Local News
Ben Carr answers questions at Gwen Secter Centre about his candidacy for the Liberals in Winnipeg South Centre

By BERNIE BELLAN It might have seemed an odd venue for a candidate in a federal byelection in to be grilled about his candidacy, but on Thursday, May 18, Liberal candidate for Winnipeg South Centre Ben Carr (in a byelection that will take place on June 19) faced a series of tough questions from audience members at the Gwen Secter Centre (which is in the north end) who were there for the second session of the Remis luncheon series.
As a preamble, I should note that Ben Carr was invited to speak to the Remis luncheon group well before the byelection was called in Winnipeg South Centre. Just as I have written about other speakers who have appeared at a Remis luncheon (and elsewhere in this paper you can read my account of the first of this years’ speakers, Joan Druxman, who spoke on May 11), I decided to write about Ben Carr’s appearanc at a Remis forum.
Ben Carr is the 37-year-old son of the late Jim Carr and Dr. Ruth Simkin. I have to make an admission at this point: I’ve known Carr ever since he was a classmate of my daughter Shira, beginning in Grade 7. That didn’t stop me, however, from throwing some pointed questions at him.
When he got up to speak Carr joked that he had been out campaigning recently in Tuxedo and when he knocked on people’s doors at least four individuals told him that they were related to him (which came as no surprise to him, he said, since he’s found through the years that both the Carr and Simkin families have many relatives in Winnipeg – and elsewhere).
Still, being the son of a famous politician, whose mantle he is now trying to adopt, has its pros and cons. I asked him, for instance, whether he’s encountered people who have accused him of capitalizing on his father’s name in running for the Liberals in the same riding that Jim Carr held for seven years until his untimely death last December?
Carr said “no,” that hasn’t been brought up to him personally.
“I recognize that I was gifted a set of principles by my parents,” he said. “You don’t choose where you come from, but you choose what you do with that.”
Someone else asked Carr whether he had ever been to Israel? He said that he had, when he was 24, when he was on a Birthright trip there – and had his bar mitzvah at the Kotel (Western Wall).
How that came about was an amusing story. Carr said that there were two rules all members of Birthright were supposed to follow: Stick with the group always and no drinking.
But, one time when the group was in Jerusalem, he and his cousin Joel decided to venture away from the group at one point, he explained. They came across someone who “looked like a rabbi,” Carr recalled. (To be honest, how hard is it to find someone who looks like a rabbi in Jerusalem?) They asked the individual whether he was a rabbi and when the man said he was, Carr said that he would like to be bar mitzvah’d.
The rabbi said to Carr and his cousin, “Okay, if you’re going to be bar mitzvah’d we’re going to the Kotel” and that’s where Carr was bar mitzvah’d.
As well, the rabbi happened to have a bottle of vodka, Carr added, which led to him and his cousin breaking the second Birthright rule.
And, although he’s relatively young, Carr has already had a varied career. After graduating from the French Immersion program at Kelvin, Carr became a teacher, he said, later a principal at Maples Met High School which, he explained, has an innovative program whereby some students attend school three days a week, and apprentice in a workplace the other two days.
Most recently Carr has been Vice President of something called the Indigenous Strategy Alliance, working in tandem with an Indigenous woman by the name of Rebecca Chartrand. He described their relationship as “what reconciliation should look like.”
Of course, growing up in a household immersed in politics (Jim Carr was first elected as an MLA in 1988, Carr pointed out, as part of the resurgent provincial Liberal showing led by then-leader Sharon Carstairs), he has had more than his share of exposure, both to campaigning and the day to day workings of government.
In 2015, when Jim Carr was elected to the House of Commons for the first time, Ben went along with his father to live with him in Ottawa for four months. Later, Ben held various positions in the federal government, including serving as Director of Parliamentary Affairs to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
Still, while Winnipeg South Centre has been a Liberal-held seat for the past eight years, it has also been won by Conservatives in the past, most recently by Joyce Bateman (in 2011).
Carr said that “there are three issues I’m most proud of”: The national child care program, “which has lifted 450,000 kids out of poverty;” the government’s position on climate change where, he said, the government has found “a good balance;” and the national day care plan, “which is going to help women get back in the work force.”
He added that the government has introduced “changes in support for seniors,” including “dropping the age of eligibility to receive the Old Age Pension from 67 to 65 and increasing the Old Age Supplement.”
I said to Carr that there are two other issues that clearly distinguish the Liberals from the Conservatives: gun control and abortion. Since gun control was not likely to be an issue in Winnipeg South Centre though, I wondered whether abortion has been brought up to him since he’s been out knocking on doors?
He answered: “For us, this (abortion) was settled a long time ago. You cannot be a candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada unless you stand for a woman’s right to choose. I don’t know where my opponents stand on abortion, but I’d like to hear from them.”
Someone else asked him who else is running in the byelection? Carr said that the Conservative candidate is Damir Stipanovic, the NDP candidate is Julia Riddell, and the Green Party candidate is Doug Hemmerling. (Given how important the Jewish vote is in Winnipeg South Centre and how many of our readers live in the riding, we will try to profile each of the three other candidates in the June 7 issue.)
Someone wondered whether Carr had encountered any anti-Semitism while on the campaign trail? He said that he hadn’t, but he did offer an anecdote that illustrated how prejudice can work both ways.
One time when Ben was out campaigning for his father in River Heights, he said, he was confronted by a woman when he knocked on her door, he said, who told him that Justin Trudeau was an “antisemite.”
The reason she felt that way, Carr explained, was that Trudeau “had let so many Muslims into the country.”
That led me to ask Carr whether he has had anyone tell him that they’re not happy with the Liberal position on Israel, (e.g., either voting for or abstaining during votes on resolutions at the UN which are critical of Israel)?
Carr was adamant that the “Liberal government has been equal to or better than the Harper government was.” (It’s somewhat fitting that in this same issue we devote a fair bit of space to what Stephen Harper had to say about Israel at the Negev Gala.)
He went on to say that there is “an attempt within the Conservative movement in Canada to position itself as the only defender of Israel within the House of Commons.
“There is a little bit of a misconception when it comes to the Liberal Party’s position on Israel,” Carr continued.
“The fundamental principle is that Israel has a right to exist and is the homeland of the Jewish people,” he said.
Turning once again to the Conservative Party, Carr said the Conservative Party today is not the Progressive Conservative Party of “Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney.
“What Pierre Poilievre is trying to leverage,” Carr maintained, “ is the worst in us – and combining it with a kind of populism to turn us against one another.
“The vast majority of Conservatives that I talk to in Winnipeg South Centre identify with the PC Party.”
Carr brought up something that had been posted to the Damir Stipanovic website, (votedamir.ca) but has apparently been expunged, but not before someone had captured a screenshot of what was written:
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the Trudeau Liberals benefitted from corruption and interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections. Leaks from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) indicate that the Trudeau Liberals were aware of alarming reports and did not respond to the threats.
“An open and transparent public inquiry is now needed. With Winnipeg South Centre heading into a by-election, how do we know that the Chinese Communist Party is not funding Ben Carr and the Liberal party in this very riding?”
As noted, we will attempt to contact each of the three other candidates in Winnipeg South Centre in time for our June 7 issue, including Damir Stipanovic, whom we will also ask about the question posed on his website.
Local News
Adam Buchwald Competes for Canada at the World Junior Speed Skating Championships

