Provincial and Territorial Update for the end of July 2026
An overview on Provincial and Territorial updates for the end of July 2026. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- Progressive Conservatives in New Brunswick are facing an increasingly fractious leadership race this summer that threatens their ability to unite in time for the next provincial election. Some party members are using social media to attack candidate Daniel Allain, a former PC cabinet minister, for what they call a betrayal of party unity in 2023. Allain, meanwhile, is continuing to question the integrity of his opponent, rookie MLA Don Monahan, over what Allain calls a vote-buying scheme — even after the party and Elections New Brunswick said it broke no rules.
- Taxpayers in three New Brunswick municipalities paid double or triple the normal cost of elected councils after provincial supervisors were appointed to replace councils that collapsed following multiple resignations. The communities of Strait Shores, Sunbury-York South and Miramichi River Valley each had a supervisor appointed by the Local Governance Commission last year to replace their mayors and councillors after multiple resignations left councils without enough members to govern.
- Canadian Copper Inc. has purchased the shuttered Caribou Mine in northern New Brunswick, a deal the company and government hope will revive mining in the Bathurst region nearly four years after operations ceased. The Ontario-based company completed the purchase Tuesday. The Caribou Mine site, which is located about 55 kilometres west of Bathurst, includes a processing mill, tailings pond, mineral rights and permits.
- A company planning a massive new solar farm for rural Tantramar must first find a buyer for the electricity it plans to produce. Executives from BNRG Renewables were in Sackville this month to fill in Tantramar councillors about the 150-megawatt solar farm they’ve proposed for a 400-hectare site in the farming community of Cookville, about 15 kilometres north of Sackville. “Selling the power is hurdle number one,” said Kenny Wheeler, the project manager for Cookville Solar, a partnership between BNRG and the North Shore Mi’kmaq Tribal Council.
Nova Scotia
- It could cost Cape Breton Regional Municipality $700,000 to fix the problems it created by taking over garbage collection from contractors this spring, according to a new report from CBRM’s public works director. John Phalen is asking council for the extra money three months into the fiscal year, saying he needs to hire even more staff to ensure trash and recyclables get picked up on time. But councillors objected and deferred that request to next week.
- As Nova Scotia’s school lunch program heads into its third year, some local businesses that make the food say they’re expanding and hiring to supply some of the millions of meals offered to students. They say the program has economic benefits, in addition to feeding hungry students and their families. Nova Scotia’s Education Minister Brendan Maguire says the program’s $80-million cost last school year was recouped through about $2.45 million from parents.
- The Nova Scotia government says it’s planning to expand local RCMP resources with millions of dollars in new spending to address concerns about inadequate police services across the province. Overall, the government says it will spend $16 million this year and $18 million annually in subsequent years as part of a plan to hire 25 new officers. “You can’t anticipate where something’s going to happen or when it’s going to happen,” said Justice Minister Scott Armstrong, who announced the RCMP expansion plans on Wednesday.
- The Maritime provinces are studying whether they should deepen integration of their electricity grids, and officials in Nova Scotia say their interest is based largely on energy affordability. “It will save money,” Premier Tim Houston told reporters Tuesday, referring to a regional electricity system operator. “We’re all running our own independent grids. That means we need to have redundant capacity just in case something happens and we can make sure we can power homes and businesses.”
Prince Edward Island
- A new 25,000-square-foot cold-storage space coming to Summerside’s port will allow Prince Edward Island food companies to store products that require refrigeration or freezing. The facility is a fist of its kind for Prince County and is expected to make a significant difference for food sector companies in P.E.I. Mitch Shea, CEO of the Summerside Port Corporation, said the project is an opportunity to use the space year-round. The warehouse where the facility is being constructed is currently used to house dry food products.
- Prince Edward Island is asking residents and businesses how it should modernize the way alcohol is sold and regulated, as the province reviews liquor laws that are decades old. Finance and Affordability Minister Jill Burridge, who is responsible for the P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission, said the province’s Liquor Control Act and its regulations no longer reflect the realities of life on the Island today. “We live in a different society than we did back then, so it is absolutely time,” Burridge told Island Morning host Wayne Thibodeau Friday.
