Provincial and Territorial Update – August 15, 2025
Provincial and Territorial Update: An overview of the Provincial Legislative and Territories Legislative Updates for the week of August 15, 2025. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- Several fires continue to burn out of control in New Brunswick on Friday, and the government is expecting more help Saturday with its firefighting efforts. The province’s largest wildfire, the Oldfield Road fire, which straddles the northern edge of the city of Miramichi, is still out of control on its 10th day, now listed at 1,402 hectares, an increase of 50 hectares from Thursday. Natural Resources Minister John Herron said Friday that lightning caused several fires on Thursday and could cause more fires in the weeks to come.
- A New Brunswick judge has called on lawmakers to change the Criminal Code of Canada to strengthen the sentence for men who kill women. Court of King’s Bench Justice Fred Ferguson, speaking during a murder sentencing in Miramichi on Monday, said sentences “do not reflect our abhorrence for what … happens to too many women at the hands of their partners.”
- The Department of Social Development now has an expanded ability to fast-track certain patients from hospital beds into nursing homes. New Brunswick hospitals have been struggling with a shortage of beds, which the two health authorities have largely blamed on the high number of their patients who no longer need medical care but can’t get into nursing homes. Use of hospital beds by so-called “alternate level of care patients” has put pressure on other hospital areas, including surgery and emergency departments.
- The New Brunswick government is asking everyone in the province to stay out of the woods. As of 12:01 a.m. last Sunday, all Crown land closed. That means no fishing, camping or hiking, no vehicles in the woods. Trail systems are closed, and camping is only allowed in campgrounds. There is also a ban on all forestry operations such as harvesting, forwarding, skidding, scarification and chipping.
Nova Scotia
- A Nova Scotia man has been slapped with a fine worth more than $28,000 after deliberately violating the province’s ban on woods travel, a move he says was necessary to challenge the provincial proclamation in court. In an effort to prevent wildfires in the midst of a drought, the Nova Scotia government has imposed a ban on anyone entering the woods — including hiking, fishing and camping — until Oct. 15 or until conditions improve. There is also a ban of open fires.
- More than 100 homes have been evacuated as an out-of-control wildfire near West Dalhousie in Annapolis County continues to burn on Friday. The fire broke out on Wednesday on the north side of Long Lake, about 20 kilometres east of Annapolis Royal, N.S. The provincial Department of Natural Resources has said a lightning strike caused the fire. On Friday afternoon, the province said the fire is estimated at 406 hectares or about four square kilometres — up from 300 hectares around noon Thursday.
- The Canadian Bar Association is warning Nova Scotia’s premier that recent comments from his office risk blurring the public’s perception of “the important distinction” between the roles of elected politicians and the judiciary. In a letter to Tim Houston dated July 29 and posted online, the president of the association’s Nova Scotia branch writes that the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal’s decision to decline to answer a reference question related to the Chignecto Isthmus was “based on established legal principles, not an avoidance of difficult questions.”
- Parts of Nova Scotia are now in severe drought, according to the latest update from the Canadian Drought Monitor. The monitor, managed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, classifies drought in five categories. By July 31, all of the province was registering drought conditions, ranging from the least severe category to the third highest. Most of the province was in moderate drought, while parts of the Annapolis Valley, Cumberland County and Cape Breton, along with a larger area in central Nova Scotia, were facing severe drought. An area in southwestern Nova Scotia was abnormally dry — the least serious category.
Prince Edward Island
- Prince Edward Island’s newest MLAs-elect say they’re ready to get to work on the issues voters told them matter most during the provincial byelections that wrapped up Tuesday. Voters chose Liberal Carolyn Simpson to represent District 9, Charlottetown–Hillsborough Park, and Progressive Conservative Kent Dollar for District 15, Brackley–Hunter River. Dollar, who previously served as executive assistant to former premier Dennis King, said that experience has prepared him well for his new role.
- Prince Edward Island’s water levels are dipping during the ongoing hot, dry spell affecting much of Atlantic Canada, but the province says this is normal for late summer. Sean Ledgerwood, P.E.I.’s manager of water and air monitoring, said the Island relies entirely on groundwater for its drinking water supply. “We rely on this relatively large aquifer under P.E.I.,” Ledgerwood told CBC News.
- The smoky smell that many Islanders noticed on Thursday has started to ease, but experts say the risk isn’t completely gone. Skies were hazy across P.E.I. on Thursday as winds carried smoke from wildfires burning in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into this province. Environment Canada’s Air Quality Health Index, which measures the risk of air pollution to health, was at level three — in the low-risk category — on Thursday. By Friday, it had dropped to two.
