News Releases

News Release - Manitoba

May 14, 2020

Province Introduces New, Temporary Orders Under Provincial State of Emergency

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New Measures Extend Deadlines, Reduce Regulatory Burdens: Pallister

The Manitoba government is introducing additional temporary orders to extend deadlines, social service and child-care provisions, and reduce municipal government regulatory burdens to help address the COVID-19 pandemic, Premier Brian Pallister announced today.

“Due to the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are instituting new emergency orders to allow for greater flexibility during this time and give Manitobans the time they need to work around the interruptions this pandemic has caused,” said Pallister. 

A state of emergency has been declared by the powers set out in Section 10(1) and 10(2) of The Emergency Measures Act. The additional orders will ensure continued access to services for Manitobans during the state of emergency in Manitoba due to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as:
•    extending deadlines to apply for the 2019 farmland school tax rebate and to appeal tax assessments to the earlier of Sept. 21, 2020, or the end of the state of emergency associated with COVID-19;
•    providing exemptions to current license requirements for child care so that early childhood educators can offer child care in their homes and in the community for families who need it during the current state of emergency;
•    suspending municipal byelections during the current state of emergency, as well as reducing municipal council meeting quorum requirements to provide greater flexibility for local governments;
•    temporarily suspending meeting provisions for condominium corporations, co-operatives, corporations and credit unions and introducing measures to allow electronic attendance, delivery of notices and voting by other means;
•    introducing temporary suspensions for in-person commissioning and witnessing provisions related to oaths, affirmation, statutory declarations, health-care directives, powers of attorney, land titles documents and wills; and
•    temporarily suspending fees for marriage fees, licences and marriage commissioners if the person has an expired licence issued after Dec. 19, 2019.

The province has the ability to revoke any of the above orders sooner than stated if it deems necessary. To review the new orders, visit www.manitoba.ca/covid19/soe.html.

A comprehensive list of Manitoba government COVID-19 measures can be found at:
https://manitoba.ca/bg/2020/04/covid19.html.

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