Provincial and Territorial Update – April 19, 2026
An overview on Provincial and Territorial updates for the week of April 19, 2026. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- The provincial government has expanded a financial incentive program for paramedic and EMT students who stay and work in New Brunswick. Paramedics must sign a two-year agreement to stay while EMTs must sign a one-year agreement. Graduates of six training programs are approved for the bursary. The program was first announced last year and had been set to expire this March. The province has committed $6.5 million in funding so far.
- New Brunswick provincial officials tried five years ago to adopt 911 technology that would have given them access to personal information from emergency calls, a senior RCMP officer alleged at the time. The Department of Public Safety wanted the calls routed and recorded via a new call-handling technology that would store the information “at a third-party data centre,” according to a complaint filed by Larry Tremblay, then the assistant superintendent of the force’s J Division.
- Premier Susan Holt is emphasizing the positives in a recent credit rating agency report that downgraded New Brunswick’s financial outlook. Holt told a committee of the legislature Tuesday that it was “encouraging” that Moody’s Ratings had not changed the province’s long-term debt rating of Aa1. “There was some celebration last Friday when Moody’s announced that they were going to keep our credit rating at Aa1 and that we would retain our position as highest in the East and tied with Saskatchewan for highest in the country,” she said.
- Electricity rates across New Brunswick jumped 4.29 per cent early Tuesday following an order issued by the provincial Energy and Utilities Board. The order directly affects all customers of N.B. Power, but the province’s three municipal utilities, including the largest, Saint John Energy, are adopting the same increase for themselves. The three receive most of the electricity they resell to customers from N.B. Power.
Nova Scotia
- The risk of inadvertently starting a wildfire when burning grass to deal with ticks, improve soil quality, or remove weeds and dead foliage outweighs any perceived benefits, warns Nova Scotia’s manager of forest protection. Scott Tingley of the Department of Natural Resources said firefighters have responded to dozens of reports about grass fires this spring. In a recent interview with CBC Radio’s Information Morning, Tingley said the province doesn’t recommend burning grass — even when burning is permitted.
- Nova Scotia Power’s largest industrial customer wants to be shielded from a massive debt the utility will be paying back for nearly three decades, but it’s not getting any help from the province’s highest court. Port Hawesbury Paper is not yet helping to pay down a $500-million federally-backed loan, but it has now been twice denied the assurance it wants that it will be exempt from ever contributing.
- Officials in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality say dirty needles and sharps are littering the landscape, and that’s why CBRM is planning to ask the Nova Scotia government to make manufacturers and distributors responsible for the cleanup. Roschell Clarke, solid waste education co-ordinator, told council that improperly discarded implements are not only a danger to the public but also an occupational safety hazard for municipal garbage and recycling workers.
- Even as he and his colleagues work “at full speed,” the head of obstetrics and gynecology for the province’s central zone and IWK Health Centre says there are not enough resources to meet demand. “We need to actually have increased resources or we need a way to work through all of those incredibly long waitlists that we all have around the province,” Dr. James Bentley told reporters Tuesday. Bentley was among a group of health-care officials who appeared before the legislature’s health committee on Tuesday to discuss care for women and gender-diverse people.
Prince Edward Island
- An AI-equipped weapons scanner is now permanently installed at the entrance to the emergency department at Charlottetown’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital after a short pilot project confirmed potentially dangerous weapons are entering the ER. Mike MacDonald, director of nursing at the QEH, said staff intercepted more than 30 weapons at the hospital’s emergency department during a two-week trial last year.
- Prince Edward Island cabinet minister Sidney MacEwen will be on the water fishing lobster this spring after Fisheries and Oceans Canada denied his request to name a substitute operator for his fleet. That denial puts pressure on MacEwen and the Progressive Conservative government to ensure he’s in compliance with P.E.I.’s Conflict of Interest Act, because, as of now, he’s not. “I’m still going to comply with the act, so right now we have 10 days to comply with the act and we’ll see where we go from there,” MacEwen told CBC News.
- Getting a passport will be much easier for Islanders starting this fall after Employment and Social Development Canada installs a specialized printer in Charlottetown. The travel document can currently be processed at the Service Canada centre in Charlottetown, but printing had to be done at the agency’s office in Halifax. The passports would then be sent to the Island by courier service. Charlottetown MP Sean Casey said he’s been pushing to get a full-service passport office in this province since he was first elected in 2011.
