Provincial and Territorial Update – April 11, 2025
Provincial and Territorial Update: An overview of the Provincial Legislative and Territories Legislative Updates for the week of April 11, 2025. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- Residents of New Brunswick’s tiny Campobello Island feeling held hostage by the tariff war between Canada and the U.S. can finally return to their cross-border shopping ways. The federal Department of Finance has announced a special exemption on U.S. consumer and household products Campobello Island residents bring in from neighbouring Maine, “in recognition of the island’s unique situation.”
- The 2024 New Brunswick Progressive Conservative election campaign leaned heavily — and spent heavily — on campaign consultants with socially conservative and populist connections, particularly in Western Canada, newly public documents reveal. Financial returns for the PC Party show six-figure spending on services provided by Steve Outhouse, the party’s campaign manager, and his company Intercede Communications.
- Despite a bit of a reprieve from ever-changing tariffs, New Brunswick is remaining vigilant, said Premier Susan Holt in her weekly update on tariffs. “And so our retaliatory tariff program is still in place and our support program is still in place,” said Holt in the livestream event Thursday afternoon. She said Opportunities New Brunswick has had “more than 100 conversations” with entrepreneurs in the province looking for financial support.
- Federal regulators say N.B. Power violated rules designed to ensure that overnight shift workers at the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant get enough sleep to reduce the risk of safety mistakes. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said, in a notice of violation, that some workers did not get the required 72-hour “recovery period” after working three consecutive night shifts at the nuclear plant.
Nova Scotia
- The Progressive Conservatives got plenty of bang for their buck on the way to a resounding win in the last provincial election, according to documents released this week by Elections Nova Scotia. The Tories spent almost $1.4 million on their winning campaign. The party’s largest expenses were almost $850,000 for publicity and advertising, almost $213,000 on polling research and about $116,500 on travel.
- Nova Scotia’s health authority issued a tender on Thursday for master planning services as part of the continued redevelopment of the QEII Health Sciences Centre, work that could include the development of a new hospital building. The tender calls for project management and architectural services for further redevelopment of buildings on the campus that includes the Halifax Infirmary and the series of buildings around the Victoria General Hospital.
- In a dispute between Nova Scotia Power and an emerging renewable energy company, the provincial energy regulator has sided with the little guy. The Nova Scotia Energy Board says it will not order Renewall Energy to provide a letter of credit — a document from a financial institution guaranteeing payment — which Nova Scotia Power requested.
- Long-awaited traffic safety improvements that might allow cameras rather than police to catch speeding drivers could be coming to Nova Scotia next year. Public Works Minister Fred Tilley wrote to municipalities on March 25, asking for their input on road safety issues. Although the Traffic Safety Act was passed in 2018 with the intent to replace the outdated Motor Vehicle Act, government officials have said it’s been complicated to actually bring into law.
Prince Edward Island
- A judge has ordered Summerside development company Strategic Holdings Inc. to pay $20,000 in fines after the company entered two guilty pleas on environment charges. Company president and sole shareholder Nathan Kember and his lawyer appeared in court Friday morning and entered the two guilty pleas. The Crown then withdrew two other environmental charges against the company, as well as the seven environmental charges that had been laid against Kember himself.
- Opposition MLAs say they are concerned about Prince Edward Island’s newest budget, which includes the largest deficit in the province’s history. Rob Lantz’s Progressive Conservative government tabled the 2025-26 operating budget on Thursday, projecting a $183.9-million deficit. The Atlantic Veterinary College has apologized to its former artist-in-residence, who quit after being asked to take down a painting he says was censored by the Charlottetown institution due to its political message.
- In a statement issued Friday morning, the college acknowledged that asking Christopher Griffin to either remove his painting, The Crossing, or leave his residency was a mistake. “The decision did not reflect our institutional values, and we regret the hurt and frustration it caused. Art plays an essential role in education and public life — it challenges us, encourages dialogue, and fosters understanding,” the statement said. The previous record deficit was in 2020-2021, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the province recorded a $172.7 million deficit.
