Provincial and Territorial Update – March 28, 2025
Provincial and Territorial Update: An overview of the Provincial Legislative and Territories Legislative Updates for the week of March 28, 2025. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- The New Brunswick government has begun the “data analysis phase” of its investigation into undiagnosed neurological symptoms affecting hundreds of people in seven provinces and whether environmental substances, such as heavy metals and pesticides, are a factor. Dr. Yves Léger, the chief medical officer of health, made the announcement during a briefing in Fredericton on Thursday.
- Biggest container ship ever to visit Saint John a sign of growing opportunities, port says. Port CEO says much planning goes into hosting a ship the length of 3 football fields. Last year, a $205 million modernization project was completed at Port Saint John’s west side terminals. The project included a 345-metre berth, the addition of new refrigerated towers, and the dredging of the main channel to make it deeper and wider.
- The idea sounded simple: adopt local government reform to bring villages, towns and local service districts in New Brunswick together under the watch of new councils. But a little more than two years after amalgamation happened across the province, some of those mandated unions have struggled with division, anger and a steep learning curve. This has been especially true in Lakeland Ridges, Fundy Albert and most recently, Strait Shores, a cluster of communities that includes the former village of Port Elgin in southeastern New Brunswick.
- Premier Susan Holt said she didn’t expect to have much to say this week at the start of her now-weekly live updates about the latest in the trade war with the United States. But as Canadians have learned by now, things are hardly ever quiet on that front. Trump said late Wednesday that he would impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian vehicle imports.
Nova Scotia
- A Nova Scotia judge who has faced scrutiny over his comments and actions in a number of cases and has been harshly criticized by the province’s top court has been reprimanded, but he will not face a judicial council hearing that could have stripped him of his job. In a decision released Thursday, the majority of a three-person review committee said provincial court Judge Alain Bégin was suffering from an undiagnosed mental disorder at the time of his poor conduct, but he’s sought treatment and the illness is now in “remission.” The report does not identify Bégin’s disorder.
- Nova Scotia’s recent population boom has triggered a redrawing of the federal political map that comes into play for the first time in a snap election that kicked off this week. Numbers changed the most in the suburbs around Halifax, where one riding — Halifax West — grew by almost 25,000 people in a decade. Halifax West became too big according to the rules of the Constitution, and paring it back caused a domino effect across the province. All but one of Nova Scotia’s 11 ridings have different boundaries for this election than when Canadians last went to the polls in 2021.
- Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Sean Fraser is cancelling his plans to retire from politics and will announce today that he will seek re-election in his Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova. CBC News first reported the news Tuesday morning and Fraser later confirmed it in an interview. “It’s an opportunity to demonstrate to my kids that when there are important fights to have, good people need to stand up to bullies,” he said, in reference to the current U.S. administration.
- Nova Scotia’s 55 MLAs wrapped up an oftentimes contentious spring legislature session Wednesday evening. “I am really pleased with the session,” Premier Tim Houston said of a 22-day House sitting, lengthy by recent Nova Scotia standards. “When you think about the legislation that’s passed, leading the way on free trade across Canada, this is a very, very significant moment for our country, and I’m glad Nova Scotia could lead the way on that,” Houston said.
Prince Edward Island
- With the United States threatening to slap more tariffs on Canadian imports next week, the P.E.I. government continued to come under fire Friday about whether it plans to continue investing south of the border. The first week of the spring sitting of the provincial legislature came to an end with interim Liberal Leader Hal Perry questioning several cabinet ministers about the province’s investments in U.S. companies and products.
- Although former premier Dennis King suggested the province might be looking to get out of its multimillion-dollar sponsorship agreement with the National Hockey League, the P.E.I. Legislature heard Thursday that the provincial government spent even more money on promotion at a major league event in January. Hal Perry, who leads the Opposition Liberals, said the $2.5 million per year pricetag for the province’s NHL contract did not include the cost of P.E.I.’s relationship with the 4-Nations Face-Off.
- As the P.E.I. Legislature resumed for its spring sitting on Wednesday. the Leader of the Opposition questioned the Progressive Conservative government’s preparedness to deal with the threat of U.S. tariffs. Premier Rob Lantz said his government will safeguard the province’s export-driven economy as it works toward carrying out the pledges in Tuesday’s speech from the throne. While few specifics were provided, Lantz said there will be dollars dedicated to the tariff fight in the upcoming budget.