- Prince Edward Island is projecting another record deficit for the 2026-27 fiscal year, and according to the latest operating budget tabled Tuesday by Finance Minister Jill Burridge, the government faces difficult decisions — including a move that will see Islanders’ electricity bills rise. The budget projects revenues of $3.4 billion and planned spending of $3.8 billion, resulting in an estimated deficit of about $410 million.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- While former N.L. Health Services CEO Dr. Pat Parfrey didn’t explain why he left his post, he did tell Rotary Club members how he’d like to leave this world. Near the end of what he assured was an apolitical address on Thursday — mostly revolving around the Health Accord — Parfrey posed a question to his audience in St. John’s, which was largely composed of seniors. “How are you going to approach the end of your life?” he asked. Parfrey then told them exactly how he plans to approach his. He said he wants to die peacefully in the presence of his family instead of burdening them with unnecessary medical treatments.
- The union representing Newfoundland and Labrador fish harvesters has finally struck an agreement on snow crab prices with the province’s seafood processors, which union president Dwan Street says puts pressure on both sides. On Thursday, the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union (FFAW) and Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) agreed to a snow crab pricing schedule after a two-week-long dispute. The new agreement confirmed that the Standing Fish Price Setting Panel’s minimum price decision of $5.30 per pound was final, but there is now a system to adjust in-season snow crab prices based on market conditions.
- Health Minister Lela Evans had some strong words Tuesday about past billings by a company that provided travel nurses to the province. “The word we used today, this morning — several, several times, it was repeated by staff and myself — is egregious,” Evans said. “It really was, when we see what’s being uncovered and coming out.” The health minister spoke with reporters at Confederation Building in St. John’s, just hours after a CBC Investigates report raised questions about electric vehicle rentals billed to taxpayers by a nursing agency.
- Like other health-care providers in the province, Dr. Cynthia Slade has been watching the days go by until the province’s new electronic health information system rolls out later this month. Since Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services backtracked on parts of the agreement associated with the province’s transition to the new centralized system, CorCare, Slade is more optimistic. “We feel that it has addressed, you know, substantially many of the concerns that we’ve brought forward,” said Slade, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA).
Quebec
- Christine Fréchette has officially become premier of Quebec, vowing to use all available means to protect the Quebec nation. And taking a page from the work of former Premier François Legault, Fréchette she said she will back down from nothing to protect the French language and Quebec’s culture and values. “I want to tell you I will never forget where I came from,” Fréchette told a crowd of 200 people on hand for her swearing-in as Quebec’s 33rd premier.
- Quebec’s new premier said she was “relieved” following her first meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Ottawa, after earlier promising to fight “tooth and nail” to protect governments’ right to pass laws that override the Charter. Christine Fréchette said the Charter’s overriding clause must not be touched. Quebec has used the clause in recent years to shield several pieces of legislation from court challenges, including its secularism law that bans certain public servants from wearing religious symbols at work.
- Quebec’s new premier is reviving a long-standing nationalist grievance: that a gap in the Charter of the French Language allows tens of thousands of immigrants and other non-anglophones to study in English, undermining efforts to make French the common language of public life. Premier Christine Fréchette pledged to extend the charter to adult and vocational education during the Coalition Avenir Québec leadership campaign and repeated it in her victory speech Sunday. But she has not detailed her plan or indicated when she will implement the change, leaving many questions unanswered.
- Hoping to chip away at the Coalition Avenir Québec’s voter base, Parti Québécois and Quebec Conservative leaders offered overtures Thursday to nationalists disappointed by Bernard Drainville’s defeat in the CAQ leadership race. Drainville, who drew support from the CAQ’s nationalist flank, lost the leadership contest Sunday to Christine Fréchette, who some have described as less focussed on nationalist priorities like secularism and the French language.
Ontario
- Ontario is looking to sell the $28.9 million private jet that was recently purchased for Premier Doug Ford’s use “as quickly as possible.” It comes just days after the purchase of the Bombardier Challenger 650 was publicized and confirmed by the province. The decision was promptly met with backlash from opposition parties and advocacy groups. Ford said in a statement Sunday that he agrees with the concerns that were raised.
- In an unrelated press conference on Thursday, Ford reacted to an affordability plan that would allow city-run grocery stores in Toronto. Ford began answering a reporter’s question about his reaction to the plan by saying that he’s not against Mayor Olivia Chow herself. “I love the mayor, okay? But this is the craziest idea I’ve ever heard,” he said at the conference. “These grocery stores, and these are experts, the Costcos, the Walmarts, the Loblaws, they make two to three per cent.”
