Provincial and Territorial Update – August 8, 2025
Provincial and Territorial Update: An overview of the Provincial Legislative and Territories Legislative Updates for the week of August 8, 2025. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- New Brunswick parents expecting to see their child-care costs drop to $10 per day next April could be in for a surprise. Premier Susan Holt reminded them during an online question-and-answer session this week that the federal-provincial agreement promised an average rate of $10 per day, not a universal rate. “I’m told that when the federal government originally announced this program, they described it as an average of ten dollars a day,” Holt said, making air-quotes around the word “average.”
- A wildfire reported Wednesday near Miramichi was close to being under control Thursday afternoon, according to New Brunswick Wildfire Management. Tony Cole, a spokesperson for the branch, said no structures were at risk from the fire on Oldfield Road, about 16 kilometres north of Miramichi. At its largest, the fire spanned about 35 hectares, but had been reduced to about 22 hectares when Cole spoke to CBC News.
- A charge on gasoline that New Brunswick Liberals promised to eliminate last fall if elected — but then didn’t — has ballooned to more than double the size Premier Susan Holt once claimed was too much for consumers to bear. In its most recent weekly setting of maximum prices for petroleum products last Friday, New Brunswick’s Energy and Utilities Board allowed for a charge of 9.19 cents per litre on regular gas for what is called the “cost of carbon adjuster.”
- Advocates are raising concerns that N.B. Power is looking to shortcut the regulatory process and avoid public scrutiny of its proposed 400-megawatt gas plant. “It’s an attempt to evade the regulatory process, and that’s unacceptable,” said Green Leader David Coon. N.B. Power is required to get approval from the Energy and Utilities Board for capital projects costing more than $50 million, but is arguing that a $70-million transmission facility required for a new natural gas generating facility in the province’s southeast should be exempted from that scrutiny. Normally, that would trigger a review of the entire project.
Nova Scotia
- The Nova Scotia government has announced it’s banning hiking, camping, fishing and use of vehicles such as ATVs in the woods due to an elevated wildfire risk. Camping in campgrounds is still permitted, but trail systems through woods are off-limits under the new rules. The rules are in place for provincial Crown land until Oct. 15 or until weather conditions allow them to be lifted. The fine for violating the ban is $25,000. The public can still access beaches and parks, except for trail systems.
- The planned high-speed ferry between Bedford and Halifax will be delayed at least two years, the municipality says, because work is being held up by land negotiations. The ferry is expected to eventually move people between Mill Cove in Bedford and the Halifax waterfront in just 18 minutes. All three levels of government committed $260 million in funding last year for two ferry terminals and five electric ferries, which were expected to be in place by 2028.
- Nova Scotia Health is planning to ramp up security at hospitals across the province this fall by installing metal detectors that use artificial intelligence to identify weapons. The move comes after three employees were attacked by a patient at the Halifax Infirmary in January. Two of the victims were stabbed. “Our members have been telling us that this was going to happen for a while, just a lack of safety, lack of security. Not only at the [Halifax Infirmary], but a lot of our ERs across the province,” said Hugh Gillis, vice-president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU), which represents many hospital employees.
- Trevor Hadwen, a specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, says Nova Scotia is experiencing moderate drought conditions, with some pockets in the central region enduring severe drought conditions. The conditions are so dry that the province has put in place bans on open fires and hiking and the use of vehicles in woods out of concern for wildfires. Hadwen said Nova Scotia has seen droughts in the past, citing the summer months of 2023, 2020 and 2016, so he would not call this prolonged stretch of dry weather unprecedented.
Prince Edward Island
- Outdoor burning is currently restricted across Prince Edward Island as of Wednesday, as hot and dry weather continues to raise wildfire risks throughout Atlantic Canada. There is an exemption for fires being used for cooking or heat, but the P.E.I. government is asking anyone who lights one of those to be mindful of their surroundings and make sure the fire is completely out before they leave. Open-fire bans are currently in place in other Atlantic provinces due to the elevated fire risk.
- The John Howard Society of Prince Edward Island says it’s halting a provincially funded pilot project that helps keep people from becoming homeless. The group says the demand for housing is outpacing the amount of money the P.E.I. government is willing to spend on the program, called the Prevention and Diversion Fund (PDF). Last year, the provincial government gave $150,000 to the PDF, while the fund also received $240,000 from the federal government. This year, though, the province is only providing $100,000.
- Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to cut tolls on the Confederation Bridge satisfied a Prince Edward Island senator’s long-standing quest for equality — but it didn’t come without a question. “What took so long?” said Percy Downe during an interview with CBC’s Island Morning. Downe, who served as chief of staff to former prime minister Jean Chrétien before his appointment to the Senate in 2003, had long called the bridge tolls unfair to Islanders.
