The Manitoba government is releasing up to $1 billion to support the government’s ongoing actions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Premier Brian Pallister announced today.
“We are facing significant fiscal pressures as a result of the necessary shutdown of large parts of our economy as well as from the large expenses we hadn’t budgeted for that are now required to keep Manitobans safe,” said Pallister. “By increasing our spending power, we have funds at hand to quickly help those in need, whether it’s delivering personal protective equipment and other resources to front-line workers, helping families through access to child care and other supports, and aiding businesses through tax deferrals and other measures.”
According to the Estimates of Expenditure documents tabled today, additional spending authority of up to $1 billion of COIVD-19 pandemic-related spending is requested to be allocated as follows:
• $500 million for the Health Services Insurance Fund,
• $400 million for the internal service adjustments appropriations of government, and
• $100 million for emergency expenditures.
Half of the investment would 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 for Manitobans, or addressing increased costs under existing programs whose volumes have increased as a result of the pandemic.
The province would also double the emergency expenditures budget with a second commitment of $100 million to address the costs of potential natural disasters later in the fiscal year, such as floods and forest fires, or even cover new emergency costs relating to the pandemic should they arise. The existing funding for emergency expenditures has been fully expended to cover COVID-19 costs.
“We want to ensure we have available funds to meet anticipated and unexpected costs this fiscal year as a result of the pandemic,” said Finance Minister Scott Fielding. “We are closely monitoring the costs and resources required across government, such as procurement costs for PPE and other medical supplies for the health-care system, as well as funds needed by other departments, such as Manitoba Justice and Manitoba Families, to keep facilities safe for the Manitobans who rely on them.”
The province is tracking all costs and expenses centrally for government departments and other reporting entities, and the premier noted full documentation of these additional funds spent will be provided in the second quarter financial update, nine months sooner than would normally occur.