Provincial and Territorial Update – April 28, 2025
Provincial and Territorial Update: An overview of the Provincial Legislative and Territories Legislative Updates for the week of April 28, 2025. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- Strait Shores council was not being fair under its own rules when it sanctioned a new councillor for conduct violations before the allegations against him were investigated, a watchdog group has found. That finding was handed down by the Local Governance Commission of New Brunswick, an independent third party that can investigate code of conduct or conflict of interest breaches at the municipal level.
- The City of Moncton has moved forward with having more density in all residential neighbourhoods by allowing four-unit housing. The council voted 9-1 on the zoning change Tuesday night, after a lengthy discussion. This change allows residents and developers to build four-unit homes across all residential zones in Moncton without going to city council for approval.
- New Brunswick has signed a memorandum of understanding with Newfoundland and Labrador to reduce interprovincial trade barriers and improve labour mobility. Premier Susan Holt announced the agreement with the province’s fourth-largest trading partner during a media briefing from St. John’s on Thursday. “We’re working to ensure that all products, services and credentials that are approved by Newfoundland and Labrador are automatically recognized by New Brunswick and vice versa,” she said.
- A New Brunswick government regulation, written to protect pulp and paper mills from high electricity prices, is forcing N.B. Power to increase the rate subsidies it offers mills this year by 35 per cent, despite a deterioration in the utility’s own financial condition. The mill subsidies, which have been mandated by the New Brunswick government every year since 2012, have been set by the Department of Energy for the current fiscal year at $28.04 per megawatt hour, an increase of $7.29 over last year.
Nova Scotia
- Nova Scotia’s 10 universities have signed new agreements with the province that outline funding, accountability requirements, and stipulations that schools must abide by in order to access some of the money. The two-year agreements do not allow universities to increase tuition for Nova Scotia residents in undergraduate programs, but come with a two per cent increase in operating funds. However, there are no restrictions on funding increases for students coming to Nova Scotia universities from other provinces, international students or graduate students, a spokesperson for the Advanced Education Department told CBC News.
- For the first time this campaign, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre made a stop in Nova Scotia on Thursday — the second province he’s visited, led by a Progressive Conservative premier conspicuously absent from the federal party’s events. Poilievre’s sole campaign trip to Nova Scotia ended without meeting Premier Tim Houston, who did not attend Poilievre’s Trenton, N.S., rally just minutes from Houston’s own provincial riding. While Houston had previously said he would stay out of the federal campaign, sources say there has been tension between the two leaders for months.
- Pierre Poilievre attacked Central Nova Liberal incumbent Sean Fraser’s record as both housing and immigration minister as the Conservative Party hosted a “Canada First” rally Wednesday night in Trenton, N.S. Speaking to a packed room at a community centre in Fraser’s riding, the Conservative leader blamed the longtime MP for immigration policies that saw Canada’s population swell and housing costs soar as demand outstripped construction.
- Nova Scotia’s opposition parties say they are skeptical of the provincial government’s shrinking list of residents waiting for a family doctor. The NDP and Liberals say they have heard from constituents who were offered primary care and removed from the waitlist, but who have been waiting months for an appointment at a clinic. Nova Scotia Health says the province’s list of people in need of a family doctor or nurse practitioner has dropped to 93,700 as of April 1, down from the 104,300 people on Feb. 15.
Prince Edward Island
- A proposed change to how non-residents would be allowed to buy property on Prince Edward Island is raising concerns about the consequences it could have on municipalities. P.E.I.’s Department of Housing, Land and Communities is proposing an amendment to the Lands Protection Act, a unique piece of legislation that includes limitations on non-resident and corporate land ownership in the province. The change would lead to people who are not Island residents needing cabinet approval to buy properties of one acre or less that are located within municipalities with an official plan.
- Issues were raised in the P.E.I. Legislature around staffing shortages and patient safety at a provincially operated long-term care home in Charlottetown. Some nurses from Beach Grove Home were looking on Friday as Opposition health critic Gord McNeilly brought up their concerns about vacant bilingual nursing positions. The Liberal MLA said staff told him up to 84 resident-care worker (RCW) shifts go unfilled every month at the home due to a lack of French-speaking workers.
- There were questions in the P.E.I. legislature Thursday about the need for people who don’t have housing to have 24-hour access to shelters across the Island. The topic was raised after a Liberal motion on the issue was defeated earlier in the week. Currently, Charlottetown has the Park Street Emergency Shelter, which is run by the province and operates seven days a week from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. People staying there must leave for the day, returning each night.
