I’m not so sure any provincial government will ever be able to truly fix health care. But I think there are quick fixes within the system that should happen ASAP, like covering the $400 cost of the shingles vaccine for older Manitobans. It’s a no-brainer, according to CanAge CEO Laura Tamblyn Watts. She says, in the long run, the move would save money as well as a lot of pain and suffering. In a statement, health minister Uzoma Asagwara says the Kinew government is considering options for covering the shingles vaccine. That’s similar to what the minister said over a year ago.

I've never met a cookie I didn't like. And when it's for a great cause, even better. Seven Winnipeg bakeries are taking part in Cookies For A Cause, which continues until next Sunday. A dollar from every featured cookie sold goes to the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation. Black Market Provisions has a vegan dark chocolate sea salt cookie. Flour & Flower's buttered toast cinnamon bun cookie has a gooey cinnamon centre. Friend Bakery is filling a chocolate crinkle cookie with Biscoff, while Jenna Rae Cakes is sandwiching salted caramel buttercream between ginger cookies. Lilac Bakery has a lemon curd Linzer cookie that's vegan and gluten-free. Sugar & Salt's Eddie combines chocolate, peanut butter cups and a peanut butter centre. Sweet Impressions tops a chocolate chip cookie with cookie-dough icing and crumble. I may need to try all seven.

I love a good hat. But I had no idea there's a Winnipeg company called Crown Cap that's been making quality headwear since 1934. Vice president Cole Leinburd says they make everything from baseball caps and berets to the warm winter hats worn by Canada Post employees. Crown Cap's railroad hats and stockman caps, among the first styles the company ever made, are still very popular today. Clothing manufacturing was once a really big deal in our city. The Exchange District was packed with companies making hats, jackets, pants and suits. The running joke was that if you didn't like your boss, you could walk across the street and have another job the next day. Today, Cole figures only five or six manufacturers like his are still operating in Winnipeg. With all the talk about Trump's trade war and buying Canadian, here's a local business worth knowing about. Cole says roughly half of Crown Cap's hats are made locally. The company imports others to stay competitive and always tries to buy fabric and supplies from Canada when it can. You can find the company's entire lineup at CrownCap.com. A handful of local shops like The Haberdashery also carry Crown Cap's products. And it's still a ways off, but the company holds a big sample sale every year at its building during the second-last week of November. After almost a century, here's a hometown brand that deserves a little more love from us locals.

My guest this weekend on Off The Clock is @halanderson. His parents & growing up, his start in entertainment, first job, legendary resume, advice for aspiring broadcasters & the handle "Bazooka". Join us Sat. at 10 a.m. & Sun at 3 p.m. on @680CJOB

Yup, you read that right. KD has teamed up with Solly’s Craft Soda to make a new cream soda with a hint of that familiar cheesy flavour. Would you try it? The limited-time drink is expected on Amazon later this month and at participating retailers, including Walmart, in early October.

I love this! Winnipeg mayoral candidates supporting each other. If we had more of this, more people would run. And then let the person with the best plan win.

A Winnipeg electrician is ready to turn up the heat on national television. 27-year-old Brendon Shewchuk is one of 16 home cooks competing on the new season of MasterChef Canada. He says he's been cooking since he was 12 and his standout dish is lobster bisque with handmade rosemary and garlic croutons, topped with green onions. Brendon and the other hopefuls will face celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay in the season premiere on CTV Tuesday night, when they'll be challenged to prepare his signature Beef Wellington. Only 12 cooks will advance in the competition. Brendon is having a premiere party at Underdogs at 2609 Portage Avenue so you can watch the first episode with him there. The doors open at 6 p.m. The winner takes home $100,000 and the title of MasterChef Canada.

NEW PROBE POLL!!! 51% of Winnipeggers are unsure who they’ll vote for in the mayor’s race. 13% don’t plan to vote. That means a whopping 64% of the available votes are up for grabs with less than six weeks to go.