By MYRON LOVE Winnipeg-born speedskater Adam Buchwald has had a season to remember. At the start of the Long Track Speed Skating Season last fall, the 19-year-old second-year student at the University of Calgary had one goal: to qualify for the World Junior Speed Skating Championships.
Mission accomplished.
In December, at the Canadian Junior Championships in Fort St. John, BC, Buchwald won gold in the 5000m, becoming Canadian Junior Champion in that distance. This, combined with his performance in the 3 other distances in which he raced, resulted in Buchwald placing 3rd overall out of the field of the top 30 Junior athletes in Canada and was named to the Canadian National Junior Team.
Along with three other men and four women, Buchwald represented Canada at the World Junior Championships and the Junior World Cup, which were both held in Collalbo, Italy from January 31 – February 9, 2025. At the World Junior Championships – against the world’s best, Buchwald placed 14th overall out of the field of over 65 athletes.

Buchwald, the son of Richard Buchwald and Tracy Leipsic, began speedskating at the age of 4, when he insisted on doing the same activity as his older sisters, Rachael and Serena. His mother was his first coach. Leipsic, a decorated speedskater in her own right, represented Manitoba and was a medalist at the Canada Winter Games in 1987. Once her speedskating career ended, Leipsic turned to coaching and officiating, through which she has served as an inspiration for many Manitoba speedskaters over the years, including her son.
Buchwald says that as he has progressed to the high-performance level of the sport, his mother has always been able to strike the right balance between former coach and mentor. In a 2023 interview, Buchwald was quoted as saying, “My mom has always been a really good mentor. If she’s coaching, then she’s a coach before a parent, and if she’s not my coach, she’s always a parent before coach. I think that’s been really helpful and a really good influence on me.”
The competitive side of Adam started when he was 10 years old. In his younger years, Adam was a national level Short Track speedskater. Short Track is skated on a 111 metre oval while Long Track takes place on a 400 metre oval.
It wasn’t until high school that Buchwald decided to focus exclusively on Long Track speed skating, where he specializes in the longer distances. At the senior level, the longest distance raced is 10,000m. This is not a distance that is raced at the Junior level. Nevertheless, Buchwald has always wanted to try the 10,000. After repeatedly asking his coaches for the opportunity, he finally got his wish in January 2023, at the outdoor oval at the Cindy Klassen Rec, Centre in Winnipeg. Buchwald not only survived the gruelilng distance, he broke the track record set way back in 1992. Buchwald has only had two other opportunities to skate the 10,000m in competition since then, most recently placing 5th at the Senior National Canada Cup in Quebec at the beginning of March. Buchwald was the top Junior skater in 3 races – the 1500m (13th), 5000m (9th) and 10000m races, involving over 30 of Canada’s top skaters.
Buchwald trains six days per week, twice a day, at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, where he is coached by former Winnipegger and 4-time Olympian, Mike Ireland.
He recently had to take time off from his regular routine to have a minor heart procedure. However, Buchwald reports that he is now good to go and has resumed his training.
Buchwald has certainly had an exciting season, from being crowned National Champion to realizing a goal of representing Canada at the World Championships. One of Buchwald’s many goals is to pursue a career in speedskating and compete in the Olympic Games for Team Canada.
Local News
Former Winnipegger Benjie Cooperband hoping to return Mezieritcher shul name plate to our community

