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A Winnipeg emergency room doctor is being sued by the family of a prominent city businessman.  The family alleges, Dr. Erick Smith, goofed in his diagnosis of 65 year old Dale Parkinson, less than 12 hours before Parkinson suffered a fatal heart attack.  The former vice president of Investors Group was pronounced dead shortly before midnight on November 27^th, 2006.

Very nice green Christmas for Buhler Industries.  The tractor equipment maker reported a 21.9 million dollar profit for this year, more than tripling last year’s numbers.  The Winnipeg based company which makes things like, snow blowers and mowers, on top of tractors, says the relative stability of the Canadian dollar and increasing demand for high horsepower tractors helped improve their bottom line.

The country may have its first national white Christmas in 37 years.  Dave Phillips from Environment Canada says Halifax might be the only part of the country that will be green tomorrow.  Phillips says normally balmy Victoria, has more snow on the ground than any other major Canadian city.  And, there’s another major snow storm on the way for Vancouver today and tonight.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff says things will change for Stephen Harper when the Commons resumes on January 26^th.  Ignatieff says the Liberals won’t tolerate the prime minister’s, hardball tactics, including making everything a confidence motion.  Ignatieff says there’s no way the Tory government will survive if Harper continues to misjudge the mood of the house.

City police are pulling over more impaired drivers this year…..which shows that people just aren’t getting the message about the dangers of drinking and driving.  In the second week of a Winnipeg wide Checkstop program, cops charged 50 per cent more drivers than they did in the same period last year. 

Manitoba Public Insurance has named a newspaper carrier as oen of the top 5 fraudsters of 2008.  Get this !  The carrier got income replacement payments from the insurer after reporting a bogus car crash and claiming he couldn’t do his route.  But, he was caught on a video camera delivering papers to one of his customers.  The customer incidentally, was MPI’s head office here in Winnipeg.

A new infrastructure deal with the feds, will give Manitoba’s economy a shot in the arm.  That’s according to Vic Toews.  He says Ottawa realizes these projects play an important role in strengthening the economy.  The province will get 25 million dollars a year between now and 2014, and Premier Gary Doer says the first chunk of cash will be used to replace two bridges as part of the Red River Floodway expansion project.

The price of oil dropped almost 2.50 yesterday.  It’s now trading around the 39 dollar U.S. a barrel mark.  According to GasBuddy-dot-com, the average price of regular gasoline across the country is 76.3 cents a litre.  Here in Winnipeg though, you can find station’s selling for as little as 72 cents a litre.

A strike by support workers at Canada Post is now over.  A 4 year contract has been accepted by the 2100 workers, who walked out November 17^th.  The 5 week strike had little, if any, effect on mail delivery.

Shares of beleaguered General Motors took it on the chin yesterday, tumbling 22 per cent.  They lost almost a dollar to close at 3.52.  The loss happened after an auto analyst with a credit agency, downgraded GM’s rating from “neutral” to “underperforming.”  The agency also went on to say that, there’s no guarantee G.M. can avoid going bankrupt.

A 19 year old man is the city’s 28^th homicide victim of the year, following a shooting early yesterday.  Police say the man was gunned down about two blocks from a hall where he may have been attending a party by the Liberian Association of Manitoba.  Apparently, the secretary of that group says he thinks the shooters were part of a group of young people who had stormed the Canadian Lebanese Cultural Center…where his group had held its Christmas party.  So far, police have no leads in the case, and they’re asking anyone with information to step forward.

Well city crews have been out overnight doing some cleaning up of the 7 plus centimeters of snow we got this weekend.  Officials say the clean up should be totally done by Wednesday, at a cost of almost 2 million dollars. 

If you’re planning on flying to the east coast for Xmas, you could run into some trouble.  The Maritimes, just the latest region getting a nice slap of winter this morning, complete with snow, freezing rain and high winds.  Thousands have been left in the dark, hundreds of flights have been cancelled and police are warning drivers to stay off the roads. 

Prime Minister Harper is putting his dream of Senate reform on the backburner, moving this week to appoint 18 Conservative faithful to plum jobs in the red chamber.  Harper’s expected announcement comes just days before Xmas, when few Canadians will be paying close attention, suggesting he doesn’t expect the news of him stacking the upper house will be popular.

And the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, is out with its Top 10 crises of 2008.  Topping the list were violence in Somalia and the eastern Congo.  As well as neglected medical emergencies in Myanmar and Zimbabwe.

