Yes, Winnipeg did adopt our first-ever multi-year balanced budget this year, when we balanced four operating years. Up to that point, we had only balanced our budgets on an annual basis. Of course, municipalities are required by legislation to balance their budgets; we cannot run deficits, so we followed what several other Canadian cities have done in balancing multiple years.
To your point, Mr. Morantz, I believe that this has really positioned the city to weather the financial storm of the pandemic much better. Had we not done the difficult work of balancing several operating years, not only would the city of Winnipeg be facing the crisis in our cash right now in the impact of the pandemic, but we'd also be staring down a $120-million deficit for 2021 that we would have to balance.
I think the timing has been somewhere between fortuitous and prescient to have this multi-year balanced budget, and it puts us in a much better position to effectively manage the crisis we're facing.