The Great Canadian Talk Show The Great Canadian Talk Show

In Episode 45, we take a deep dive into the battle over math education in Manitoba. After playing out in the media for almost 20 years in plain sight, we go through the history.

Math is hard for lefties when the actual educators refuse to let the Paulo Friere critical race theory fan club take over school curriculum, and promote "anti-racist" math in which everyone is either an oppressor or "oppressed."

Store clerks can't round up to give you change or multiply how much 3 orders of fries costs, but to the promoters of fuzzy math, that's not a problem.


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Part 1- We analyze the trail of skirmishes in the Winnipeg Free Press (starting with 09/10/11):

"Teachers' math skills 'alarmingly weak'... Some teachers didn't get adequate math courses when they were in high school and thus can't teach their students properly, the petition alleges"

"... A student can get into a faculty of education with only Grade 12 consumer math, Professor Anna Stokke said. "I wouldn't even call it a math course -- it's a life-skills course."

"It's a disaster. They're coming in with grade-school math."

Another instructor noted- "Young children can develop a fear of mathematics if their teachers do not have a good understanding of the subject."

Faced with pushback, the newspaper platformed far-left attack dog Neil Dempsey, in "‘Drill and kill’ no way to teach math in 2011".

You'll hear how how his ilk of "educators" rely on half-truths and insulting critics - memorization baaaad!

Next was Dempsey's WFP polemic in 2016. He aligned himself with a Stanford "expert" recently alleged to have "in 52 instances misrepresented supporting research she has cited in her own work in order to support her conclusions. These include the notions that taking timed tests causes math anxiety."

The pushback he got from another U of M math Professor, Robert Craigen, exposed the scam:

"These puff pieces are usually sprinkled with a generous helping of “research shows” without specifics, or generic “researchers” cited as having such and such opinions... We ask to see this research and, most
often, the only reply is dismissal tactics."

By 2013, "Manitoba went from ranking fifth (in the PISA test) to dead last in Canada."

That was the result of emphasizing "cultural sustaining pedagogy" and progressive groupthink, with unqualified public school instructors being trained to bake the DEI narratives of Marxist revolutionaries into the classrooms.


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Part 2 24.53- A big topic locally last fall became "math anxiety" - whipped up online by a trustee's spouse.

Prof. Stokke wrote in the Free Press in January that:
"the percentage of Manitoba students performing below level 2, which corresponds roughly to innumeracy, doubled since 2003. The percentage of highest-performing students halved. More students are struggling in math, and fewer are excelling."

Her C.D. Howe Intelligence Memo is at https://www.cdhowe.org/intelligence-memos/anna-stokke-reversing-decline-canadian-math-scores

"Students must develop a firm foundation through a lot of practice before they can grapple with more complex math... Public funds should not be spent on math programs that fail to recognize the importance of explicit instruction and sufficient practice."

Dempsey tried to rebut Stokke as "uninformed" "scary" and "harmful"- but as you'll hear, he falsely pinned statements on Stokke that her op-ed hadn't included, and soon apologized for misquoting a former NDP minister. In other words, he spread disinformation.

He also wedged "climate change" into his narrative. Because it's not about math, it's about indoctrination.

You'll hear her takedown of Dempsey and about how Manitoba reversed a plan to eliminate tests. If only 50% of Ontario Grade 6'ers met standards, how bad will our kids score?

As Stokke said,

Episode 44 opens with listener comments about our tribute to Brian Smiley; an update on the Dan Rentz 911 suicide call from Episode 42; then lots more updates in the city hall and provincial round-ups!

8:00 Part 2- Using the bully pulpit of the Free Press, Brent Bellamy is the mouthpiece of the elitist 'urban visionary' crowd in Winnipeg, aligned with the radical bike lobby. When Coun. Ross Eadie wrote to the newspaper disputing Bellamy's proposals that would make River and Osborne a nightmare for disabled and blind pedestrians, Bellamy mocked the concerns.

You'll hear Eadie's detailed explanation and the crass, no class response from Bellamy, distorting the issues and dismissing the objections of the councilor who is himself blind. It's indicative of how actual public safety is an afterthought to the anti-car, anti-capitalist mob Bellamy fronts for.

As Eadie put it: "This guy has an architecture stamp – wow... maybe architects should be penalized under the Accessibility For Manitobans Act."


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19.40- That attitude against protecting genuine public safety is on display with the debate about closing Assiniboine Avenue at Main Street. Marty Gold provides the history of the idea, which was a favorite of the Manitoba Club front group, "Friends of Upper Fort Garry" in 2010.

The flaws of the idea were put on the record by Kelly Ryback at the Public Works meeting - starting with a naval base down the block and the use of the road to get to St. Boniface Hospital.