- The P.E.I. Greens are urging the government to audit Maritime Electric’s billing system after some Islanders reported their bills were getting out of control. In Question Period Thursday, Green MLA Matthew MacFarlane said he’s spoken to people who are paying hundreds more on their electric bills this winter compared to last year. He said the high power bills have led some people to feel “punished” for switching to heat pumps to provide electric heat in their homes — with many using government programs to do so. And he said some are going back to furnace oil because of how much it costs to heat with electricity.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- As Canada works to bolster its national defence in response to growing tensions with the United States, Liberal Party candidate for St. John’s East, Joanne Thompson says. Newfoundland and Labrador will have a role in servicing ships that protect the country’s northern regions. “Crisis is creating work and opportunity in this city,” Thompson said. “Who would ever have imagined that we would talk about our democracy being under threat or that we would talk about a need to have protection for our sovereignty for the north?”
- Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey says the Marine Atlantic fee should be axed, citing an election campaign promise by some federal politicians to eliminate the toll on P.E.I.’s Confederation Bridge. Furey says he spoke this week with Liberal Leader Mark Carney about interprovincial trade barriers. One of those barriers, Furey says, is the cost of travelling and transporting goods to Newfoundland by boat — specifically on board vessels owned by Marine Atlantic, the Crown corporation that operates a year-round ferry service between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
- Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Education ordered its schools to destroy thousands of books purchased two years ago because they contained “inaccurate information” about the territories, culture and history of the province’s Indigenous peoples. On Feb. 3, school administrators were told to shred some 8,600 textbooks purchased for $202,140 in January 2023, a decision made after the government’s Indigenous Education Advisory Committee reported the books “did not accurately reflect the cultural reality in Newfoundland and Labrador,” according to department spokesperson Lynn Robinson.
- Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services says everything it buys is under the microscope as it looks for alternatives to U.S. products, but adds it can’t come at the cost of affecting patients. Tony Williams, the senior director of supply chain for NLHS, says thousands of items are housed inside the health authority’s new 85,000-sq. ft warehouse in St. John’s — which he says serves as the backbone of the health system.
Quebec
- Quebec Premier François Legault held a news conference Thursday outlining his government’s priorities for the federal election. Unsurprisingly, protecting Quebec’s national identity and economic prosperity topped the list. “On identity, my greatest concern, and I’ve often said it, is immigration,” Legault said. He specified, however, that immigrants as such aren’t the problem but rather their sheer number. Legault said the explosion of immigrants in recent years has outstripped the province’s ability to welcome them and is putting increasing pressure on social services and schools.
- The Legault government has blocked the planned residential electricity rate increase of 3 per cent. The Cabinet adopted a decree to this effect on Wednesday, while the Régie de l’énergie had decided on a 3.6 per cent increase. However, Premier François Legault had indicated that he opposed the Régie’s proposal. In a press briefing Wednesday afternoon following the cabinet meeting, Energy Minister Christine Fréchette indicated that the commercial and industrial sectors would see an additional increase to offset the 0.6 per cent cut from the residential rate increase.
- The $270 million invested by Quebec in Northvolt’s parent company in Sweden is now worthless, confirmed the provincial government. “We estimate that the value of this amount is lost,” said Christine Fréchette, Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Energy, on Wednesday. The amount was part of a $2.9 billion investment by Quebec and Ottawa. The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec had also invested $200 million in the Swedish company.
- Liberal leader Mark Carney said on Friday that his government would intervene in any Canadian Supreme Court challenge to Quebec’s language law, commonly known as Bill 96. “The Liberal party is the party of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and we will always defend the Charter,” he said at a campaign stop at the Port of Montreal on Friday. “I’ve made clear that we will support the intervention at the Supreme Court and fully respect the language rights.” Bill 96, which was adopted in 2022, introduced sweeping reforms to Quebec’s language law, touching everything from health and education to business signage and services for newcomers.
Ontario
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford says U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has told him that impending auto tariffs may not apply to some finished vehicles entering the United States from Canada. On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he’d signed an executive order to slap a 25 per cent import tariff on vehicles not made in the U.S. after April 2. He vowed to follow that with a 25 per cent tariff on some auto parts made outside the U.S. in May, potentially leading to an eventual tariff on all auto parts.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s campaign manager says that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will lose the federal election unless he quickly pivots and responds to Canadians’ fear and anxiety over U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic war against Canada. Kory Teneycke, who oversaw Mr. Ford’s three back-to-back majority government wins, bluntly told an Empire Club of Canada discussion about the election Wednesday evening that alarm bells should be ringing loudly in the Poilievre campaign.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford argued that the Trump administration’s looming tariffs will carry harsh impacts for American businesses and consumers while lauding Canada’s plan for retaliation against the additional taxes. Ford told reporters that the Great White North can push back with “$65 billion of tariffs that we have on the table that we can launch towards the U.S. — we have to run through every tariff and minimize the pain for Canadians, maximize the pain for Americans.”
