Tom Brodbeck

3 weeks ago | brandonsun.com | Tom Brodbeck

It’s an odd contradiction. One day, we’re in a full-blown trade war with the United States, boycotting American whiskey and throwing around retaliatory tariffs like poker chips. The next, we’re welcoming U.S. firefighters with open arms to help battle raging wildfires in northern Manitoba. This is Canada-U.S. relations in 2025. On one hand, we have tit-for-tat tariffs on steel, aluminum, lumber and other goods.

3 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Tom Brodbeck

It’s an odd contradiction. One day, we’re in a full-blown trade war with the United States, boycotting American whiskey and throwing around retaliatory tariffs like poker chips. The next, we’re welcoming U.S. firefighters with open arms to help battle raging wildfires in northern Manitoba. This is Canada-U.S. relations in 2025. On one hand, we have tit-for-tat tariffs on steel, aluminum, lumber and other goods.

3 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Tom Brodbeck

When you find yourself in a hospital bed, you want to believe the nurse taking your pulse knows exactly what they’re doing — not just because they passed a test once upon a time, but because they’ve been in the field, working with patients, staying sharp, staying current. That’s the reason the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba exists — to make sure nurses practising in the province are competent, qualified and actively maintaining the skills needed to keep patients safe.

3 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Tom Brodbeck

What happened in Saskatoon this week hasn’t been seen in Canadian politics for a long time. Other than the early days of crisis management around the COVID-19 pandemic, one probably has to go back to the 1990s to remember when a federal-provincial gathering ended on such an optimistic, even collaborative, note. No angry premiers storming out. No federal lectures about jurisdiction. And, most surprisingly, no perennial squabbling over federal transfer payments.

4 weeks ago | brandonsun.com | Tom Brodbeck

If you want to see what climate change looks like in real time, look no further than the smouldering forests of northern Manitoba. If you want to understand how fast a threat can turn into a crisis, ask the residents of northern communities who have been forced to flee their homes. And if you want to know what the future holds if we continue down this path — it’s in the smoke-choked skies, the charred earth and the mass evacuation orders issued across our province this week.