- Elections P.E.I. says there was a strong turnout on the first day of advance polling Saturday for provincial byelections in District 9, Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park and District 15 Brackley-Hunter River. In District 9, 482 votes were cast. That’s approximately 11.52 per cent of the district’s registered voters. The vote tally for District 15 was 306 votes, 7.73 per cent of registered voters. The ordinary polling date is Aug. 12 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Newfoundland and Labrador is drastically increasing fines and prison time for those who violate the province-wide fire ban as wildfires continue to burn across the island. Earlier this week, Premier John Hogan said he felt the fines were too low and would be subsequently increased, which he revealed on Friday. Fines now range from $50,000 to $150,000, as well as up to a year in prison. “It’s very clear that these penalties for violating the regulations needed to be higher, and everyone needs to take this seriously,” Hogan said.
- Smoke from the wildfires in Conception Bay North and Holyrood has created a visible haze over parts of the Avalon Peninsula. The smell of smoke has been noticed as far east as the Confederation Building in St. John’s. It prompted Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald to advise vulnerable people to stay indoors as the air quality index presents a moderate health risk for residents in St. John’s and the surrounding area.
- The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Association says the provincial government must recruit and retain more officers to protect public safety, as the rate of crime in the province continues to grow. In late July, Statistics Canada released incident-based crime statistics for 2020 to 2024. The federal agency reported the crime rate in Newfoundland and Labrador increased by 5 per cent in 2024, compared to 2023.
- Newfoundland and Labrador’s health minister has given her word that the province’s medical care plan (MCP) will cover treatments at a new private rehabilitation centre. Vida Nova Recovery, located a 40-minute drive from St. John’s, says it will nearly double the capacity of adult inpatient rehab services in the province, aiming to add 24 beds by the end of this year and 54 when the centre is fully functional. With the province’s decision to grant MCP coverage, the centre’s co-founder says the people filling those beds won’t have to worry about how to pay for it.
Quebec
- A Quebec minister says he is disappointed a judge gave a Black man a reduced sentence for a drug trafficking crime due to his race. Christopher Skeete made the comments after the judge in a Longueuil court, on the south shore of Montreal, concluded the man deserved leniency due to systemic racism. The judge based her decision on a report submitted by the defence lawyer that noted how the man’s crimes were linked to the racism he had faced in his life. Judge Magali Lepage wound up giving Frank Paris a two-year sentence for cannabis and hashish-related trafficking charges in the case.
- Lyten, an American company, has announced it hopes to purchase the Northvolt battery plant in Quebec. This comes after the company shared on Thursday that it entered into a deal to buy Northvolt’s assets in Sweden and Germany. The acquisition includes the Northvolt Ett, Ett Expansion, and Northvolt Labs facilities in Sweden, as well as Northvolt Drei in Germany. Lyten will also acquire all of Northvolt’s remaining intellectual property. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed.
- Four McGill University faculty associations representing more than 500 academics have filed a court challenge against Quebec’s Bill 89, arguing the provincial legislation violates the constitutional right to strike. The Confederation of Faculty Associations of McGill (COFAM) announced Tuesday the groups filed an application for judicial review in Quebec Superior Court, seeking to overturn the law, declaring it unconstitutional and invalid as of the date it was passed. The bill was adopted in May and is set to go into effect at the end of November.
- A polarizing figure who railed against pandemic restrictions and wants to break Quebec’s consensus on carbon pricing could be days away from claiming a long-coveted seat in the provincial legislature. The stakes are high for Éric Duhaime, the former shock-jock at the helm of Quebec’s Conservative party. Despite four years on the job, Duhaime has not yet been able to get any members of his party elected.
Ontario
- Premier Doug Ford says United States President Donald Trump is “probably the most disliked politician in the world,” intensifying a war of words and tariffs between Canada and its neighbour to the south. Ford made the comments during an appearance on CNN Thursday morning, where the Ontario premier talked about Canada’s response to tariffs. Asked how Canadians viewed the U.S. president after months of tariffs and now-dormant talk of becoming the 51st state, Ford said Trump was deeply unpopular.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford is warning that U.S. President Donald Trump could choose to suddenly “pull the carpet out from underneath us” by opening up the trade agreement his administration negotiated with Canada during his first term. He said Ottawa needs to prepare for that to happen this fall. Ford made the comments after the country’s premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney met in private for the first time since Trump escalated his trade war by hitting Canada with a baseline 35 per cent tariff last week.