- It will be years before a provincial government moratorium on Prince Edward Island coastal development is lifted, according to an update provided Wednesday in the legislature. The temporary prohibition was announced in December 2022 after concerns were raised about stone armouring put in place around a vacation home being built in Point Desroche on the Island’s North Shore. The province is now in the process of developing shoreline protection plans for 17 areas covering every part of the Island’s coast.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- New financial statements show Newfoundland and Labrador’s Liberal Party ended 2024 with about 17 times more money in the bank than the Progressive Conservatives, with a looming provincial election slated to be called between now and Oct. 14. Party annual returns posted online Tuesday by Elections Newfoundland and Labrador show that the Progressive Conservative Party had just $30,000 cash on Dec. 31. The Liberal Party had more than $500,000.
- Newfoundland and Labrador’s education system is getting a $44-million boost under its 2025-26 provincial budget. With that money, Education Minister Krista Lynn Howell said the province plans to hire 400 educators and learning assistants in the K-12 system. “We can’t knit teachers, but we have an investment that will see us build on our recruitment and retention efforts,” Howell said.
- Newfoundland and Labrador released its financial forecast for the coming fiscal year, but while the price of oil has been volatile, two ministers are confident in its future. The province is projecting a $372-million deficit this coming year to address affordability issues and tariff concerns, and rising health-care costs. In Wednesday’s budget, the Department of Finance announced that it expects Brent crude oil prices to average $73.90 US per barrel in 2025. The province also projects that offshore royalties will account for 15 per cent of the province’s projected revenue for 2025-26.
- The province’s price-setting panel has sided with the Fish, Food and Allied Workers’ snow crab pricing offer of a $4.97 per pound floor price this season. FFAW president Dwan Street told CBC Radio’s The Broadcast that the union is seeing the decision as a victory. “The negotiating team that was put together, I think, is probably the best team we’ve ever had,” she said.
Quebec
- Quebec doesn’t have the capacity to take in more immigrants, Premier François Legault said Thursday amid a surge in the number of asylum seekers arriving at the province’s border with the United States. Legault told reporters in Sherrington, Que., that the sheer numbers are stretching Quebec’s social security net to the limit. During an agricultural announcement, the premier was asked about anger in the Haitian community over comments made earlier this week by Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge.
- The Quebec government is once again trying to get people to purchase locally, this time with an ad campaign that includes some wordplay that references U.S. President Donald Trump. The ad campaign, which officially launched Thursday, encourages people to support Quebec industries, businesses and workers in light of the ongoing trade war with the United States. That also means choosing Quebec products at the grocery store, consuming Quebec culture and travelling within the province instead of going south of the border.
- After declaring its intention to shed light on the SAAQclic affair, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government on Tuesday prevented Committee on the National Assembly (CAN) from looking into the matter. All CAQ MNAs voted against a Liberal motion proposing to give the CAN a mandate to investigate the SAAQ by summoning several of its executives and former executives.
- The Legault government has come under fire from opposition parties demanding a start date for renovations at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital. The issue monopolized a large portion of the question period in the Red Room at the National Assembly on Tuesday. “They tabled their seventh budget last March, and they are incapable of having a minimum of control over public finances and incapable of providing essential services to the population. (…) This is the image of the premier’s failure in health care. Everyone is asking: will he start work this spring?” said interim Quebec Liberal Party leader Marc Tanguay.
Ontario
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford met in his office today with the Republican governor of Utah, who says he will be telling all of his fellow governors to visit Canada on similar trade missions. Gov. Spencer Cox says during this time of trade-driven conflict, subnational relationships are more important than ever. He says his trade mission to Quebec and Ontario was scheduled last year but has taken on extra significance in the past few weeks.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he was “shocked” that Canada wasn’t included in U.S. President Donald Trump’s 90-day tariff pause. “We were shocked that we weren’t part of the group, per se. And you know, (we’re the United States’) number one customer — we’re both each other’s number one customer — and we need to get through this and bring certainty back to the people of the United States and Canada,” Ford said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday. On Wednesday, Trump pumped the brakes on his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs announced last week, but kept a 10 per cent baseline tax in place for all countries.
- Premier Doug Ford is extending “strong mayor” powers to another 169 smaller Ontario municipalities. In the largest expansion yet of increased mayoral authority, Ford’s government announced Wednesday that scores of additional cities and towns would qualify as of May 1. “Heads of council are key partners in our efforts to build homes and infrastructure across the province,” said Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack, who took over the department in last month’s cabinet shuffle.
