Provincial and Territorial Update – August 2, 2024
The Provincial and Territorial Updates: An overview of the Provincial Legislative and Territories Legislative Updates for the week of August 2, 2024. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- New Brunswick has come just shy of hitting its goal of breaking ground on 6,000 new housing units annually, however experts doubt whether that target is enough to solve the province’s housing crunch. Since releasing its housing strategy in June 2023, the province has recorded 5,322 housing starts as of the start of July, according to Statistics Canada data. Those housing starts include 2,964 recorded in the second half of 2023 and another 2,358 in the first and second quarters of this year.
- The New Brunswick government has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by inmates over a 2017 jail fire believed to have started by a worker’s discarded cigarette. The New Brunswick Office of the Fire Marshal determined the Oct. 25, 2017, fire at the Southeast Regional Correctional Centre in Shediac was accidental. It ruled the fire likely happened when a discarded cigarette butt fell between the openings of a wooden ramp and ignited a pile of dry leaves in a non-smoking area only employees could access.
- Opposition leaders say new information about the 2021 departure of the RCMP’s top officer in New Brunswick is another example of Premier Blaine Higgs blaming others for his lack of leadership. CBC News revealed this week that J Division commanding officer Larry Tremblay raised concerns about a Higgs government vision that “blurs the lines between politics and policing” in a July 2021 letter. The province had asked for Tremblay’s removal from the position, leading to Tremblay’s retirement from the RCMP later that year.
- New Brunswick’s attorney general is being allowed to make arguments in court in defence of controversial changes made by the Saskatchewan government regarding pronoun choices for students in school. The Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan ruled Friday that New Brunswick’s and Alberta’s attorneys general can intervene in an appeal by the Saskatchewan government, aimed at defending new legislation that resulted in similar changes to those made to Policy 713.
Nova Scotia
- A new agreement between Canada and the United States is reigniting the possibility of a spaceport in rural Nova Scotia. Federal cabinet minister and Nova Scotia MP Sean Fraser announced in Halifax Friday that the two countries have negotiated a Technology Safeguards Agreement, which would allow the use of U.S. space launch technology, expertise and data for space launches in Canada.
- As Nova Scotia grapples with a shortage of skilled tradespeople, the provincial government has announced a program aimed at increasing the number of journeypersons by giving them a cash incentive to train apprentices. The new program, which started Wednesday, provides up to $2,500 to journeypersons for each completed level of an apprentice’s training. “This incentive is another piece of the puzzle that we’re trying to solve,” Labour Skills and Immigration Minister Jill Balser said in a phone interview Thursday.
- An independent monitor says Nova Scotia’s progress on moving people with disabilities out of institutions is “slower and more uneven” than called for in a government plan. Michael Prince, a professor of social policy at the University of Victoria, was appointed last year to provide annual reports on whether the province is meeting 90 requirements set out in the five-year reform plan approved by a human rights board of inquiry last year.
- A new funding agreement between the province and the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown, P.E.I., will create eight more seats for Nova Scotia students who want to become veterinarians. Brian Wong, Nova Scotia’s minister of advanced education, said the five-year, $50.8-million arrangement with the college at the University of Prince Edward Island will expand the total number of seats available for first-year Nova Scotia students to 24 from 16 beginning this fall.
Prince Edward Island
- The P.E.I. government is spending more than $1.5 million to install generators at gas stations across the province, as the Atlantic hurricane season continues. At least 45 stations and general stores will get a generator, the province said Thursday, and businesses will pay for some of it. “Whether it’s a hurricane or a snowstorm or ice storm, any event that can knock out power for a long period of time, it’s important that we have that petroleum access for our backup generation,” said Bloyce Thompson, minister of justice and public safety.
