinski of the Coast to Coast Bus Coalition. Wabinski, who owns Kasper Trans- portation, which shuttles passengers between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, Ont., said Thompson Bus Lines is part of the coalition but called the allega- tions “embarrassing” for the industry, especially considering many passen- gers are from remote northern com- munities travelling for medical treat- ment and some of those tickets are subsidized by the province. “The concern has always been that government agencies that buy tickets for people who travel on those routes go for the cheapest price, even if it means there’s no heat, doors don’t close, driv- ers are scraping the windshield with credit cards, wheels are falling off,” he said. “It doesn’t matter.” Other provinces have invested in strict oversight. Wabinski pointed to Ontario, which hires safety inspectors solely for long-haul bus companies, has a set of standards bus operators are re- quired to maintain both inside and out- side bus cabins and infractions result in more inspections. NDP Transportation Minister Lisa Naylor promised immediate action on the issue, including a letter that will be sent out to bus operators beginning Wednesday to “put them on notice” that the province would be taking on the issue of bus cabin safety and heating. The federal and provincial gov- ernments share the road safety file, but Naylor said what happens inside the buses is outside of the province’s framework right now. “We’ve been looking at this under consumer protections, looking at it as a health and safety issue, looking at the Highway Traffic Act — our goal is to identify, quickly, how we can regulate the cabin of buses and bring that under provincial framework,” she said. Her office is in contact with Skeaff to help him get home. “These stories… coming forward from Manitobans are not acceptable,” she said. “We’re not going to wait for the federal government, we’re going to act.” malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca MALAK ABAS PHOTOS BY ERIK SKEAFF Erik Skeaff donned a parka and snow pants for the nine-hour bus ride from Thompson to Winnipeg. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FESTIVAL OF FOOLS Sarah Teakle, one of the top “circus style” hula hoop performers in Canada, performs in front of a large crowd of young fans in the centre court at CF Polo Park Wednesday. Teakle is just one of the artists per- forming as part of the 24th annual Festival of Fools, a free family event held every day of spring break. Manitoba government says new minor illness clinic first of many BRANDON — The Manitoba gov- ernment has announced a new minor injury and illness clinic will open in Brandon in the fall. The province says the clinic is part of a $17-million plan to open eight such clinics across Manitoba and reduce the demand on hospital emergency depart- ments. “This minor injury and illness clin- ic effectively functions like an urgent care centre,” said Premier Wab Kinew at a news conference at the Brandon hospital. “It’s for those maybe less-acute con- ditions — you get hurt at the hockey game, your kid has a fall on the play- ground, maybe you have strep or some other condition that’s maybe not quite at the level of an ER, but you do need to get it addressed right away.” The Brandon clinic is to be staffed by physicians, nurse practitioners and nurses, and operate 12 hours a day, sev- en days a week. Patients will be able to book same- day appointments and connect with providers via virtual care either by phone or online, with the hope of re- ducing the number of people who go to the emergency room, which will re- duce wait times, said Prairie Mountain Health CEO Brian Schoonbaert. The plan is to open an interim minor injury and illness clinic this September, said Schoonbaert, who confirmed the Brandon Clinic, located one block west of the hospital, is a potential site. “We have a number of locations that we’ve already looked at and we have some possibilities, but we just want to take one more look to see if there’s any- thing better,” he said. “We are looking at potentially a short term and longer term, so as not to re- strict our ability to expand as neces- sary.” The Brandon Clinic discontinued walk-in care in July 2023 because of a shortage of family physicians. When asked about finding front-line health-care workers to staff the clinic, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said staffing is the No. 1 priority. Kinew and Asagwara encouraged health-care workers to attend their lis- tening tour set for today at the Brandon hospital. Brandon is the fourth of seven stops. The New Democrats promised during last year’s election campaign to open clinics, hire more health-care workers and reduce wait times. — Brandon Sun, with files from The Canadian Press MICHELE MCDOUGALL ;