Manitoba Deputy Minister of Education and Early Childhood Learning Brian O’Leary was in Ste Anne to see the crowded situation after the province put a halt to a new vocational high school in town.

The NDP government stopped the project that was in its planning phase with trustees discussing what classes should be offered when it was cancelled. The current government said the previous PC government did not set aside money for it.

The NDP government first put a pause on the Ste Anne school and others after being elected last fall, saying it did not like the P3 (public-private partnership) model and wanted time to study how to build them. There has been no replacement for construction of the schools, including Ste Anne’s.

O’Leary’s visit on Nov. 8 came after a first scheduled visit on Oct. 17 was cancelled.

This week, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau is meeting with other world leaders at the annual G20 gathering in Brazil.

It is important for Canada to be represented at these summits and have a seat at the table. However, given the current state of affairs at home—inflation, a falling Loonie, a massive decline in the standard of living, rampant crime, inadequate housing, multiple corruption scandals, the list goes on—one could hardly blame the PM for staying home, but then Mr. Trudeau never was one for passing up a taxpayer-funded trip to the tropics.

The many pressing issues at this year’s summit include the ongoing concerns of wars in Ukraine and Israel, inflation, global poverty and hunger, the environment etc.

Never one for self-recrimination, Trudeau is reported to be in full Trudeau mode, lecturing other world leaders, touting his own policies.

A U18 minor hockey game in Sagkeeng Nov. 10 where the La Broquerie Habs were the visitors is under investigation after a fight between fans.

A statement published to the Sagkeeng First Nation’s website and supported by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) claims several La Broquerie fans were drunk and disrupted the game by yelling profanities. The statement added the conflict escalated to a physical fight where racist slurs were used.

The La Broquerie Habs minor hockey association responded on their website Nov. 18, noting the actions have no place in hockey and were in “direct opposition to our core values.”

“This behaviour, if confirmed, is wholly unacceptable and does not reflect the values of our organization or the La Broquerie community,” the statement reads.

The Town of Morris and the RM of Lac du Bonnet have each received funding that will address accessibility issues.

The province has invested more than $800,000 in 37 organizations across the province to remove barriers and improve accessibility.

“Our government is committed to making Manitoba more accessibly for everyone and I’m proud of the many groups across the province who have stepped up to join us in this work,” said Families Minster Nahanni Fontaine, who is responsible for accessibility.

“The Manitoba Accessibility Fund helps make sure a wide variety of organizations can take on a wide variety of projects to remove barriers and enhance access for the people they serve.”

Let’s talk again about stress and how to manage it. We know stress is a normal psychological and physical response to the continually increasing demands of daily life.

Remember that our brains are programmed with an alarm system designed to protect us. When our brains perceive a threat, they send signals to our bodies to release hormones that initiate our response, sometimes called the “fight or flight” response. When the threat has passed, our bodies ideally return to their normal state of relaxation. The problem is the nonstop stress of modern life rarely allows our alarm systems to shut off.

We can acknowledge stress is a fact of modern life. We don’t want to get stressed about having stress! We likely can’t eliminate stress entirely, but we can take steps to lower it and reduce its impact on our health. There are many ways to do this; recognizing some will be effective for some people and not all will help everyone.

Implementing better ways to manage time is a good start. Many people accomplish more with less stress if they make a schedule and adhere to it. Prioritizing what’s most important will ease stress levels by motivating us to complete those tasks first.