- Former federal cabinet minister Navdeep Bains is leaving his position as chief corporate affairs officer of Rogers Communications Inc., according to an internal memo viewed by The Globe and Mail. Mr. Bains is departing the telecom and media company as he is gaining support from Liberal politicians to potentially run for leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. Earlier in the week, several federal and provincial Liberals told The Globe that they are encouraging Mr. Bains to seek the leadership and that he is seriously considering it.
- A heated argument at Queen’s Park focused on Windsor workers. On Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles clashed during Question Period over Titan Tool Die and the Diageo closure. Stiles, who visited Windsor last week, pressed Ford on why he didn’t do more to support Diageo workers and why he hasn’t intervened in the ongoing lockout at Titan. The Diageo Crown Royal bottling facility closed at the end of February, leaving over 200 people out of a job – some just weeks away from qualifying to retire, to get their pensions, and keep their benefits. Stiles met with the workers impacted and says they were angry with the Ford government.
Manitoba
- Two First Nations in Manitoba’s Interlake region have declared a state of emergency ahead of a potentially devastating flood. Peguis First Nation Chief Stan Bird announced the community will be taking the step in a video posted to social media Saturday afternoon, saying evacuations will be required with flooding set to begin within days. “Based on information this morning, the flood risk is now a certainty,” Bird said in the video, adding that the latest forecast predicts a flood similar to one that caused the evacuation of more than 1,000 people in 2022.
- Manitoba’s premier is doubling down on his claim the provincial head of teacher misconduct investigations was fired for working in Florida and did not resign. “Everything I told you last week was true,” Kinew said Friday when asked about the departure of Bobbi Taillefer from the commissioner’s role. Before commenting on her exit at an unrelated news conference Friday, Kinew held up an eagle feather, which he earlier said he had been given because “you can’t lie when you’re holding an eagle feather.”
- The minister in charge of Manitoba’s immigration system travelled to Ottawa this week with local business leaders to push for extensions to federal work permits and for immigration increases through the provincial nominee program. The answer was no. Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino says Mark Carney’s government turned down her pitch for the second time in two months after meetings with the prime minister’s deputy chief of staff and her federal counterpart.
- Some front-line organizations in Winnipeg are calling for the province to declare a public health emergency after a recent spike in drug-related deaths. Five people who were connected to Resource Assistance for Youth (RaY) — which offers support for young people aged 29 and under — died after using substances in the last two weeks, executive director Kate Sjoberg told CBC News on Wednesday. Four were adults, ages 19 to 33. Jamil Mahmood, executive director of Main Street Project, says 10 people who use their services died from drug overdoses in April, but some of those deaths might overlap with the five recorded by RaY.
Saskatchewan
- The province’s community safety minister says he supports the Saskatchewan Marshals Service after it declined to release all documents about a misconduct investigation into one of the police service’s former members. Michael Weger repeatedly told the media on Wednesday that he would not weigh in on the decision not to release the documents, saying he guides the “strategic direction” of Saskatchewan’s newest police service, not its day-to-day operations. Chief Marshal Rob Cameron and Deputy Chief Marshal Rich Lowen are in charge of the service, he said.
- Nearly 200 people gathered at the provincial legislature in Regina on Saturday to protest Bell Canada’s planned AI data centre and the lack of community consultation for the project. “If this is truly a wonderful opportunity for our area, then there’s nothing to lose by slowing things down,” said Regina Ward 8 Coun. Shanon Zachidniak. Zachidniak said she attended the rally because it was her opportunity to share her concerns about the planned 300MW facility on the outskirts of Regina, in the rural municipality of Sherwood.
- Saskatchewan Polytechnic has announced another round of layoffs, bringing the total number of staff cut since July 2025 to 154. The school announced that, as a result of its annual operational review, it has sent layoff notices to 30 staff this month, including 18 faculty, nine professional services employees and three out-of-scope employees. “This is a challenging time for Sask. Polytech and these decisions are not made lightly,” the school said in a statement posted online.
- Financial management is on the agenda at the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations’ spring legislative assembly this week, but members of the public were not allowed inside while it was being discussed. It’s the first assembly since the federal government ordered the organization to repay $28.7 million, after a forensic audit that flagged questionable expenses, much of it related to COVID-19 funds. “With what’s happening with FSIN, I’m pretty shocked that they’re keeping things quiet,” said Aaron Thomas, a board member with Band Members Alliance and Advocacy Association of Canada and a member of Pelican Lake Cree Nation.
Alberta
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is defending her government’s upcoming motion that, if passed, will establish a new commission to take another shot at redrawing provincial riding boundaries. Smith says the proposal to establish a new panel, that will reassess a previous bipartisan panel’s recommendations on new boundaries, is about securing effective representation for rural Alberta.
