Winnipeg - Of Interest

[1ajs]

this is rather oddd

Man dies after shooting himself in confrontation with police
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 7, 2009 | 5:12 PM CT Comments25Recommend27
CBC News
Winnipeg police officers talk at the scene of a shooting Wednesday.Winnipeg police officers talk at the scene of a shooting Wednesday.

A man who shot himself early Wednesday following a confrontation with police in Winnipeg's West End has died, police said.

Investigators said the man fled from officers around 4 a.m. after being pulled over during a traffic stop on Beverley Street.

When officers found the man a short time later in the 300 block of Simcoe Street carrying a gun, he fired at shot at himself, a police spokesman said Wednesday afternoon.

He was rushed to hospital in critical condition but died later in the day.

Amanda Sackmann, who lives across the street from where the shooting occurred, said she woke up at 5 a.m. to the sound of police sirens. She said it is the second gun-related incident in the neighbourhood in the past two weeks.

"It's scary," she said. "You don't expect something like this to happen right across the street."

The homicide unit is investigating.

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Winnipeg police still probing self-inflicted death
Last Updated: Thursday, January 8, 2009 | 12:34 PM CT Comments0Recommend1
CBC News

Winnipeg police still aren't saying much about a man who killed himself in a confrontation with investigators early Wednesday, but the driver of the car from which the shooting victim fled has been located.

The driver and another man were in a car that was pulled over in the 200 block of Beverley Street during a routine traffic stop around 4 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

The man who was the passenger bolted from the vehicle.

When officers found the man a short time later in the 300 block of Simcoe Street carrying a gun, he fired a shot at himself, a police spokesman said. He was taken to hospital in critical condition but died later in the day.

Police did not fire a weapon or a Taser in the incident, they said. There were no outstanding warrants for the man who shot himself, although he was known to police.

The homicide unit is still trying to piece together what happened, but Const. Jason Michalyshen admitted the incident is shocking and unusual.

"I think there may have been circumstances similar to this in the past, but exactly like this ... no," he said. "There is no question this is something fairly unique."

The car was not stolen, police said, but belonged to a family member of the driver of the car, who was interviewed by police and released without charge.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/st...mcoe-shot.html
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/st...icide-man.html

[hexrae]

Province lends window company $10 million

Steinbach-based window and door manufacturer Loewen will receive a $10-million repayable loan from the province to help fund a $30-million factory overhaul.

The secured, interest-bearing loan will help pay for a factory redesign for the company, which expects to double capacity and increase productivity by 30 per cent by the time the overhaul is finished.

Loewen has been hard-hit by the U.S. housing market slump in the past year.

Last April the company laid off about 100 manufacturing workers, and in July it laid off an additional 70 office staff.

The loan, offered through the Manitoba Industrial Opportunities Program, will be secured by Loewen's assets in Manitoba. The interest rate charged is above the province's cost of borrowing.

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170 laid off workers! Anyone know how many people this business employs?

[Archiseek]

around 1500 at the start of this year

[vid]

You know when you burn food and it gets that black stuff on it?

That's a carcinogen.

Smoke detectors are radioactive. About 10,000 people in Ontario die every year because the air is so polluted from cars and trucks.

But OMG SMOKING IS SO BAD!!

If the government didn't make so much money off of it, smoking would have been gone years ago.

[metonymy]

In my rental unit, I had a problem with smoke from the neighbour unit coming through into my bathroom (which shares a common wall). I had to seal up all the openings in the wall and make the thing air tight to fix the problem.

[wags_in_the_peg]

more good news about our fine province

Manitoba job market holding solid

The national unemployment rate jumped three-tenths of a point to 6.6 per cent in December, although the situation continues to be better in Fortress Manitoba.

The unemployment rate in Manitoba was up slightly in December, from 4.2 to 4.3 per cent. Only Saskatchewan (4.2) and Alberta (4.1) have lower unemployment rates.

The deepening recession took another chunk of Canada’s labour force in December as the country shed 34,400 jobs — 70,700 full-time losses partly offset by part-time gains. It was the second large monthly job loss in two months, following November’s 71,000 contraction.