- Premier Doug Ford is vowing to “fight like we never fought before” as he gets set to meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney and other premiers to discuss the country’s response to the latest tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump. Ford made the comment during a groundbreaking ceremony for a new hospital in Brampton on Friday morning. The event was held immediately prior to a virtual meeting that Carney is convening with Canada’s premiers to discuss the country’s response to a 25 per cent tariff that the United States plans to put on imported vehicles next week.
Manitoba
- Premier Wab Kinew says Manitoba is considering ways to roll out the welcome mat to U.S. academics who find themselves unable to conduct research due to funding cuts and a political climate hostile to science south of the border. “I think this is something that’s definitely on our radar,” Kinew said Friday in his office during a scrum with reporters. “There’s bright people in the States who are being put out of work or who cannot do the randomized controlled trials that they need to publish serious papers because of the changes that are happening under the Trump administration.
- The province is leaving many inmates “on their own” and without adequate support when returning back to the community, Manitoba’s auditor general says. A new report from the Office of the Auditor General of Manitoba has found the provincial government is not doing enough to help prepare inmates in its institutions for release. The report includes 10 recommendations, including changes to the Correctional Services Division’s case-management policy, interventions and programming, and increased communication and connection-making with community support organizations.
- A Manitoba recruitment campaign is eyeing nurses in the United States, with bolstered incentives and outreach strategies to encourage them to relocate to the province. But the head of the Manitoba Nurses Union says the province needs to first change the workplace culture in the health-care system if it wants the recruitment strategy to work. Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the government is responding to a tide of interest from U.S. healthcare workers wanting to practice elsewhere by ensuring there’s a path for them to enter Manitoba’s healthcare system.
- The Manitoba government is giving a grant of $1.5 million to the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters to develop a program to support industries impacted by the Trump tariffs. Premier Wab Kinew says he has also ordered the provincial civil service to ensure from now on that Canadian-made steel is used “anytime we build something, anytime we buy something, anytime we acquire a piece of equipment.” He made the announcements Thursday at the Gerdau steel mill in Selkirk, just north of Winnipeg, backed by a large Canadian flag and dozens of steel workers in hardhats.
Saskatchewan
- The Saskatchewan NDP has slammed Premier Scott Moe for commending Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s advocacy in the United States on tariffs. Sally Housser, the NDP’s critic on energy, called for Moe to apologize and withdraw his support for Smith. The NDP critic was referring to a March 8 interview that Smith had with right-wing U.S. media outlet Breitbart News. During that interview Smith said the threat of tariffs had boosted Liberal support in the federal election campaign. The Alberta premier said she told Trump administration officials she hoped “we could put things on pause” so Canada could get through its election.
- Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s promise to eliminate the industrial carbon tax and move away from the province’s own climate plans opens the door to a potential federal election issue. Late Wednesday, Moe announced the Saskatchewan government would eliminate its provincial industrial carbon tax, known as the Output-Based Performance Standards (OBPS) program, on April 1. Implementing the change alongside the federal government’s plan to cut the consumer carbon tax the same day, Moe said Saskatchewan would be a carbon-tax-free province.
- The province is rebooting its Saskatchewan immigrant nominee program with stricter criteria, ending a five-week pause in applications that started after Ottawa slashed the number of available spots for foreign workers in the province. The nominee program is meant to address labour shortages by having immigrants fill vacant positions. The rebooted program moves nominees in three sectors to the front of the line and reworks rules to deal with the federal government’s new, lower nominee allocations for provinces, according to a news release from the Ministry of Immigration and Career Training.
- The Saskatchewan government is removing a provincial sales tax (PST) exemption on vapour products sold in the province. Starting on June 1, six per cent PST will now be applied to all vapour products on top of the existing vapour products tax. “Today’s amendment exemplifies our government’s commitment to fair tax administration,” said Finance Minister Jim Reiter in a news release Tuesday.
