Complete: The City of Brandon’s bid for the 2017 Canada Summer Games has been rejected.

Mayor Shari Decter Hirst made the official announcement "with deep regret" Thursday afternoon.

"(I’m) very disappointed in that it was a wonderful opportunity for the community," Decter Hirst said.

Members of the 2017 Summer Games bid committee worked for more than a year on the bid. Roughly $250,000 was spent on bid preparation, travelling to the games in Halifax, as well as engineering and consulting reports.

"We have asked that the city be reimbursed for that $250,000 and we’ll wait and see what happens with that," Decter Hirst said.

The main reason the Canada Games Council rejected Brandon’s bid was the lack of an indoor eight-lane, 50-metre pool, which is the national standard. The Sportsplex pool has six lanes.

"Unfortunately … we could just never get over some real hurdles," Decter Hirst said. "We had provided several different options for the Canada Games to try and find a way of getting around this, to see if we couldn’t come up with a solution that would work for us both … Unfortunately, they weren’t interested in either the outdoor pool option or the option of having the aquatic events in Winnipeg."

Upgrading the Sportsplex to national standards would cost upwards of $25 million, according to the mayor.

"That wasn’t in the City of Brandon’s recreational plan," bid committee chair Jeff Cristall said. "Doing that would have given us something at the end of the day we as a community did not think was our priority … Redoing the Sportsplex pool for the amount of money it would have cost didn’t make sense."

Brandon was the only Manitoba community to submit a bid for the games.

Cristall said it is "extremely disheartening" to learn that the Canada Games Council could not share their vision for what the games could be in Brandon and Westman.

"I just want to say how proud I am of certainly everyone who was involved in this process," he said.

"At this end, we did absolutely everything we could do, to try to put on the games, to put the bid forward in a manner that was sensible."

Although it’s disappointing news, Decter Hirst did say there were positive outcomes from the bid preparation.

"Certainly a lot of tangible things came out of that analysis, in terms of some of the engineering studies," she said.

"We’ve got a very good marketing package put together and those kinds of things, so there was value in the experience as well …thinking about the city hosting a national level event and what that would mean to hotels and traffic and security."

It’s likely that the 2017 Summer Games will instead be held in Winnipeg.

Sport Manitoba has been asked by the province to assist in forming a bid group to look at options.

Canada Games Council spokesman Patrick Kenny said a deadline of Jan. 30 has been given to the province to come back with another option.

"At this point no other options, other than a Manitoba-based games have been reviewed," he said.

"It’s in the hands of the province."

In a press release issued late Thursday, Sport Manitoba said the province asked it to assist in forming a new bid team to look at options for hosting the Games in Manitoba.

"The Canada Games is an extraordinary event that plays an important role in developing Manitoba’s athletes and coaches, while showcasing our province to the country," Sport Manitoba president and CEO, Jeff Hnatiuk said.

An initial team of community representatives has been put together to begin discussions with potential partners to build a bid proposal.

The new bid team anticipates a proposal process that will end with a bid to the Canada Games Council in the spring of 2013.

Complete: YOU never would have seen James Bond sipping a martini at a Manitoba casino gaming table before Dec. 28.

Not that the fictional character would have been here anyway, but thanks to a policy change, patrons at any of the province's casinos, including ones in Winnipeg and ones operated by First Nations, can bring an alcoholic drink with them to the gambling areas.

Andrea Kowal, a spokeswoman for the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation, said before last month's change, patrons could only drink an alcoholic drink in either the casino's bars or restaurants.

"A lot of people were very surprised when we told them they had to keep the drink in the restaurant or bar," she said Thursday. "This change brings Manitoba in line with other Canadian jurisdictions."

Kowal said First Nations casinos made the change earlier in December.

But Kowal said casinos have trained their staff to know when to cut off gamblers who drink. "You are not allowed to gamble if you are intoxicated," she said. "You will be cut off."

Kowal said it's not the first time Manitobans have been able to have an alcoholic drink while playing the VLTs.

"They've been able to have a drink at the bars with VLTs since the early 1990s," she said.

http://www.brandonsun.com/breaking-news/rule-change-allows-booze-at-gambling-tables-186429301.html?thx=y

Parks Canada is currently in the process of handing over operations of a popular Jasper tourist attraction to the private sector. However, not everyone is happy with the move.

"We believe this is the government mandate to divest everything and anything they can," explained Marianne Hladun, Regional Executive Vice-President, The Public Service Alliance of Canada.

Miette Hot Springs, located 60 kilometres east of the town of Jasper, sees about 130,000 visitors each season.

"We haven't seen any real increases in visitation since 2001 and we're concerned about that. We want to ensure that we can attract a strong visitation from a whole new generation of Canadians and visitors to our national parks," explained Tracy Thiessen, Executive Director of Mountain Parks, Parks Canada.

http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/jasper+employees+citizens+voice+concerns+over+privatization+of+hot+springs/6442786172/story.html

A new survey from Thomas Cook Travel has found that 77% of Canadian families plan to hit the road and vacation in 2013, even if it means cutting back on dining out and entertainment at home in order to afford the trip.

