Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 6, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba A2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2024 VOL 153 NO 224 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2024 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published six days a week in print and always online at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204-697-7000 CEO / MIKE POWER 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 independent 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 C1 Business B4 Classifieds B6 Comics C4-5 Diversions C6-7 Horoscope C6 Miss Lonelyhearts C6 Obituaries B6 Opinion A6-7 Sports D1 Television C2 Weather D6 COLUMNISTS: Brent Bellamy A4 Rochelle Squires A7 Deveryn Ross A7 Tom Brodbeck B1 Aaron Epp B2 Deborah Schnitzer C3 READER SERVICE ● GENERAL INQUIRIES 204-697-7000 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. - 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.; 7 a.m. - noon Saturday; Closed Sunday TO SUBSCRIBE: 204-697-7001 Out of Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 The Free Press receives support from the Local Journalism Initiative funded by the Government of Canada Walz is in his second term as governor of Minnesota. He has made his state a bastion of liberal policy and, this year, one of the few states to protect fans buying tickets online for Taylor Swift concerts and other live events. He comes from rural America and in his first race for Congress, Walz upset a Republican incum- bent. Walz spoke before an energetic crowd at a fundraiser Monday evening in downtown Min- neapolis, but didn’t drop any hints about his sta- tus on Harris’ shortlist. But the governor spoke of a “politics of joy” that he hopes to spread on the campaign trail on behalf of Harris. “We’ve got to run this campaign against the serious threat that’s there, but we have to do it every single day with a sense of joy,” he said. Walz also criticized Donald Trump and Re- publicans who wanted to regulate what books children read and undermine abortion rights. The Minnesota Democratic Party, mean- while, posted a booster for Walz online. “IM- PORTANT PSA: There’s no ‘T’ sound in ‘Walz’ (But there is one in ‘Vice President Walz’),” the group wrote with a winking smiley face emoji. Some congressional Democrats have pro- moted Kelly, a former navy pilot and astronaut, whose state has more than 600 kilometres of border with Mexico. They say his selection could help defuse Trump’s arguments that the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policies are too relaxed. Shapiro has prominent supporters, too, like Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker. She caused a stir by posting a video Friday de- picting several Philadelphia-area officials and Democrats promoting Harris but also playing up Shapiro as her running mate. A person familiar with the mayor’s thinking said she had no insider knowledge about Harris’ intentions. When asked about the veepstakes Monday, Shapiro said he had no information. “I got nothing for you, man,” he told an Associated Press reporter as he arrived at the Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg. “Have a great day.” Both Kelly and Shapiro have seen their de- tractors become more vocal as Harris closes in on a decision. Some labour groups have criticized Kelly, saying he opposes proposed legislation they argue would boost union organizing efforts. The senator’s office counters that while he did not co-sponsor the proposed legislation, he has said he would vote for it. The non-profit Institute for Middle East Understanding has been vocal about Shapiro, saying in a statement last week that he was not the right candidate for the job. Shapiro has aggressively confronted what he views as antisemitism cropping up from pro-Palestinian demonstrations and he has pro- fessed solidarity with Israel in its drive to elim- inate Hamas as it battles the militants in Gaza. But he’s also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while suggesting that any end to the Israel-Hamas war requires the removal of Hamas from power. Harris and her running mate — whoever that is — will launch today into an aggressive bat- tleground state tour that begins in Philadelphia and winds later in the week through Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. A scheduled stop in Savannah, Georgia, was cancelled due to the expected effects of Hurri- cane Debby. Campaign officials are aware that momen- tum can be fleeting and are working to capi- talize on the energy now, while managing ex- pectations by continuing to emphasize that the race with Republican nominee Donald Trump is tight. But the strong rollout has allowed the Harris campaign to put a number of states back in play that had been feared out of reach when Biden remained at the top of the ticket. Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, was head- ing out on almost exactly the same campaign schedule as Harris: Philadelphia on Tuesday, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Detroit on Wednes- day and Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday. He told Fox News on Sunday that Harris’ pick doesn’t matter to him. “Whoever she chooses, the problem is going to be Kamala Harris’ re- cord and Kamala Harris’ policies,” he said, add- ing, “It’s not going to be good for the country.” Harris’ early rallies have attracted enthusi- astic thousands. Campaign officials say each stop will be loaded with local election officials, religious leaders, union members and more in an effort to show the diversity of her coalition. Some Republicans will also appear with her, according to the campaign. The campaign this week launched “Republi- cans for Harris.” The program will be a “cam- paign within a campaign,” according to Harris’ team, using well-known Republicans to activate their networks, with a particular emphasis on primary voters who backed former UN Ambas- sador Nikki Haley. — The Associated Press The men have differing accounts of the incident, however, they both agree the argument began on the ice and ended in a shouting match in the parking lot of the St. Vital Centennial Arena. Brown, who was representing himself in court, agreed to abandon his lawsuit and make no attempt to recover costs, which he estimated at around $4,000. In exchange, his lifetime ban from coaching was reduced to five years. As part of the settlement, he also discontinued litigation against Sutherland and Paul Krestanowich, Hockey Winnipeg’s vice president of operations. Brown claimed Krestanowich, who chaired the committee charged with hearing his appeal, and Sutherland exchanged “inappropriate and prejudi- cial emails” before the hearing. In one email, released during the court process and viewed by the Free Press, Krestanowich asked Sutherland to provide him with a statement detailing his version of the altercation with Brown. “A simple written submission email to me is the easiest,” Krestanowich wrote. “We have enough witnesses to his crazy.” Brown claims the statement demonstrated bias against him by the appeals chair. He also alleged the lifetime ban initially imposed on him was heavy-handed and inconsistent with other disciplinary measures previously taken by the St. Vital Minor Hockey Association. Brown cited a 2016 incident in which he was slapped in the face by an angry parent, who was lat- er banned from attending any city hockey