- The province is planning to bring the inspection of tourist accommodations on Prince Edward Island in-house, a change the Official Opposition warns could lead to political interference. The move came to light through an exchange during the question period at the P.E.I. Legislature Thursday, when interim Liberal Leader Hal Perry asked about independent oversight of the inspection process.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Some members of St. John’s city council are calling for police foot patrols in downtown St. John’s in response to safety concerns, but the deputy chief of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary says it may not be the best use of police resources. RNC Deputy Chief Colin McNeil says officers have to prioritize the most urgent service calls, and assigning officers to patrol downtown on foot could increase response times.
- While the federal parties have been campaigning on promises to build more homes in Canada, advocates say those most in need of those homes have been left out of the conversation. “I see a lot of … hopelessness around finding a stable housing space,” said Nivethine Mahendran, who works with Choices for Youth, an organization that works with homeless youth. Both the Liberal and Conservative parties have promised to build more homes and eliminate the GST for first-time home buyers.
- The gloves are off. After a month of cordial campaigning, John Abbott accused John Hogan, his sole opponent in the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal leadership race, of proposing “nothing new” in his bid to lead the party — and become premier. “I would use the word safe,” said Abbott when asked to describe his adversary’s policy commitments on Thursday. “There’s nothing new or expansive in the platform,” added the St. John’s East–Quidi Vidi MHA, who made the comments the day after the final debate of the leadership contest aired on CBC.
- Newfoundland and Labrador’s Liberal leadership hopefuls made their pitches to the people as to why they should lead the province into the future on Wednesday night. John Abbott and John Hogan kept a cordial affair over the 40-minute CBC News debate, rarely challenging each other in their policies or comments. A leader — and Newfoundland and Labrador’s next premier — will be decided on May 3.
Quebec
- On Saturday, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet was expected to spend six hours on the road, to go back and forth from Val-d’Or, the gateway to Quebec’s north, in a riding that has been safely Bloc Québécois blue since it dislodged the NDP in 2019, but now risks turning Liberal red. That is a lot of time travelling, and Blanchet has little of it left to shore up support in multiple ridings he could lose, but he defended the idea when speaking to journalists on Friday afternoon.
- The Quebec government has stepped in to defend the phrase “Go Habs Go!” as the provincial language watchdog takes heat for objecting to the English word “go.” In a statement Friday, Quebec’s French-language minister said the slogan is part of “our DNA, our identity,” and has been used for decades to support the Montreal Canadiens NHL hockey team. “It’s a unifying expression, rooted in our history, and part of our cultural and historical specificity,” Jean-Francois Roberge said on the X platform. “It’s a Quebecisme and we’re proud of it!”
- Buoyed by a partial court victory, Concordia University president Graham Carr says the time has come for Quebec’s anglophone universities and the Legault government to turn the page and begin working together. “The decision to seek legal action came after months and months of trying to have data-driven conversations with the government and frustration at the lack of genuine dialogue and collaboration,” Carr told The Gazette.
- Children in Quebec can have more than two parents, according to a Superior Court decision that now gives the provincial government 12 months to amend the Civil Code to legally recognize this type of family structure. In a ruling issued on Thursday, Judge Andres C. Garin examined complaints from two separate cases. The plaintiffs in those cases were La Coalition des familles LGBT+ — a group that seeks to have all families recognized regardless of how they’re formed — as well as three families who were unable to put the names of three parents on their children’s birth certificates.
Ontario
- The long-running drama playing out behind the scenes between Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s team and the federal Conservatives led by Pierre Poilievre has erupted in full view of the public in the dying stages of the 2025 election. The relationship between the two camps has long been fraught, but things have hit a fever pitch as Ontario PC sources recently alerted the media to efforts by the federal party to keep Poilievre’s Ottawa-area riding blue.
- U.S. President Donald Trump’s chaotic trade war will loom large over Doug Ford’s provincial budget, with experts saying billions in financial aid to impacted workers and businesses will throw a wrench in the premier’s plan to balance Ontario’s books next year. Next month, Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are expected to unveil their first budget since winning a third-straight majority government in February. The spending plan could be announced in the days after Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is scheduled to deliver a key speech to a business audience in Toronto on May 12.