Homelessness is one of the top issues in Winnipeg's civic election campaign. It's also connected to most of the other big challenges facing our city, like public safety, addiction, and the decline of downtown. I'll be interested to see what the various candidates would do to help the homeless. St. Boniface Street Links executive director Marion Willis joined me on the radio this week to renew her call for designated, managed encampment sites. These wouldn't just be places to pitch tents. They'd provide washrooms, garbage removal and connections to income assistance, health care, addiction recovery and housing. Police and outreach workers would finally have somewhere to take people instead of shuffling them from one street, parkade or business entrance to another. Other cities are making the idea work. Halifax once had six of these sites and is now down to two after expanding its shelter and supportive housing capacity. Incumbent mayoral candidate Scott Gillingham believes the city should focus its energy and resources on building housing and supporting the Kinew government's Your Way Home program. I support building housing. I also support Your Way Home. But why can't we do both? Permanent housing is the goal, but it takes time and some people aren't ready for it yet. A designated temporary site has to be better than the unmanaged chaos we have now.

Winnipeg mayoral candidates Scott Gillingham & Kevin Klein unveiled competing ideas today to reduce crime. Klein proposed a 4 year plan to make our city the safest in Canada. It includes a public safety task force led by former police chief Devon Clunis. Gillingham says, if re-elected, he’ll nearly double the number of Transit community safety officers, from the 39 planned for this year to 75, phased in over time. Thoughts?

I’m excited to share some big news. 680 CJOB and the Winnipeg Jets have renewed their exclusive radio broadcast partnership for three more years. Another season of the Jets on ‘OB begins September 19th with Paul Edmonds, as well as Mitchell Clinton and Kelly Moore.

I’ll carry GM Kevin Cheveldayoff live at 10:30 tomorrow morning on Connecting Winnipeg on 680 CJOB.

Angelo Corantzopoulos, founder of Super Boy's Restaurant on Main Street, has died. He opened the spot in 1985 and, along with his family, turned it into one of Winnipeg's most iconic burger joints. His daughter Georgia, son-in-law Dino and eventually his grandchildren helped carry on the tradition, making Super Boy's a true multigenerational family business. But Angelo was always its heart. Super Boy's became famous for its massive, freshly made burgers, including its signature half-pound Super Boy Burger, along with hand-cut fries and that closely guarded family chili recipe. That chili helped make its Fat Boy one of the best and most beloved in a city that takes its Fat Boys very seriously. For more than 40 years, customers have made the trip to 1480 Main from every corner of Winnipeg. Many first went there as children and later returned with children and grandchildren of their own. That is Angelo's legacy. He didn't simply serve burgers. He fed generations of Winnipeggers, helped preserve an important part of our city's food culture and made people feel like family when they walked through the door. My condolences to Angelo's family, friends, staff and countless loyal customers. A Winnipeg original is gone, but the legacy he built will live on.

After losing power for 17 hours in late July, I started reconsidering something I had previously ruled out: buying a generator. Watching some River Heights households go without electricity for more than 70 hours this week only strengthened my resolve to give backup power another look. Kerry Drul, owner of Electric 2000 in Winnipeg, says interest in generators has surged following recent severe weather and prolonged outages. The Cadillac option is a permanently installed Generac whole-home system. When utility hydro fails, the generator automatically starts within seconds and powers everything connected to your electrical panel. It can also notify you through an app, even if you're not home. But convenience and peace of mind come at a price. Drul says a complete installation generally starts around $17,000 and goes up from there depending on the generator and your home's electrical needs. Generac's air-cooled units range from 10 to 28 kilowatts and operate on natural gas or propane. A less expensive option is GenerLink, which is installed at your hydro meter and connects to a portable generator. You then use your breaker panel to select which circuits to power. The downside is that it isn't automatic. You have to be home to wheel out and start the generator, connect the cable and manage the electrical load carefully. The cost of just a portable generator can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on its output. And they must always be operated outdoors, safely away from doors, windows and vents. Backup power isn't cheap, but neither is the damage that a prolonged loss of power can cause. Sometimes it takes one long outage to change your thinking.

NOW UNDERWAY! My buddy George is selling some really cool stuff.

My buddy George is parting with some great stuff!

More to follow here & on Connecting Winnipeg tomorrow morning.