Provincial and Territorial Update – February 20, 2026
An overview on Provincial and Territorial updates for the week of February 20, 2026. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- The New Brunswick government’s budget deficit is projected to reach an unprecedented $1.3 billion this year, more than double what the Holt Liberals originally projected. Finance Minister René Legacy said it will now be “extremely difficult” for the government to balance the budget by the end of its four-year mandate in 2028. A balanced budget was a Liberal election promise in 2024, but both spending and revenue projections have made that impossible.
- Irving Paper on Saint John’s east side will get up to $45 million in tariff relief funds over the next three years from Opportunities New Brunswick, which includes a subsidy to its electricity rate. The province announced seven companies will get up to $54.3 million over the next three years. The money is the first to be spent from ONB’s $40-million competitive growth fund. According to Luke Randall, the minister responsible for Opportunities New Brunswick, the seven companies were selected after making proposals to the Crown agency.
- A representative of the Saint John Police Association who was forcibly removed from city council chambers last week has filed formal complaints against the mayor, security personnel and the city’s chief administrative officer for what he describes as his “sudden attack/assault.” Bob Davidson alleges Mayor Donna Reardon violated “multiple” provisions of the Code of Conduct for Elected Members of the City of Saint John when she instructed a security guard to escort him out of the regularly scheduled meeting Feb. 9.
- The province has yet to complete the corrections to its child death review process recommended by the auditor general — despite promising to do so by September. The process is meant to look at why children die unnatural deaths, and whether public institutions can do more to prevent similar tragedies. Speaking at the legislature’s public accounts committee on Thursday, deputy minister Mike Comeau said the Department of Justice and Public Safety is still working to set a standards agreement with pathologists.
Nova Scotia
- Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston is shaking up the Natural Resources Department in what an internal memo describes as “a deliberate step” to align with the government’s priority of finding new ways to boost revenues. But one of the people affected by the changes says they will be “completely devastating to conservation” in the province. The changes were outlined by Natural Resources deputy minister Sandra McKenzie on Thursday in an internal email obtained by CBC News.
- Halifax councillors are questioning why the budget for the mayor’s office has risen in a tough financial year when the mayor himself has urged all departments to find cuts and do more with less. Across Wednesday and Thursday, staff in Mayor Andy Fillmore’s office answered questions from councillors on the budget committee about their 2026-27 budget. The office’s budget has increased about 16 per cent over last year, to hit about $1.1 million. Part of the $156,000 increase was for a new communications and digital co-ordinator position, bringing the office from six to seven people.
- Nine businesses in and around Halifax are among the first to benefit from the federal government’s new defence industry strategy. Sean Fraser, the federal minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), was in Dartmouth on Thursday to announce a total of $4 million for the businesses whose products and services support Canada’s defence systems. Among the companies was Sensor Technology, where the funding announcement was made.
- Province House will be bustling on Monday as MLAs return for a sitting of the legislature, but NDP Leader Claudia Chender says for most of the year, the building “might as well be a museum.” Chender held a news conference Thursday at Province House ahead of the sitting and criticized Premier Tim Houston for a “lack of transparency and availability” that she called “shocking.” “This government has not delivered what they promised, and they have not been accountable for their choices,” she said.
Prince Edward Island
- Animal protection officers with the P.E.I. Humane Society have seized another large number of animals, this time involving 57 reptiles and exotic species. The shelter posted on social media Thursday that the Feb. 18 seizure was made under the provincial Animal Welfare Act. The society said it is caring for the animals along with its foster network while an investigation takes place. Ashley Travis, development and communications co-ordinator for the P.E.I. Humane Society, would not comment on the specific species or breeds or where they were seized from.
- The spring sitting of the P.E.I. Legislature will be prorogued for 30 days, Premier Rob Lantz announced Friday afternoon. MLAs already knew they would not be returning to Province House for the upcoming spring sitting of the legislature, the start date for which was set for Feb. 24. Now, the spring sitting is set to return to the George Coles Building on March 24, beginning with a speech from the throne.
- P.E.I.’s opposition parties say they’ll push for updates on the recommendations in a report on sexual misconduct in Island schools when the legislature opens next week — particularly around better recognition of grooming behaviour. Grooming is the process by which someone builds trust with a child, and sometimes the adults around them, in order to gain access to the child to normalize certain behaviours and potentially carry out future abuse.
- Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a new defence industry strategy this week, and P.E.I.’s premier says the province will create an advisory panel to advise Island companies on how to take advantage of the billions in spending the plan contains. Carney’s long-awaited strategy includes a goal to use defence investment to leverage national jobs and the economy.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Newfoundland and Labrador’s once highly touted wind-to-hydrogen industry was dealt another blow on Thursday. The PC government has signalled that its patience has run out with some of the project proponents, stripping World Energy GH2, EverWind and Toqlukuti’k Wind and Hydrogen of their Crown land reserves for not paying their land reserve fees.
- Premier Tony Wakeham is doubling down on his decision to pay one of his political staffers with money earmarked for Newfoundland and Labrador’s medical care plan (MCP). Dr. Desmond Whalen was hired as a special advisor in Wakeham’s office, earning a salary of $275,000 for 28 hours of work per week. “I have said repeatedly that if you want to fix health care, go talk to the people who work in it,” Wakeham told CBC News on Tuesday.
- Community organizations across Newfoundland and Labrador are hoping the new Progressive Conservative government will follow through on its election promise to implement a multi-year core funding model. Currently, community groups must apply annually for funding, creating uncertainty at the end of each fiscal year. Kaberi Sarma-Debnath, executive director of the Multicultural Women’s Organization of N.L., told Radio-Canada that her group applies for funding from the provincial government every February. They also receive additional funding for certain programs from the provincial and federal governments.
- Nunatsiavut Construction Inc will be winding down operations over the coming year. The Nunatsiavut Group of Companies made the announcement this week under the direction of the Labrador Inuit Capital Strategy Trust. Officials anticipate that it could take close to a year to conclude all current obligations and operations. The company, which is 100 per cent Inuit-owned, says employees have been informed and assistance is being provided by the group’s human resources department.
Quebec
- The Quebec government and specialist doctors still seem far from reaching an agreement. Treasury Board President France-Élaine Duranceau announced Wednesday that the parties were unable to reach an agreement on the issue of salaries. Specialist doctors are demanding a 17 per cent increase in their compensation package. “What specialist doctors are asking for in terms of a salary increase is unreasonable, really unreasonable,” said Premier François Legault. Earlier in the day, the Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists (FMSQ) had indicated that, faced with the “deadlock,” its members had no choice but to take action.
- Christine Fréchette, a candidate to succeed François Legault, is considering removing the controversial Article 29 from Quebec’s draft constitution, which aims to protect the right to abortion. “I think that if there is no support for it, we will either have to reword it or remove it,” Fréchette said during a press scrum on Wednesday at the National Assembly.
- The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) leadership race has clouded the future of Quebec’s immigration pathways and the expected provincial budget. While the Quebec Liberals have announced their new leader, the race between former CAQ cabinet ministers Christine Fréchette and Bernard Drainville won’t be finalized until April 12. Outgoing Premier François Legault said in January that he would resign after serving as the head of the CAQ — the party he co-founded — since its inception.
- The axe has fallen: Marwah Rizqy will not be reinstated to the Liberal caucus. The new leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, Charles Milliard, justified his decision by citing “all the ongoing proceedings” and the fact that he does not have all the information about the events of the past few months. “I want to be very clear, I told her that this is in no way a punishment against her. But for me, in my rigorous and methodical way of working and establishing myself as a political leader, I want to have all the information,” he explained on Wednesday.
Ontario
- Premier Doug Ford had choice words for students expressing concerns over recent cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) Tuesday, telling them to “not pick basket-weaving courses” and to invest in education that gives people in-demand jobs. Speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park, Ford said he received “thousands of calls” from students over the long weekend, who expressed concerns about the province cutting the amount of grant money students can receive through OSAP. “I mentioned to the students, you have to invest in your future, into in-demand jobs,” he said.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reject many of U.S. President Donald Trump’s global tariffs represents “another important victory,” but he says the fight will continue. Ford made the comment in a post on social media on Friday, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Trump did not have the power to impose many of his tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Trump declared a national emergency in order to use IEEPA to slap Canada and other countries with 35 percent tariffs.