By MYRON LOVE I grew up in the late 1950s and the 1960s in the old North End – the corner of Prichard and Powers specifically. At the time, there were four Orthodox shuls within walking distance of my house – one of which was the Ateres Yisroel – also known as the Mezericher shul – because many of its members – including my baba’s best friends, Pete and Faiga Goldman – were among the founding members.
Another of those founding families was the Cooperband family. About a month ago, I got an email from Benjie Cooperband with an interesting store to tell.
Cooperband, who is an oral surgeon in Toronto, told me that he has the sign – the name plate – from the Mezericher shul. In a labour of love, he has spent the past year restoring the sign and is now looking for a Jewish institution in Winnipeg which may be willing to display it.
The Mezericher Shul was founded in 1912 on Powers near Manitoba. In the late 1930s, the congregation moved about a block away to the former Jewish Old Folks Home on Manitoba near Salter. In 1976, the congregation merged with the Hebrew Sick Benefit Association to form the Beth Israel in Garden City. In 2002, the Beth Israel merged with the Rosh Pina and Bnay Abraham congregation to create Congregation Etz Chayim.
Cooperband reports that, at its peak, the Mezericher shul had about 250 members.
“I always loved to go to shul,” says the former Winnipegger.
His zaida, Beryl Cooperband, he says, always sat next to the bima overlooking the congregation, while his baba, Faiga, in the ladies;’ section upstairs. every now and then began clapping for quiet when it got too noisy.
“At shul, I would sit with my father (Mickey Cooperband) at the front overlooking the crowds. We sat at Zaida Beryl’s standard seat where he used to keep his Tallis and machzer. I have them to this day in my house as a memory of my zaida.”
Every year, he remembers, there would be a bidding war for the privilege of reading Parsha Jonah – a competition that his baba always won.
He also recounts standing on occasion at the gate of the Hebrew Sick Cemetery with his baba when burials were to take place. His baba would solicit donations for Hadassah as people were coming in or leaving.
“She got them coming or going,” he quips. “My dad also collected donations for Hadassah from his customers at Silverman Jewelers. Everyone marvelled at how this little old lady always managed to be Hadassah’s top fund raiser in Winnipeg.”
Growing up in Garden City, Benjie Cooperband attended Talmud Torah and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate before finishing high school at the University of Winnipeg Collegiate. He earned his dental degree from the University of Manitoba in 1981. Initially, he bought Dr. Jack Rosove’s practice at the corner of Selkirk and Salter.
After a couple of years, Cooperband returned to school and became an oral surgeon. He has been living in Toronto for the past 40 years.
After the Mezericher Shul closed in 1976, Cooperbanjd reports that his father moved the sign that stood outside into the top floor of the Silverman Jewelers store. Cooperband closed the store in 1981. A couple of years later, the Silverman Building was expropriated and Mickey Cooperband passed away shortly after. Benjie reports that his younger brother, Joel, took the sign home and stored it in his garage for the next 40 years.
(Joel Cooperband sadly passed away last October.)
About a year ago, Benjie, now semi-retired, took the sign back with him to Toronto and restored it to its former glory. Now, he is trying to find a more permanent home for this piece of Winnipeg history.
He notes that a Chabad rabbi who is planning on building a new shul in Toronto has expressed interest in incorporating the 12 foot long and 2,5 feet high sign into the new shul. Cooperband, however, says that he thinks it would be more appropriate to have the sign on display in Winnipeg.
“I have been in touch with Stan Carbone from the Jewish Heritage Centre who has said that the JHC would be willing to store the sign,” Cooperband says, “But I am hoping to make contact with a community institution that would be willing to put it where it can be seen.”
He is open to suggestions from readers. Readers can contact him at drbencoop@gmail.com.
Incidentally, Benji Cooperband is still a regular shul goer and attends a shul in Toronto – the Kiever Shul – a modern Orthodox congregation which, like the Mezericher shul – has the bimah in the middle, with men sitting around it on the main floor and women in the balcony upstairs.
“I still love going to shul,” he says. “And it’s nice having my children coming with me.”
Local News
Ben Carr visits Simkin Centre

The Liberal candidate for Winnnipeg South Centre, Ben Carr, visited the Simkin Centre Personal Care Home on Thursday, April 2. While there he met with many residents in the atrium of the centre.
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