- The Canadian Cancer Society is urging Prince Edward Island’s 27 MLAs to “stand firm against Big Tobacco,” as lobbying efforts ramp up for and against a proposed generational tobacco ban in the province. The idea for the ban was floated in a consultation paper for a new wellness strategy for the province on May 14. The ban would be the first of its kind in Canada if it goes ahead, and would prevent people born after a certain date from legally purchasing tobacco products.
- Doug Currie, a former P.E.I. Liberal MLA and cabinet minister, is looking to become the Conservative Party of Canada’s candidate for the Charlottetown riding in the next federal election. This would be Currie’s second attempt at representing Charlottetown as a Conservative after winning the party’s nomination in 2021, and later losing to incumbent Liberal MP Sean Casey in that year’s federal election.
- The province and federal government are launching a new program for Island farms and farmers to better prepare for extreme weather. Combined, the governments are spending $1.3 million over five years as part of the Agriculture Resiliency Program. The federal and provincial initiative will fund research projects in climate change adaptation, infrastructure resiliency, and mental and physical health for farmers.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro has begun giving “regular” updates to the Innu Nation on the progress of Churchill Falls negotiations with Hydro-Québec, but Grand Chief Simon Pokue says the concerns of his people are still being sidelined. According to Pokue, the updates from N.L. Hydro began at the beginning of the year, a few weeks after a former grand chief told CBC/Radio-Canada that the Innu Nation was completely in the dark on the Churchill Falls talks. “It’s not enough,” Pokue said Wednesday during a phone call from Sept-Îles, Que. “The province has to understand and Quebec has to understand, this is Innu land.… This has a big impact on us.”
- Lower water levels at the Churchill Falls hydroelectric dam caused a $16-million drop in revenue last year, according to the Newfoundland and Labrador Crown corporation’s latest annual report. According to Hydro’s annual report, Churchill Falls revenue amounted to $103 million in 2023, down from $119 million the year before. Lower water levels meant less energy production and therefore less money from the sale of excess energy. CEO Jennifer Williams, speaking with reporters Friday at Hydro’s annual general meeting, said low water levels are a cyclical problem that is compounded by climate change and can have a big impact on the corporation’s finances in a single year.
- While the Andrew Furey Liberals are celebrating what they call an improved economy, opposition leaders say the unusual midsummer fiscal update is timed to coincide with some voters soon going to the polls. “[There] must be a byelection on,” said NDP Leader Jim Dinn with a laugh, after Finance Minister Siobhan Coady’s news conference Wednesday. Coady touted several economic statistics including how, compared with last year, the employment rate is up almost four percent, retail sales are up by five percent, car sales are up almost 23 percent and housing starts have more than doubled.
- The president of Newfoundland and Labrador’s nurses’ union says the massive difference in spending on travel nurses between 2022 and 2023 is proof of how bad the nursing shortage became in the province in just one year. Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services spent $18.4 million on travel nursing in 2022. The following year it was $90 million. “Well, obviously, the contracts got bigger and our shortage got bigger. So the gaps in the system for registered nurses, nurse practitioners and other health-care professionals, it grew over the last couple of years,” Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses’ Union Newfoundland and Labrador, told CBC News.
Quebec
- Hydro-Québec presented its planned rate increases Thursday, indicating it wants to charge its highest residential consumers more, provide rebates for solar power and electric vehicle users as well as for low-income households. If the Régie de l’énergie approves, homes that consume more than 50,000 kWh in a year (about one percent of residential customers) could be charged an overconsumption rate as of April 1, 2027.
- Advocates for Quebec’s anglophone community are denouncing a new government directive that may require “historic anglophone” Quebecers to provide proof of an English-language eligibility certificate if they wish to communicate exclusively in English in Quebec’s healthcare system. A report by the Montreal Gazette points to a Quebec Health Ministry directive that explains the conditions for patients to be helped exclusively in English in the health sector. According to the directive, they need to have an English-language eligibility certificate and they must also “expressly request (English services).”
