Heather Stefanson says she and the prime minister held their first call since she became Manitoba's premier last week, and she says she stressed the need for an increase in the Canada Health Transfer to address critical backlogs in the health system.

She says she also told Justin Trudeau that reconciliation is a top priority for the Manitoba government, noting that issues such as housing and clean drinking water have been made worse because of the pandemic.

"Indigenous, northern and remote communities have been hard hit by COVID-19," Stefanson says in a release. "Existing issues such as housing and clean drinking water have been made worse because of the pandemic. I stressed Manitoba’s willingness to partner with the federal government and local Indigenous governments to address these critical issues."

Stefanson says she talked about how Manitoba businesses are struggling to find skilled workers, and how she looks forward to her government partnering with Ottawa to increase the capacity of the provincial nominee program.

Trudeau's office says the two spoke about the importance of working together to ensure a strong economic recovery from the pandemic and making progress on shared priorities, including health care, reconciliation, immigration, and infrastructure.