Provincial and Territorial Update – June 15, 2025
Provincial and Territorial Update: An overview of the Provincial Legislative and Territories Legislative Updates for the week of June 15, 2025. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- New Brunswick’s largest hydroelectric dam is one step closer to a multibillion-dollar refurbishment to extend its lifespan. The province has given N.B. Power the green light to proceed with a major fix of the Mactaquac Dam following a two-year environmental impact assessment. But there’s still no definitive decision to go ahead, as policymakers grapple with the enormous financial impact of the project on ratepayers.
- The provincial government ended up reaching a $1.8-million settlement with now-Health Minister Dr. John Dornan over his firing as the head of Horizon Health Network following the death of a Fredericton ER patient. That’s 90 per cent of the original record-breaking $2-million payout Dornan was awarded by a labour adjudicator in his unjust dismissal case in 2023, which the province initially appealed.
- An environmental protection group in New Brunswick is hoping piqued interest in critical mineral projects will lead to higher, not lower, standards for developments such as the proposed Sisson mine, north of Fredericton. “Maybe this is a test case,” said Peter Toner of the Nashwaak Watershed Association. After years of delays because of low mineral prices and lack of financing, the Sisson project to mine tungsten and molybdenum recently got an injection of cash and the attention of government officials again.
- When the province declared gender-based violence an epidemic this month, Sarah Sherman felt both emotional and overjoyed. Sherman said she was in a relationship where she experienced many forms of gender-based violence. Now, she’s the founder of We’re Here for You Canada, a not-for-profit that supports survivors of sexual violence. Tammy Scott-Wallace, the Progressive Conservative MLA for Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins proposed the motion to recognize gender-based violence as an epidemic.
Nova Scotia
- The head of Canada’s cyber-defence agency is offering some insight just weeks after a ransomware attack against Nova Scotia Power. The utility’s computer systems were breached by ransomware hackers on March 19, but Nova Scotia Power did not discover it until April 25. The company disclosed the cybersecurity incident three days after. About 280,000 customers — more than half of the utility’s customers in the province — were informed by letter that their personal information may have been compromised in the attack.
- Nova Scotia Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow has no clear explanation for why the province’s farming sector is an economic outlier in the country, having not turned a profit since 2016. “It could be weather, it could be access to markets … any number of things could play a role,” he told reporters Thursday following a cabinet meeting. Figures recently released by Statistics Canada show Nova Scotia’s farming industry was in the red in 2024 — it lost more than $41 million. It was the eighth consecutive year of losses, and Nova Scotia is the only province that has had farm losses so consistently over the past decade.
- Nova Scotia’s highest court says it will not weigh in on who has legislative authority over the Chignecto Isthmus, calling the province’s question “too problematic to answer.” Nearly two years ago, the Nova Scotia government asked the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal a question about the narrow and low-lying strip of land that connects Nova Scotia to New Brunswick. It asked: “Is the infrastructure which protects the interprovincial transportation, trade and communication links across the Chignecto Isthmus within the exclusive Legislative Authority of the Parliament of Canada?”
- Nova Scotia Environment Minister Tim Halman says he’s acting on years of requests from the mining industry to change the regulatory requirements for some major projects. The changes are the latest move in the Houston government’s plan to ramp up resource development. “We are embracing the fact that strong environmental protection, economic opportunity, and regulatory clarity are not competing priorities. They must work together, and in Nova Scotia they will,” Halman said at a news conference Friday.
Prince Edward Island
- P.E.I.’s auditor general says the province’s net debt, the highest in the province’s history, is unsustainable. Darren Noonan told MLAs the net debt is closing in on $3 billion, or nearly $15,000 for every single person in the province. He said if the current trend continues, the net debt could hit $5 billion in the next five years. Noonan says the province may need to make some tough decisions soon.
- The ferry service between Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia will have two ships in rotation for the busy tourist season starting Sunday, June 15. This is the first season the MV Northumberland — previously the MV Fanafjord — will be on the water. The federal government purchased the vehicle and passenger ferry from its Norwegian owner for $43 million in 2023 as a replacement for the Holiday Island, which had to be scrapped after a fire in the summer of 2022.
- The College of Family Physicians of Canada is raising concerns over new targets for family doctors on P.E.I. and calling on all parties to work together to find a solution. Last week, the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island announced plans for legal action against Health P.E.I., citing what it says is a breach of its agreement with the province. The society said the new targets for how many patients each doctor needs to accept are not what it agreed to when it signed a new physician services agreement with the province last year.
