The Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone plans to hire social workers in an effort to reduce the roughly 3,500 arrests made every year for public intoxication in the city's commercial core.

The Downtown BIZ plans to hire two social workers in 2013 to help homeless people receive addictions treatment, seek help for mental-health issues and locate housing as part of a new program aimed at augmenting the long-running downtown patrols as well as police-cadet efforts to curb public drunkenness.

The new community homeless assistance team will be announced today at the BIZ's annual general meeting, executive director Stefano Grande said.

The idea is to match disadvantaged people with social services already offered by government and non-profit agencies, Grande said.

Many U.S. cities employ similar programs in their downtowns, he added.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/biz-hires-social-workers-in-public-intoxication-battle-180954211.html

Winnipeg police are gearing up for the biggest retail opening in recent memory -- and not because they want door-crasher deals at IKEA.

When IKEA opens Wednesday morning, police will monitor all intersections surrounding the store and if necessary, officers will take over traffic control.

District 6 Staff Sgt. Kelly Dennison said IKEA has hired 12 special-duty officers -- off-duty officers paid overtime rates -- to complement the regularly scheduled officers for traffic issues.

Dennison said the area's roads and traffic signals were designed to handle busy days, adding however no one knows what to expect on Wednesday.

"Some people are anticipating 10,000 to 20,000 will be shopping at IKEA," he said. "We'll find out if our streets and roads can handle that many people."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/girding-for-traffic-gridlock-at-ikea-180953731.html

Visits to B.C. by U.S. tourists are down by more than a third over the past several years, according to a report from a Vancouver research group.

Nearly 2.5 million American tourists came to B.C. in 2011, but that’s 36-per-cent lower than the number that came 14 years earlier, according to the report from Urban Futures, a Vancouver research company.

The report blames the strong Canadian dollar and the hard-hit economy in the U.S., where unemployment has doubled since 1998.

The report also points to high gas prices as a disincentive to visitors who otherwise might have chosen to drive to B.C.

In 1998, a gallon of gas cost the same as a litre of gas in Canada, but since then, the cost in the U.S. has taken off.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/11/26/bc-us-tourism-decline.html

Councillors in Thunder Bay voted Monday night to build the events centre in the North Core, after hours of deputations and deliberations.

Mayor Keith Hobbs admited he changed his mind about where to build the facility.

"I see no good argument to put this events centre at Innova Park,” he said of the south core location.

“I was an Innova Park supporter initially and, after I've seen the evidence … [I want] this facility in downtown North Core."

Linda Rydholm was one of two, out of 13, councillors to vote against the proposal.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2012/11/27/tby-councillors-approve-events-centre-phase-2.html

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The Food Network is getting into the restaurant business in a location not always associated with good food: An airport.

The channel has opened its first Food Network Kitchen at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in South Florida in the JetBlue terminal.

"The dynamic of food and travel has changed," said Sergei Kuharsky, general manager of Food Network's new business enterprises. "You used to never go in and think about eating at an airport."

Now, with passengers arriving early to get through security and limited options for in-flight food, there's a market for airport dining. "We are responding to that opportunity," Kuharsky said.

The Food Network Kitchen is the only eatery serving hot food at the JetBlue concourse, but the network's brand is a big attention-getter.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/food/in-south-florida-airport-cable-channel-opens-its-1st-eatery-food-network-kitchen-180835711.html

The national carrier has suspended a $50 million marketing deal with Tourism Australia, claiming its chairman Mr Dixon, a former Qantas CEO, was "agitating" behind the scenes to remove the current Qantas management. Qantas has formally suspended its relationship and will now redirect its significant marketing budget, which helps the federal government market Australia overseas, to state-based tourism bodies.

The Daily Telegraph has confirmed that Qantas boss Alan Joyce wrote to Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson late yesterday informing him that the Qantas board was suspending all future dealings with Tourism Australia.

It is believed the letter cited an "untenable" conflict of interest by Mr Dixon following reports he was leading a consortium to remove the current Qantas management and buy out the airline.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/qantas-pulls-50-million-deal-over-tourism-sabotage/story-e6frg6n6-1226525282406

(A complete article published originally in the WFP, Nov.  '72)

Cocktail lounges and beverage rooms in Manitoba will not be allowed to open Sunday, Dec. 31, to celebrate New Year's, J. Frank Syms, chairman of the Manitoba liquor control commission, announced Monday.

However, cabarets, and all other licensed dining rooms will be open, along with what Mr. Syms described as "literally hundreds" of locations for which applications have been approved for serving liquor at private halls to welcome in 1973.

"We feel there is no shortage at all ... we don't see a problem."

The Ontario government recently announced a "wet" Sunday with all licensed premises being allowed to open from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m.

John Clement, Ontario minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations, said the change should allow Ontario residents "to celebrate New Year in the traditional manner."

However, Mr. Syms said the commission was not concerned there would be any lack of facilities in the province to bring in the new year in a traditional manner.