A 70-year-old man from Ontario drowned at Reynolds Ponds on Aug. 2, one of two swimmers who died in Manitoba bodies of water that day.

RCMP say they were notified of a possible drowning at about 2 p.m.

“Officers responded immediately and when they arrived on scene, were advised by bystanders that a male had been swimming when suddenly he did not resurface,” they said in a Sunday press release. “Bystanders had been searching for the swimmer but had been unable to locate him.”

Manitoba RCMP’s Underwater Recovery Team assisted with the search.

Few Manitobans have likely had the need or the opportunity to visit the Consulate office of the United States located in downtown Winnipeg. Most Manitobans likely don’t even know of its existence. Yet, for years it has been an important connection point for local government officials with our southern American neighbors. I have had the opportunity to interact with the office and various Consul’s over the years on mutual interests of concern between our two countries. These have included issues of trade and more recently ways in which our two countries can work together on strengthening our border against human trafficking and drug trafficking.

Each July 4, the consul hosts a small Independence Day celebration in Winnipeg, and it is an opportunity to get together and to celebrate the strong relationship between our two countries. This year, the current Consul Rebecca Molinoff held the event later in July to coincide with the visit to Winnipeg of the United States Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra. In addition to attending the Independence Day celebration event, Ambassador Hoekstra spoke at a Chamber of Commerce lunch and visited a number of businesses while in Winnipeg.

All of this comes at an unprecedented time in the relationship between our two nations and as America reshapes the nature of trade not just between the U.S. and Canada but the U.S. and the rest of the world. With that backdrop, many Canadians attended the event wanting to hear the ambassador’s perspective and to try to get a sense of the path forward.

As I have for many years, I attended the event hosted by the Consul and was left with several impressions. The first is that while there is clearly a concern and anxiety that Canadians feel about the current state of the relationship with the U.S., there is also a real desire to have that relationship return to normal. For many years the close trade and security ties were taken for granted. That is no longer the case.

The history of the apple—its growth, spread and propagation—is certainly far richer than a mere recitation of dates and places. It tells of men and women who spun fragile hopes and dreams for the future, who courageously conquered new worlds, who planted and harvested year after year even after crop failures.

And such is the story of the apple coming to Canada. It began in the heart of the Annapolis Valley in the early 1600s at a place called Port Royal, one of the earliest European settlements on the continent. It was here on the banks of the Annapolis Basin that Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de Monts built a habitation for a small group of French settlers who attempted to grow foods in the fields surrounding the building; among them was the apple.

When this port was destroyed a number of years later, a small village had already begun across the basin today known as Annapolis Royal. By 1700, it is reported there were already over 1,000 apple trees in this village.

From the gently sloping shores of the basin (an arm of the Bay of Fundy), the growth of apples spread through the rest of Nova Scotia and then to other regions in Canada as the settlers pushed west.

A Toronto Star article references how an open letter by the Ontario Crown Attorney’s Association is, in fact, chastising politicians who have posted criticism about what appears as a disproportionate sentence being pursued for the freedom convoy case.

The questions posted are directed not only at the people working within the system, but also largely about the policy. The questions are about a system that has resulted from bad policy. When the average Canadian watches headlines that show people being released after having committed heinous crimes, while that same system allows for the pursuance of seven years imprisonment for a peaceful protestor, it raises questions. Regardless of what one might think of the freedom convoy or the prosecution of some of the organizers, bad policy of the last decade is creating havoc.

A quick survey of news headlines from the last few weeks demonstrates my point. How is organizing a peaceful protest compared to some of these crimes below?

Take Oumaima Chouay, who left Canada from her family home at 18 to join ISIS. Rupa Subramanya of the Free Press reported her as the first person in Canada to be convicted for providing family support to a terrorist. When Chouay left Canada, she married into the terrorist group ISIS and had two children while in Syria. She then returned to her family home in Canada. Because she “demonstrated remorse,” she was sentenced to one day in custody—this being in addition to the 110 days she had already served. That’s it.

Since my last report, we have seen a busy start to summer activities here in the Southeast. I have so enjoyed getting to attend many of our wonderful community festivals and celebrations.

It all started July 1 with Canada Day festivities across our region, including in Vita and South Junction. As we waved the red and white flag, sang O Canada, and gathered with family and friends, it was a good reminder of how fortunate we are. Our country is not without its challenges, but there is no doubt in my mind Canada remains the greatest country in the world, and there is no better place to call home than right here in the Southeast.

On July 3 I was in Buffalo Point for the kick off of Buffalo Days activities on the shores of the beautiful Lake of the Woods.

On July 4 and 5 I attended the St. Labre 200, an annual racing event. I always enjoy entering my team into this event that has contributed more than $150,000 to southeast community organizations.

I spent a couple of days in July at my brother and sister-in-law’s cottage at Moose Lake. My grandparents bought the place in 1960. My parents inherited the cabin from them, and my brother and sister-in-law purchased it from my mom and dad. Though I’ve lived in approximately twenty different homes for at least a year or more in my lifetime, the cottage has remained a stable touchstone for me, a place I’ve visited annually since I was seven years old.

Every time I return I’m flooded with memories of canoeing past the eagle’s nest that has been at the lake’s north end since I was a child-skinny dipping at midnight, swamping the old rowboat, picking eels off my arms and legs, my uncle teaching us to play gin rummy by the light of a kerosene lamp, my brother swimming across the lake, my aunt running out of the outhouse with her pants down when a mouse scared her, my grandfather showing us how he learned to dog paddle during military training, skiing five behind the boat with my cousins, watching dragon flies hatch, catching fish, playing hours long Monopoly games, building rafts, chopping wood for the stove, tubing, reading Nancy Drew on the dock and making smores round the campfire.

These memories are almost sacred and I’m glad they are being kept alive for future generations by our family’s continued ownership of the cottage. I realize maintaining a traditional summer home for a family is not without its complications and costs. I appreciate the way my brother and sister-in-law continue to invest the time and money needed to preserve our four-generation lakeside retreat.

Having a cottage is a Canadian tradition that gained great popularity during the post-Second World War years. I think one of the reasons it has endured is there are so many bodies of water within a reasonable drive from large urban centres which makes them especially appealing. Moose Lake is only a 90-minute jaunt from Steinbach and a 2 hour and 15-minute drive from Winnipeg. This makes it possible to drive out to a second home just for the weekend.