- Ontario is open to a compromise with the City of Toronto on plans to remove three bicycle lanes, the transportation minister’s office said. Premier Doug Ford’s government passed legislation last year to take out bike lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue. The issue became contentious in the city and sparked protests, with Mayor Olivia Chow also speaking out against the proposed changes. However, Chow and the city have proposed a solution to the province that would allow for a car lane to be returned to those roads while also keeping a bike lane.
Manitoba
- Manitoba is putting $13 million into the development of a $102-million grain tech facility in Winnipeg’s Exchange District that will connect Canadian cereals producers with new international partners. “This is really about showcasing our ag industry at a time when Canada absolutely needs to diversify our trading partners,” Premier Wab Kinew said at a news conference Thursday inside the Cereals Canada offices at 303 Main St.
- Manitoba’s government says it’s striving to improve primary health care in a small rural community — without relying on a doctor. The hospital in Melita, a southwestern Manitoba town with around 1,000 people, has been given approval to hire three more health-care workers as part of an effort to build up primary care in the absence of a full-time doctor, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Thursday. Health officials are looking for another nurse practitioner who will support the two already on staff, along with one licensed practical nurse and one mental health and addictions support worker at the Melita Health Centre, a government news release said.
- The Manitoba government says a program introducing advanced care paramedics at seven locations will improve medical care for emergencies throughout rural and northern Manitoba. Fourteen “clinical service leaders” trained in advanced care paramedicine have been strategically placed in Portage la Prairie, Flin Flon, Dauphin, Ashern, Neepawa, Swan River and Lac du Bonnet as part of the program, the government said in a release Wednesday. Advanced care paramedics’ scope of practice is broader than other paramedics. They can perform advanced life support, respiratory and cardiac care procedures, and can give a wider range of medications.
- Manitoba’s MLAs may soon be showing off their pipes — and their Canadian pride — on every legislative sitting day. Elected members appear poised to ask the legislature’s rules committee to study an Opposition Progressive Conservative proposal to have O Canada sung every day that the legislature sits. In advance of the resolution being debated Thursday morning, interim PC Leader Wayne Ewasko told question period the “daily onslaught of U.S. and Chinese tariffs” has shown “it is important that we all recognize the important things that make us Canadian and part of the Commonwealth.”
Saskatchewan
- Racquel Hilbert, the Saskatchewan Party MLA who called federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh a terrorist in the provincial legislature last month, has been removed from additional MLA duties, the party says. Premier Scott Moe said in the legislature Thursday that comments made by the Humboldt-Watrous member were inaccurate and highly inappropriate. In a news release Friday, the governing Saskatchewan Party said that Hilbert has been removed from additional responsibilities.
- Warren Boyer’s legal odyssey may be nearly over. He hopes so. “Nobody’s getting any younger so hopefully this is it, but who knows,” Boyer, 58, said just days before his new trial begins in Meadow Lake provincial court. Boyer has been in and out of court since he was charged for fishing without a license in 2014. Boyer and Oliver Poitras were tried together and convicted in 2018 for illegal hunting. Four years later, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal overturned that ruling and ordered a new trial. The provincial government unsuccessfully appealed that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.
- With the constantly shifting threat of tariffs — some of which are already in effect — Saskatchewan’s political parties are attempting to draw focus to local businesses. On Thursday, Saskatchewan’s Opposition NDP introduced a private member’s bill that, if passed, would proclaim the first Saturday of each month as “Buy Local Day” in Saskatchewan. “Designating one day a month, one day as Buy Local Day, is not a big ask. We hope that this bill will keep this momentum going, reminding us all of how much of a difference it makes when you shop local, support local businesses in your own community,” said Aleana Young, NDP critic for jobs and the economy.
- In a rare instance of political solidarity, the Saskatchewan government and provincial Opposition agreed on something Tuesday — that the federal election campaign has not had enough focus on the country’s bread basket and its trade relationships. Premier Scott Moe and Opposition Leader Carla Beck spoke with reporters separately at the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Food, Fuel, Fertilizer Global Summit in Regina. In a news release about the summit, Moe called the province “vital” to food and energy security around the world.
