Mark H.

Morning Big Wood...I'll show myself out.

I'm decomposing.

Will PM you

Sorry, my firewood is sold out.

The Maas of the Week. You to do (to an extent) in order to teach. That is, if you're teaching effectively.

^^ That's quite a jump in 3 years - I wonder if he has some context for those numbers...

^^ Liberals governing like Conservatives...par for the course

This signing is the absolute end of the line.

I completely agree. School boards and Universities need to be having this discussion. I don't want to point fingers, but some Universities are doing a better job than others. I've had student teachers from all three.

Not a star, but he could be a serviceable QB.

That works if those young teachers know how to manage a classroom. Too many can't do the job.

Interlake - Gimli is the same riding now. The old Gimli riding had a long history of swinging back and forth, it was not just Bjornson's popularity. We will see what happens

Winnipeg Beach and Gimli are still in the Gimli-Interlake riding - those are substantial population centres.

The current flu/cold is an absolute b**** I came down with bronchitis and lost my voice for a week.

There were plenty of NDP votes coming out of Gimli, Winnipeg Beach et. al. when Peter Bjornson had the Gimli riding I used to live in that riding but I'm in Selkirk after the redraw Bjornson used to win by several thousand votes (his last election might have been around 1000), he never lost until he retired from politics

Interlake, Gimli, Selkirk, Brandon - any of those will be in play for the NDP. The have a long history of being swing ridings. And of course, the North is a given. Especially Selkirk and Gimli. They are former NDP strongholds.

I think Caldwell is also implying "with a premier this unpoplar, we should be winning that seat." I would also add, we will probably get a minority, one way or another, this spring.

Drew Caldwell's take on the recent byelection. Not a safe Tory seat, however. Not by a long shot. We owned it for nearly a decade in the #DoerSelinger years, so this loss to a parachute candidate representing a massively unpopular government ought be an urgent wake-up call.

Yes, of course there are always exceptions

Token candidates are definitely a problem. I think they should be using ridings that are strong for opposition, to test the mettle of an up and coming candidate. But they don't. It's usually lather, rinse, repeat.

And I'll be completely honest: in this area for sure, they used to run much more spirited campaigns, at all 3 levels of government The last decade of so, we get mostly 'token candidates' running against the incumbents. They throw up some signs and post on facebook and twitter

Yes, those are fair comments. They do both have some genuinely good people, but also some warts Squires and Clarke, for example, I would consider solid people. Both showed they were not afraid to oppose Pallister - which you rarely see these days At the end of the day, it is what it is. I don't think we want either party in power for too long

I didn't want to quote your entire post, but as far just their credentials are concerned, there are not that many differences PC caucus Nursing: 1 Career Politician: 1 Doctor/Vet: 1 Military: 1 Teacher: 3 Business/Marketing: 1 Healthcare Administration: 1 Agriculture/Environment: 5 Social Services: 1 Community Advocate: 4 Small Business owner/Municipal politics: 8 Financial services: 4 Technology Development: 1 School Trustees: 2 Education Administration: 1 Journalism: 1 A Metis MLA, the First ever black MLA, etc. https://pcmanitoba.com/our-team/

I actually don't disagree. Both parties are a long way from the MLAs Doer, Selinger and even Filmon - had in the house People like Bjornson, Wight, Caldwell - I don't see that talent in the current legislature - with very few exceptions And the problem exists in all 3 parties

If I have time, I might. Nahanni Fontaine in the legislature comes to mind. Calling others out while saying some pretty despicable stuff, herself