Complete: The Brandon Folk, Music and Art Society has met its deadline to submit a revised funding proposal to the federal government for its Strand Theatre project.

Shandra MacNeill, artistic director with the BFMAS, said the $1.2-million funding application was sent via mail Thursday afternoon.

"The new business plan is all written and it has a considerably larger amount of information," she said. "We’re really happy with the way that it has turned out."

Renaissance Brandon imposed the Jan. 31 deadline in early December, as part of a new agreement with BFMAS, in an effort to keep momentum behind the project. The previous agreement required the society to actually secure government funding by December.

Renaissance Brandon said they would commit $374,000 to the theatre’s revitalization project, pending successful funding applications to the federal and provincial governments.

"It’s good news," said Renaissance Brandon board chair Shaun Cameron. "It gives them an opportunity to carry it through the channels they need to and hopefully it’s something that will be successful in the downtown for them and for the city in general."

Once the federal government receives the application, it is expected to take between four to six months before the BFMAS receives the results.

The Strand Theatre was built in 1917 and was refurbished into a movie theatre in 1930. The goal is to restore the building into a multi-use community performance and arts centre.

The project has been years in the making. BFMAS had previously submitted a $1.8-million funding application to the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, but were rejected last March. They were invited to reapply with a revised business and fundraising plan.

"Once we got the feedback and took a look a little bit more closely at some of the other business plans submitted for projects of this kind, we realized that we had so much more information … and work that had been done that we hadn’t actually included in that application the first time … so we’re feeling pretty good about it," MacNeill said.

MacNeill said they did a new round of user consultations, which show at least 30 groups interested in using such a facility.

The Strand project’s fundraising committee is expected to kick off a campaign this spring.

http://www.brandonsun.com/local/bfmas-sends-revised-funding-proposal-to-feds-189351581.html?thx=y

Complete: From leprechauns to viking battles, fiddlers to dodo birds, salsa dancing to bannock and everything in between, the 2013 annual Lieutenant Governor’s Winter Festival officially kicked off at city hall last night, marking the event’s 10th year in existence.

While the event focuses on the cultural diversity of the city, "unity" was the theme at the opening ceremony.

Decter Hirst highlighted the many changes the city has undergone in the last 10 years.

A decade ago, she said, there were 60 Spanish-speaking Brandonites and less than 200 people who could speak Mandarin or Cantonese in the city. Today, more than 2,000 people in the city speak Spanish and another 1,200 speak Mandarin or Cantonese among other languages.

In the festival’s infancy, "we we’re celebrating the cultures of our parents, for the most part," Decter Hirst said.

"What a difference 10 years makes, now we have one of the fastest growing cities in Canada ... Brandon is so much more diversified than we were 10 years ago."

What started out 10 years ago as a conversation about a winter festival in Brandon between former Lt.-Gov. Peter Liba and then-mayor Dave Burgess has grown into one of the city’s most celebrated and cherished events.

This year, the festival will feature a total of 13 pavilions and 20 nations — Brazilian, Colombian, Salvadoran, English, Ethiopia, First Nations, German, Irish, Mauritius, Métis, Scottish, Ukrainian and the Global Village.

The Global Village has more nations than ever, featuring eight different countries under one roof — Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Egypt, Honduras, Iceland, Kenya and Mexico.

At the opening ceremony, Tom Keep, who was instrumental in getting the festival going, reflected on some of his most treasured memories.

Keep said in its first year, the festival had seven pavilions and expected each pavilion to get about 150 visits throughout the course of the three-day celebrations. When the numbers were counted after the first year, the organizing committee learned there were more than 9,000 visits, well surpassing any expectations — the Lieutenant Governor’s Winter Festival was born.

Keep thanked the more than 1,000 volunteers it takes to run the festival.

Brandon East NDP MLA Drew Caldwell and Brandon West PC MLA Reg Helwer, who have battled in the past and are sure to again in the future, took the stage together to address the crowd — a symbol of the unity of the festival.

Each year, a host pavilion is chosen to open the festival. But on its 10th anniversary, the festival honoured the four pavilions that were involved from the start — First Nation, Métis, Irish and Ukrainian — and have never missed a year.

And it was the host pavilions’ performance that stole the show on this night.

Keeping with the theme of unity, the four pavilions performed together on stage.

What started with the traditional drums and song of First Nations people soon evolved to include Ukrainian violin and Métis fiddle. Next, the Irish spoons added a rhythmic element as dancers from all four cultures first performed their own traditional dances before coming together to perform a round dance highlighting dancing styles from each culture.

The performance had the crowd in awe, clapping along to the beat of the harmonious music and dance of all four cultures.

A lady in the crowd, who hadn’t taken her eyes off the performance, whispered to her friend, "this is amazing."

Her friend whispered back: "this is culture."

http://www.brandonsun.com/breaking-news/citys-cultures-converge-189351601.html

The Winnipeg Convention Centre will be getting a new name.

The WCC announced Thursday it plans to follow the lead of a number of other Canadian convention centres and sell the naming rights to its sprawling downtown facility, which will soon be undergoing a long-awaited and much-talked-about $180-million-plus expansion and renovation.

President and CEO Klaus Lahr said Winnipeg-based Thompson Sports and Entertainment, a leading naming rights and sports business consulting firm, has been hired to come up with an estimate of the value of the naming rights, and to facilitate the search for the right corporate partner.

"It will be known as the XYZ Convention Centre in Winnipeg," he said. "It will be like the Telus Convention Centre in Calgary, the Shaw Convention Centre in Edmonton or the Scotiabank Centre in Niagara Falls."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/convention-centre-selling-name-189337191.html

Complete: Assiniboine Park Zoo is taking steps to ensure its animals aren't tempted by the food in its new restaurant.

Doors to the Tundra Grill and Polar Playground open at noon Friday.

The restaurant, giftshop, and play area are all in one building right next to the Journey to Churchill exhibit is being built.

The building has a high tech ventilation system which uses pollution scrubbers and ultraviolet lights to eliminate 99.9% of odours before the air is exhausted outside.

Even the garbage is refrigerated to keep all odours away from the animals.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2013/02/01/mb-assiniboine-park-zoo-cafe-odour-bears-tundra.html

The board that will direct the tourism marketing of B.C. to the rest of the world was unveiled Thursday.

According to the province, the nine-member board which will oversee the operation of Destination B.C., the new provincial destination marketing organization, brings together a wide range of expertise in tourism, business and marketing.

The members represent a range of skills and regions, but none are from the Island.

“The appointment of this board is another step our government is taking to put tourism marketing back into the hands of industry,” said Jobs Minister Pat Bell. “We made a commitment to create a marketing organization that would increase accountability to tourism operators and to taxpayers.

http://www.timescolonist.com/business/b-c-unveils-new-tourism-marketing-board-1.64005

TIMMINS, Ont. - A tourist attraction celebrating country-pop singer Shania Twain has officially become a $10-million money pit of taxpayer dollars.

The Shania Twain Centre in this northern Ontario community permanently closes its doors today, barely a dozen years after its grand opening, and will be demolished to become part of an open-pit gold mine.

A sinkhole of taxpayer money, the centre consumed some $10 million in government funds for its construction in 2000-2001, and racked up more than $1 million in operating deficits in the years since.

Grant applications to the Ontario and federal governments in the 1990s projected annual attendance of 50,000 tourists by 2005.

Twain, now 47, grew up poor in Timmins, and got her fledgling start singing in local bars before striking it rich on the world stage in 1995.

But the sleek, modern structure, featuring displays of Twain memorabilia along with gold-mining artifacts, has drawn no more than 15,000 people in any year.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/shania-twain-centre-literally-becomes-10-million-money-pit-of-taxpayer-dollars-189338071.html

When people hear of plans to bring a new stadium or arena to their city, they typically envision the stands packed with loyal sports fans, restaurants filled with eager diners from out of town and local hotels bustling with travellers there to see the big game.