- An organization that got its start in Prince Edward Island is getting a major financial boost from Ottawa to help grow Canada’s bio-based economy. Natural Products Canada, which was founded in Charlottetown and now works with companies across the country, is receiving $50 million in federal funding to support startups and growing businesses that develop natural products. Shelley King, founder and CEO of Natural Products Canada, said the funding announced Tuesday is significant for both P.E.I. and Canada as a whole.
- P.E.I. Premier Rob Lantz says he remains the right person to lead the governing Progressive Conservatives and guide the province into a future of major infrastructure investments, despite growing political pressure following a recent byelection loss. One of those major projects is an expansion of electricity connection between P.E.I. and New Brunswick, which would involve adding two new submarine power cables between the provinces. Ottawa announced $5.9 million in funding last week for planning work on the project. The announcement came during the week P.E.I. hosted Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders, as well as Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Newfoundland and Labrador’s health authority has paid nearly $10 million to a private company tasked with creating efficiencies in the health-care system, but now, as that contract nears its end, two union leaders say the company’s work hasn’t helped their members. In a statement to CBC News, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NLHS) says the contract with Change Healthcare Canada was, “set up to improve workforce scheduling and other operational processes. The aim is to find efficiencies, reduce administrative burden and workplace pressure on health-care providers where possible, and help ensure patients continue to receive safe, high-quality care.”
- Newfoundland and Labrador’s education minister and the province’s NDP leader are voicing their support for measures to protect children and teens from substance abuse in schools. It comes from a series of recommendations made following a recent review of a child’s death, which called for “mandatory, age-appropriate substance abuse education starting in primary school.” Education Minister Paul Dinn said the death of the child that sparked the review is heartbreaking.
- Farmers in Newfoundland and Labrador are eager to embrace how artificial intelligence (AI) could help boost production, though experts warn there are environmental and social hurdles to its adoption. Green Farm N.L., an indoor hydroponic farm based in Mount Pearl’s Donovans industrial park, uses nutrient-enriched water to grow crops like spinach, lettuce and basil year-round in towers that are illuminated by UV lights. “It takes a lot of different technologies to allow us to produce things, distribute them and do direct retail,” CEO Scott Neary told CBC News.
- Opposition Leader John Hogan worries Newfoundland and Labrador could miss the chance to lower electricity costs for residents because the province didn’t sign onto a regional energy partnership with the Maritime provinces. During the annual summer first ministers’ meeting, three provinces — Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island — announced a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian government aimed at addressing electricity affordability and strengthening transmission infrastructure.
Quebec
- With one month to go before the official start of the election campaign, Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) Leader Charles Milliard has set out his “firm and pragmatic” approach – in four commitments – to strengthen the province’s influence within Canada, develop new trade alliances and prepare for changes in the North American economy. “Quebec’s economy depends largely on its relationship with the United States and the rest of Canada, and we currently have a leadership in the Quebec government that is not seeking to reap the full benefits of this,” he said on Wednesday at a press conference outside the U.S. Consulate in Quebec City. “I am deeply committed to further developing Quebec’s economy within the current geopolitical context.”
- Quebec’s Federation of Private Educational Institutions (FEEP) is offering to help the public school system by taking in more students with severe learning or adjustment difficulties. To do so, the Ministry of Education must grant it the necessary licence, which it currently only holds in 12 specialized private schools. “Some people say, ‘When pupils are struggling, you send them to the public system,’ but it’s not because we want to. It’s because we have no choice,” said FEEP President Vickie Viens. She says she would like the Ministry of Education to extend licences to the entire private sector so they can take in students with disabilities, as well as adjustment and learning difficulties.
- A Quebec City-based software company is suing Santé Québec for allegedly making a “counterfeit copy” of its scheduling platform in violation of a confidentiality agreement. According to court documents, Solutions Petal Inc. originally supplied Santé Québec with “L’Orchestrateur,” a patient-booking software, in 2010. The lawsuit claims that to bypass the original system, “they launched a competitive bidding process to select a firm that would produce source code capable of replicating Petal’s L’Orchestrateur solution.” Petal claims Quebec’s Health and Social Services Ministry and Santé Québec acquired the rights to use the software in perpetuity in 2020.