- The Ford government has appointed a supervisor to take control of an Ontario school board after controversy around its spending and is launching fresh investigations into three other boards. Newly appointed Education Minister Paul Calandra announced a series of interventions at school boards on Wednesday afternoon, saying he would increase transparency after a series of “failures” by local trustees.
- The Ford government has unveiled three-quarters of a billion dollars for STEM programs at colleges and universities across Ontario in a bid to insulate the economy through more local skills training. On Tuesday, the government said it would spend an extra $750 million on post-secondary programs teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The funding could unlock 20,500 new seats. Minister of Colleges and Universities Nolan Quinn said the funds would help to protect the provincial economy and local workforce from the threat of economic turbulence caused by the U.S.-Canada trade war.
Manitoba
- Manitoba Progressive Conservatives have selected Fort Whyte MLA Obby Khan to serve as the party’s new leader in another close contest between an established member of the party caucus and a populist conservative outsider. In a vote conducted by mail-in ballot, Khan defeated Wally Daudrich, who owns a hotel and ecotourism business in Churchill, Man, winning 2,198.8 points under a weighted ballot system to Daudrich’s 2,163.2, party leadership selection committee chair Brad Zander announced Saturday at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Winnipeg.
- The province has asked Manitoba’s auditor general to review a $100-million daycare construction project initiated by the previous Progressive Conservative government in partnership with a company that paid millions of dollars to a separate company co-owned by the director of the PCs’ 2023 re-election campaign. In 2022, the province announced a $70-million “partnership” that included John Q Public Inc., a company owned by 12 rural municipalities, which are listed as shareholders.
- First Nations leaders in Manitoba called for the federal government to make changes to the Jordan’s Principle program, while urging Indigenous voters to head to the polls, at two separate rallies in Winnipeg and Thompson, Man., on Friday. Kelvin Lynxleg, executive director of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), said the Winnipeg and Thompson events were held in tandem “to show a united front throughout the province.”
- Manitoba health authorities are working to build trust with southern communities where immunization rates are low, in order to prevent a full-scale measles outbreak. “We are definitely seeing a change in decision making for a number of parents, but we also see a number of parents who are still continuing to decide not to have their children immunized. So it’s definitely a mixed response,” said Dr. Davinder Singh, a medical officer of health for the Southern Health region. “We’re constantly trying to build trust with those who, for whatever reason, have not had their children immunized … to try to provide information on the importance of it.”
Saskatchewan
- Some academics in Saskatchewan say they are turning their backs on travel south of the border as the U.S. political landscape continues to shift under the policies of President Donald Trump. Wendy Verity told CBC and Radio-Canada this month she’s had to carefully consider her options: pursue career opportunities or stand in solidarity with Canada. Verity, a doctoral student in the department of community health and epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan, was accepted to attend a sports medicine conference in the United States in May.
- The first recruits to the Saskatchewan Marshals Service (SMS) were sworn in to service and are set to start their new jobs May 5. Nine recruits took an oath at a ceremony in Prince Albert on Thursday. The new provincial police force wasn’t expected to launch until 2026, but the timeline moved up as recruitment and hiring for key positions progressed more quickly than planned. The SMS focused on recruiting law enforcement veterans for the initial cohort. Deputy Chief Marshal Richard Lowen said the first nine recruits have a combined 200 years of policing experience.
- While there may be cracks in Conservative Party support in Saskatoon, political experts aren’t convinced the Liberal Party will pick up enough votes to break through the blue stronghold. The Conservative Party is likely to win all three Saskatoon seats, said Daniel Westlake, University of Saskatchewan assistant professor of political studies. “For the Conservatives to lose Saskatoon South would be shocking,” Westlake said.
- The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency says they are expecting an “average” wildfire season in 2025 after one of the more destructive seasons in recent years. Saskatchewan is forecasted to have for a wetter and colder April before transitioning to more average conditions in May, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA). “Once we get our summer weather, it’ll really determine how much precipitation and holding capacity we actually have in the soils,” said Steve Roberts, the SPSA’s vice-president of operations, during a news conference on Wednesday.
Alberta
- Premier Danielle Smith says she’s confident Dow Inc. will move ahead with its $9-billion petrochemical project in Alberta, even though the company said it will delay construction on the massive development. And as she wrapped up a trip to Asia to discuss trade opportunities, Smith expects other proposed developments critical to Alberta, such as new export-related projects, will occur as interest in Canadian energy increases.