- Prince Edward Island is launching a new program that makes money available to buy fields where potato wart has been confirmed in the past. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has designated 37 sites across the Island as index fields — or areas where the soilborne fungus that causes the disfiguring disease has been identified even once. “This announcement is something that has been supported by growers on P.E.I.,” said Greg Donald, the general manager of P.E.I. Potato Board.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- The federal government has turned down a $5-million plan from the City of St. John’s to turn commercial property to residential units, according to a member of city council. While the money would not have been limited to downtown properties, St. John’s city councillor Ron Ellsworth said the proposal was part of a push to get more people living in the city’s downtown area.
- The governing Liberals are trying to put a positive spin on the surprise resignation of cabinet minister John Abbott, saying potential successors are already showing an interest in St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi. “John is a great colleague and he will be missed,” said John Haggie, Minister of Justice and Public Safety, and Attorney General. “But I take comfort from the fact that we have a very dynamic nominations process and there are people already keen to seek to run on our party platform.”
- A voting advocate is warning of the effects election fatigue could have ahead of the possibility of Newfoundland and Labrador municipal and provincial elections falling within just days of each other. General municipal elections in the province are held every four years on the last Tuesday in September, which would have been Sept. 30. But the provincial government announced it would change the date this year and move elections to Oct. 2 so they wouldn’t interfere with the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
- With the head of Hydro-Quebec leaving to become the next head of Canada’s public service, his counterpart in Newfoundland and Labrador says she isn’t worried about the future of the Churchill Falls deal they hammered out together. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney named Hydro-Quebec CEO Michael Sabia — a former deputy finance minister and businessman — as the next clerk of the Privy Council. Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro CEO Jennifer Williams said his departure won’t affect plans to develop more hydroelectric capacity on the Churchill River — including the Gull Island project, which was first announced in December.
Quebec
- Donald Trump has done at least one good thing for Quebec: he has brought it closer to France. This is what Premier of Quebec François Legault suggested after his meeting Friday morning with his French counterpart François Bayrou in Paris, as part of an official visit to France. Bayrou received Legault at his official residence, the Hôtel de Matignon. In a press scrum after his 40-minute interview, Legault said that the customs duties imposed by the White House are forcing Quebec companies to focus on the French market, whereas proximity previously favoured the American market.
- Quebec Premier François Legault’s approval rating has made a double-digit drop, according to a survey by the Angus Reid Institute. As of June 2025, only one-quarter of Quebecers approve of Legault’s performance. His approval rating dropped 13 percentage points over the last three months, down from 38 per cent in March.
- The Quebec Liberals have chosen longtime federal politician Pablo Rodriguez to lead the provincial party on Saturday and to carry it into the October 2026 provincial election. The ex-federal Liberal cabinet minister won the party’s leadership contest Saturday after two rounds of voting, beating out Charles Milliard, former head of the Federation of Quebec Chambers of Commerce, with just over 52 per cent of votes cast. The three other candidates vying for the top job — Karl Blackburn, former president of a Quebec employers group; Marc Bélanger, an international trade lawyer; and Mario Roy, an economist and farmer — were eliminated after a first round after no one received 50 per cent.
- Despite a court ruling striking down its tuition hikes for out-of-province Canadian students, the Quebec government will not appeal the decision. Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry said the court found fault with the rationale for the increases — not the increases themselves — and says the government intends to stay the course. In a social media post on Tuesday, Déry said the court had not overturned the government’s move to increase tuition by 33 per cent for out-of-province Canadian students.
Ontario
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government broke its legal, record-keeping obligations amid its now-reversed decision to open up parts of the protected Greenbelt lands for housing, the province’s information and privacy commissioner has found. Political staff were using code words to thwart document requests and left a surprisingly small paper trail for such a consequential policy, Commissioner Patricia Kosseim wrote as part of her annual report. A number of freedom-of-information appeals her office received on Greenbelt-related requests revealed concerning systemic issues, she wrote.
- A protester made it onto the stage at a Ford Fest event in Etobicoke organized by the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party on Friday. Ontario Premier Doug Ford was speaking in Centennial Park when the protester confronted him and was quickly ushered off the stage. The annual event this year was billed as a celebration of the party’s third straight majority provincial government win. In February, Ford led the party to victory in a snap winter election fought amid the spectre of U.S. tariffs.
- The next Ontario election is likely still years away, but a new poll suggests that Premier Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservative party remain well ahead of their rivals. Abacus Data surveyed 1,000 adult Ontarians between June 2 and June 5 and found that if an election were held today, about 49 per cent of committed voters would support Ford’s PC party. The Liberals were in second with the support of 28 per cent of committed voters while the NDP were at 14 per cent and the Greens were at five per cent. About four per cent of committed voters said that they would support another party.
