Premier Brian Pallister says with COVID-19 the financial pressures on the government are very real so the recall of the Legislature was to keep Manitobans safe.  He explains they’ve increased their spending power so now they have funds at hand to quickly help those in need whether it’s delivering on the promise and the need for more personal protective equipment, other resources to frontline workers, whether it’s supporting families who need access to health care and other supports, whether it’s aiding businesses through tax deferral and other measures some of which he will be announcing next week they are enhancing the spending power of the government to address each of these issues.

Half of the one billion dollar investment will be directly available for health care costs while 400 million would be available for allocation to new COVID-19 pandemic related costs across the whole of government allowing the flexibility to create new government programs or support services or addressing increased costs under existing programs and 100 million will address the costs of potential natural disasters later in the fiscal year.