News Releases

News Release - Manitoba

November 3, 2020

Province Ramping Up Public Engagement and Outreach with Manitobans

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Manitoba Seeks Feedback on Curfew to Help Halt Rising COVID-19 Cases: Pallister

The province is launching the next phase of a comprehensive public engagement strategy that will invite Manitobans to share their feedback and thoughts in a variety of ways, including telephone town halls, stakeholder roundtables and online surveys, Premier Brian Pallister said today.
 
“Our number one priority is protecting Manitobans, and we want to stay connected and hear directly from Manitobans, even when we must stay physically apart,” said Pallister. “From the very beginning of this pandemic, we have endeavoured to reach out directly to Manitobans and ask for their input, ideas and feedback on a variety of measures designed to keep Manitobans safe.”
 
As part of public engagement strategy, the province will host a weekly telephone town hall. Each week, a new town hall topic will be announced and a report from the previous week’s town hall will be shared with Manitobans.
 
The first telephone town hall is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 5. This week’s theme is enforcement of COVID public health and emergency orders. Topics will include a survey to provide feedback on a possible curfew in the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region and how it could be enforced and a question-and-answer portal on Manitoba’s Pandemic Response System.
 
Manitobans can register to participate in Thursday’s telephone town hall and are also invited to share their thoughts online at http://engagemb.ca.
 
The province will also launch a series of targeted stakeholder roundtable discussions. To ensure physical distancing is respected, these discussions will bring together stakeholders on conference calls to help gain feedback and input for Manitoba’s path forward in the fight against this pandemic. 
 
Upcoming topics include enforcement practices for COVID-19 restrictions, vulnerable populations and COVID-19, and personal care homes and COVID-19. Plans for future stakeholder roundtable discussions will be announced in the coming weeks.
 
This comprehensive public engagement strategy builds on past efforts to gain feedback from Manitobans throughout the pandemic. More than 100,000 people participated in a series of telephone town halls over the summer months and approximately 30,000 parents provided feedback on the education survey, which helped shape how the province brought children and youth back to school, the premier noted.
 
“I want to emphasize that we need the help of all Manitobans to get the message across that we are in this together, and we all have a role to play in protecting ourselves, our loved ones and our community,” said Pallister. “We know Manitobans have valuable insights and will provide great input, and I look forward to working with Manitobans to help make these important decisions together.”
 
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