Have you noticed that "Friendly Manitoba" isn't so friendly lately? Have you accidentally gone the wrong direction in the grocery store or gotten in someone's way in the past 5 months? If you haven't, you have probably witnessed someone who has! You've gotten to experience the wrath of another shopper's impatience.

As the Province carefully re-opens the economy, we are going to see more people visiting our province and you might be their first impression of Manitoba! We have always been a welcoming Province and now, more than ever, we need to continue to welcome visitors. Visitors not only help the tourism industry, they help the economy of Manitoba. They stay at hotels, eat at restaurants, visit attractions and pay taxes on most of the things they purchase. All of this is revenue coming into Manitoba.

The past 5 months have been difficult for our entire country. Everyone has been impacted in one way or the other. As Manitobans, we have always been kind and welcoming. We don't want to ever lose that characteristic. Things will get better, hopefully sooner than later.

MTEC has scheduled 2 "Civility in Manitoba, Welcoming Safely amid COVID-19" sessions and are hopeful that things will return to normal; or at least the way we used to treat each other.