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Manitoba government needs to better support local organizations and local professionals on the front-lines of the battle against Covid-19


Today, Manitoba Liberals put out a press release calling for the provincial government to better support local organizations in Manitoba in the effort to address the Covid-19 pandemic.  Our press release is below. 

More Half-Measures: PCs Ignoring Local Mental Health Providers in COVID-19 Crisis
WINNIPEG - The Pallister Government is making a mistake by offering $4.5-million to an Ontario based HR company to provide mental health services to Manitobans instead of funding qualified mental health providers in Manitoba. 
Today at a press conference, Premier Brian Pallister announced the Manitoba Government will spend $4.5-million to Morneau Shepell, an Ontario-based HR company, for a hotline that won’t be ready for weeks.  
“That $4.5-million would be better spent to fund community mental health supports - like Aulneau Centre, KLINIC, MATC, St. Boniface Street Links, and other Manitoba service providers. They could be providing mental health services by phone in days, not weeks,” said Lamont. 
Lamont said the mental health announcement is just the latest in a series of half-measures announced by a PC government that has to date done nothing to reassure workers and businesses that the Manitoba Government will act to spare them from economic devastation.  
Every other province has announced significant measures to help workers and businesses alike. The Pallister Government has done nothing. 
Lamont said the Manitoba Government needs to step up and address the issues that are making Manitobans anxious and depressed: lost income, lost jobs and lost business.  
“Let’s be clear: one of the reasons that people are feeling stressed and anxious is that they are facing losing their jobs and their businesses. The government needs to step up and say ‘we are going to make sure you get through this.’ Pallister is the only Premier in Canada who hasn’t done that,” said Lamont.
Manitoba Liberals have called for the PCs to release an economic update; called for a suspension of evictions; called for a return to 90-day prescriptions to keep Manitobans out of pharmacy line-ups; called for the Province to support small business and Early Childhood Education workers. 
To date, the PCs have suspended evictions, but little else. 

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