If there’s one thing that the Olympic semi-finals showed, it’s that the NHL must immediately change their offsides review process.

Canada scored a memorable winner against Finland in the semi-finals, but Finland challenged for offside in desperation, for a zone entry nearly a minute before Nathan MacKinnon’s strike.

The offsides review process was put into place after a linesperson missed a call by three feet on a breakaway pass. It should not be used to challenge millimetre calls for goals that were scored minutes later.

This isn’t to call out Team Finland for challenging, under the rules it was 100 per cent the correct decision and gamble, even when they got a two minute bench minor for getting the challenge wrong, with 30 seconds to go, it was a better chance to reverse that call than score with 30 seconds.

After months of relentless opposition from pro-choice organizations, Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette reluctantly removed a reference to abortion rights from his government’s proposed Quebec constitution.

The clause in question said, “the state protects women’s freedom to have recourse to a voluntary termination of pregnancy.”

It might seem strange that pro-choice advocates would oppose a move to enshrine the right to an abortion. After all, the primary mission of these organizations is to promote abortion rights. But there’s a very clear reason for their opposition to this particular clause—and it had everything to do with being politically strategic.

The reason pro-choice organizations led the charge against a clause enshrining abortion rights was because they knew it would be vulnerable to a legal challenge. Pro-choice advocates prefer the status quo where there is a complete legal void on this issue. This way, they can continue promoting the narrative that abortion is simply healthcare and should be treated like any other medical procedure.

Heartbreak. Anguish. Grief. Despair. Disbelief. After 12 long years of eagerly waiting for best-on-best Olympic hockey, the hockey gods had it in for the clearly superior Canadian squad. Our arch rivals beat us in overtime, proving that sport, like life, isn’t always fair.

Team USA needed a miracle to win their last gold medal in 1980 and they needed another miracle to win Olympic gold in 2026.

Canada was clearly the better team. No rational hockey fan could look at that gold medal game and say the best team won.

If it was a best of seven series, Canada would win decisively. (Speaking of which, let’s have another Summit Series like we had in 1972, only this time it should be Canada versus the U.S. It would be epic.)

I am writing in response to Rick Loewen’s Feb. 12 letter regarding MP Ted Falk and the Conservative Party (Provencher MP wrong about Trump).

I have known Ted Falk to be a hardworking and principled representative for Provencher. The voters in this region have elected him repeatedly because he reflects their values. Disagreeing with him is one thing. Calling him useless is another. Our community deserves better than personal attacks.

On the issue of the United States, this should not be complicated. No matter who is president, the U.S. is our largest trading partner and closest neighbour. Thousands of Manitoba jobs depend on that relationship. Being careful and measured in how we deal with Washington is not weakness — it is common sense. Protecting Canadian jobs and industries should always come before scoring political points.

I was also disappointed by Mr. Loewen’s comments regarding Israel. Canada has long supported Israel as a democratic ally. Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorism. Hamas is a terrorist organization that deliberately targets civilians. Condemning Hamas and standing with Israel does not mean we lack compassion for innocent Palestinians caught in the conflict. It means we recognize the difference between terrorism and democracy.