- A report commissioned by Hydro-Québec is recommending the utility forgive more than $250 million in unpaid electricity bills owed by members of some First Nations and Inuit communities. The report, prepared by retired Quebec judge François Rolland, was commissioned by Hydro-Québec after a 2024 Radio-Canada investigation revealed the scale of unpaid electricity bills by people living in 15 communities. According to the utility, nearly half the customers in those communities have outstanding balances.
Ontario
- The Ford government is escalating its infrastructure fight with Ottawa, threatening to rescind support for a federal high-speed rail line after the Carney government said it would block the expansion of Toronto’s island airport. The tension now places Premier Doug Ford in a multi-pronged fight that pits his government against Prime Minister Mark Carney, Toronto’s mayor and thousands of waterfront residents who pushed back on the expansion plans.
- Just days after the Ford government tabled the 2026 budget, including a populist measure to cap the prices of resale tickets, the premier received a personal visit from one of Canada’s most powerful CEOs to discuss the law and its potential impact. Premier Doug Ford’s itinerary, obtained by Global News through freedom of information laws, shows Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri met with Ford and Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery Steven Crawford on March 29. Sources said the hour-long meeting, which took place on a Sunday at Ford’s Etobicoke home, was partly focused on the government’s new ticket legislation, which prevents sellers from listing tickets above face value.
- Over his eight years in office, Premier Doug Ford has billed Ontario taxpayers more than $44,000 in airfare, hotels and meals, despite recently claiming that he has “zero” public expenses. As the Ford government weathers an expense scandal, the premier invited reporters to look into his expenses, saying he’s the “only premier in the history of this province that has a zero expense account.” “I have zero expenses,” Ford said on July 20 during an unrelated news conference. But an analysis of his publicly available expense documents show 90 individual expense claims filed between July 2018 and February 2022, including $26,178 on airfare, $17,752 on accommodation, and $445 on food. All the expenses were incurred while Ford was travelling in his role as premier, either within the province, in Canada, or to the United States for various trade missions and meetings with other premiers.
- Ali Kellner says she didn’t realize how much pollution she was breathing until she started wiping it off “my deck, my car and — to my horror — my children.” In early July, communities in east Hamilton became covered in soot. The mother of two said she found her one-year-old covered “head-to-toe” in soot and grime. “I had to scrub him in the bath pretty hard.” The Ward 4 resident spoke to reporters at a news conference alongside Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles and Hamilton NDP MPPs Robin Lennox (Hamilton Centre) and Sandy Shaw (Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas). The opposition politicians say the government knows what’s in the soot and demanded they share that information with the public.
Manitoba
- A high count of the mosquito that carries West Nile virus has prompted a province-mandated fogging program in several areas of Manitoba, including parts of Winnipeg and rural communities. High temperatures across southern Manitoba have shortened the time required for West Nile virus to develop within infected Culex tarsalis mosquitoes and be transmitted to humans, the province said in a news release. Manitoba is currently in the highest-risk period for human exposure, which occurs between July 15 and Aug. 15 each year, the province said.
- Eighteen animal welfare and rescue organizations are asking all three levels of government to better fund and co-ordinate efforts to control canine overpopulation in the wake of the death of a dog-rescue volunteer. Amanda Nobiss, 37, died at Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation earlier this month after visiting the Lake Manitoba community to pick up puppies from a resident. The First Nation has said the homeowner wasn’t there, and Nobiss encountered “protective and aggressive” dogs. She was found on July 17. An autopsy suggests she was killed by the animals, two of which were later euthanized.
- The Manitoba government is telling homeowners it has lowered grocery prices in a pamphlet arriving in mailboxes this week, but a new report suggests the total price for the essentials is actually rising in Winnipeg. Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab crunches grocery prices every month. It found the combined price of 50 standard food items in Winnipeg increased by 1.7 per cent between June and July. “Ask Manitobans what they’re actually seeing, and there’s not one Manitoban that will say grocery prices are lower,” Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan said.
- A review into how Manitoba’s child welfare system is funded is expected to begin by the end of the year, Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine says, as some Indigenous leaders say the current model is failing youth. The independent review to examine the system’s “fiscal health and pressures” could take a year to complete and will be done by an external consulting firm yet to be selected, Fontaine said at a news conference Tuesday. In 2019, Manitoba’s then Progressive Conservative government announced it would move away from per-child payments to a “single envelope” funding model, with the province’s Child and Family Services authorities getting block funding.