- Premier Doug Ford is defending his plans to build a tunnel under Highway 401 amid media reports earlier this week that suggest a previous study of the project was shelved by the province back in 2021. “Times have changed now,” Ford said when asked about the earlier study, which came to light after multiple media reports based on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests on the subject. The documents, according to Global News, identified financial and construction challenges with the project as well as risks of a potential roadway collapse. Speaking to reporters at an unrelated news conference in Thornhill on Wednesday, Ford said he struggled to recall any previous study done on the project.
- Premier Doug Ford slammed an Ontario judge’s bike lane decision Wednesday, while vowing to push ahead with his plan to build a tunnel under Highway 401. An Ontario court struck down the provincial government’s plan to remove three major Toronto bike lanes last week, a decision the government said it would appeal. “Worst case of trampling on people’s rights that I’ve ever seen ever,” Ford told reporters at an unrelated news conference Wednesday, calling it the “most ridiculous decision I’ve ever seen.”
Manitoba
- Four First Nations in Manitoba are calling on the federal government to make wildfire prevention a priority as Island Lake communities remain under states of emergency and mandatory evacuation orders. At a Friday press conference in Winnipeg, Anisininew Okimawin Grand Chief Alex McDougall said the First Nations he represents — Garden Hill Anisininew Nation, Red Sucker Lake Anisininew Nation, St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation and Wasagamack Anisininew Nation — are located in remote, fire-prone areas yet lack the infrastructure needed to prevent wildfires.
- About 50 members of Brokenhead Ojibway Nation and their supporters gathered alongside Manitoba’s Highway 59 on Friday morning to demonstrate against a band referendum on a prospective partnership with sand mining company Sio Silica. Band members are voting at the Private Thomas Chief Memorial Centre on Friday to approve or disapprove an offer by the Alberta mining company to share five per cent of the profits from its proposal to drill thousands of wells in southeastern Manitoba — outside Brokenhead’s reserve lands — for silica sand.
- Manitoba nurses are set to vote this week on whether to declare the Health Sciences Centre such a dangerous workplace that nurses should be discouraged from working there until conditions change. “It’s not done lightly and it’s not done without lots of discussion prior to it,” Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said on Wednesday, as union members began voting on whether to give Manitoba’s largest hospital what’s referred to as a “grey listing” designation.
- Manitoba is extending a provincewide state of emergency due to wildfires for another month. The extension will keep the state of emergency in place until Aug. 22, according to a provincial news release on Thursday. The province first declared a state of emergency on May 28 at the front end of what’s become the worst wildfire season in three decades in Manitoba. Premier Wab Kinew and emergency management officials lifted that state of emergency June 23, a few days short of a month, due to improving conditions at the time.
Saskatchewan
- Two former City of Regina employees have filed a civil lawsuit against the city due to a dispute over severance. Ly Pham, who was the chief of staff under former city manager Niki Anderson, and Audra Young, who was the Indigenous relations director, both filed a civil suit July 4 under the representation of Saskatoon’s George Green with McKercher LLP. Young was hired in February 2022 on a five-year, fixed-term contract. Pham was hired in December 2021 and was later promoted to chief of staff — extending her employment until February 2028 on a fixed-term contract.
- Saskatchewan Polytechnic is cutting jobs for the second time this year to deal with declining tuition revenue as fewer international students come to the province for higher education. The school attributes the big drop in international enrolment to changes in Ottawa’s immigration policies, including the cap on student visas. International students pay more than domestic students for the same courses. Sask Polytech recently sent layoff notices to 14 out-of-scope employees and will not fill eight vacant positions. The school also axed 27 jobs in April.
- Changes to Saskatchewan’s Workers’ Compensation Act came into effect at the beginning of August, expanding presumptive cancer coverage to wildland firefighters. This simplifies the process for workers to receive benefits, assuming that many forms of cancer stem from their occupation. Originally, there were 16 forms of cancer under Saskatchewan’s presumptive coverage. Amendments in the fall added six others: laryngeal, pancreatic, penile and thyroid cancers, as well as soft tissue sarcoma and mesothelioma.
- A group of citizens and climate advocacy groups have filed a court case to stop the Saskatchewan government from maintaining the province’s three coal-fired power plants past 2030. Citizens for Public Justice, the Saskatchewan Environmental Society, and three people from Saskatchewan and Manitoba are behind the lawsuit. Represented by Saskatchewan-based environmental lawyer Glenn Wright, they have filed an application for judicial review against the government. “Coal is the dirtiest source of energy that we have. We argue that it has no place in any electricity grid in Canada,” said Maryo Wahba, a Climate Justice Policy Analyst at Citizens for Public Justice.
Alberta
- Alberta is no longer sure about big savings from auto insurance reforms. Due to tariffs, hail storms, and UCP moving off prediction of $400 premium reduction. When Premier Danielle Smith announced a dramatic shift to a new auto insurance system that largely removes Albertans’ rights to sue at-fault drivers for compensation, she and her ministers dangled the prospect of big discounts for motorists. “These better, faster services would be delivered at a savings of up to $400 per year on insurance premiums,” she said at the November announcement.
