Manitoba wants the Canadian Government to cover 90 per cent of the costs under federal disaster assistance, but no assurances have been given.

The five-mile (8 kilometre) long, 300 ft. (90 meters) wide, 25 ft. (7.5 meters) deep channel is expected to involve excavation of as much as 88 million cubic ft. (2.5 million cubic metres) of earth, 50 pieces of heavy equipment, and 150 staff. Barges, helicopters, and helicopter landing pads to get equipment and staff into areas inaccessible by road are required.

The engineering report commissioned by the province makes little mention of potential environmental impacts, such as: the transfer between water-bodies, introduction of foreign species, and sedimentation.

Manitoba Wildlands was unable to find any public information about permitting and licensing for the channel.

University of Manitoba engineering professor Jay Doering has questioned the viability of such a channel.

"It's very naive of us to believe that we can control the level of Lake Manitoba to the extent that we want to. My concern is the government is simply looking for a quick fix to a politically contentious issue," said Doering.