The biggest concern is the large decrease in full-time employment in the private sector where 59,400 jobs were lost, a hit that was partially offset by a gain of 36,200 in part-time work and a gain of 20,500 in government hiring.

Statistics Canada said the country gained 98,000 for the year, far fewer than the 358,000 gained in 2007 and all in part-time work. The jobless rate hit a record low of 5.8 per cent in 2008, but climbed 0.8 per cent by the end of the year with the largest increase coming in the last quarter.

The latest sector to be hit by the economic downturn was construction, an industry which lost 44,000 jobs as housing starts dipped to the lowest level in seven years the previous month. Other industries to lose jobs in December included manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, mining and oil. Offsetting the losses were gains in transportation and warehousing, health care, and social assistance and public administration.

And with the price of oil tumbling, Alberta’s economy also showed signs of slowing and actually recorded the sharpest employment decline of any province last month with 16,000 fewer jobs, all full-time.

Across Canada

The national unemployment rate was 6.6 per cent in December. Here’s what happened provincially (previous month in brackets):

— Newfoundland 13.7 (13.7)
— Prince Edward Island 11.8 (10.7)
— Nova Scotia 8.2 (7.8)
— New Brunswick 8.6 (8.7)
— Quebec 7.3 (7.1)
— Ontario 7.2 (7.1)
— Manitoba 4.3 (4.2)
— Saskatchewan 4.2 (3.7)
— Alberta 4.1 (3.4)
— British Columbia 5.3 (4.9)
- Canadian Press

[1ajs]

umm we never boomed like everywhere els and now were looking better then everywhere els... nothing has changed here

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

umm we never boomed like everywhere els and now were looking better then everywhere els... nothing has changed here

The economy in Winnipeg has been among the strongest for the last few years.... and it just keeps humming.

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

umm we never boomed like everywhere els and now were looking better then everywhere els... nothing has changed here

Except the 30 years or so from 1890 - 1920. I would consider that a pretty major boom

There was also the housing boom of the 1960's (after the immigrant boom after WW2). Areas like Garden City, Windsor Park, St. Vital, Westwood, Charleswood, South River Heights and the like we pretty much all built at the same time.

[1ajs]

Former Manitoba premier resigns from Pollard Banknote

Last Updated: Friday, January 9, 2009 | 2:04 PM CT Comments0Recommend3

The Canadian Press


Former Manitoba premier Gary Filmon has resigned from Pollard Banknote Limited.
Filmon, 66, was a company director and a trustee for Pollard Banknote Income Fund.
The company said Filmon resigned because he has other commitments.
His replacement has not been named.
Pollard Banknote manufactures lottery tickets and other services for the gaming industry.
Filmon served as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in Manitoba from 1983-2000. He was premier of the province from 1988-1999. He has been serving as a member of the Security Intelligence Review Committee since 2001.

[metonymy]

Chris D dot ca had this photo today - always like that cluster.

[1ajs]

wth never noticed the change in colour in the bricks before on the one on the right. did they add floors to it at point or something?

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

wth never noticed the change in colour in the bricks before on the one on the right. did they add floors to it at point or something?

Paint. They got a couple of drops of it on our van while my wife was a work parked between the buildings.

[metonymy]

I believe they started a sandblasting/cleaning operation last summer.

[drew]

Originally Posted by metonymy

I believe they started a sandblasting/cleaning operation last summer.

From what I understand, you can't easily sandblast brick because it removes the "outer shell" of the exposed brick potentially causing it to deteriorate rapidly.

I think someone just screwed up with an order of brick, and it was compounded by an even larger screw up when it was actually installed.

[Archiseek]

Originally Posted by metonymy

I believe they started a sandblasting/cleaning operation last summer.

no - its been like that since i can remember

the brick is actually different colours i believe

and sandblasting brick is bad.... very bad for the brick

[1ajs]

realy interesting

[Biff]

There must be a different reason than that, don't you think. I can't imagine the brick being that dirty on a 40 to 50 year old building....plus it looks like a different colour all together - like they painted it.

[1ajs]

o well it does not look bad

[metonymy]

OK, I stand corrected.

Did they add those floors as extra during construction to increase the building height (and maybe couldn't get anymore of the original brick used)?