Winnipeg - Of Interest

[h0twired]

Was the NDP unable to find anyone older to step in to replace Doer?

Seriously? How old with Blaikie be in 3 years from now?

The Manitoba NDP party needs someone young at the helm.

[Boreal]

For what it's worth, Mr. Blaikie has claimed that he has no intentions of seeking party leadership.

I believe that, 'someone young' would be Theresa Oswald. There is very little that I agree with her on, but she is as far as I know seen as 'the future', potentially. Allegedly, as per sporadic musings (that admittedly may or may not be true) that circulate every once and a while seem to suggest that the party wants to creep further to the left after Mr. Doer, whenever that time may be. If that is the case, Oswald fits the 'younger, and considerably more leftist' mould.

Greg Selinger appears to have zero interest in the top job, which I am thankful for. I suppose Andrew Swan is a potential candidate and he will be more seasoned in a few years. I doubt his star will rise that fast, but I certainly prefer him to Oswald - if forced to choose.

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

meh let the aspers fall they are planing somthing...

I have doubts they are as low as this article indicates... As there real estate company is still doing very well.

They are buying up Canwest stock left right and centre ... and are about to lay down 100 million for the construction of the new stadium. Doesn't sound like they are doing too badly to me.

[rrskylar]

One wonders who is more stupid, North Dakotan's or their politicians.


Drone lands in ND in preparation for border patrol


Associated Press Writer


FARGO, N.D. (AP) - After two failed tries, an unmanned aircraft expected to be the first to patrol the northern U.S. border completed a flight from Arizona to North Dakota.

U.S Customs and Border Protection officials said the Predator B drone touched down Saturday at the Grand Forks Air Force Base after a six-hour flight from Libby Army Airfield in Sierra Vista, Ariz.

"The aviators all brag about the perfect landing," said Michael Corcoran, deputy director for air operations at U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Air and Marine office in Grand Forks. "I guess we'll brag about this one, as well," he said.

The drone is scheduled to begin patrolling the northern U.S. border in January. Its flights will originate from the Grand Forks base.

Officials were waiting for clearance on air space before deciding on a schedule, Corcoran said.

An earlier flight on Thursday was canceled because of maintenance problems, and a flight Friday was aborted because of poor weather.

The Predator weighs 5 tons, has a 66-foot wingspan and can fly undetected as high as 50,000 feet. It can fly for 28 hours at a time and will be equipped with sensors and radar.

The drone has been in use along the southern border with Mexico since 2005.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said the state's congressional delegation had been working for four years to get the unmanned aircraft to North Dakota.

"It is vital to America's security that we protect our borders, particularly the northern border," Conrad said. "The Grand Forks Air Branch plays an essential role in helping shut the door on terrorists who want to sneak across remote border points to strike on U.S. soil."

[Keng]

^^^Didn't they support McCain/Palin?

[drew]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

"It is vital to America's security that we protect our borders, particularly the northern border," Conrad said. "The Grand Forks Air Branch plays an essential role in helping shut the door on terrorists who want to sneak across remote border points to strike on U.S. soil."

It looks like somebody is trying to make their state sound a little more strategically important than it could ever possibly be.

Watch our for those Canadians trying to sneak through the border wearing 3 layers of clothes and hiding an extra 40 ouncer in the trunk...

[wags_in_the_peg]

Winnipeg employers expect to keep staff, hire more:

innipeg-area employers appear to be fairly confident about their ability to avoid layoffs in an uncertain economic climate.

According to a Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released this morning, they see little change in their staffing levels for the first quarter of 2009.

The survey shows that 18 per cent of employers plan to hire for the upcoming quarter (January to March), while seven per cent expect to reduce their workforce, said Bonnie Turcotte of Manpower’s Winnipeg office. The remainder plan to maintain their current staffing levels for the upcoming quarter.

Winnipeg’s ‘net employment outlook’ of 11 per cent (the 18% who plan to hire minus the 7% who are downsizing) represents a slight increase from the same period last year when employers reported an outlook of eight per cent, Turcotte said.

It is also a slight increase from the previous quarter when the net employment outlook was 10 per cent.

[DowntownWpg]

Winnipeg 'incredibly cool,' city's new pitch promises

Last Updated: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 | 10:30 AM CT
CBC News

Winnipeg's economic development agency is using Hollywood to promote the Manitoba capital as a growing city with jobs, affordable housing, "360 degrees of Cottage Country" and world-class culture and entertainment.

Destination Winnipeg has created a new video compiling many of the hundreds of references to Winnipeg that have appeared over the years in old movies and big-name TV shows.

Winnipeg is a cosmopolitan city with a vibrant nightlife, the city's economic development agency insists.Winnipeg is a cosmopolitan city with a vibrant nightlife, the city's economic development agency insists. (Hao Wang/CBC)The YouTube video — wryly entitled "Does Winnipeg REALLY Exist?" — features actual clips from movies and television with characters mentioning Winnipeg. It includes scenes from Alfred Hitchcock, The Sopranos, Desperate Housewives, The Simpsons and Futurama and features stars like Alan Rickman and Angelina Jolie. The city's latest star turn, in which characters on the NBC comedy series The Office take a business trip to Winnipeg, is not among the clips.

Lori Walder, director of marketing and communication for Destination Winnipeg, said the video compiled for the agency's new website —IncrediblyCool.ca — pokes fun at Winnipeg's reputation as a cold place, but the idea is to reflect the city's diversity and awesome creative community.

"For a number of years, we've wanted to adjust people's thinking of Winnipeg," said Walder.

"What other city in the world can say that they had a visit from Steve Carell on The Office the same week that Bob Dylan dropped by Neil Young's old house for a visit? Let's face it, Winnipeg is incredibly cool."

The use of the popular YouTube and social networking site Facebook is intended to promote the city, targeting job hunters as well as recent college graduates who might benefit from Manitoba's tuition tax breaks.

Some economists expect Winnipeg and Manitoba to be among the leading cities in the country in economic growth in 2008 and next year, says Destination Winnipeg.

"We want to make it clear to people across Canada: if you are looking for work, look here, and Winnipeg is an incredibly cool place to live, work and play," said Stuart Duncan, President of Destination Winnipeg.

"We're pitching Winnipeg as a place where you can have a life, because you can afford to rent or buy a house a half-hour away from work and still enjoy great sports events and world-class culture and festivals."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/st...wpg-exist.html

[DowntownWpg]

... and here's a link to the video "Does Winnipeg Really Exist?" that was mentioned in the article I posted immediately above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlAZD9Xx5-Y

[h0twired]

http://www.incrediblycool.ca

Seriously.

WORST promotional website ever.

It looks like it was made by a high school student or a spammer parked on a domain. It doesn't even look legitimate.

[DowntownWpg]

For sure.

Check out the very bottom of page on the main site for incrediblycool.ca

You will note that they have used a web designer (Jetpack Media)... however...

It would also appear that Jetpack Media just used a WordPress webpage/blog template.

Wonder how much coin Jetpack Media got from the city/Destination Winnipeg, and all they had to do was select a bland and pre-created template from WordPress. Yiesh!

[Biff]

Not trying to stick up for it at all but i get the feeling they were trying to make it look like a FaceBook page.

[Archiseek]

City councillor Leipsic dies

Coun. Brenda Leipsic died today after a battle with lung cancer. (BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

River Heights-Fort Garry Coun. Brenda Leipsic died this afternoon after a four-month battle with lung cancer.

The former deputy mayor, who has been absent from city council since August, passed away at Riverview Health Centre.

“Those who had the privilege of knowing Brenda can attest to her fortitude, kindness and compassion as a community leader who built relationships on trust and respect. She passionately served the citizens of River Heights – Fort Garry and our entire city with utmost integrity,” Mayor Sam Katz said in a statement.

“I know Brenda has been in the hearts and minds of her colleagues on city council over the last several months, and remained in our thoughts and prayers.

“Brenda is a true Winnipegger who cared about the betterment of our city and her valuable input and commitment on city council will be sorely missed.

“The family would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this time, and ask that their privacy be respected.”

Leipsic was elected to city council in October 2006, when she defeated incumbent councillor Donald Benham in Winnipeg’s general election.

Prior to that, she worked as a fundraiser for non-profit organizations such as the Winnipeg Humane Society and also ser

[1ajs]

wth? i came across that video the night it was posted back in november lol was wondering what it was all about

[wags_in_the_peg]

this surprises me

Manitobans not so green-friendly: surveyBy: Mike De Souza

Quebecers and Manitobans are among the least likely Canadians to engage in environmental good deeds, a study released Tuesday by Statistics Canada reveals.
The study surveyed households in the 10 provinces in 2006 for six different types of environmental behaviour: recycling, composting, lowering temperatures, switching to more efficient light bulbs, and reducing water consumption through use of low-flow shower heads or reduced volume toilets.

While 64 per cent of residents in Prince Edward Island engaged in at least four of the six types of behaviour, only 35 and 36 per cent of Quebecers and Manitobans said they were practising most of those actions, according to the survey.

Overall, 45 per cent of Canadians were considered to be "very active" in their environmental behaviour, according to the survey. The data also revealed that Nova Scotians were the second most active, followed by Ontarians, British Columbians and New Brunswick residents who were all at or above the Canadian average.

Residents of Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan were next on the list, ahead of the bottom two provinces.

Avani Babooram, an analyst at Statistics Canada who wrote the report, said she tried to select common activities to survey that were accessible to most households for reducing waste, water consumption or energy consumption. The results also suggested key differences between the behaviour of homeowners versus renters, she said.

"For all the behaviour, we did see that owners were more likely to be active than renters," said Babooram.

Recycling was the most popular activity among the six choices, with 97 per cent of all Canadian households participating. Composting was the least popular with only 30 per cent participating.

-- Canwest News Service

[1ajs]

theres a forum game going on in the skybar called city elimination and were in 3rd place get out and vote remember to read the games rules.. btw the winning city goes up againt the euro winner and the us winner for top spot...

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...161614&page=19

[wags_in_the_peg]

sure a lot of mixed reports on the housing state in winnipeg. i read one article saying prices are dropping, another saying a record number of foreclosures are going to be happening and now this.

New home prices jump; buck trend:

The cost of a new home increased at a faster pace in Winnipeg than in most other major Canadian cities in October, according to new Statistics Canada figures released today.

The federal agency said Winnipeg’s new housing price index increased by 0.3 per cent from September to October, which was the second biggest monthly increase among the 21 urban areas surveyed. The only city with a bigger monthly gain was St. John’s, at 0.6 per cent.

On a year-over-year basis, Winnipeg’s index was up 6.5 per cent from October, 2007. That was the fourth third largest annual increase behind Regina’s 22.8 per cent, St. John’s 22.3 per cent, and Halifax’s 7.1 per cent.

Nationally, the year-over-year increase was 1.5 per cent. That was the smallest annual increase since October 1999, and was more than a half a percentage point less than September’s year-over-year advance of 2.1 per cent.

Statistics Canada said eight cities actually saw their new housing price index fall in October, while seven others saw no change in prices from September to October.

[1ajs]

o my post got deleted anyhow guys mods got mad at my tip off just passing this notice

Originally Posted by Jasonhouse

^I've decided that if Winnipeg 'wins' this game because of organized boosting by locals, I'm going to change the User Location of all participants who are from Winnipeg to 'Loserpeg' and lock it that way for no less than 90 days.

If you guys think I'm kidding, keep voting for Winnipeg and see what happens.


ps... I might also change my own username to 'Killjoy'...

[Archiseek]

lol......

[Jasonhouse]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

o my post got deleted anyhow guys mods got mad at my tip off just passing this notice

Ok... Apparently you didn't catch on to the fact that I was joking, hence the smilies and reference to myself as 'Killjoy'. I thought it was pretty obvious, as did basically everyone else not from Winnipeg. (did you see BNK's massive rant? That was priceless!)

You do realize the entire thread is a spoof, and is viewed as a joke by everyone, right? By even pretending to take it seriously, you Winnipeg folks are making the joke 2x funnier.