Well, it’s a big day for the country’s new Human Rights Museum.  But, dignitaries at today’s ground breaking ceremony will have to fake it.  The -30 temps we’ve had, have left the soil frozen solid.  That’s forced staff to bring in unfrozen soil for the sod turning ceremony.  As well, a layer of sand is being put down to keep people like Prime Minister Harper, from slipping on the icy ground.

In an effort to make transit buses safer from bullies, vandals and violent passengers, the city has decided to equip its entire fleet with security cameras.  So far, about 150 buses have the cameras with the rest slated to have them installed by the end of next year. 

Seems Manitoba is doing quite well, thank you very much, when it comes to this global recession.  Numbers from Statscan this morning show our economy continues to grow despite the meltdown elsewhere.  A U of M economist says part of the reason we are doing so well, is that we are not as dependent on exports like Ontario and Alberta for example.

Looks like the rough times for automakers, not just hitting the big 3.  Reports this morning say the economic slump is hitting Toyota so hard, its mainstay vehicle operations will likely post a loss in the current fiscal year.  That has never happened before.

Anyone planning to fly through Toronto’s Pearson airport today, could see those plans disrupted.  Already, a number of flights have been cancelled because of a storm sweeping across southern Ontario.  Forecasters say the store will dump over 20 to 25 c.m. of snow around the Toronto area by tonight.

That Winnipeg man, found guilty of shooting and wounding a city cop, during a drug raid, is now gonna apply to have his conviction tossed out.  23 year old Daniell Anderson’s lawyer is arguing that, police used excessive force to arrest him, violating his charter rights.  A hearing on that motion will now be held January 14^th.

A rookie Mountie has been accused of sexual assaulting a 17 year old girl from the Bloodvein First Nation.  As a result, the RCMP have now suspended 24 year old Ben Neufeldt.  Neufeldt remains free on bail and will appear in  Winnipeg court at the end of January.

A Winnipeg businessman whose voice mail system was hacked, is now on the hook for 52 thousand bucks worth of phone calls to Bulgaria.  Alan Davison, owner of HUB Computer Solutions, says if he has to pay the bill, due January 2^nd, he’ll have to lay off workers.  An MTS spokesperson says generally, the company will accept responsibility if fraud involves their equipment, but, unfortunately for Davison, his company owns the phone system.

Reports this morning say, merger talks are back on between struggling automakers Chrysler and General Motors.  The news comes a day after both Chrysler and Ford announced they’re extending customary holiday shutdowns because of weak demand. 

And, if all goes according to plan, the Toronto stock exchange should be back in business this morning.  Yesterday, was the first time ever that trading on the TSX got halted for an entire day because of a technical glitch.  The outage is being blamed on data feeds that got interrupted.

So, what’s the saying?  All good things come to those who wait?  Winnipeg will soon be home to the country’s biggest ever Ikea store.  A company spokesperson says they plan to have the store up and running as early as late 2011.  As we told you yesterday, Ikea will be built on a large piece of land at Kenaston and the Sterling Lyon Parkway.  And, it’s gonna be huge…..some 350 thousand square feet.

The fire commissioner’s office has determined that deadly house fire in Stonewall, which took the life of a 48 year old woman, was caused by a ceramic heater that came into contact with combustible materials. 

Well, it’s hoped a new web based referral service in the province will reduce wait times for patients.  Doctors using the Catalogue of Specialized Services will be able to find the specialist that best meets a patient’s needs.  Right now, family doctors rely on their own network of specialists because there hasn’t been a central, accessible database.

An update now on this wicked cold snap we’re having.  Looks like we’re all gonna be shivering for at least another week or so.  Forecasters say it’ll be mid week-next week, before there’s any relief from the cold which has gripped pretty much all of the prairies, and a dozen U.S. states.

Good news for those flying south.  Our loonie soared by more than 2 cents yesterday to close the day at 83.21 cents U.S.  Traders cite yesterday’s move by the U.S. Federal Reserve to drop its key interest rate to a record low of almost 0 per cent.  The cut is aimed at boosting the sputtering U.S. economy.  Stock markets by the way soared on the news, with the Dow Jones surging 359 points, and Toronto’s TSX rising 262.

Trying to save her 3 dogs from the flames of a house fire, has cost a Stonewall woman her life.  Apparently, Debbie Galipeault had initially managed to escape the early morning blaze yesterday, when she decided to run back into the burning house to try and save her dogs.  Sadly, her dogs were destroyed by the fire as well.