- The Ontario government will allow bars and restaurants across the province to start selling alcohol at 6 a.m. ET on Sunday as the Canadian men’s hockey team competes for a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Premier Doug Ford made the announcement in a social media post on Friday, not long after Canada toppled Finland in a nail-biting semifinal matchup. The gold medal game starts at 8:10 a.m. ET on Sunday. “Let’s all come together, support local businesses and cheer on Team Canada!” Ford said.
- The Taste of the Danforth is set to return this summer, organizers say, following Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s offer to revive the festival. “The Taste of Danforth is back on track for 2026. We can confirm that it will be happening this year,” Tony Pethakas, the chair of the Greektown on the Danforth business improvement area (BIA), told CP24 on Wednesday night. “We’re super excited about everybody coming to visit us at this year’s Taste.” Pethakas shared with CP24 that the festival is scheduled to take place from Aug. 7 to 9. The popular summertime event, which typically takes place during the second weekend of August in the city’s Greektown neighbourhood, has been cancelled for the last two years.
Manitoba
- A northern Manitoba First Nation is suing the federal and provincial governments, as well as Manitoba Hydro, saying a hydro project has led to “destructive impacts” over half a century in its territory. Norway House Cree Nation has suffered “irreparable harm” from a project regulating waterflow to increase power generation along the Nelson River “almost entirely for the benefit of non-Indigenous populations,” the First Nation said in a statement of claim filed in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Thursday.
- Surging costs in health care have forced the Manitoba government to once again find money for unbudgeted expenditures. The province approved a $200 million special warrant to handle health-care costs not accounted for in the last budget but “required for the public good,” according to an order in council dated last week. Finance Minister Adrien Sala says the extra spending reflects the NDP’s efforts to shore up the health-care system.
- Winnipeg’s extended-hour clinic staff will soon be checking in and treating patients waiting for care at emergency departments, Manitoba’s health minister says. Uzoma Asagwara says clinic staff will be able to go into an emergency department and identify patients who would benefit from being seen at their clinic instead. Asagwara says work to rollout the initiative will be happening “right away” as the province looks to address long wait times in hospitals.
- More than 1,500 potential weapons were detected by scanners at the doors of Manitoba’s biggest hospital over an eight-month period last year, including more than 300 at the entrance to the Children’s Hospital, according to information obtained by Radio-Canada through a freedom of information request. The 1,546 potentially harmful items detected during that period at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg work out to an average of six per day between March 8 and Nov. 20, 2025. The scanners, which are powered by artificial intelligence, were piloted for several months before the province announced they’d become a permanent fixture in February 2025.
Saskatchewan
- A former Regina political candidate who helped run a network of massage parlours that offered “sexual encounters” with several women, including his wife, is heading to trial on a raft of criminal charges. Trevor Wowk, a 65-year-old former candidate for the People’s Party of Canada, is charged with advertising and living off the avails of sexual services, money laundering, intentionally provoking a state of fear in a police officer, possession of unlicensed firearms, illegal storage of firearms, forgery and possession and sale of illegal tobacco.
- The Government of Saskatchewan has quietly issued more than $650 million in additional spending just weeks before the provincial budget. Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck slammed the decision to issue the so-called “special warrants” at a news conference on Wednesday. “Instead of a plan to dig us out from this mess, we see Scott Moe and the Sask. Party wanting to hit the gas,” Beck said.
- The government of Saskatchewan says a decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on President Donald Trump’s tariffs is “good news,” but it remained cautious as it continues to assess the impact. The decision issued Friday morning ruled Trump overstepped his authority when he used the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs on multiple countries, including Canada.
- A former member of the First Nations University of Canada’s leadership team is now suing the university, claiming he was forced out of his job in the wake of a CBC News investigation that revealed an internal investigation found school president Jacqueline Ottmann had engaged in nepotism, mismanagement and “empire building.” Gord Hunchak, the former vice-president of university relations, filed his lawsuit against First Nations University of Canada earlier this month in Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench.
Alberta
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on Friday defended proposals to limit government benefits to non-permanent residents in the province. Smith wants to put immigration measures and constitutional questions to Albertans via a referendum that will be held on Oct. 19. She announced the plan in a Thursday evening video address to Albertans. During a news conference Friday, she reiterated that the costs of benefits like health care, education and social services are a strain on government coffers.