That's what the cities of Edmonton and Markham, Ont. are counting on — both have just green-lighted public funding towards multimillion-dollar arena projects, in the hopes of creating new jobs and drawing in extra visitors.

Edmonton has approved a deal with the owner of the Oilers for the proposed $480-million downtown arena, while many in Markham, Ont., located just north of Toronto, are hoping their planned 20,000-seat rink will be bait for a new NHL franchise.

Both cities will likely be disappointed with the economic outcome, if past research is any indication.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/01/30/sports-arenas-stadiums-cost.html

Global aviation is on the runway to earn higher profits from a further increase in passengers in 2013 after demand grew by 5.3 per cent last year and planes flew with near record level of seats filled, an industry association said Thursday.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) also said cargo demand fell for a second consecutive year, dropping 1.5 per cent amid a weak global economy.

Passenger demand was below the 5.9 per cent increase set in 2011, but above the 20-year average of five per cent, while load factors for the year were near record levels of 79.1 per cent.

"We are entering 2013 with some guarded optimism," stated IATA chief executive Tony Tyler, noting a more stable Eurozone and the U.S. avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff.

Fuel prices are expected to continue rising and GDP growth is forecast at just 2.3 per cent, but improved business confidence should help cargo markets to recover lost ground from 2012.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/global-passenger-demand-up-53-per-cent-in-2012-cargo-traffic-drops-189252351.html

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. - Google is giving people a way to virtually hike the Grand Canyon.

The search giant released images Thursday that map the most popular trails at the park's South Rim and other walkways.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company used a rosette of cameras mounted for the first time on a backpack to gather thousands of panoramic images last year.

The so-called trekker captured images every 2.5 seconds, showing the steep switchbacks of the Bright Angel Trail, the change from juniper trees to scrub brush and the Colorado River.

Google has said it wants to deploy the backpacks to other national parks and forests, and to ancient ruins and castles.

The company also has used tricycles, push carts and snowmobiles to map places where vehicles cannot travel.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/google-releases-thousands-of-images-that-map-most-popular-trails-at-grand-canyon-national-park-189245521.html

SEA GIRT, N.J. - Sea Girt is joining the parade of Jersey shore towns who are rebuilding boardwalks destroyed by Superstorm Sandy.

The Monmouth County beach town that once was home to New York Giants and Jets coach Bill Parcells plans to start work next week on the first phase of a boardwalk reconstruction. Mayor Ken Farrell said the work could cost between $1.65 million and $1.75 million.

Residents have clearly missed being able to walk on the boardwalk.

"I put on 10 pounds since it's been gone," said resident Bill O'Brien. "It's part of the reason people come here."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/sea-girt-to-spend-about-175-million-rebuilding-boardwalk-destroyed-by-superstorm-sandy-189192561.html

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

OTTAWA (CP) - Government and industry tourism officials moved Tuesday to promote more travel by Canadians at home through a package of new low cost tours.

The program, which involves the country's two major airlines, Air Canada and CP Air, as well as railways, hotel chains and travel agents, was announced following a one-day federal-provincial tourism ministers' meeting.

The ministers agreed at a press conference after the meeting that the program, which includes 51 tours, will not wipe out Canada's estimated $I.7 billion 1977 travel deficit but will attract more Canadians to vacations within the country.

Industry officials said it is difficult at this point to put any dollar value on the plan.

Industry Minister Jack Homer, who announced the program, said governments and industry want to keep Canadians at home by offering prices that are affordable and competitive with "anything being offered south of us."

Industry spokesmen added that the program could be a turning point in tourist promotions in Canada.

Among the programs are:

-Air-tour packages offered by CP Air and CP Hotels which combine domestic charter class air fares with accommodations and tour facilities priced at 10 per cent below normal.

-Train, bus and cruise tours promoted by government-owned Canadian National Railways.  The company is offering 12 tours, with at least one in every province.

-Air Canada will offer travel plans allowing tourist to rent apartments in some cities.