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Winnipeg Free Press
01-08-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
What's open, what's closed, what's up in Winnipeg on Terry Fox Day 2025
This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of Terry Fox Day — Manitoba officially renamed the August civic holiday in 2015 in honour of the iconic cancer research advocate, who was born in Winnipeg. The Free Press is not publishing a print or e-edition on Monday, Aug. 4, but readers can visit our website for the latest news and information. Here's a round-up of operating hours for businesses, services and things to do on Terry Fox Day. Manitoba renamed the August civic holiday in honour of Terry Fox and marked the first official Terry Fox Day in 2015. (Wayne Glowacki / Free Press files) Folklorama kicks off this long weekend, starting Sunday, Aug. 3 and continues for the next two weeks, through Aug. 16. Pavilions are open on the holiday Monday. Check the festival schedule here. Civic, provincial and federal offices are closed on Monday. There is no mail delivery. Canada Post offices are closed, but post offices operated by the private sector will be open according to the hours of service of the host business. All city cemetery grounds are open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The administration office at Brookside Cemetery will be closed. Winnipeg Transit will operate on a Sunday schedule on Monday. Plan your specific route and see service alerts on the Winnipeg Transit site. Recycling and garbage will be collected as usual on Monday. The Brady Road landfill is open 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. The 4R Winnipeg depot at the Brady landfill will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Pacific and Panet 4R Winnipeg depots will be closed Monday. All Winnipeg Public Library branches will be closed. (Find your great next read in our Books section.) Outdoor swimming pools are open. Kildonan Park Pool is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Transcona Aquatic Park is open 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Westdale Pool is open noon to 7 p.m.; St. Vital Pool is open 12:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Fort Garry Lions, Freight House, Provencher and Windsor Park pools are open 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Four wading pools are expected to be open Monday: Central Park, Dakota Park, McKittrick Park, St. John's Park. Check for unexpected closures here. City arenas, leisure centres and indoor pools will all be closed on Monday. Major movie theatres will be open. (Not sure what to see? Find news and reviews in our Movies section.) The Assiniboine Park Zoo and The Leaf will be will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. See what's on. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights will be closed Monday. See current exhibits and events. The Manitoba Children's Museum will be open 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Check out their featured events. The Manitoba Museum will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Upcoming events at the museum and planetarium. The Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Upcoming events. The Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq will be open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Current exhibitions. FortWhyte Alive is open every day of the year except Christmas Day. Calendar of events. City-operated golf courses (Crescent Drive, Kildonan Park, Windsor Park and Canoe Club) will be open. Most larger chain grocery stores are open, but you might want to call ahead to check. CF Polo Park will be open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Garden City Shopping Centre, Kildonan Place, St. Vital Centre and Outlet Collection Winnipeg will be open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Grant Park Shopping Centre will be open noon to 5 p.m. Portage Place Mall will be closed Monday; back to regular hours on Tuesday, Aug. 5. The Forks Market building will be open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Vendors' hours vary. Liquor Mart stores in Winnipeg will be open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., except for the True North Square location, which will be closed. Check hours at your preferred store. Beer vendors and private wine stores set their own hours for holidays, so call ahead. webnews@
Winnipeg Free Press
04-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Photo radar critics: slow down and pay your idiot tax
Opinion All hail the idiot tax. This week, the City of Winnipeg confirmed it is not only renewing its contract with a third party to provide photo radar equipment, but it is introducing a new generation of technology that would make it easier to install and capture better images. The current equipment consists of above-grade cameras on poles, and below-grade coils under the pavement. The cameras employ old technology, and the sub-grade equipment is degrading. Thus, it's time for an upgrade. The city's current equipment consists of above-grade cameras on poles, and below-grade coils under the pavement. The cameras employ old technology, and the sub-grade equipment is degrading. (Wayne Glowacki / Free Press files) The city, not surprisingly, is keen to get the new equipment up and running. The Winnipeg Police Service has long believed photo radar is a valuable tool that encourages people to drive more slowly in controlled areas that, in the process, makes city streets just a little safer. Coun. Markus Chambers, chair of the Winnipeg Police Board, noted that the ongoing operation of the system will pump millions of dollars into the city's cash-strapped coffers. The five-year contract, if approved by council, would cost about $25.2 million up front. However, the WPS believes it will net out $12.8 million in revenue after payments to the contractor are covered. That has prompted detractors, once again, to disparage photo radar as a 'cash grab.' Personally, I've never understood why someone would call a legally empowered program to fine people for doing something illegal a 'cash grab.' Are they suggesting that nobody should be fined doing anything illegal? Or, that we should advocate for responsible speed limits but do nothing to enforce them? Those questions remain largely unanswered by WiseUp Winnipeg, the diligent but otherwise aimless advocacy group of unknown magnitude that continues to publicly lobby against photo radar. The same goes for Christian Sweryda, a self-styled 'road safety researcher' and law student who was once tossed out of court by a judge for providing legal representation (he is not a lawyer) to an aggrieved driver fighting a photo radar ticket. Sweryda told the Free Press photo radar is 'a cash cow… It's just pure money coming in.' He's also focusing his masters of law thesis on an investigation into how the city has deliberately set speed limits too low on some streets to trap more drivers in the tentacles of the evil photo radar system. Beyond that one group and the one law student, there is no evidence of broad public opposition. That is not to say that people like photo radar; only that most of us realize that it is, as it has always been, a completely justifiable idiot tax. To understand why speed limits are important, and why photo radar ultimately makes so much sense, you need to think back to high school physics. Newton's Second Law of Motion tells us the force of an object is equal to its mass multiplied by its acceleration. Or, when applied to automobile collisions, the larger a vehicle is and the faster it is going, the greater the force exerted on another object when they collide. Those other objects can be vehicles, telephone poles, light standards, bridge abutments and — last but not least — people. Despite our frustration with slow-moving school zones, or speed limits that seem to change from 50 km/h to 60 km/h and then back again with little rhyme or reason, the faster you go, the less time you have to take evasive action or avoid colliding with another object. Photo radar is, when all is said and done, a truly objective way to enforce speed limits. The fixed camera, on a poll or in a vehicle, records the speed of a passing vehicle. If that speed is above a certain tolerance — my personal experience is that it's hard to trigger photo radar if you're going less than 10 km/h over the speed limit — then the camera activates. Clean, clear and coldly efficient. No one likes getting that plain white envelope in the mail that contains a photo radar ticket. (And, yes, I'm speaking from personal experience.) All of us speed at one time or another, and if we don't pay attention, then photo radar is there to remind us that it's a bad and ultimately costly idea to speed. Tuesdays A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world. Finally, a word about the money. Governments should always be motivated to use fines to produce a change in behaviour. The city fines people for dumping garbage in empty lots, letting a vacant house fall into disrepair and become a fire trap, and parking in a no-parking zone or lingering too long in an authorized spot. Are those cash grabs? The city is taking money away from people who break bylaws or other laws. If photo radar makes money for a cash-strapped police service, I'm all for it. I suspect many other Winnipeggers are as well. Never fret about taxes that punish idiots. Just try not to count yourself among their ranks. Dan LettColumnist Dan Lett is a columnist for the Free Press, providing opinion and commentary on politics in Winnipeg and beyond. Born and raised in Toronto, Dan joined the Free Press in 1986. Read more about Dan. Dan's columns are built on facts and reactions, but offer his personal views through arguments and analysis. The Free Press' editing team reviews Dan's columns before they are posted online or published in print — part of the our tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. 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