- Reaction to Premier Danielle Smith’s provincewide address was swift Thursday night, with critics challenging her government’s framing of immigration, economic pressures and Alberta’s finances. In her televised remarks, Smith linked the province’s fiscal strain to lower oil prices, rapid population growth and federal immigration policy, while signalling referendum questions touching on provincial powers and migration. Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt described the speech as unusually broad in scope. “It was a fire hose of information. Like, this was about three different TV addresses that she could have done,” Bratt said.
- Edmontonians who live in MP Matt Jeneroux’s riding are expressing a range of reaction to the news he is leaving the Conservatives to join the Liberal caucus. Jeneroux, a former Progressive Conservative MLA in Alberta, has been the member of Parliament for Edmonton Riverbend since 2015. He won the riding for the fourth time in last year’s federal election. Jeneroux joined Prime Minister Mark Carney in Edmonton on Wednesday to announce he would now sit as a Liberal in the House of Commons.
- In the face of classrooms with ever-increasing complexity, the government is sending many Alberta schools a complexity team that will effectively serve as a teacher’s backup. In efforts to ease their province’s classroom complexity issues, the main point of tension during October 2025’s teachers’ strike, the Alberta Government has announced funding to establish nearly 500 complexity teams. Each team will consist of one teacher and two educational assistants. Each of the 476 teams will have a designated, high-complexity K-6 school.
British Columbia
- B.C. Premier David Eby said on Friday that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on President Donald Trump’s tariffs was a win for British Columbians and Canadians. “There are signs of spring… there may be a thawing in some of this challenge that we faced and the willingness of those that hold the checks and balances of power in the United States to stand up for the relationship that we have valued over the years,” Eby said.
- At a Greater Vancouver Board of Trade event Friday morning, B.C. Premier David Eby spoke at length about his government’s controversial budget before a room full of stakeholders. “The goals of the budget are grow the economy, stabilize provincial finances to be able to deliver the services that families deserve,” Eby said in his opening address at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. The premier cited several reasons for his government’s projected $13.3‑billion deficit, including falling natural gas and timber prices.
- Premier David Eby says B.C. will look at its options to bring legal pressure in the United States to force the cancellation of more tariffs after the Friday (Feb. 20) U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the main batch of levies. “I think it opens up the possibility for us to challenge, or for others to challenge, the softwood lumber national security tariffs that we’ve been facing,” Eby said. “Obviously, it’s early days, but certainly if that’s available to us, we will pursue it.” The court decision strikes down the tariffs that U.S. President Trump had implemented using a 1970s-era emergency powers law.
- Former B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad has announced he will not be entering the party’s leadership race, saying the decision comes after “a lot of reflection.” He says in a statement posted to social media that he did not make the choice lightly and he believes the best thing he can do for the party and the province is “support the next leader and help ensure we come out of this process stronger, not divided.” Rustad resigned as leader in December after 20 members of his caucus signed a letter saying they had lost confidence in him. The party’s board had declared him “professionally incapacitated.”
Northwest Territories
- A federal program meant to improve access to care for Indigenous peoples has been costing the N.W.T. government millions of dollars because the federal government underfunds it, say some leaders in the territory. The Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) program pays for some medical costs including dental care, vision and out-of-territory medical travel for First Nations and Inuit people, according to Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). In the Northwest Territories, the federal program is administered by the territorial government.
Yukon
- Regular school bus delays and cancellations are putting stress on families in Dawson City, Yukon, says Klondike MLA Brent McDonald. On Monday, staff at Robert Service School notified parents that afternoon school bus pick up would be cancelled starting the next day until the end of the month, due to staff shortages. McDonald said this is not the first time services have been cancelled on short notice, leaving parents and caregivers scrambling to come up with alternative plans for how get their kids to and from school.
Nunavut
- Helen Klengenberg says she’s noticed fewer and fewer people speaking Inuinnaqtun where she lives in Kugluktuk, Nunavut. “You hear from many people that we’re losing our language, especially Inuinnaqtun,” she said. “It’s very difficult to speak Inuinnaqtun nowadays. Wherever I go I try to speak it, however you get responses back in English. So it’s very difficult and there are very few speakers left.” Klengenberg was the territory’s languages commissioner from 2017 to 2019, so she knows how important preserving Inuinnaqtun is. The languages commissioner is is appointed for a five-year term by the Commissioner of Nunavut on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly.