Complete: Brandon’s attempt to land the 2017 Canada Summer Games may have hit a minor snag over Swim Canada’s requirements to hold events in an eight-lane pool instead of the six-lane Sportsplex pool.

The Canada Games Council has submitted a preliminary report to the Manitoba provincial government that outlines where the Brandon bid meets event hosting standards and where their concerns lie, said Patrick Kenny, the Canada Games Council’s communications and marketing director. The final report is being prepared for the Canada Games Council’s meeting in Montreal, Dec. 6-7.

“I know that there has been some discussion with the province at this point in terms of the initial findings of this report,” Kenny said. “I know the report isn’t done yet, but there have been some meetings with the province about the Brandon bid. In terms of recommendations on what would happen for the 2017 Games, that has not happened from the Games Council’s perspective.”

Kenny said there has been no discussion about holding the games anywhere else than Brandon, but that the provincial government needs to look at the preliminary findings to determine, “if there are any shortfalls.” He added the provincial government’s feedback will be included in the final report.

Mayor Shari Decter Hirst said the bid committee has options if the Sportsplex is not deemed an acceptable swimming venue. She said that while Brandon was allowed to host Canada Games swimming events at the Sportsplex in 1997, the current standard for eight-lane pools was going to be adhered to for the 2017 Games.

“The understanding was they would never back away from that eight-lane requirement again,” Decter Hirst said. “We had hoped we could come up with a compromise position that would allow us to continue to use six lanes at the Sportsplex. Swim Canada … insists on this being eight lanes.”

Decter Hirst said the potential solutions include: moving all swimming events to Winnipeg (diving events will be taking place at Pan Am Pool), the unlikely construction of a new eight-lane pool in Brandon, the renovation of the Sportsplex to increase the pool size to eight lanes or renting an eight-lane pool and building a temporary venue somewhere in the city.

There is also a possibility the city could retrofit an existing outdoor pool to meet that standard.

Decter Hirst said that could be a possibility, given that facility could then be converted into an outdoor water park similar to Splash Island in Portage la Prairie.

Or an eight-lane pool could be built elsewhere in Westman, and swimming events could be moved there.

“One of our community partners is …thinking about maybe having enhanced aquatic facilities in their community,” Decter Hirst said, declining to name the community. “They haven’t had a chance to run it up their various flagpoles at councils yet.”

Decter Hirst said while the Canada Games Council could move the Games to another community, even another province, “that would make the mayor of Brandon very unhappy and we all know what happens then.”

She added moving the Games would make the province unhappy as well as it prevents Manitoba from taking centre stage.

“We are working closely with Swim Manitoba and they were also very involved in the Sportsplex right after the (civic) election when we asked whether we should save it or close it,” Decter Hirst said.

“I don’t understand why it’s so important to put eight kids in a heat instead of six. I know it has to do with times, but I don’t know how it would impact those times.”

http://www.brandonsun.com/local/pool-potential-roadblock-for-canada-games-bid-177843201.html

The Brandon General Museum and Archives has hired a curator.

Mark Veneziano is from Ontario and will commence his duties on Nov. 15.

In 2007, the Brandon General Museum and Archive Inc. was formed as a committee by the City of Brandon in 2007. Two years later, the museum incorporated into a non-profit organization in order to act as a charity and issue tax receipts for donations.

Today it is governed by a board, made up of three city councillors and nine community members.

The BGMA, when fully established, will be a community museum supported entirely by memberships, grants, donations, and fundraisers.

Its mission is to collect, conserve, study, exhibit and interpret historic and heritage materials relating to the city of Brandon and its place within the history of Southwestern Manitoba.

http://www.brandonsun.com/local/veneziano-named-curator-for-brandon-general-museum-and-archives-177842761.html?thx=y

U.S. President Barack Obama won re-election Tuesday but the political result B.C. business leaders will be watching for is still in the future.

Officials in sectors such as forestry and tourism — which have benefited from the halting recovery of the U.S. economy — are hoping the American government can avoid falling over the so-called “fiscal cliff” of automatic tax increases and spending cuts that could take effect on Jan. 1. Failure to avoid the cliff could send America back into recession, taking Canada and B.C. with it...   ...Rick Antonson, president and CEO of Tourism Vancouver, said American visitors make up nearly one-quarter of all tourism in Vancouver, but that has been slipping in the past five years or so. As the U.S. economy modestly recovers over time, there will be a pent-up demand for travel to Canada, he said.

“Canada (is) high on their ‘want to visit’ list,” Antonson said. “I would also say that the U.S. under Obama has a much improved image overseas and many from Europe, say, will want to rediscover this land given its enhanced (or at least improved) image of a global mindset of respect, and as people increasingly visit the U.S. they often make North America a ‘two-nation vacation,’ so Canada has some spill over benefit.”

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/businesses+fiscal+cliff+even+they+enjoy+nascent+economic+recovery/7514696/story.html

CALGARY — One day after Tourism Calgary received a cool reception from the city for a funding boost, the president and chief executive of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada said the industry gives the local economy a major boost.

“Tourism is generating significant revenue to the city directly,” David Goldstein told a Calgary Herald editorial board meeting on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that Tourism Calgary is asking for extra city funding to help keep Calgary ahead of the competition. Over the next two years, the not-for-profit group is asking for an $854,450 hike over the $2.4 million it receives.

“It will take some convincing to convince me that putting on good parties and handing out more white hats is an important investment in these need-to-have versus nice-to-have times,” Mayor Naheed Nenshi was quoted as saying.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Canadian+tourism+industry+calls+more+marketing+funds/7514039/story.html

TORONTO -- Canada's economists are casting a cautious eye toward the re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama as his adminstration mulls a contentious pipeline and U.S. lawmakers face a potential fiscal crisis that could stall Canadian growth.

The election results Tuesday night generated another round of questions about whether the U.S. is a step closer to putting its fiscal house in order.

The country is heading toward a critical precipice, the so-called fiscal cliff, which would be reached if gridlock in Washington prevents a deal to extend about $600 billion in tax cuts and spending beyond Dec. 31.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/economists-mixed-on-obamas-re-election-177816211.html

If bringing back Tourism B.C. will lead to a $4.7-billion increase in tourism revenues in just four years, how much did the Liberals' ill-considered decision to kill the Crown corporation in 2009 cost the province?

Premier Christy Clark has announced tourism promotion will again be managed by an industry-led Crown corporation, starting next year. Destination B.C. is largely a clone of Tourism B.C., the Crown corporation wiped out by the Liberal government three years ago.

The change is welcome. When Tourism B.C. was shut down after 12 years of operation, it had broad industry support and was seen as a success. Its $59-million budget was largely funded by a share of hotel-room tax revenues. Crown-corporation status kept it free from political interference, able to focus on promoting the industry.

Yet the Liberals killed Tourism B.C. in August 2009, saying government staff would take over. The decision was made in secret, with no consultation with the industry or stakeholders, and no sensible explanation.

http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/Welcome+back+Tourism/7516732/story.html

Organizers of a petition aimed at forcing a vote on plans for a new football stadium in Regina say they did not reach the numbers required, but will present their results to city hall anyway.

In a news release issued Wednesday night, organizers of the petition said they obtained about 10,000 signatures, roughly half of what was needed to require the city to hold a referendum.

The group had 90 days from launching the petition-drive to reach the 20,000 mark. The collection of signatures ended Nov. 7.

The petition, as it is, will be delivered to city hall Thursday at 3 p.m., organizers said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2012/11/07/sk-petition-stadium-short-of-goal121107.html

NEW YORK, N.Y. - The recipe for Thanksgiving travel is likely to make travellers a little bitter this year.

Americans can expect airports to be busier and planes to be fuller than ever, according to a forecast by the main trade association for U.S. airlines two weeks ahead of the holiday. And fares are already more expensive.

Airlines for America expects nearly 24 million travellers to fly from Friday, Nov. 16, through Tuesday, Nov. 27. That's up narrowly from a year earlier. Last year's tally was flat from 2010. But traffic on the nation's airlines is still 10 per cent below the peak travel years of 2006 and 2007.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/the-recipe-for-thanksgiving-travel-busier-airports-fuller-planes-higher-fares-group-says-177697391.html

(A complete article published originally in the WFP, Nov.  '78)

Every city has its popular eating spots. In Winnipeg, there's probably a half-dozen or so restaurants –well known among diners. Travelodge is not one of them. As a matter of fact, if you ask around you'll probably find that few people have even heard of the place, unless you tell them it's the former Niakwa Motor Hotel in St. Vital. Even then, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who's ever eaten there. It is not one of the known places to go for fine food in Winnipeg. Could it be that all this time we've been dining at the wrong restaurants? From Toronto this week comes the announcement that Travelodge chef Joseph Colosimo has been chosen western regional winner in a national chef's competition. He will represent Western Canada in the national finals of the Wiser's Deluxe Culinary Classic competition for chefs in Montreal, Nov. 14 and 15. Colosimo, who was one of 17 finalists chosen from about 160 entries, won the regional competition with his original recipe for champagne chicken — ingredients for which shall remain a secret until the competition is over. No doubt some gourmands will scoff at the award, and put it down as a little-known and less-than-recognized competition. "You have to watch these things," warns Free Press restaurant reviewer Marion Warhaft who, by the way, also had never heard of Travelodge as a dining spot. She says some chefs' awards are meaningless because the skills displayed in competition are not the skills demanded of a chef in his day-to-day food preparation in the restaurant kitchen. "Even some of the big competitions like the ones in Europe . . . if you look at some of them, it turns out they are for butter sculpture or something like that." Colosimo has at least one of those awards to his credit as well, having recently received the Manitoba Association of Chefs de Cuisine gold award for a fat sculpture of Michaelangelo's Pieta. Although the Wiser's Deluxe talent search among Canadian chefs is only in its first year, at least it is a serious competition requiring genuine cooking skills. And it has the official endorsation of the Canadian Federation of Chefs de Cuisine. It was open to all professional chefs, sous chefs, apprentice chefs and culinary students training at recognized Canadian colleges. Carol McDonald, a spokesman for the competition, said she had no way of knowing how many other Winnipeg chefs had entered, or whether Colosimo had beaten out chefs from some of Winnipeg's better known eating establishments. Generally speaking, however, Mrs. McDonald said the majority of entrants were from the kitchens of some of Canada's top restaurants. The choice of the Winnipeg Travelodge chef as a western regional winner was not the only surprise. Top honors in the Ontario region went to a second-year culinary student who out-did his more experienced colleagues with a recipe for a vegetable terrine, Mrs. McDonald reported. "That's what this whole thing is about . . . the whole purpose of the competition is a talent search," she said.