- Prince Edward Island’s Supreme Court has ruled against a bid by a Murray Harbour councillor to keep legal action against the rural municipality alive. John Robertson was asking the court to retroactively allow him more time to have requested a judicial review of the disciplinary actions Murray Harbour’s council took against him back in November 2023. That was after he erected a sign on his property in September of the same year that some saw as an attack on Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Colder temperatures usually aren’t exciting news, but this weekend it brought a sigh of relief for evacuees and firefighters. The province says Sunday’s temperatures and low winds will help crews with suppression efforts. N.L. forest fire duty officer Bryan Oke said Sunday morning that there was no change to the Kingston fire’s boundary size on Saturday. “We [had] some of the activity in the south yesterday, but crews were able to maintain their relative boundaries,” Oke told CBC’s Weekend AM.
- While crews continue to fight the Paddy’s Pond wildfire, the regional state of emergency in Conception Bay South, Paradise, Southlands and Galway has been lifted, along with the evacuation alert for those areas, said the Department of Justice and Public Safety in a public advisory Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, a new evacuation alert has been issued as the wildfire burning in Conception Bay North continues, affecting the residents of the local service district of Freshwater. The province issued the precautionary evacuation alert for the community at Noon NT. Residents have been asked to be ready to evacuate on “very short notice.”
- Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services expects to soon have a comprehensive review done on payments made to a travel nursing agency cited in a recent bombshell report by the auditor general. “That contract will be provided by the end of this week, with the expectation that the forensic audit will be completed by the end of September,” NLHS CEO Pat Parfrey told a legislative committee hearing on Tuesday afternoon. In a scathing report released earlier this summer, Auditor General Denise Hanrahan highlighted a series of payments made to one nursing company in particular, dubbed Agency A.
- Officials have issued an immediate precautionary evacuation alert for the Freshwater area near Carbonear. The winds have turned around, pushing the fire that started in Kingston- and had been moving northward – to the south. An air quality alert is also in place with smoke moving into Victoria, Carbonear and towns to the south. Residents of Freshwater are being asked to be ready to evacuate on very short notice. That includes having a bag packed and all necessary documents and medications. If an evacuation order is imposed, then residents will have to leave and won’t be allowed back.
Quebec
- At the end of a caucus that lasted all day Thursday, elected officials from the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) said that the discussions were constructive, that solutions had been found, and that their party was united. “I consider myself very fortunate to have a wonderful family, a wonderful team of 86 members in all regions of Quebec who have given me all kinds of ideas,” said Premier François Legault after the meeting. “We really got down to work, and I felt that they were ready to fight with me.” What looked like group therapy for the CAQ caucus paid off, according to members who spoke to the media.
- The Parti Québécois has won its sixth seat in the National Assembly after winning the Centre-du-Québec riding of Arthabaska in Monday’s hotly contested byelection. PQ candidate Alex Boissonneault won 46 per cent of the vote, compared to about 35 per cent for Éric Duhaime, leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec, who once again fell short of winning a seat in the National Assembly.
- The Quebec auto insurance board has dismissed its vice president of digital experience, Caroline Foldes-Busque. The Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) confirmed the departure of its IT boss, which was first reported by La Presse on Tuesday morning. In an email sent to The Canadian Press, the SAAQ said that Foldes-Busque had been “relieved of her duties” and would be replaced by Luc LeBlanc. LeBlanc is currently vice president of information technology at Retraite Québec.
- With just over a year to go before the next election, a showdown between the Parti Québécois (PQ) and the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) is already looming on the horizon, with sovereignty at the heart of the debate. Liberal leader Pablo Rodriguez wants to tackle the growing independence movement among young people. “The PQ often presents sovereignty as if it were a magic wand, a solution to everything,” the Liberal leader said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “But separating won’t solve the housing shortage. Separating won’t make it easier for our young people to buy their first home. Sovereignty won’t make Donald Trump or inflation disappear, and it won’t make us feel the effects of climate change any less,” Pablo Rodriguez said.
Ontario
- Months after winning a third consecutive majority mandate under a promise to “protect Ontario” from economic war with the United States, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has outlined how he expects his inner circle to deliver the pledge. Multiple sources confirmed to Global News that mandate letters were finally delivered to cabinet ministers this week, giving each member of Ford’s top team specific instructions.
- Premier Doug Ford’s government is ordering Ontario public servants to work from the office four days a week starting this fall and then full-time in January. It’s a change from a policy that has been in place since April 2022, when provincial government employees were mandated to be in their offices at least three days per week. Employees of the Ontario Public Service, provincial agencies, boards and commissions must “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20 and transition to full-time hours in the office effective Jan. 5, 2026, said Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney in an announcement Thursday.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford is once again floating the idea of introducing legislation that would force companies to place a flag of origin on their products as he takes aim at Campbell’s for ‘misleading people’ with some of its soup labels. Ford brought up the matter during an unrelated news conference in Pickering on Thursday, where he mused about legislation that would make it easier for shoppers to identify which products are made outside of Canada amid the ongoing trade war with the U.S.