- The Ford government is facing accusations it has abandoned its promise to “protect Ontario” from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs after a major yarn maker shuttered its retail storefront and manufacturing facility in a southwestern Ontario community. Spinrite — which makes yarn and sewing thread — recently announced the closure of its Listowel, Ont., facility, shedding more than 140 jobs in the community of fewer than 10,000 people. The decision was so impactful on the small town of North Perth that the local municipality issued a statement calling it “shocking” and promising to help the families of workers at the plant.
Manitoba
- The City of Thompson says moving wildfire evacuees from its congregate shelter to hotel lodgings should be “a top priority,” but that finding accommodations is hard this time of the year. Premier Wab Kinew said Thursday following a visit to the shelter set up for evacuees at the city’s regional community centre that hotel operators should step up and voluntarily open rooms for those who fled the fires, dangling the possibility of using emergency powers to get them to do so after seeing some with “parking lots that are empty.”
- Winnipeg police Chief Gene Bowers says he advocated for a landfill search when of the police service was deliberating whether to conduct excavations to locate the remains of two First Nations women murdered by a serial killer. Bowers, who was sworn in as police chief in March, said Friday that when he served as deputy chief in charge of investigations for the Winnipeg Police Service, he spoke in favour of searching the Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg for the remains of Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris.
- The Manitoba government is expected to use more “revenue levers” similar to its recent income and property tax changes as part of its plan to reduce the deficit, a credit-rating agency report says. S&P Global Ratings has affirmed the Manitoba government’s existing short-term and long-term credit ratings and says the outlook for the province is stable, based in part on expected revenue changes and spending control.
- Businesses in Manitoba affected by wildfires will be allowed to request the waiver of penalties resulting from not being able to pay their taxes. Starting this week, businesses will be able to apply for relief on provincially administered tax payments if they’ve been affected by the fires, the Manitoba government said in a news release Thursday. The province said eligible businesses can request the penalty and interest waiver once they’re reasonably able to file and pay levies like the retail sales tax and the health and post-secondary education tax.
Saskatchewan
- Wildfires continue to rage in northern Saskatchewan as the province faces its worst fire season in more than a decade. Increasingly warmer-than-average spring temperatures, prolonged periods without rain and strong gusting winds have only exacerbated the situation. One thing is clear: no matter how many firefighters are sent to control the growing fires, it’s up to Mother Nature to put out the flames. Dry leaves, twigs and pine needles on forest floors act as a base for wildfires to ignite, and northern Saskatchewan has experienced a lack of moisture this year.
- As thousands of wildfire evacuees from parts of northern Saskatchewan start to return home, others are still scattered across multiple provinces, struggling to access aid and waiting for answers. Marlo Pritchard, president and fire commissioner of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA), said during an update Friday that 10,300 evacuees have been cleared to return to their communities. Pritchard said Narrow Hills Provincial Park is now allowing evacuees to go home. A voluntary evacuation advisory for Candle Lake, Sask., was also lifted Friday morning.
- In March, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announced his government’s response to U.S. tariffs. Three months later, those measures are ending. The removal of the countermeasures was not announced to the public. It was only confirmed once media asked the provincial government. Premier Scott Moe announced in March that the province was prioritizing Canadian suppliers for goods and services procured by the Government of Saskatchewan and temporarily halting capital projects with the goal of minimizing or eliminating American materials.
- The number of people in Saskatchewan waiting longer than two years for surgery has been “nearly eliminated,” according to Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill, but the waitlist for surgeries has increased. The province has been focusing on long-waiting patients, Cockrill said, with the number of people waiting over one year for surgery also down by over 24 per cent. The government released numbers for surgical wait times between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, on Wednesday. They showed that 92 per cent of people received surgery in under eight months during that period.