You'll hear audio clips from the subsequent discussion by councilors and the stunning deceptions that the bureaucrats were pulling to conceal their plans, dissuade public input, and cater to their allies in the bike lobby.

26.45 - Janice Lukes and Russ Wyatt question the department heads. You'll hear how emergency services were not actually asked about ambulances getting delayed going to the hospital, the dirty trick of labeling the report as 'information' when they intended to "roll this out" anyways, and Wyatt challenging this "dangerous" idea. Lukes called it "a tricky recommendation" and "confusing."

Another trick was revealed- summer repairs on Assiniboine will block eastbound lanes, which will lower the numbers of vehicles diverted northbound down Fort Street and make it seem less obstructive of traffic than it really is.

34. 14- While the administration called it a "pilot", Wyatt rightly said, "It's a trojan horse, not a pilot".

You'll hear the bureaucrats admit they didn't mention the word 'pilot' anywhere in the report or that the proposal to forbid right hand turns onto Main St. is for a YEAR. This is an example of the public service deliberately deceiving the public to tamp down their input.

Not coincidentally- immediately after Wyatt identified the bike lobby as manipulating this initiative, the YouTube feed of the meeting was mysteriously cut off. He's taking his complaint about being censored to the Governance Committee.

Marty recaps how stakeholders like small businesses and residents downtown are being shunted aside by high-paid liars on the public payroll who favor the bike lobby elitists.

Lastly in the City Hall round-up, a Matt Allard sighting. Hear the questions he's going to be asked as we continue to seek an interview with him. It's not only about the Goulet bike lane, but that's a start.

There's a Happyland Pool fundraising update to end the segment.

48:47 - Part 3 - Provincial round-up

Update on the Bell MTS layoffs in Brandon, as we again scoop MSM;

More reasons why Wab Kinew's NDP shouldn't follow the BC model of hard drug decriminalization and 'safe supply';

Four hopefuls- at least- are lining up to contest the PC nomination in Tuxedo to replace Heather Stefanson, one of whom is a strong voice for the Jewish community, Larry Pinsky.
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To support the Truth for Lily, Justice For Dan $25/ticket fundraiser raffle:
sheenapaterson.massagetherapy@gma

This episode is dedicated to Brian Smiley, who passed away on May 4 from colon cancer at age 69. (It wasn't until after this was recorded that we finally learned his real, and not 'show-business' age.)

Brian was a special guest on the debut episode of The Great Canadian Talk Show on Kick-FM in 2006 and made numerous appearances over the years. He was personable and witty and well-informed, and slid seamlessly from a career as a print reporter across to becoming the PR face of a not-always loved Crown corporation.

Whether in-studio or on a call, he enjoyed the back and forth with Marty Gold and helping answer questions about Manitoba Public Insurance as Media Relations Coordinator. As you'll hear Marty explain, they became friends long before that, when Smiley was on the sports beat at the Winnipeg Sun. The fun really began when he soon moved to the news side.

There's a lot of personal memories, a legendary tale of a Top 10 Most Wanted scoop, and emails from Smiley on various topics and people recounted in Episode 43.

He was an unsung hero, going to bat for people wronged by adjusters or supervisors or just miscommunicated files. Raising money within MPI, he rallied the troops to support good causes, one women's shelter in particular.

Brian and Marty shared a great love of sports, hockey and larger than life characters. You'll hear about a few of them, including the one that introduced them, and understand how quintessentially Canadian he was.

Smiley had texted us an optimistic message after completing chemo, but sadly he lost his fight. You'll hear the story of what it was like to be his friend, and how he always had your back.

Here is the obituary.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, May 24th at
6:00 pm at Sturgeon Heights Community Centre, 210 Rita Street, Winnipeg.

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Here are some of the heartfelt tributes posted about Brian Smiley after this episode was recorded:

Michelle Bailey

My dear Brian. Winnipeg Sun days when you were a reporter and I was an intern. When I was in government and you harassed me for “news” days. When you were in PR at MPI and I was in PR at MTS…our daily “who will have the most headlines this week, Bailey?” Our beers at Elephant and Castle to discuss texting and driving initiatives. Those emails “Subject:Monday. Bailey…what’s our plan of action on the press conference for Thursday. Yours in PR hell…Smiley.” We just messaged three weeks ago, dude. You truly were one of the best people I ever met in my career. I will cherish our last email to each other. My heart goes out to your love, your kids, grandkids and skidoo. Thank you for being such an amazing friend and human being. 

Andy Kazina

I grew up with Brian in Selkirk and we played sports together throughout the years. He was a great person to have as a friend. Although we haven't seen each for a few years I've thought of him often and thankful for his friendship. He never hesitated to help people. We have lost a good friend.

