April 2023
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Don’t Forget The Living Green Gardening Show April 7 To 9 at The Red River Ex!
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204-947-1807 The book sale that supports the kids!
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Making sense of the banking system
Taking flight with Peter Pan
Hobnobbing with Joe Well, our Joe, anyway . . . Dorothy Dobbie
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s the President of the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians, it is not unusual to get invitations to hear foreign dignitaries. There was one a few weeks ago when the President of the European Union was in town, but I sent the Hon. Jack Murta in my stead because that was budget day in Manitoba. This time, though, it was an invite to hear the President of the United States. I had other business in Ottawa, so it was easy to say yes! It is not like you are invited to the dinner or even to meet the luminaries, unless you are on the government side of things, but I did get an invite to sit with the VVIP’s, mostly foreign diplomats, senators, and some notable formers such as former speaker Peter Milliken, with whom I served and enjoy. I could always make Peter
Two Winnipeg arts luminaries pass away Peter A. Herrndorf, C.C., O.Ont. and Gordon Edward Pinsent, C.C. Statement in the Senate, March 7, 2023 by the Hon. Patricia Bovey
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Waiting for Joe Biden to enter the House. Our Joe Clark is one of the white heads three rows down. laugh even when he was in the midst of a very serious speech, by getting page to take him a quirky question. It was good to see Peter. And we laughed. Also at the morning reception in
the Senate were the Rt. Hon. Joe Clark and Maureen McTeer. Remember what a big deal it was back then when the independent Maureen refused to take Clark as her last name u 5 ‘Hobnobbing with Joe’
What’s going on in Manitoba sports these days? Myrna Dreidger
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t seems like wherever you look these days, there are exciting things happening in Manitoba in the world of sports! The most recent event announced is that Winnipeg will be hosting the 2025 Grey Cup! Maybe our Blue Bombers will get a chance to stage a three-peat in front of Manitobans and true-blue football fans. After winning the Grey Cup in 2020 and 2021, we were disappointed (but still very proud) to see our Bombers lose the Grey Cup last November by one point. A 5-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter rallied the Toronto
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Argonauts to a stirring 24-23 upset at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. We are very proud to have had three Oak Park (Charleswood) grads play on the Bomber team. Andrew Harris (now Toronto), Nick Demski, and Brady Oliveira
have all played big roles and we are proud to claim them as our own. And our fans just happen to be the very best! Not only is the chance to witness a Grey Cup in our own Winnipeg a very exciting event, it is also very good for the economy. Hosting the Grey Cup and related festivities is estimated to result in more than a $90-million boost in economic activities. Another positive result of hosting the Grey Cup is how it showcases our many tourist sites. From the Human Rights Museum to the newest attraction, the Leaf, there will be lots for people to turn the weekend into a mini vacation. Having u 4 ‘Manitoba sports’
onourable senators, Canada recently lost two internationally and nationally acclaimed icons – both with Winnipeg roots – Peter Herrndorf and Gordon Pinsent. Canada claims to have six degrees of separation. I contend that in Winnipeg it’s only 0.6 degrees. While Pinsent hailed from Newfoundland, his acting career began in Winnipeg. He stayed in our city after his Royal Canadian Air Force career. He talked about Winnipeg’s quality of life, where he had sandbagged during the 1950 flood. His early jobs there included that as a ballroom dance instructor. But at 24, in 1954, he found the world of theatre, and soon met John Hirsch and Tom Hendry. That meeting changed his life. He had roles in their Theatre 77 productions of An Italian Straw Hat and Death of a Salesman. Hirsch and Hendry then went on to found the Manitoba Theatre Centre, and in that inaugural year, Pinsent starred in A Hatful of Rain, Cinderella, Of Mice and Men and The Glass Menagerie. He returned in 1972 for Guys and Dolls. We all know the heights and multi-dimensions of his career and will be forever grateful. Peter Herrndorf, a lawyer with a Harvard M.B.A., had a legendary career in television and as CEO of the National Arts Centre. He grew up in Winnipeg, arriving from his native Netherlands when he was eight. Always curious, with a quick and generous mind and determined nature, this avid reader charted a unique path. We go back decades. As students, he and my older brother had a summer job selling encyclopedias door to door together. They once hit a bit of a speed bump in Steinbach, but that’s a story for another day. An inspiration to many Canadians, Herrndorf ’s love of and pride in u
10 ‘Winnipeg art luminaries’