A Winnipeg jury resumes deliberations today in the murder trial of man accused of beheading and dismembering a guy he picked up in a bar.  Sydney Teerhuis-Moar admits to killing Robin Greene, but plead not guilty to 2^nd degree murder, saying he was too drunk and high on drugs to know what he was doing.  His lawyer says he should rather be charged with manslaughter, which comes with a much lighter sentence.

Xmas is coming early for Ikea fans.  The Swedish based furniture chain, is expected to announce today that, they’re settin up shop in Winnipeg.  So far, rumors put the store at the corner of Kenaston and the Sterling Lyon parkway, although the store was looking at two other possible locations.  An announcement with all the details is expected this morning.

Well it appears that help may arrive in time for General Motors and Chrysler, who’ve say they could run out of cash within weeks.  U.S. President Bush is now assuring the automakers that a deal is being worked out, but, it’s just a little too early to give any details.  Most analysts are predicting a 15 billion dollar bail out loan from the 700 billion dollar Wall Street fund.

If you’re not a fan of the cold, you don’t want to read any further !  This arctic air mass which is sitting over much of the western part of the country, will be around awhile.  That means, the below normal temperatures we’ve got, will stick around until at least Christmas.  If it’s any consolation, it’s cold and below normal from Vancouver right to Thunder Bay.

An arrest has been made in the city’s 27th homicide of the year.  27 year old Ivan Anderson is charged with 2nd degree murder in the beating death of Mark Harreveld.  Harreveld’s girlfriend found his body in his suite on Saturday.

Who would have thunk this?  The slowing economy and high gas prices a few months back, did have a silver lining……fewer people died in car crashes.  Reports this morning say many of the country’s biggest police forces are seeing the trend, including right here in Manitoba, where we’ve seen a double digit drop.

And, still no firm signal from the White House on action to keep the American auto industry from spinning out.  And today, may not bring any news either.  U.S. President Bush said again yesterday, he wants to avoid the economic devastation a bankruptcy would cause, and that using part of the Wall Street bailout fund to help the carmakers, is still an option.

Still no verdict in the Phoenix Sinclair case.  Jurors wrapped up their 2nd day of deliberations without reaching an agreement, although they did send one question to the judge in the case.  Samantha Kematch and Carl McKay are up on first degree murder charges in the death of the 5 year old.  The pair had allegedly beaten Phoenix to death in June of 2005.

A 16 year old youth had plead guilty to running down a Winnipeg cop with a stolen car.  The kid, who of course can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, has now been slapped with 8 months in secure custody.  Once he’s released, he’ll have to wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet.  After being hit last April, the officer was off work for 10 days.

The new toilet program is now in place.  The province will now give people in Winnipeg a 50 dollar rebate on low flush toilets.  The program was initially announced back on November 12th, as part of a wider program to encourage Manitobans to conserve water.

A 14 billion dollar bailout package for the big 3 automakers, is dead in the water.  The deal collapsed in the U.S. senate last night, when the United Auto Workers Union refused to give in to Republican demands for swift wage cuts.  Apparently, the U.A.W. was willing to make the cuts, but not until 2011.

And, scientists from Canada and 15 other nations say ice in the Canadian Arctic is melting so fast, the region will have an ice free season in 6 years.  They warn if that happens, it’ll have a major impact on wildlife, inuit communities and the entire northern eco-system.

Concern over the safety of Tasers, has prompted Winnipeg police to pull some of the weapons out of service.  Police say recent tests show a number of the devices manufactured before 2005, may conduct a higher electrical current than first thought.  But, the company that makes the stun guns defends the weapons.  Taser International says the allegations are based on scientifically flawed data.

A 65 year old bus driver is out of a job today, after allegations he sexually assaulted a 19 year old student on a bus last month.  The incident apparently happened on a Pembina Trails school division bus.  A division spokesperson says they’re shocked, and will now bring in additional safety measures because of this.  No word yet on what those will be.

Prime Minister Harper is apparently looking to make some important appointments before year’s end.  Reports say he’ll fill every one of the 18 empty Senate seats within the next 3 weeks, as he looks to stack the Liberal dominated chamber with more Conservatives.

And, film critics in L.A. have picked, “Wall-E” as the best movie of the year, while their counterparts in New York have chosen the film, “Milk.”  Both coasts however did name Sean Penn as best actor for his lead role in “Milk,” while Sally Hawkins got the nods as best actress for “Happy Go Lucky.”