Peter Dalla-Vicenza

I worked with Brian when he was an MPI and I was press
secretary for Gord Mackintosh. A good guy and a straight shooter. My deep condolences.

Geoff Currier

Very sad news indeed. Brian was one of the truly good people in media and as a comms man.

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This is a commercial-free episode dedicated to our friend Brian Smiley. Please share it with all those who knew him in sports, the media and the community at large.

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Episode 42 is a special interview about the case of Winnipeg resident Dan Rentz, the tragedy of his passing in November 2022, and if the City 911 service failed to send help because of a systemic bias.

Part 1- Sheena Paterson is the mother of Lily Rentz, who is the daughter of Dan Rentz. The parents were a pair for 27 years, and the family struggled with Dan's mental health and addiction issues. He had called 911 in the past. "What he went through (for a 5 day evaluation) was disturbing."

Sheena believes with males more prone to committing suicide, "there's a real discrepancy as to how they deal with 911 calls" between male and female callers.

8.00- You'll hear what a Police Detective told Sheena about the panicked 911 call and what Dan said- and that's led the family to wonder why a wellness check wasn't dispatched.

When CTV asked, the City made a bold claim:

“It has been determined that proper procedure was followed within the policy of the communication centre.

"While this incident was tragic, no information was provided during the interaction with the call taker to indicate an emergency requiring a response from our units.“

Without hearing the audio, there is no way to evaluate if the City is telling the truth, or if it is covering up.

10.00 - City Holds Back 911 Audio From Suicide Victim’s Family

"Not only have we been refused for the FIPPA requests, we've been refused on different reasons every single time."

One of those reasons was "Disclosure harmful to a third party's privacy”,

Lily has pushed back, writing:
"In my dads case, how is a third party impacted by my dads call? He didn’t have any people around close to him when he ended his life; who is the third party? How much training in suicide prevention do the 911 operators have?"

Hear Sheena explain, "he was by himself when he called 911 and he was by himself when he died... so who are they trying to protect?"

While the family still fights for access to the tape, Lily is pleading for some common sense:

"My dad was in serious mental distress and called 911 for help. I am not looking to lay blame on anyone for his actions but I am trying to understand what he communicated to the 911 operator and why he did not meet the criteria to warrant a health check by WPS."

One of the reasons? PACT program wellness checks In Winnipeg were only available until 9:30 pm on a Saturday night. We hope no one ever gets suicidal after midnight.

18:52 Part 2 - "My daughter deserves the truth."

21.10- Sheena describes the doors that aren't open towards helping that cause, including the Medical Examiner's Office, Legal Help Centre, or- Wab Kinew.

Sheena describes the end result of 4 conversations with his office- 'she pretended she never even received the email and then later accidentally quoted my email. Then she called (Coun.) Sherri Rollin's office- no help."

23.20 - "If it was a white woman in St. Vital that car would be there in an instant."

We discuss if there's an unconscious bias towards males or core-area addresses - people like Dan Rentz who lived on Logan - when they call 911 for help.

The Lentz tragedy was made worse when Dan's house "was immediately looted". Police were more concerned about Sheena trying to protect the home from repeated break-ins than with the thieves.

25.48 - "Dan had written notes that he left belongings for Lily... the clothes out of the dryer, food out of the fridge... people running out of the house with bags of stuff"

Vagrants started fires inside the house, the pipes burst, then the City demolished it.

"Never did we get access to that house to take belongings. All of my daughter's memories with her dad, gone."

29.00- This boils down to how an emergency call was handled. Who takes a complaint about 911?

Marty called the 311 service to ask- and got a surprising answer, as Sheena had never once been guided towards that venue.

To support the Truth for Lily, Justice For Dan $25/ticket fundraiser draw: sh

Late breaking news caused a shift in direction for Episode 41, but we make sure you get the analysis you need to know what’s going on with Wab Kinew’s crew!

Part 1 – Our interview about the police shooting of Brad Singer in February opened a lot of eyes to the questions that deserve answers. Here’s the link:

A listener sent a thoughtful response to the comments about residential schools made by Kelly Ryback and
noted a factor affecting Indigenous poverty and addiction rates he had not: the reserve system and isolation.

9.40- An NDP MLA has gone against the 'devolution' script for child welfare, telling a Legislative Committee that “I’m worried about the nepotism that’s currently going on in every office.”

Amanda Lathlin from The Pas is a foster parent and is getting the runaround from "unqualified workers that are currently there, such as the ones who’ve not returned my calls for two months asking for a visit.”

The Children's Advocate shared her concerns that kids in care may be left voiceless, but Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine was all-in on handing First Nations control under Trudeau's Bill C-92.

