Right in the centre - Tradition needs an upgrade

By Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner & Press

The following is an edited version of a column from May 25, 2018. With two elections looming, these words are even more valid today.

It works like this in Canada. A person can pick a political party, pay a small membership fee and become a member. That membership obtains the privilege of attending the general meetings, the ability to vote for a candidate nominee and to vote for party leader. It also allows you to attend (for a fee) the policy conventions. It’s a pretty simple system.

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My perspective - The show must go on

By Kate Jackman-Atkinson

Neepawa Banner & Press

This is always an exciting time in Neepawa— last week, after months of hard work and practice, students at Neepawa Area Collegiate Institute took to the stage for the biennial major production. This week, the students at Hazel M Kellington elementary school will perform their annual Operetta. Across the region, students are taking to the stages and galleries to perform and showcase the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work.

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Right in the centre - Good intentions gone astray

By Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner & Press

My last week’s column about the shortcomings of Efficiency Manitoba and those of the previous Power Smart program touched off a few reactions. The problem is that with both programs, the assumption is correct. People should want to use less electricity and therefore, save money. There is nothing in it for Manitoba Hydro, as selling less power is not good for the utility. To use money from Hydro and their customers to convince people to do what they should do naturally is simply silly.

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My perspective - Stepping outside our comfort zone

By Kate Jackman-Atkinson

Neepawa Banner & Press

What is your comfort zone? How do you react to events or opportunities that push you beyond it? This week, for the ag section that ran in the Neepawa Banner & Press, that question came up in a couple of the interviews I did. It wasn’t a major focus of either one, but something that stuck with me as I talked to HyLife co-founder Claude Vielfaure and Zach Johnson, a fifth generation Minnesota farmer who runs a popular YouTube channel.

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Right in the centre - PC government wrong on Efficiency Manitoba

By Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner & Press

For 30 years, an undetermined number of bureaucrats gnawed away in the offices of Manitoba Hydro, under the Power Smart program. Well-intentioned souls, they dreamed up ways to “save” Manitobans money by using less hydro.

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