- Albertans, other Canadians, and Americans filled the inbox of Premier Danielle Smith with dozens of angry emails in the hours after her planned appearance at a fundraiser for a controversial U.S. content company was publicized. Smith used taxpayer money to travel to Florida for the March 27 fundraising event for PragerU, where she spoke with conservative media personality Ben Shapiro, a co-founder of conservative website The Daily Wire and former editor of Breitbart News.
- A former Alberta cabinet minister who has been jabbing the government is going after Premier Danielle Smith, now throwing a bomb in the form of a scathing open letter over the healthcare contracts scandal, the budget, and questioning the premier’s commitment to keeping Alberta in Canada. Peter Guthrie, now an independent member of the legislature after he was kicked out of the UCP caucus last week, says an investigation called by Premier Danielle Smith’s government into multimillion-dollar health contracts looks like a “whitewashing” exercise.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith returned Saturday from her visit to Asia to identify new opportunities for collaboration across Alberta’s resource, agri-food and technology sectors. Smith said her time in South Korea and Japan made clear that their markets want to buy more Alberta energy and food. “If only our federal government would step aside and support getting these commodities to market,” she said in an X post Saturday. Smith said in Japan, she met with the Japan Gas Association, which represents 200 gas utilities.
British Columbia
- Eleven people have been killed and multiple others injured after the driver of a black SUV slammed into a crowd Saturday evening at a street festival in Vancouver celebrating the contributions of the Filipino Canadian community, police say. It happened shortly after 8 p.m. PT, as the Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party was winding down, after drawing up to 100,000 people through the day. Steve Rai, interim Vancouver police chief, told reporters on Sunday that it was the darkest day in the city’s history. “The actions of a single person shattered our collective sense of safety,” he said. “It is impossible to overstate how many lives have been impacted forever by this lone individual.”
- B.C. Premier David Eby says the province is focused on supporting victims and their families, a day after an SUV plowed into a crowded festival held by the Filipino community and killed 11 people. Eby says people have a right to be angry, but the province cannot let the tragic attack define itself. Meanwhile, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says the city will conduct a full review of its public safety measures after criticisms emerged about the lack of barriers at the festival protecting pedestrians from vehicles.
- As Canada’s international student immigration rules force British Columbia’s universities and colleges to make staffing cuts, it appears unlikely that the provincial government will provide any relief. Premier David Eby said in an interview with Black Press Media on April 25 that he is focused on lobbying the federal government to re-evaluate its policy rather than have the provincial government provide financial assistance to post-secondary institutions, which he says would be too expensive.
- Members of the Tŝilhqot’in National Government were at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Thursday, calling for the British Columbia and Canadian governments to help expand support services in the battle against the toxic drug crisis. Tŝilhqot’in National Government Vice-Chief Francis Laceese said the crisis is a “continuation” of threats Indigenous Peoples have faced in the form of residential schools and the smallpox epidemic that devastated Indigenous communities in B.C. in the early 1860s.
Northwest Territories
- N.W.T. doctors say that if the territorial government doesn’t take action, there will be closures at the emergency room at Stanton Territorial Hospital this summer. “We’re at, really, a crisis point,” said Yellowknife ER doctor Courtney Howard. Howard and other N.W.T. doctors spoke to MLAs on the standing committee on social development Friday on behalf of the Northwest Territories Medical Association.
Yukon
- Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai announced a new first-time home buyers program on Wednesday to help with down payments. Pillai says the aim of the program is to keep Yukoners in the territory and “entice” those who left to pursue higher education or training to come back. The Yukon government says it will cover up to 50 per cent of the cost of a down payment on a home with a low-interest loan — fixed at 2.5 per cent compounded annually — that can be repaid after buyers pay off their mortgage or sell their home.
Nunavut
- Even in the midst of Nunavut Quest celebrations, residents in Igloolik gathered on Thursday to protest the end to funding for hamlet food vouchers for Inuit children. “The children are eating less now, ” Stephen Qrunnut said in Inuktitut, as he held a placard decrying the cost of living in the North. According to advocacy group Campaign 2000, Nunavut has the highest child poverty rates in Canada, at 42 per cent. Nearly all of the hamlets in the territory rolled out a food voucher program last year. In the past, that was funded by the Inuit Child First Initiative (ICFI), which was given a one year extension last month. But Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) says the ICFI is meant for temporary relief to address immediate risk factors to children.