- The UCP government will meet with grocers in a bid to lower food prices as war in the Middle East threatens a new spiral of inflation, Premier Danielle Smith said Saturday. On a QR-77 radio show in which she speaks regularly, Smith said her Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, Dale Nally, is discussing the matter with the industry, adding certain essential food items might be a focus. “He’s meeting with grocery store owners to find out the kind of things that we can do to try to address the issue of food prices,” said Smith.
- Premier Danielle Smith’s government has ratcheted up its defence against allegations related to its relationship with Edmonton businessman Sam Mraiche, including by attacking a Globe and Mail journalist by name in the legislature. Ms. Smith and her government have been under fire for more than a year amid allegations of political interference tied to hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of contracts awarded to Mr. Mraiche’s companies; Mr. Mraiche has denied wrongdoing. The Premier and her ministers have maintained they did nothing wrong, dismissed a former health CEO who first raised the allegations as incompetent, and suggested critics are simply opposed to health care reform.
- The Alberta government is looking to fast-track some energy projects it says are critical to the province’s future. Bill 30, if passed, gives the provincial cabinet the ability to accelerate major energy projects by creating a 120-day approval window. Critics say it is an aggressive timeline that raises red flags. Projects must align with provincial priorities, be of strategic economic importance and have at least $250 million in capital investment. To qualify, the province says proponents must complete or have substantially completed an environmental impact assessment and Indigenous consultation.
British Columbia
- A coalition of First Nations leaders in British Columbia say the NDP government intends to table legislation this week to suspend key portions of the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). An open letter to B.C. lawmakers, published on Sunday by the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC), says Premier David Eby has signalled plans to “suspend critical provisions” of the act, “despite overwhelming opposition from First Nations.”
- Housing researcher Alina McKay knows there are “tensions” in British Columbia’s supportive housing buildings, as tenants face disruptive violence flowing from poverty and other issues that beleaguer a sector aimed at keeping vulnerable people off the streets. The B.C. government is moving to ease those tensions through changes to residential tenancy law to make supportive housing buildings safer for tenants, health-care workers, contractors and staff. But McKay is among a growing chorus of opposition to the legislation known as Bill 11, which she and others fear will drive up evictions, increase homelessness and push problems onto the streets.
- Business leaders in Fort St. John, B.C., say a lack of provincial buy-in for recent changes to the temporary foreign worker program could have a significant impact on the local economy. Last month, the federal government reannounced a planned expansion of the program, allowing rural businesses to increase their temporary workforce from 10 to 15 percent. It’s a change Premier David Eby has signalled the province will likely not support. But Tiffany Hetenyi, executive director for the Fort St. John and District Chamber of Commerce, says without these workers, there could be major disruptions.
- B.C. officials have announced a new “track and trace” pilot program using technology they say can reveal patterns about the geographic origins and patterns of the illicit drug supply. The technology could allow police to identify whether drugs appearing in different regions are coming from the same source. Officials say it could share, across jurisdictions, how waves of additives in the drug supply are moving nationwide. The program will use lab robotics, gather information from drugs seized by police and provide an “artificial intelligence-assisted dashboard for law enforcement to map and track dangerous drugs in B.C.,” according to a provincial news release.
Northwest Territories
- Leaders from more than half a dozen Indigenous groups have signed onto a letter of intent to collaborate on a major hydroelectricity project in the N.W.T. It’s a step toward potential Indigenous ownership of the project. The Taltson hydro facility provides power to the N.W.T.’s South Slave region. Though plagued by maintenance issues in recent years, it has long been considered for expansion. Last month, an overhaul and expansion of the facility, including an underwater cable to carry power to the north shore of Great Slave Lake, was identified by Prime Minister Mark Carney as part of an “ambitious” plan to invest in new infrastructure in the North.
Yukon
- Yukoners are finding out how much they will get back on their electricity bills later this year as part of an expanded rate relief program touted by the Yukon energy minister. Electricity customers will see the rebates automatically applied to their bills from October to March 2027, according to a Yukon government press release. That works out to about $106 in savings each month from October to December, and up to $112 per month from January to March 2027. The release says the rebate will cover 25 per cent of charges on the first 1,500 kilowatt hours used per month. That’s up from 1,000 kWh in 2025.
Nunavut
- Iqaluit city council is putting a call out for people to apply to fill a vacant council seat. It comes after former councillor Sam Tilley resigned in March, leaving behind an empty seat. Under the Nunavut Elections Act, byelections are reserved for mayoral positions. Councillors could have chosen to select the next-highest polling candidate from the last election, but instead voted on Tuesday to put a call out for any interested applicants.