Pallister targets public enemy No. 19 Premier announces ad campaign, snitch line and ramped-up enforcement to break up large gatherings, slow COVID rampage By: Carol Sanders Posted: 1:42 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020 Last Modified: 8:25 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/11/2020 (1470 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province is taking a triple-barrelled approach to fighting the spread of COVID-19: dramatic warning ads, a snitch line and scaling up enforcement. 

"We need to get beyond warnings now," Premier Brian Pallister said Thursday, as Manitoba recorded 427 new cases of the novel coronavirus.

Pallister did say the idea of a curfew had been rejected because the Winnipeg region only entered code red on Monday and more time must pass before restrictions are stepped up.

The province is rolling out a digital advertising campaign on several social-media platforms aimed at a young audience showing the worst-case consequences of not following public health guidelines.

"They’re targeted to achieve maximum positive effect," Pallister told a press conference.

The province is also setting up a monitored tip line specifically for reporting violations such as large gatherings; enforcement officers will be dispatched quickly to catch violators, he said.

"More details are getting ironed out," the premier said.

The province will also provide funding and training for enforcement officers who respond to the tips, he said. It is rolling out $2.5 million to help with one-day virtual training sessions for enforcement officers and funding for things such as identification vests and ticket books.

Additional financial resources are being provided to assist municipalities where needed and to create training models for enforcement officials, Pallister said.

The province is also granting enforcement powers to an additional 275 workers. Provincial staff, including officers who monitor vehicle safety, fire-safety inspectors and water resources officers, will soon be able to enforce COVID-19 public health orders, along with municipally contracted bylaw officers. They’ll be added to an enforcement complement of 3,200 others across the province that includes the Winnipeg Police Service and RCMP.

Commissionaires might crash some crowded house parties; the province has said it will reimburse municipalities for the equivalent value of any tickets written by municipal bylaw enforcement staff, and some communities — the RM of Morris, for example — have commissionaires doing that.

"Commissionaires are trained and really effective," said Reeve Ralph Groening, who is also the president of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities. When the province announced new regulations two weeks ago authorizing municipal bylaw officers to enforce provincial emergency and public health orders, the association asked the province for guidance, training and resources, he said.

"We were heard," Groening said, adding the $2.5 million promised to help municipalities with enforcement is "not a lot but it addresses many of our concerns."

"Municipalities want to play a part," the reeve said. "We’re all in this together."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

— With files from Katie May

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

After 20 years of reporting on the growing diversity of people calling Manitoba home, Carol moved to the legislature bureau in early 2020.

   Read full biography