- A judge has reserved his decision on whether to review a proposed Alberta separation referendum question. Court of King’s Bench Justice Colin Feasby is expected to give his ruling Aug. 14. The matter stems from Alberta chief electoral officer Gordon McClure referring the proposed question to the Edmonton court last week. He has asked the judge to determine whether the question violates the Constitution, including treaty rights.
- Advance polls in a historic federal byelection for Alberta’s Battle River-Crowfoot open today, and for the first time ever, Elections Canada says voters must fill out a blank ballot. Prime Minister Mark Carney called the byelection in June after Conservative Damien Kurek, who had handily won the seat in the April general election, stepped down so Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre could run. Poilievre lost his long-held Ottawa seat of Carleton.
- The government of Ontario, working with Alberta and Saskatchewan, wants to explore the feasibility of a new west-east pipeline to bring western oil and gas to southern Ontario refineries and ports. Ontario issued a request for proposals to conduct a study “exploring options for establishing a new economic and energy corridor” between the provinces, according to a government news release Thursday. “By advancing a Canadian energy corridor from Alberta to Ontario, we are securing long-term energy access for families and businesses, creating thousands of jobs, and opening new doors for trade and investment, while strengthening our position as a global energy leader,” said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in the news release.
British Columbia
- Finance Minister Brenda Bailey released B.C.’s public accounts Thursday, confirming that Premier David Eby increased the provincial debt by almost 50 per cent in his first two years in office. Eby inherited a provincial debt of $89 billion the year he took over from John Horgan. As of the end of his second full year as premier, the debt had soared to $133 billion, up $44 billion, or 49.4 per cent.
- Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Canadians, including British Columbians, want a new oil pipeline, and Premier David Eby can’t be allowed as one man to block the project. Poilievre says the country can’t wait for complete agreement on the idea, calling it a “basic fact” that a new pipeline is needed. Eby has repeatedly said there’s no point in discussing or supporting a pipeline that is being pushed by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and others until there is a proponent for such a project. Poilievre, speaking in Calgary, says that’s a “chicken and egg problem,” because the reason there’s no proponent is that there has been inadequate government support.
- Premier David Eby said a meeting on Wednesday between the premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney on the status of U.S. trade negotiations was “informative.” On Aug. 1, U.S. President Donald Trump introduced 35 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods not covered under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement. Trump’s previously announced tariffs also include a 50 per cent levy on steel and aluminum, 50 per cent on copper, and 25 per cent on auto parts. Eby said in a statement he “reminded the Prime Minister that our province will be the economic engine of Canada, and deserves our fair share of Ottawa’s attention and support.”
- Light rain and higher humidity have briefly tempered wildfire activity in British Columbia, with some residents allowed to return to evacuated homes on Vancouver Island and in the Fraser Canyon. But hotter temperatures in the forecast appear poised to create new challenges. Cliff Chapman, director of wildfire operations with the B.C. Wildfire Service said a drying trend starting this weekend is expected to cause the southern half of the province to “heat up again,” raising the wildfire risk.
Northwest Territories
- Deninu Kųę́ First Nation in Fort Resolution, N.W.T., says it has finally found the places where five children and two adults were buried, after years of searching for unmarked graves linked to the former St. Joseph’s Residential School. In a news release Thursday afternoon, the First Nation said the sites were located on Mission Island. “Who they are and the circumstances surrounding their deaths has yet to be determined,” the First Nation wrote.
Yukon
- Yukon Energy has selected 10 potential sites for a $100-million fossil fuel generator project called the Whitehorse Power Centres. The project will include two thermal power centres, and a new substation on Long Lake Road in Whitehorse. The utility is also considering a third power centre as a contingency. The generators will be powered by diesel, LNG, or both. Yukon Energy has identified five potential sites for the generators north of Whitehorse’s city centre, between the city’s waste management facility and Deep Creek, and five other sites to the south, between Robert Service Way and the McCrae area.
Nunavut
- The Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link (KHFL), an ambitious infrastructure project designed to deliver renewable energy from Manitoba to some of Canada’s most isolated Arctic communities, enjoys broad-based political and grassroots support — but it’s fate remains in jeopardy. The project involves a plan to build a 1,200-kilometre transmission line beginning in northern Manitoba that would provide clean electricity and internet access to remote Nunavut communities, like Arviat (pop. 2,766), Whale Cove (pop. 470), Rankin Inlet (pop. 2,975), Chesterfield Inlet (pop. 397), and Baker Lake (pop. 2,061), all of which currently rely on off-grid diesel for energy.