Canadian Premier Fights Back Tears As He Urges Residents To Cancel Holiday Plans (VIDEO)
Ensuring people's safety during the pandemic is the most important thing, and Manitoba's premier is taking it to heart.
During a December 3 press conference, Brian Pallister made an emotional plea to people to cancel their holiday plans and avoid getting together.
"If you don't think that COVID is real right now, you're an idiot," he said, "You need to understand that we're all in this together."
Pallister continued urging people to remain safe during the holiday season and seemed to get choked up while he was talking about it.
"I'm the guy who's stealing Christmas to keep you safe," the premier said, adding that he didn't care if people liked him as long as they respected what he said.
This may have been a reference to recently-released poll numbers that showed Pallister has the lowest approval rating out of all of Canada's premiers.
Manitoba is currently at a critical response level, meaning that the community spread of COVID-19 is not contained and that there is a significant strain on the health care system.
Residents in the province recently racked up over $126,000 in COVID-related fines in just one week.