- Less than three months after removing tolls from the publicly-owned portion of Highway 407, Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he is considering expanding the now-clogged artery. At an unrelated event in Pickering, Ont., on Thursday, Ford said he was receiving a growing number of calls from frustrated drivers who had hopped onto the toll-free 407 east, only to find themselves stuck in gridlock. “People are coming home from the cottage; it’s getting pretty jammed up on there,” Ford said. “But if it’s jammed up there, I always say it must be taking congestion off another part, I guess the 401.” Ford’s concerns about congestion came 10 weeks after his government removed tolls from the public portion of the 407, a move it promised would save drivers money and time.
Manitoba
- A large rally in front of the CBC building in downtown Winnipeg on Saturday protested the national broadcaster’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The protest, which began around noon and saw protesters line the sidewalk and boulevard from Young Street to Balmoral Street, in front of the CBC building and the University of Winnipeg campus, called on the public broadcaster to launch an independent, public review of the conflict’s coverage since October 2023, commit to consistently using the word “genocide” in its coverage, and centre Palestinian voices and direct eyewitness accounts.
- Artificial intelligence is changing how some educators plan their lessons and think about assignments for students. They’re contending with how to use it appropriately and ethically in their classrooms ahead of the school year, at a time when the Manitoba government and many school divisions haven’t finalized guidelines and policies on AI use. These are questions that came up at a conference for education officials and teachers in Winnipeg this week, hosted by the University of Winnipeg, the University of Manitoba, and the Canadian Assessment for Learning Network.
- Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is setting his government apart from neighbouring provinces by insisting he doesn’t need Ottawa’s controversial legislation to fast-track major resource projects. His government can break ground on the kinds of projects Ottawa wants by involving Indigenous communities from the start, he said. “In other parts of the country with other levels of government, there’s the commitment to maybe push things through with legislation first,” Kinew told reporters this week. “That puts other partners on the back foot.” A lack of upfront consultation is why Manitoba didn’t sign on to a recent memorandum of understanding with Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario to explore the feasibility of a new west-east pipeline — even though it would run through Kinew’s province.
- An evacuated Manitoba First Nation left in the dark after wildfires knocked out power says the return of residents could be fast-tracked if the community was outfitted with generators — but the province’s hydro provider says it’s focusing on repairs instead. Pukatawagan’s council had been in talks with Manitoba Hydro and the province to get generators and temporarily supply electricity to the remote community while the Crown corporation restores the power infrastructure destroyed by out-of-control blazes earlier this summer, Deputy Chief Kelly Linklater told CBC News.
Saskatchewan
- The rolling Prairie hills around Estevan reveal deep layers of black rock, a vast deposit of coal that has been mined in this part of Saskatchewan for more than 100 years. The natural resource that powers the local economy, keeps the lights on and is a central part of the local identity was expected to be left in the ground going forward, with the anticipated shutdown of two nearby power plants within the next five years. But the worst case appears to have been avoided, at least for now. The Saskatchewan government recently announced plans to extend the life of its coal-fired power plants for decades, arguing Ottawa doesn’t have jurisdiction over electricity generation in the province.
- The Saskatchewan NDP is calling on the province to release a collection of documents outlining complaints and investigations into the Saskatchewan Marshals Service after the Opposition party submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request and got back nearly 300 pages of redacted emails and documents. The NDP had requested all documents related to allegations of misconduct or investigations into the marshals service from November 2022 to May 2025.
- The Saskatchewan NDP took aim at a Calgary-based rental company, as the Opposition continues to make the case for rent control in the province. At a news conference on Wednesday, NDP housing critic April ChiefCalf highlighted how Boardwalk has succeeded in Saskatchewan. Boardwalk’s financial report for the second-quarter of 2025 highlights how on July 23, 2025, the company purchased three properties — two in Saskatoon and one in Regina — with a combined total of 235 suites. The same report highlights how Boardwalks’ Saskatchewan business saw a 13 per cent increase in profits during the second quarter of 2025 compared to the same time period last year.
- People gathered in front of Regina city hall on Wednesday to discuss solutions to homelessness and strategies around encampments to take to council later this month. A group of concerned Regina citizens hosted the open-mic “lunch n learn” at the City Hall courtyard, following up on the city council tabling its citizens’ encampment strategy. The gathering was also intended to raise awareness for an upcoming encampment strategy vote. Tanya Fleury, who is currently staying at a homeless shelter in Regina, spoke at the gathering. She said there’s not enough space for everyone, and the city needs to spend its funds differently.
