They Call Me Mrs MG

          We have been lucky to enjoy my in-law’s cottage at Hillside Beach on Lake Winnipeg for twenty years. They’ve been enjoying it for even longer, but times, they are a-changin’. If you’re not a Manitoban, then maybe you don’t know this, but Lake Winnipeg is one of Canada’s largest fresh water lakes after the Greats! It also has some unique properties such as being shallow and sandy, and having a very large watershed area. This watershed brings in all kinds of contaminants and over time, the algae population in the lake has had massive growth. All of this means that our beach becomes un-swimmable – and sometimes so thick with green, stinky algae – not even safe to paddle a kayak in. The diminishing health of our beach has made cottage-going somewhat less appealing, which made us daydream of a cleaner lake. We even talked from time to time, about moving home to our rural roots near beautiful Riding Mountain National Park, where the aptly named Clear Lake ...

          I have always been one of those people who defended Manitoba. After high school my fellow graduates scattered like panicked insects, heading far and wide…and mostly west. Western Canada drew these Manitobans with the promise of less taxes and more pay for labour jobs like heavy construction and drilling for oil. Some of my high school friends went to college or university in Alberta and B.C. All the while, I stayed in Manitoba and scoffed at their “grass is greener” mentality.           It`s beautiful here! I love summer! Look at the fall leaves! Cross-country skiing is awesome! I love to watch a thunderstorm rolling towards us across the prairies. You don`t even understand what it is to see the sky until you`ve stood in a canola field on a summer day. Ìf you`re not from the prairie … is one of my favourite children`s books by David Bouchard. Manitobans, read it. It will fill you with such nostalgia you will nearly cry. ...