The survey reveals that 61% of Canadian families would spend less on eating out in favour of saving for a family vacation. Residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are most likely to forego a meal at a restaurant in order to save cash for a trip (70%), while Atlantic Canadians are least likely to give up eating out, with only 44% saying they would eat in to save for their vacation fund.

The majority of residents in each province — 57%, on average — are also willing to give up entertainment, such as visits to the movie theatre, in order to save money for a vacation. Atlantic Canadians were most likely to give up entertainment (62%) and British Columbians were least likely (51%).

http://blogs.canoe.ca/travel/vacation-time/most-canadian-families-will-travel-in-2013-survey/

TORONTO - A computer problem led to numerous flight delays and some cancellations in and out of Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Thursday night.

Nav Canada spokesman Ron Singer said a flight planning computer crashed resulting in significant delays for flights leaving Pearson, and cancellations and delays for incoming flights.

"To maintain safe operations we are processing flight information manually for departures, and we are now clearing the backlog," Singer said Thursday night in an email.

Singer stressed that the flight planning system problem was not affecting the safe operation of the air traffic control system at the airport.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/nav-canada-computer-failure-causes-numerous-delays-at-torontos-pearson-airport-186403801.html

Bangalore: With outbound tourism catching up, an estimated 50 million Indians are set to travel overseas by 2020 on holiday, according to a forecast by Tourism Australia, a state-run agency, which promotes the country as a destination for business and leisure travel.

"Increasing disposable incomes and rising aspirations are making more and more Indians travel overseas to spend holidays and flock to newer tourist destinations for leisure and pleasure," Travel & Tourism Fair president Sanjiv Agarwal told IANS.

Growing eight percent annually since 2008, the Indian travel and tourism industry has been registering 14 percent annual growth in foreign exchange earnings from domestic and overseas tourist traffic.

http://www.siliconindia.com/news/business/50-Million-Indians-to-Holiday-Overseas-By-2020-nid-138299-cid-3.html

WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration is undertaking a comprehensive review of the critical systems of Boeing's 787s, the aircraft maker's newest and most technologically advanced plane, after a fire and a fuel leak earlier this week.

The review will include the design, manufacture and assembly of those systems, the FAA said in a statement Friday. Officials plan to detail the review at a news conference Friday morning.

The FAA statement gave no indication that the agency intends to limit or prohibit the 787 from flying during the review.

The 787, which Boeing calls the "Dreamliner," relies more than any other modern airliner on electrical signals to help power nearly everything the plane does.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/newsalert-us--regulator-to-launch-comprehensive-review-of-boeing-787-186451601.html

The government says that the 15 biggest U.S. airlines were on time a bit more often in November.

The Transportation Department said Thursday that 85.7 per cent of flights operated by the biggest airlines arrived on time in November. That's up from 85.3 per cent in November 2011 and 80.2 per cent last October, when Superstorm Sandy fouled up flights.

Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time record, followed by AirTran Airways and Delta Air Lines. American Airlines had the worst performance, with one in every five flights running late.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/government-says-more-flights-landing-on-time-hawaiian-ranks-first-american-finishes-last-186367441.html

(A complete article published originally in the WFP, Jan.  '68)

THOMPSON, Man. David tackled the Goliath again here Wednesday at the air transport board hearings as Thomas Lamb Airways of The, Pas took on TransAir and Midwest Aviation of Winnipeg. Thomas Lamb, head of the firm, told the board he could see no need for TransAir or Midwest to fly into Gillam from Thompson on its regular, northern circuit because Lamb Airways was already making that run. However, Mr. Lamb recorded his support for TransAir in the two airline competition for a direct Thompson-Winnipeg run. TransAir, he said is the only one of the applicants with existing facilities at both ends. Mr. Lamb said his firm has a $100,000 capital investment in Thompson, with base facilities and staff housing.  Furthermore he argued, Lamb Airways is the only one of six airlines attending the hearings whose entire history is in Manitoba's northland. TransAir has a bid in with the board to fly Thompson-Gillam after starting from The Pas. A spokesman for TransAir said DC-3 and DC-4 aircraft — the same as is now used throughout the firm's northern runs would be used into Gillam. Midwest did not define the craft they would use on their circuit. Lamb Airways is currently using a twin engine, five passenger Aztec for the trip but Mr. Lamb said that if the demand justifies the expenditure his company would put on a nine to 11 passenger aircraft. The small firm's president said the $22 one-way fare between Thompson and Gillam would likely drop if a bigger plane was put on the run. TransAir did not discuss fare in rebutting his arguments, nor did Midwest. Mr. Lamb said in an interview later that he believes Thompson is the hub of the northland now, and that has been the reason for his heavy investment here over the past few years. His is the only airline, he said, with permanent base facilities in Thompson. The others fly in and out. His sentiments about Thompson's importance were not shared by a "public interest" witness, Audrey Batchelar of The Pas. Mrs. Batchelar said she felt The Pas was and would remain the hub of northern Manitoba. Although it now has a population of only 5,000, Mrs. Batchelar told the board that should triple within five years as Churchill Forest Industries (Manitoba) Ltd. completes its lumbering development. Mrs. Batchelar said most people would come to The Pas from Gillam for their entertainment since her town was more wide open than Thompson. Therefore, she said, any run granted should be The Pas – Thompson - Gillam, as requested by TransAir.