Fontaine and Housing Minister Bernadette Smith had to cancel a press conference Friday after a body was found at the derelict Manitoba Housing site at 575 Balmoral. Marty describes how he had been asking what was going on with an RFP that closed last fall to redevelop Centre Village - but he had been ignored. While the neighborhood suffers from the blight, the City looks the other way instead of ticketing Housing officials.

18.00 - A leading doctor has quit the U of M and Shared Health and blasted the NDP government which "meddles relentlessly in our health system without
empowering those with expertise to run it."

Dr. Eberhard Renner said "recycling previous health system leaders who would elsewhere compost in retirement" was creating "the wild west... (in some) instances this government’s actions frankly hinder the ability of expert leaders to do their job."

We deciphered which partisan codger he was referring to.

Lastly, an announcement of a sexual assault strategy group proved the pattern of political nepotism as a crony of Nahanni Fontaine's got a post on the steering committee.

Fontaine claimed, “There is so much more to do to protect women, girls and two-spirit peoples" but also seemed to have a blind spot - aren't men also victims of spousal abuse? What services do they get?

26:16 Part 2- Crime Courts and Public Safety Update;

- An accused triple murderer

- Two fires on Thursday a half hour apart will result in two houses in Weston being demolished

- A spat between parents in Elm Creek has flared, after a claim students visiting a northern school in a 'peace and reconciliation' exchange were sexually harassed and assaulted by some of their hosting peers.

WFP on Thursday- "a parent said Elm Creek boys had been spanked, slapped, “dry-humped” and threatened by students from the Norway House school, and that a video of the harassment had circulated throughout the school community." RCMP are investigating.

WFP on Friday - a mother whose kid was on the trip and had not seen the video insisted "I believe that this
is fuelled by racism... I think that the kids that didn’t want to go made the time that they spent there awful."

'Believe all victims' - until you don't want to, it appears.

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The shooting of Brad Singer by Winnipeg police, and the effect of his death on his family, is the topic of Episode 40.

The Singer family are trying to raise financial support for the sudden and significant costs they have had to bear, as you’ll hear in this podcast – the link to donate is https://www.givesendgo.com/bradsinger

Part 1- Gerry Singer joins the podcast to discuss his brother Brad falling into mental illness, and the medical and prescription history that led to police trying to haul Bradley Singer into custody for a mental health examination.

In particular Gerry notes the difference between how cops used to handle Brad in the past, and the fact he was never charged with a violent crime, with the SWAT-style raid on February 14.

He explains how Brad, previously diagnosed with
paranoid schizophrenia, started spiraling in October and became withdrawn. He was taken in by police for an examination in January, causing thousands of dollars in damage to the Magnus Avenue home. You'll hear how the medical system interacted with Brad after he departed the hospital.

16.35- "Then about a week and a half later these IIU people come to my residence and tell me that Brad was involved in - they called it an altercation - with police officers and he's been shot several times."

Supposedly Brad was taken into surgery - but what the family was told at HSC raised a red flag.

"I couldn't believe they shot him dead executing a mental health warrant... it's so unnecessary for this to happen."


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21:12 Part 2 Hear us review the ⁠details of the shooting compiled by the Black Rod blog,⁠ which described other recent cases where gun-toting felons barricaded inside homes were not shot. Apprehending a 59 year old mental health patient needed lethal force?


Gerry Singer took part in a press conference with their attorney, watch it at this link!

Gerry says IIU told the family they could not see the body, or be told if police at the scene had tasers that could have been used instead of bullets, because it would somehow interfere with their investigation.

He questions how the confrontation was handled, what ' a large edged weapon' meant - insisting his brother did not owned a machete or large knives - and why a crew of 9 Tactical unit cops wearing body armour thought Brad was a danger to them.

As the Black Rod wrote: "The only legal reason for shooting him to death was if he was a threat to somebody. To whom?"


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30:30 - "They left this huge puddle of his blood there... I'm not sure he made it to the hospital alive."

The mystery of why non-lethal tactics like tasers, were seemingly not considered haunts the family. They're calling for an inquest.

"The truth would be nice."

You'll also hear how the entire Black Rod site was - without explanation - blocked from the Internet within days of their post stating a jury trial, and not the IIU, should determine if the police crossed the line into criminal conduct by shooting Brad Singer and killing him. Why were they censored?

38.20 - Gerry Singer sums up the family's concerns, how their lawyer's inquiries have not been acknowledged, how they received an ambulance bill, and were tricked into footing the bill for boarding up the house damaged by cops.

As Marty Gold points out, the police complain about derelict housing but then created a derelict house by bashing out the doors - and afterwards a grieving family was expected to clean up their brother's puddle of blood on the floor and seal the home from looters.


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