- Staff at hotels across Quebec are turning up the pressure on their employers, going on strike as negotiations appear to stall. More than 400 employees from two Montreal hotels, the Gouverneur Place Dupuis and the DoubleTree on Jeanne-Mance Street began a 36-hour strike Thursday. The union also announced a provincewide strike planned for Aug. 8 that will affect hotels in Montreal, Quebec City and Sherbrooke. Thousands of hotel workers are expected to strike for 24 hours. In Montreal, nearly 20 hotels will be affected. In the Quebec City area, staff from two hotels are participating. In Sherbrooke, Delta Hotels by Marriott will be affected.
- Months after Quebec pledged to improve how quickly it issues death certificates, the average wait time continues to get worse. Last spring, it took an average of 40 to 45 working days to register a death in Quebec. That’s for applications that were complete or not missing any information. Once the death is registered, a death certificate is typically issued within a week. The delay has increased by roughly a week to 52 days as of the end of May, according to the most recent statistics available from the Employment Ministry, which oversees the civil status registrar, the agency responsible for registering births, marriages and deaths.
Ontario
- The provincial government confirmed Thursday a new regional hospital will be built in Whitby, an announcement that comes after months of public tension between the town’s mayor and Premier Doug Ford. Health Minister Sylvia Jones said the goal is for the hospital to be built and operational within 10 years. The province has given Lakeridge Health, which currently operates five hospitals in Durham Region, $12 million in grants as it works on a master plan for several long-term health-care projects, including the hospital in Whitby.
- As Ontario’s population grows at record pace and the province scrambles to ensure housing and other services can keep up, some political watchers believe there is one area the Ford government could leave people behind. On Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford emphatically ruled out making changes to the province’s electoral map, declaring the current set of 124 ridings more than adequate. Ford dismissed the idea that Ontario would match riding changes made at the federal level, a constitutionally required move Census data and population changes information.
- This week has brought some shocking new facts to light regarding Toronto’s doomed Eglinton Crosstown LRT, which is now four years overdue and still without a confirmed opening date — something Premier Doug Ford apparently had a hand in. Internal emails sourced and shared by the Star on Thursday evening show that while Metrolinx was prepared to release an updated schedule of when the new transit line was expected to reach completion, provincial leadership instead insisted it stay under wraps.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending his government’s decision to allow pharmacists to handle more ailments instead of doctors, saying it’s one of the most popular moves his government has made. The Ford government announced last week that it has started consultations on expanding the number of health problems patients can get treatment for at pharmacies. “You know, we’re backlogged. The docs don’t have a lack of customers,” Ford said at an unrelated announcement Monday when asked about criticism that the move looks like an effort to privatize health-care services. “If I had $1 for every time someone said ‘I need to get an appointment with my family physician, I can’t get it.’”
Manitoba
- A former Brandon University instructor says the school is failing to address the use of artificial intelligence to cheat — something he believes at least half his students did on assignments. Matt MacDonald taught an introduction to English literature course as a sessional instructor from January to mid-April at Southwestern Manitoba University. By March, he had suspicions students were using AI to complete assignments and began an investigation. He also notified the administration, including the dean of arts.
- Labour leaders are throwing their support behind the NDP candidate in a looming federal byelection set to take place this fall in Winnipeg. Leila Dance, the party’s candidate for the Sept. 16 Elmwood-Transcona election, was endorsed Thursday by over a dozen local, provincial and national union leaders. “I think the support today shows that we aren’t going to let anything change here in the riding, we’re going to stay an NDP riding and we’re going to fight for people in this area,” said Dance. One of the leaders in attendance Thursday was Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
- More than a week after a raging wildfire started burning out of control in northeastern Manitoba, another community has begun evacuations due to the threat of smoke to vulnerable residents. A partial evacuation started at Manto Sipi Cree Nation on Tuesday evening, with 46 residents fleeing the community. Over 200 more are expected to leave in the coming days. Manto Sipi is the latest community in northeastern Manitoba to face evacuations due to the wildfire south of Gods Lake, which has now ballooned to 24,320 hectares in size, from 6,000 hectares just a couple of days earlier, according to the province. The fire had already prompted partial evacuations from Wasagamack, Red Sucker Lake and God’s Lake First Nations over the weekend.