Alberta
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she “had a great time” at the controversial PragerU East Coast Gala. The premier posted to social media late Thursday night, saying she had a “meaningful” fireside chat with Ben Shapiro about the Canada-U.S. trade “dispute” and the benefits of removing tariffs. “I will always stand up for the best interests of Albertans and I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to share our message with hundreds of Americans tonight and thousands more via social media in the weeks to come,” the post read.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, dressed in red and white and quoting Winston Churchill, stood in the legislature Wednesday to denounce those who accuse her of “treason” by cosying up to U.S. influencers and officials who wish to do Canada harm. It comes as Smith prepares to fly to Florida to join a Thursday fundraising event with an American podcaster who has mocked Canada as a “silly country” and spoken about it being annexed as the 51st state. “It’s apparently treason to talk to American media personalities that we disagree with. It’s disloyal to try and persuade high-profile Republicans holding influence with the president to abandon his tariff policies on Canada,” the premier said.
- The Alberta government has implemented temporary measures to allow military reservists to deploy as part of June’s G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis Country. Canada will host leaders from the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and Italy, as well as the European Union at the meeting scheduled from June 15 to 17. Alberta Jobs Minister Matt Jones says the government is providing a job-protected leave so reserve members can keep their civilian jobs while taking part in G7.
- Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek is in a stand-off with the Alberta government over her city’s only drug-use site, accusing the province of dragging its heels to come up with a solution for its future. In a letter to Premier Danielle Smith, Gondek said the province has not made good on its promises and that its delay is causing “concern and distress.” “The lack of follow-through on promised actions by the provincial government remains a significant concern,” Gondek wrote. The Sheldon Chumir Supervised Consumption Site’s future has been debated since former premier Jason Kenney’s government announced in 2022 that it would shutter the site.
British Columbia
- Premier David Eby has walked back a key portion of the NDP’s tariff response bill following a backlash over concerns that the proposed legislation would give the government the power to bypass the legislature. “I didn’t get the balance right in terms of the ability to move quickly and necessary safeguards,” Eby said during a news conference in Vancouver on Friday. “The level of anxiety and concerns I was hearing from key stakeholders … it was pretty clear we needed to have another look at this.” Eby says the government will remove Part 4 of the Economic Stabilization Tariff Response Act, the section that would give the cabinet the power to bypass the legislature and implement regulations in response to the “actions of a foreign jurisdiction” or any measure that supports the economy.
- B.C. Premier David Eby said Friday (March 28) he is glad Prime Minister Mark Carney had a “positive call” with U.S. President Donald Trump but warned against high expectations. “I’m also skeptical about the long-term maintenance of that positive relationship,” Eby said. He made that comment in Vancouver to reporters late Friday morning following a phone call with Carney and premiers around the country. That call followed Carney’s call with Trump, who announced yesterday the United States would impose a 25 per cent tariff on automobiles and automobile parts entering the United States.
- The B.C. Interior community of Merritt received $60 million on Tuesday from the B.C. government to upgrade its dike system on the Coldwater River after the entire community was evacuated in 2021 due to historic flooding. The forest, mining, ranching and tourism community has earlier received funding from the province to repair damaged dikes and other infrastructure, but this new money will upgrade the diking system to modern standards to better protect the community from increased and more severe flooding expected from climate change.
- BC Conservative Leader John Rustad on Friday said in a post on X that it was a victory for democracy as Premier David Eby signaled a retreat from “the most egregious overreaches” in the NDP’s Bill 7. However, he said he remains vigilant, and his party continues to oppose Bill 7, “emphasizing that the fight for British Columbians’ rights is far from over.” Rustad said: “David Eby’s attempt to grant himself sweeping, unchecked powers was an affront to our democratic principles. While his concession today is a victory for the rights and freedoms of British Columbians, we still cannot allow Bill 7 to become law, as it contains overreaches on new forms of taxation and unchecked collection of personal information.”
Northwest Territories
- Police in the Northwest Territories have charged multiple people with drug-related crimes after drug busts in Inuvik and Fort Resolution earlier this week. Three arrests were made in Fort Resolution after an incident on Tuesday. In a Friday news release, RCMP said they got a call that several shots were fired in a Fort Resolution residence on Tuesday. Following that call, police arrested three people — an Ontario man, an Alberta man, and a Northwest Territories woman.
Yukon
- The Yukon government has announced a set of priorities for this year’s Yukon Nominee Program, marking a departure from its past first-come, first-served approach for applicants. The program, which is intended to help fill local labour market gaps by bringing in skilled immigrants, has remained closed since the federal government cut the Yukon’s annual allocation to 215 nominees — half of what it received in 2024.
Nunavut
- While many celebrated the federal government’s renewal of the Inuit Child First Initiative, some still worry that a vital program for kids in Nunavut is at risk of shutting down. Earlier this month, the federal government allocated a further $121 million to fund the initiative for one more year. That initiative currently covers the hamlet food voucher program in Nunavut, which provides $500 per child for groceries and another $250 for children under four for formula and diapers.