The Premier of the province says he believes his government has governed as best as is possible during this difficult and challenging pandemic. Yet, Brian Pallister says the fact a provincial election is not looming, is a good thing.

"I've got to admit I'm happy there is no provincial election imminent in July," says Pallister. "I don't think that it's unfair to say that it's a very challenging time for all governments and I wouldn't be anywhere else."

Pallister says he is honoured and proud to have the responsibilities that have been given to him.

"I accept them," he says. "I accept all the failures and I give all the credit to Manitobans and that's the way I will always be."

Pallister says Manitoba will come through this pandemic united and very strong as a result of the decisions that have been made.

"And I believe very strongly that we're doing the right things most of the time, never all of the time," he says. "All of us have our foibles and make our mistakes."

Pallister says with enough vaccinations, we can start to restore the freedoms we once took for granted, including the ability to gather in churches.

"My respect for the churches is well known," he says. "The fact of the matter is though that we have no homogeneous views among churches. Church groups vary as their individual parishioners and congregation members vary in their views."

Pallister notes some churches are strongly supportive of the restrictions because they know that they save lives. Yet, other churches are saying they need to be able to get together physically in order to worship.

"So we've tried to accommodate that to varying degrees with reduced numbers of course, and various mask rules and so on at various times," he explains.

However, the Premier says the fact of the matter is that we need to continue to respect public health orders that are here, which are designed to save lives.

As for those who continue to say COVID-19 is a conspiracy and that these restrictions are just one way for government to control the public, Pallister says he himself is a freedom lover, but COVID-19 is very real and has killed more than one thousand Manitobans. Not only is it deadly, but Pallister says with COVID-19 patients overwhelming the health system, this pandemic is also keeping Manitobans from being able to have much needed surgeries.

"I just encourage people to be safe and be careful, I respect your right to decide what you do with your body, I totally do," he says. "But I just encourage folks to consider the real consequences on others of not following health orders for example, and the real benefits to themselves and others of getting freedoms back. And the way to do that is of course to encourage people to get vaccinated."