- Manitoba government and community leaders who visited Houston last week to observe that city’s celebrated approach to tackling homelessness returned with lessons about the importance of collaboration. The City of Houston says it has housed more than 30,000 people struggling with homelessness over roughly the last decade. The success of the Houston model — which focuses on providing housing with wraparound services — has drawn attention from around the world. A team led by Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham has already visited the Texas city.
Saskatchewan
- Sturgeon Lake First Nation says community members have voted in favour of a $152-million settlement over the federal government’s reneged agricultural promises as outlined in Treaty 6. It is among several settlements referred to as “cows and plows” agreements between Saskatchewan First Nation communities and the federal government over the failure to fulfil treaty promises to provide agricultural assistance and tools.
- CBC has confirmed that three men with significant ties to the federal Conservative Party and the Saskatchewan Party are some of the people behind a secretive organization that says it’s targeting the “radical left” in Regina’s upcoming municipal election. Since 2021, the anonymous group, Advance Regina, has been running thousands of dollars worth of advertising on social media and billboard campaigns complaining about crime, taxes and city services. It has also targeted some councillors it characterizes as “left-wing activists” who were supported by unions in the last election. Some of its Facebook posts have generated hundreds of comments and likes.
- The head of an organization dedicated to prison reform is welcoming an investigation into the conditions at a women’s jail in Prince Albert, Sask. The Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan will encourage people at the Pine Grove Correctional Facility to work with Saskatchewan’s ombudsman, said the organization’s executive director. “We will be posting on our social media and encouraging the women that we support that if they do have some issues that they’d like to fight with the ombudsman that they absolutely do that and we’ll be providing wraparound supports to them,” said Nicole Obrigavitch in an interview Wednesday. This week, ombudsman Sharon Pratchler issued a rare public call for testimony.
- Long-time Saskatchewan Party MLA Lyle Stewart has died. Stewart was first elected in 1999 and served as an MLA for Thunder Creek and Lumsden-Morse for more than 23 years. He also served as an interim leader of the Sask. Party and was agriculture minister from 2012 to 2018. Premier Scott Moe posted about Stewart’s death on social media Tuesday afternoon, offering condolences to family and friends. According to Moe’s post on X, Stewart died at the age of 73, after a bout with cancer.
Alberta
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will be having a closed-door meeting with members of the LGBTQ community in Calgary on Friday. The meeting will take place at the McDougall Centre. A protest in support of transgender rights is scheduled to take place outside the centre on Wednesday morning. The organizers of the protest say the groups involved in the meeting don’t represent all members of the queer community and worry it will negatively affect future provincial policies. The province told CTV News Smith would not be available for interviews after the meeting.
- Premier Danielle Smith says Alberta will push the federal government and the Town of Jasper to fast-track the rebuild of the picturesque Rocky Mountain townsite. Smith says her government is striking a committee of senior civil servants to work with Parks Canada and Jasper leaders to swap ideas, expedite development permits and collaborate on ways to restore Jasper as quickly as possible. “Sometimes these permit approvals can be complicated. They can be lengthy,” Smith told reporters in Calgary on Tuesday.
- A popular, misleading claim about late-term abortions has made its way to the province. In its latest handout, the group Prolife Alberta writes “late-term abortions are happening in Alberta, often resulting in fully born babies being left to die.” The scary suggestion parrots a social conservative claim currently running rampant in Republican circles as the U.S. election heats up. But health professionals and medical ethicists call it intentionally misleading. Late-term abortions tend to occur almost exclusively when a fetus has developed an unsurvivable condition, or when going ahead with a pregnancy poses a fatal risk to the mother.