Alberta
- A travelling panel collecting public feedback on Alberta’s grievances with Ottawa struggled to keep an emotionally-charged crowd on topic at its third summer town hall on Thursday night. Premier Danielle Smith and members of her Alberta Next panel drew its biggest crowd yet — nearly 750 people — in Edmonton to brainstorm about possible future referendum questions. Division and outrage in the room quickly spilled over into anger, F-bombs, and challenges to Smith’s United Conservative Party government that weren’t on the agenda, from health care to accountability and transparency.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government will consider reversing a recent policy change that ended the public disclosure of expense receipts over $100 for ministers and other government officials. Smith, asked about the change on Thursday at her Alberta Next panel town hall in Edmonton, told the crowd that it caught her off guard but was made for safety reasons. “There are a number of my ministers who go to the same hotels when they’re frequenting different municipalities, and they just wanted the name of the hotel redacted, just in case people were tracking them down,” Smith said.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is staying out of a judge’s decision to further examine a referendum question proposed by a group of separatists, while being pressured to take a tougher stance on the issue of independence. Court of King’s Bench Justice Colin Feasby ruled Thursday to go ahead with a review of an Alberta separation question after an application to quash the proceeding and have the question approved without scrutiny was denied. “They are going to do a constitutional lens test on it, so I’ll just leave it to the court to go through their process,” Smith said at an Alberta Next panel town hall on Thursday evening. This comes after Smith and Justice Minister Mickey Amery publicly called on the chief electoral officer to stop that court reference so the vote could proceed.
- The leader of Canada’s main oil-producing province visited Mexico in a bid to help reset relations with Latin America’s second-largest economy, with a particular eye to promoting energy projects. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who previously argued Canada would be better off dealing with the United States alone, emphasized that the northern nation now has the ability to ship oil and gas to Mexico directly thanks to new Pacific Ocean export facilities.
British Columbia
- Officials on Vancouver Island say 33 millimetres of rain on Friday helped to curb the flames of the Mount Underwood wildfire, which is burning about eight kilometres south of Port Alberni, B.C. The fire is now estimated at around 36 square kilometres, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service, and is still classified as out of control. But officials say the rain reduced it to a mostly smouldering fire. “The rain did a lot, it minimized fire behaviour. Temporarily, it will minimize fire spread,” said incident commander Stefan Hood with the wildfire service.
- A B.C. nurse has been suspended and asked to pay nearly $94,000 in costs for making “discriminatory and derogatory statements” about transgender people. The B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives says a disciplinary panel has issued a decision against Amy Hamm, suspending her for one month, while also ordering her to pay the college costs and disbursements within two years. The panel said in its verdict in March that Hamm committed professional misconduct for making statements across “various online platforms” between July 2018 and March 2021 that were partly designed “to elicit fear, contempt and outrage against members of the transgender community.”
- The fallout from last week’s B.C. Supreme Court ruling on a rights and title case that favoured the Cowichan Nation is continuing, with other Indigenous groups saying they are “devastated” by the decision and the province filing an appeal. The Cowichan Nation, which consists of five First Nation communities on Vancouver Island — the Cowichan Tribes, Halalt, Lyackson, Penelakut and Stz’uminus — was successful in arguing they have a right to fish in the Fraser River, and that they have Aboriginal title to a parcel of land in Richmond, B.C.
- The City of Prince George has won its latest bid to close a downtown homeless encampment that has been a political football ever since it was first established in 2021. The ruling was handed down this week by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Elwood and distributed to the media by the city. It found that the city has significantly increased the number of available shelter spaces and affordable housing units in the north-central B.C. city, which serves a population of approximately 90,000.
Northwest Territories
- An N.W.T. Supreme Court judge has ruled that a dispute between the business arms of the Nihtat Gwich’in Council and two of its former executives will go to arbitration. Leaders of the Nihtat Gwich’in Council say that former executives Jozef Carnogursky and Grant Sullivan created Nihtat Energy without telling the Nihtat board of directors for personal financial gain. None of the allegations has been proven in court, and both Sullivan and Carnogursky have denied any wrongdoing.
Yukon
- The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is demanding the federal and territorial governments consistently involve affected communities in Northern defence and security while challenging notions of what those issues constitute. A new report from the AFN’s Yukon chapter states that for too long Yukon First Nations have been relegated to the sidelines when national defence needs to accommodate sovereignty and modern treaties, not undermine them.
Nunavut
- The materials filling the dump in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, will soon take up a fraction of the space at the community landfill thanks to a new metal shredding machine. The hamlet purchased the shredder to manage a build-up of metal waste that the community’s senior administrative officer (SAO) said has been sitting in the landfill for decades. “Literally everything that’s come into this community in the last 50 years in the way of metal is still here,” said Hamlet SAO Darren Flynn. “Metal waste is a real problem for us here at the landfill.”