Alberta
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says if the Liberals win the federal election, Mark Carney will need to repair some of the damage in his party’s relationship with her province. But she didn’t outright say that a Liberal win will cause a national unity crisis. Smith says the last 10 years have “soured Albertans on the idea of a Liberal government,” and the next prime minister will have to navigate that.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is heading east for a three-day trip in hopes of boosting provincial trade with Quebec and international partners. Smith will start by travelling to Montreal, where she’ll meet with business leaders from Quebec’s private sector. Her meetings will be focus on a variety of industries, including energy, manufacturing, aviation and transportation. The premier says Alberta and Quebec have natural synergies across many sectors, which will help set the stage for more collaboration.
- MHCare Medical Corp. is being unfairly attacked and subjected to a flood of misinformation and falsehoods because it is linked to allegations that government officials in Alberta influenced health care deals to benefit private outfits, the company says in a letter to the province. The Edmonton-based medical supply firm, which signed a $70-million deal with Alberta Health Services in 2022 to import children’s medicine from Turkey, says it was compelled to “set the record straight” after The Globe and Mail first reported allegations, now contained in a lawsuit from AHS’s former chief executive, of irregular procurement and contracting practices at the health authority.
- Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver introduced a new bill Tuesday that would automatically repeal all municipal codes of conduct as soon as it is proclaimed into law. Bill 50, the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, proposes changes to three existing laws: the Local Authorities Election Act, the Municipal Government Act, and the New Home Buyer Protection Act. Amendments to the Municipal Government Act in early 2015 compelled municipal councils across Alberta to pass codes of conduct by 2018.
British Columbia
- The B.C. government has updated its direction to ministries, health authorities and core Crown corporations to critically review all contracts with United States companies to decrease the Province’s dependence on goods and services from U.S. suppliers. “As people are choosing to buy B.C. and buy Canadian, British Columbians expect their government to join them in choosing to avoid U.S. purchases wherever possible,” said Premier David Eby.
- On his first visit to British Columbia during the election campaign, Liberal Leader Mark Carney promised to protect more of Canada’s lands and waters and met with NDP Premier David Eby. “A new Liberal government will pursue a bold new nature strategy with smart approaches to preserve our natural habitat and to use our finite natural resources to maximum impact,” Carney said during a stop at the Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse in Saanichton on Vancouver Island. The farm is in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding, where Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May is fighting to hold onto the seat she has held since 2011.
- Liberal Leader Mark Carney was in Victoria Monday, meeting with Premier David Eby to talk about strategies to protect B.C.’s softwood lumber industry. Eby and Carney spent 20 minutes talking at the legislature during Carney’s visit to the province on week three of the federal campaign. “We’ve got a lot to talk about today,” Eby told Carney as he welcomed him near the front steps of the legislature. “We got some bad news on tariffs for our softwood lumber industry.”
- Supporters of $10-a-day daycare in B.C. are calling out the NDP government, accusing it of abandoning its promises. Advocates for the program said the recent provincial budget contained no increase in spending for the program. They say there was also no mention of funding for B.C. Premier David Eby’s promise is to provide more child care in schools. They also said that only 10 per cent of families have $10-a-day child care, and 74 per cent of B.C.’s children have no licensed daycare.
Northwest Territories
- People in Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., had the opportunity this week to share their feelings about the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway project — both good and bad. On Wednesday, the Mackenzie Valley Review Board held a community session in Fort Good Hope to discuss the project. The territorial government has long been proposing to build an all-season highway from Wrigley to Tulita and Norman Wells. The highway has been talked about for decades. The most optimistic scenario would see 281 kilometres of permanent highway completed by 2037.
Yukon
- The Yukon’s Department of Education says it’s still considering a proposal to hire full-time substitute teachers at F.H. Collins Secondary School in Whitehorse. It says a “miscommunication” led to the school council believing the proposal had been denied. A letter from the school council to the territory’s education minister on April 2 said that F.H. Collins administration had asked for five full-time supply teachers as a pilot project next school year. The school council says the pilot is an “absolute necessity” because vacancies are causing frequent disruption at the school.
Nunavut
- The jury in a Kimmirut, Nunavut coroner’s inquest has recommended that the Government of Nunavut declare a suicide crisis in the territory. The recommendation comes after a week of witness testimony at the coroner’s inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of Kimmirut resident George Arlooktoo, who stabbed himself during a confrontation with RCMP officers on Feb. 9, 2019.