- Alberta’s seven-month moratorium on renewable power approvals has left a legacy of dozens of cancelled projects and legal uncertainty, says an analysis done on the one-year anniversary of the move. The clean energy think-tank Pembina Institute says in a report released Friday that 53 wind and solar projects were abandoned after the United Conservative Party government paused approvals for seven months and then failed to clarify new rules for those developments. The capacity of the cancelled projects adds up to more than 8,600 megawatts of generation — more than enough to power every home in Alberta, the report says. Many of those projects would have come with substantial storage capacity.
British Columbia
- A poll recently conducted by Research Co. has found that support for the Conservative Party of British Columbia is growing while the NDP has remained stagnant. Of the 802 decided voters surveyed across the province between July 23 and 25, 41% said they’d cast their ballot for David Eby’s incumbents, while 38% said John Rustad’s party was their number one choice. Those numbers mark a five-point jump for the Conservatives since the poll was last conducted in June. During that same time period, support for the NDP only grew by 1%.
- Premier David Eby’s recent call to lift a publication ban in a case involving the accused killer of a Surrey woman has raised questions concerning political interference with the justice system. Eby, speaking to reporters on July 24, addressed the issue of a publication ban on a bail hearing concerning Adam Mann, the man accused of second-degree murder in the death of Tori Dunn.
- The B.C. government has backtracked on part of new eviction notice rules for landlords that require them to give four months’ notice if they plan to occupy the property for personal use. The four-month requirement was preventing some first-time home buyers from purchasing a tenanted property — especially those under Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation programs, which require the property to be vacant at possession.
- The former director of public affairs for the Vancouver Police Department is suing the city, the force and one of the VPD’s most prominent spokespeople for alleged “gender and racial discrimination, harassment and bullying.” In a lawsuit filed last week in B.C. Supreme Court, Sharmini Dee claims she resigned from her job in June after being “subjected to systemic and persistent gender-based harassment and discrimination by [Sgt. Steve] Addison and other VPD officers.” Dee — who went by the name Sharmini Thiagarajah for the nearly two decades she worked for the VPD — is also suing B.C.’s attorney general and the minister of public safety for negligence, wrongful dismissal and what she alleges was the “intentional infliction of mental suffering.”
Northwest Territories
- In a decision Wednesday, an N.W.T. Supreme Court Justice found evidence “replete with examples” of Ron Barlas using company resources for personal interests or to benefit his friends and family. Justice Karan Shaner ordered that Barlas be removed as CEO of Łutsel K’e Dene First Nation’s (LKDFN) business arm, Denesoline Corporation. He was previously suspended, but the order makes his removal permanent as Shaner found he had breached his fiduciary duties “in an extreme and egregious manner.”
Yukon
- In a press release shared minutes after the conclusion of a Yukon government briefing on Eagle Mine, the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun issued a directive for Victoria Gold to stand down. Since the disaster unfolded, the mining company has led remediation efforts at the site. In Thursday’s release, the First Nation says the company lacks the financial resources to mitigate contamination effectively, and urged the Yukon government to take action to prevent further contamination. “The reality is that Victoria Gold cannot rectify the environmental damage caused by this event,” said Na-Cho Nyäk Dun Chief Dawna Hope in the news release. “They have been failing to take the remediation actions directed by the Yukon government.”
Nunavut
- Three Nunavut communities still have ongoing tuberculosis outbreaks — one of which started almost three years ago. Pangnirtung’s TB outbreak was declared in November 2021, and there have been 48 active cases in the community and 278 latent ones since. The Nunavut government released an update on TB numbers in the three communities on Thursday. In Pond Inlet, where an outbreak was declared in March 2023, there have been 12 cases of active TB and 106 latent cases. In Naujaat, which saw an outbreak declared in May 2023, there have been 23 cases of active TB and 153 latent cases.