Alberta
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government’s new policy forcing many Albertans to pay out of pocket for a COVID-19 vaccination is about focusing on those who need it the most. It could set a precedent across the country after the federal government put provinces in charge of buying COVID shots earlier this year. Speaking Saturday on her call-in radio show, the morning after her government announced the move, Smith said $135 million got “flushed down the drain” last year with doses wasted in part because Albertans are increasingly choosing to not take them.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met with a number of U.S. dignitaries Saturday in advance of the arrival of global leaders attending the G7 summit in Kananaskis Country. Smith posted on social media Saturday that she met with Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, as well as U.S. Consul General Emily Fleckner. She was accompanied to the meetings by James Rajotte, her senior advisor on Canada/US issues. “The United States remains Alberta’s largest trading partner,” she wrote, “and we’re committed to strengthening that relationship free of tariffs and full of opportunity.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and three of her ministers got an earful on Wednesday night from southern Alberta locals at a rowdy, hours-long town hall to discuss the province’s coal policy. About 500 people, many dressed in cowboy hats, belt buckles, and jeans, packed a community hall in Fort Macleod, Alta., for an event marked by heckling, competing applause and placards. “If we are not prepared to look and find middle-ground solutions to allow for industries to proceed while reducing our environmental footprint, you’re going to find that different industries become the next on the hit list,” Smith said through a chorus of protesting voices and verbal jabs.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has an answer for British Columbia’s premier and other critics who have asserted there’s “no proponent” and no concrete proposal currently on the table to build an oil pipeline to tidewater in Canada: “There will be soon.” “We’re working very hard on being able to get industry players, private-sector players, to realize this time might be different and to be able to come forward,” she told delegates attending the Global Energy Show Canada in Calgary on Wednesday. “If I’m successful in doing that, then we’ll get it on the project list and we’ll work through the two-year approval process and we’ll see if we can get somewhere.”
British Columbia
- British Columbia Premier David Eby says it’s not him standing in the way of Alberta counterpart Danielle Smith’s longed-for oil pipeline from Alberta to B.C.’s north coast — it’s that there’s no proponent, no money and “no project right now.” It’s Eby’s latest rebuff to the idea, coming after Smith said on Sunday she could convince him to allow such a pipeline. Eby says that if Smith succeeds in finding a proponent and funding, and assembles a project, then B.C. “will certainly cross that bridge.”
- A new poll suggests that the public opinion of Premier David Eby has declined this month. The Angus Reid Institute says Eby’s approval rating has dropped seven points since March, to 46 per cent. The figures are based on an online survey conducted from June 2 to 8. Researchers say Eby saw a boost in popularity earlier this year during pushback against former U.S. president Donald Trump’s tariff threats, so the seven-point drop marks more of a return to the approval rate he has maintained over the past few years.
- The ongoing dysfunction in the City of Kamloops has gotten so bad that the B.C. government is considering major changes to the oversight of feuding city councils across the province. “I’ve come to the conclusion that this type of behaviour just cannot continue to go on … it is our goal to have something in place before the next election,” said Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Ravi Kahlon, responding to the latest back-and-forth accusations between Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and the rest of city council.
- B.C.’s NDP government is defending itself in the wake of new reports detailing the dramatic increase in public sector employees and the cost of payroll. The province is in the midst of a staffing shortage across key public sectors – currently short more than 1,000 teachers and six times as many nurses. But while critical positions go unfilled, the size of the public sector continues to grow, with British Columbia leading the country in the growth of taxpayer-funded jobs. “It’s gone from $5 billion worth of people (earning) over $75,000 to now $11.5 billion, so it’s more than doubled,” BC Conservative finance critic Peter Milobar said.
Northwest Territories
- Northwest Territories politicians are lobbying federal officials to extend Jordan’s Principle funding through 2026. Earlier this year, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), announced it would be narrowing the range of eligible requests under the program that was created to ensure First Nations children don’t face gaps or service denials because of their identities. The announcement has created uncertainty in N.W.T. schools, where many education assistant positions (EAs) are funded with money from Jordan’s Principle. In Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (YK1) alone, schools are bracing to lose 79 EAs.
Yukon
- The company responsible for the Eagle Gold mine in central Yukon has begun recovering gold from the site to help pay for remediation. PricewaterhouseCoopers says it’s collecting gold from cyanide water stored in ponds at the mine site. The process will destroy some of the cyanide in the ponds, and no additional cyanide will be introduced. No new mining activity is happening, the receiver said. “It is too early to say the value of the gold being recovered,” says a Yukon government news release.
Nunavut
- In a victory speech after the April 28 federal election, Prime Minister Mark Carney promised, “We are going to build, baby, build.” The government’s plan includes doubling the rate of construction so that 500,000 housing units per year get completed, and ramping up support for “nation-building” projects. “It puts a big smile on the faces of people like me,” Nunavut Housing Corp. president Eiryn Devereaux told about 300 delegates Tuesday at the Nunavut Housing Forum, held at the Aqsarniit hotel in Iqaluit. Moderating a panel discussion with a group of Nunavut’s leading private developers, Devereaux asked them about their hopes in the context of the federal government’s attitude toward infrastructure and its “strong focus on the Arctic.”