facilities or acting as an official for roughly one year. “To date, no exemplar has been provided by gover- nance to support their claims that my discipline was anything but excessive,” Brown said. “The bigger issue is that hockey’s governance can do what they want and how they want. They are not accountable to anyone.” The former coach asked the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner to review his allegations of procedural unfairness during his appeal. In a response sent to Brown viewed by the Free Press, the office said it has no jurisdiction over Hockey Manitoba because it does not participate in the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport. The office suggested Brown refer his complaint to Hockey Canada’s Independent Third Party, which is tasked with ensuring complaints are processed in a confidential, neutral and fair manner. Hockey Manitoba’s lawyer sought to include a confidentiality provision (a standard feature in many out-of-court settlements) as part of the agreement. Brown refused. Neither Krestanowich nor Sutherland will be permitted to participate in any future disciplinary issues against Brown or his children, according to the agreement. Brown has prepared a letter for the Sport Manito- ba board in which he asks the organization to consid- er introducing an independent regulator to provide oversight for Hockey Manitoba. Brown is allowed to attend hockey facilities as a parent and fan during his suspension period but cannot act as an official again until his suspension expires in October 2028. tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca COACH ● FROM A1 HARRIS ● FROM A1 End of honeymoon for NDP government fast approaching W ELCOME to the unofficial, un- scientific beginning of the end of the honeymoon for Premier Wab Kinew and his NDP government. There is no official metric that tells us conclusively when a political hon- eymoon period ends for a new govern- ment. In fact, it’s usually something identified only in retrospect. However, with the one year anniver- sary of last fall’s provincial election fast approaching, if the honeymoon isn’t over now, it will be in a matter of weeks. In that context, how should we judge the progress — or lack of it — of the Kinew government? For argument, let’s look at two key files. The first — homelessness, mental health and addictions — has been in the news lately, albeit for some of the wrong reasons. Conflict has broken out between the city and community groups trying to support the homeless, with the former — in the form of Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham — issuing a stern letter reminding community groups they cannot interfere with police and paramedics responding to medical and public safety issues at homeless encampments. In last fall’s election, Premier Wab Kinew promised to “end chronic home- lessness” within two terms. That’s an incredibly aggressive timetable that speaks to a need to act sooner rather than later. However, although there has been some progress on this file, the policy and funding infrastructure needed to start acting on this pledge has been hard to find. Which brings us to the recent deci- sion by Bernadette Smith, the min- ister who oversees the homlessness file, to take a delegation of more than two dozen municipal and community leaders to study the so-called “Houston model,” which was cited in Kinew’s original pledge. The problem is the Houston model is starting to come undone from a lack of government support and a failure to provide truly affordable housing on a sustainable basis. The timing of the trip has been awkward, to say the least, creating an image of a new minister fiddling (or travelling, if you will) while the home- less in Winnipeg broil in our mid-sum- mer heatwave. There is nothing inherently wrong with fact-finding but as we approach the one-year anniversary, Smith needs to start demonstrating the government has the capacity to deliver a crisis-lev- el response to a problem that has cer- tainly reached crisis proportions. While the Kinew government per- colates its options on homelessness, mental health and addictions, there are many waiting to see its ideas on how to structure a forward-leaning and com- prehensive plan to ensure Manitoba’s long-term energy needs are being met. In short, the former Progressive Conservative government spent so much time using Manitoba Hydro as a political chew toy that it completely ne- glected the challenge of ensuring the province’s long-term energy security. While the Tories had some political success hammering the NDP on cost overruns for dam and transmission line construction, it became evident that our seemingly limitless capacity to produce clean hydroelectricity was, well, quite limited. When the Tories commissioned a detailed study on Manitoba’s future energy needs in what turned out to be their last year in power, they found out we were on a fast-track to run out of domestically generated electricity. Rather than act to increase generation and rapidly escalate energy conserva- tion, the Tories tried to hide the report. The NDP inherited all of it: the report, the PC government’s dithering incompetence and a future of uncer- tainty. And while that gives the Kinew government some slack moving for- ward, there are growing expectations that a new, bold energy policy will be coming. And soon. Government sources confirmed that a draft energy policy has been created and is being passed around govern- ment to gather additional feedback. The sources said the policy will cover the gamut of challenges, from how to increase generation without building more dams to how to get Manitobans to be more mindful in their use of electricity. These are enormous challenges. Finance Minister Adrien Sala, the minister responsible for Hydro, has painted himself into a pretty tight corner when it comes to expanding generating capacity. Earlier this year, Sala publicly rebuked now-former Hydro CEO Jay Grewal for saying publicly the crown energy company was going to aggres- sively pursue deals with “independent power producers” to increase gen- erating capacity. Sala responded to Grewal’s suggestion by saying that any future deals would have to be “publicly owned. The problem is that Hydro is still shackled with significant debt from the last round of dam and transmission line building. If Manitoba can’t afford to build new dams — and it can’t — and won’t partner with private entities, then what options does it have? Sala’s vision, in the form of a new policy, needs to be issued as soon as possible to gather debate and outside scrutiny. Particularly if the Kinew government is going to soften its hard aversion to private sector partnerships. Important progress has been made on both the homelessness and energy files. And it should be noted the former PC government made very little prog- ress on either file, a reality that has created a legitimate policy deficit that is only now being addressed. But there will come a time when the current government can no longer blame its inability to deliver solutions on a former government. Nobody knows exactly when that time will come but you can bet that it will be soon. dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com DAN LETT OPINION JOHN BAZEMORE /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally July 30 in Atlanta. Harris and her so-far unnamed running-mate will launch a battleground state tour today. ;