This is fairly common in older cities. Combined sanitary and storm sewers were the norm not too long ago, and separating them, especially in a very flat place, isn’t easy.

It should be understood that these events are fairly infrequent and only happen when the combined sewer system is overwhelmed by an intense storm. By the nature of these sewers, the discharge is quite diluted if an overflow happens, and it’s not someone just opening a valve and letting pure sewage run into the river.

The city has come a very long way in separating the systems since that 1992 letter that is referenced. Installing a new storm sewer can be quite complicated and require some creative engineering with the constraints of existing infrastructure and property, and only limited elevation to work with. For systems not yet separated, there are control weirs and sometimes huge pumping systems to help pump stormwater to decrease the chance of discharge.

It’s easy to construe this as deliberate sewage discharge to skirt regulation or save on treatment or something, but it’s a very complex issue and the city is doing what they can with the money they have. Perhaps more urgency is needed, but that bill would be put on the residents of Winnipeg. At the moment, the bigger impact on reducing nutrient load is upgrades to the NE Treatment plant, as the article mentions. I’m sure residents would prefer their tax dollars spent on the most effective measures.

People aren’t too bright 'round these parts.

Separating from Canada is the stupidest thing a province like Saskatchewan or Alberta could do. Both provinces have significant overseas exports, yet both are land locked.

I’m disappointed that this is still a conversation, though this bill does seem somewhat sensical.

That, and foreign trained doctors can often be thrown into situations during their Canadian training that they weren’t originally trained for. An ophthalmologist into an emergency room, for example.

And so continues the enshittification.

There would need to be public members of the board as well or it could very quickly turn into an old boys club.

Just heads up, your link goes to “Page not found” and your title doesn’t make sense.

I went yesterday afternoon and it was still fairly busy. They were even worried of running out of ballots and unsure if their delivery of more was going to arrive in time.

That’s the whole “common sense Conservatives” schtick. It effectively translates to, “just trust us, don’t look at the data, we’re definitely doing this for the good of the people and not solely those who line our pockets.”

Their base, often with limited critical thinking ability, is happy to lap it up as it means they don’t have to use their brain.

Likely targeting impaired drivers.

I’d be curious if the timing of this being Easter weekend has anything to do with this. Many people had the stat holiday off and it’d work out well to swing by the polling station on their way to visit family.

I would guess they were trying to focus resources where they were more likely to be impactful.

Many voting places are open over Easter weekend too.

Great points. That’s a great way to break it down.

It’s not just shifting incentives, but likely stems from capitalism in general. Things get really messy when basic human needs are turned into commodities.

I think it should be a general rule that policymakers should do exactly what real estate developers and realtors oppose. Those groups are a parasite to society.

Isn’t Sikhism one of the religions that practice service to humanity the most? Not only is it extremely disrespectful but you might as well wear a sign that says “extremely ignorant”.

I suppose half of Saskatchewan would be carting around signs in that case, though…

Yet, that’s exactly what happens sometimes. Big developers are professionals at putting in the minimum passable workmanship while putting enough lipstick on to sell it at a high price. The only inspections that take place are for code compliance for particular items, but they don’t inspect much of anything outside of that.

Not other than a structural engineer for the foundation.

There are no specific requirements for contractors, but the bank providing the mortgage will likely have some stipulations around bonding and insurance.

Of course you can have an architect design the house, but the designer doesn’t need to be an architect.

Do you have any specific examples?

From working in both municipal infrastructure and residential building science, I’ve found residential design and construction is really the wild west. There is a lack of simple building science knowledge, and there are even examples in code that go against best practice (like polyethylene vapor barrier on the interior of basement walls).

I’d prefer to see money go towards education of the industry so that comfortable, durable, resilient, and efficient homes are what is being built.

BC has figured it out, and a well built home with energy performance 70% better than code baseline can be only 10% more cost. An amount quickly recovered in energy savings.