Complete: SPRUCE WOODS PROVINCIAL PARK — It’s quintessentially Canadian. Plunking a lure through a hole drilled through the lifeless frozen surface of a lake into the frigid waters where an intricate ecosystem hums along. 

For Maryam Palanpurwala and her family, they have never been ice fishing before — there isn’t of much an opportunity in India, where they originally immigrated from 10 years ago.

Call it beginner’s luck, but after a healthy dose of much needed patience for the northern sport, Palanpurwala’a husband Shabbir Rangwala snagged himself a 60-centimetre northern pike from the depths of Marshs Lake in Spruce Woods Provincial Park. The park hosted a learn-to-ice-fish program on Saturday afternoon.

The family has never fished before, let alone been ice fishing.

"We just wanted to do something different," said Palanpurwala, bundled up complete with a "Canada" toque while sitting on a bucket holding a makeshift rod made of lumber. "I like to do different things."

More than a dozen Westman families sat on their own buckets under clear skies huddling over exposed water hoping for a bite of their own.

The Saturday workshop is part of a new initiative by the provincial park. In the last six weeks, a lot of promotion has gone into attracting residents to spend a weekend afternoon there, as a result of the work done by Jennifer Bryson, the park’s senior park interpreter.

"People can come out, learn all the things with ice fishing, everything from how to bait a hook, to how to drill a hole, to what you do when you catch a fish," she said.

It was also part of a provincewide winter family fishing weekend, when no licence was necessary anywhere except in national parks where a federal licence is still required.

Every Saturday, a different free program is put on by Spruce Woods, including snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and orienteering.

"It’s just to get people out here," Bryson said.

"It’s my job to let people know about this park, and its wonderful opportunities and teach them about the park, our history and the natural features … it’s a beautiful park."

The provincial park’s push for more feet on its trails roughly coincides with the federal government’s decision to cut winter service to national parks — including nearby Riding Mountain National Park.

While the national park is technically open, access points and trails are unplowed, visitor centres closed and emergency services are sparse.

In response to the sweeping cuts by the feds, a movement and petition was started under the banner Occupy Winter which hosted an event last month at RMNP.

Celes Davar, one of the organizers, told the Sun last month the petition had already garnered more than 600 names and was presented to Robert Sopuck, Conservative MP for Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette.

"We aren’t happy with what has taken place," Davar told the Sun in January. "We expected more from (MP Sopuck) and we expected more from this government. And we want Parks Canada to listen to us and reverse this three-seasons designation at our national parks."

Meanwhile, Spruce Woods’ free programs continue every weekend. For more information, go to manitobaparks.ca.

Frigid temperatures and strong winds took a bite out of the Festival du Voyageur’s attendance numbers for Louis Riel Day.

The day is typically one of the festival’s busiest days, but organizers said attendance numbers were down over last year.

In 2012, about 8,000 people walked through the gates to the festival when it was a comparatively balmy -1 C.

This year, with temperatures dipping down into the -20s, the grounds were quite a bit emptier....         ...Despite lower attendance numbers on Louis Riel Day, organizers said they don’t expect it to affect their overall attendance this year.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2013/02/18/mb-louis-riel-festival-du-voyageur-manitoba.html

The Windsor-Essex region's coyote population grew so big and so fast in 10 years that the local tourism agency began touting hunting the predator as an attraction two years ago.

"The Essex County region is one of the last homes for the ‘true coyote’ found in Ontario," reads a promotional posting on the Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island website.

"The coyote population is extremely large and expanding in the area. Great predator-hunting opportunities exist throughout the county. Hunters have taken as many as 50 in an area no larger than three square miles in the Kingsville zone."

Brent Patterson, a field research scientist who specializes in coyotes for Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources, said the coyote population steadily increased between 2000 and 2011, the year it peaked and the last year for which numbers are available.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/story/2013/02/18/wdr-coyote-hunting-tourism.html

MIAMI - A byzantine maze of maritime rules and regulations, fragmented oversight and a patchwork quilt of nations that do business with cruise lines make it tough for consumers to assess the health and safety record of the ship they are about to board in what for many is the vacation of a lifetime.

Want to know about a ship's track record for being clean? Want to assess how sanitary the food is? It's not that easy to find, in part because there's no one entity or country that oversees or regulates the industry with its fleet of ships that are like mini cities floating at sea.

In the case of Carnival Cruise Lines, the owner of the Carnival Triumph that spent days in the Gulf of Mexico disabled after an engine fire, the company is incorporated in Panama, its offices are based in Miami and its ships fly under the Bahamian flag — a matrix that is not unusual in the cruise line industry.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/myriad-agencies-oversee-and-inspect-cruise-ships-with-no-central-clearinghouse-for-consumers-191548021.html

TORONTO - Southern Ontario drivers who scrambled to accommodate a Florida law that's on the verge of being revised can be compensated for their trouble, the regional chapter of the Canadian Automobile Association said Friday.

Recent changes in Florida legislation required all foreign drivers, including Canadians, to acquire an international driving permit in order to operate a vehicle in the Sunshine State.

The rule went into effect quietly on Jan. 1 but only became widely known earlier this week, prompting a flurry of applicants for the special permit.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/southern-ontario-snowbirds-to-get-refund-for-florida-license-flap-caa--191443051.html

LIMA, Peru - A U.S. Embassy warning to U.S. tourists of a potential kidnapping threat in the Cuzco region, including the famed Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, drew vehement objections from Peruvian officials Friday.

But a U.S. Embassy official said credible evidence exists of a threat from a Peruvian terrorist group.

The official confirmed a report in the Peruvian newspaper La Republica that said leaders of the cocaine-financed Shining Path outlaw band discussed kidnapping foreigners, principally Americans, in intercepted communications. Tens of thousands of Americans visit Peru each year.

The official agreed to discuss the report only if not quoted by name due to the political sensitivity of the warning.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/us-says-potential-kidnapping-threat-exists-for-travellers-to-perus-machu-picchu-cuzco-region-191484911.html

VIENNA - These museum goers didn't just leave their coats at the coat check. They handed over their shirts, trousers and underwear.

Everything, in fact, except their shoes and socks. After all, the stone floor can get chilly when you're touring an art exhibit in the nude, which was what more than 60 art lovers did in a special after-hours showing at Vienna's prestigious Leopold museum.

For many, the tour of "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" — an exhibit of 300 paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures focused on the bare male — was a goose-bump-raising instance of life imitating art.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/show-of-naked-men-draws--an-unusual-crowd-----naked-men-and-a-few-women-191778181.html

(A complete article published originally in the WFP, Feb.  '47)

Work will start this year on a §4,000,000 highway improvement link between Winnipeg and the United States border, it appeared certain Wednesday. The job will take two years. Half of it will be completed this year according to present plans and the remainder next year. A 52,000,000 sum, it is expected, will be included in estimates to come before the forthcoming session of the Manitoba legislature covering this year's portion of the hard-surfacing contract. A similar amount would be included in next year's estimates on the financing basis at present reported under consideration. Government officials declined "Wednesday to confirm or deny reports that plans for the undertaking were underway but it was pointed out that the project has been mooted for some time. The exact route to be hard-surfaced has not yet been decided upon, it is reported. It is believed however, that the weight of preference leans toward the Winnipeg-Emerson route. Recently delegations representing various tourist and other interested bodies have appeared before government authorities to press their views on the matter some favoring the route the east side of the Red River and others the west side. Desire of the government to proceed with the hard-surfacing soon as possible was accelerated by prospect that the coming summer will see a great stimulus in tourist movement and that improvement of the highways facilities between Winnipeg and the United States boundary is essential to encouragement of this industry.