Saskatchewan
- Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s trip to Washington, D.C., involved more than just attending the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham. The provincial government announced on Monday that Moe would spend part of this week in the U.S. capital after being invited by the Graham family to attend the funeral. Moe’s office confirmed the premier travelled separately but co-ordinated with federal Internal Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, and attended the funeral with him. Attending the funeral has already drawn criticism from the Official Opposition, who say Graham was a friend and ally of President Donald Trump.
- Saskatoon city council made the right decision to pump the brakes on data centres until they can be studied further, according to the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce. Council unanimously voted on Wednesday to support a study of the positive and negative elements of data centres and to restrict them until the information is gathered. Chamber CEO Jason Aebig called the study “forward-thinking and prudent” in an email Wednesday and called data centres “critical pieces of infrastructure for economic and community development.”
- Saskatchewan’s Official Opposition has released a leaked copy of a report commissioned by the governments of Saskatchewan and Alberta that says health care in Lloydminster faces “critical challenges.” The provinces withheld the report from the public, but a four-page summary released last month said: “Overall, service levels are being met.” Saskatchewan NDP MLA and health critic Meara Conway said the full report shows the province’s public summary “omitted many of the report’s most troubling conclusions.”
- More people are raising questions about the use of force and calling for accountability from RCMP following a violent arrest on Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation earlier this week. Videos show an altercation in the driveway of a home in the community about 250 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon between two RCMP officers and 40-year-old Rose Angus. One officer punches Angus in the face, and the other uses a Taser on her while they wrestle her to the ground between two vehicles. One of the officers yells and swears at her while she’s on the ground.
Alberta
- A sprawling expansion of a massive thermal coal mine has been approved by Alberta’s provincial regulator — clearing the way for the operator to extend the life of the project well into the next decade, despite opposition from conservation groups. The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) issued regulatory permits to Coalspur Mines to expand its operation at the Vista Coal Mine near Hinton, Alta., which would turn the largest coal mine in Canada into the largest in all of North America.
- Some Albertans with disabilities who receive monthly paycheques from the province say heading into August, they’re being shortchanged. Many recipients have reported getting hundreds of dollars less than they normally do, with some reporting that they didn’t get any money at all. Don Slater, who’s received the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) since he was injured in a workplace accident around 2011, said he got about $250 less on this payment. “It’s just a big screw up,” Slater said in an interview Tuesday. “The fact that they couldn’t even get the payments right when … really the most important thing to people is having a sense of security and knowing that their well-being is intact, it’s not.”
- The federal and Alberta governments have signed an agreement to allow municipalities across the province to access hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in water and infrastructure and spur new housing developments. Prime Minister Mark Carney stood alongside Alberta Premier Danielle Smith Wednesday in Red Deer to announce the Canada-Alberta Housing Infrastructure Fund Agreement. The agreement will allow Alberta municipalities to access a $510 million slice of the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF) over eight years. The fund is for housing-enabling water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
- A weeks-long lull in Alberta’s measles activity has health experts cautiously optimistic. But they warn cases could flare up again as the virus circulates elsewhere in Canada and the United States. No new measles cases have been reported since a single case during the first week of June. According to the Alberta government, there is currently no evidence of ongoing community transmission. It said the risk is now considered low, and public health officials are updating measles guidance and public health advisories to reflect that.
British Columbia
- Hundreds more properties around Clinton, B.C., were put under evacuation order Friday morning as the Pear Lake wildfire continues to burn out of control. A new order from the Cariboo Regional District covers 366 land parcels, while an expanded order from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District adds another 536 addressed properties to nearly 600 already under order. The Pear Lake wildfire, which has also prompted evacuations of Clinton and 70 Mile House, had scorched more than 732 square kilometres as of Friday morning.
- The political strategist credited with much of the resurgence of the B.C. Conservatives has announced he is stepping down from his position as the party’s campaign manager and executive director. Angelo Isidorou said in a news release Thursday that he is leaving on “amicable and mutual terms” with new party leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who Isidorou said is leading the party into its next chapter with a fresh mandate.
- The political strategist credited with much of the resurgence of the B.C. Conservatives has announced he is stepping down from his position as the party’s campaign manager and executive director. Angelo Isidorou said in a news release Thursday that he is leaving on “amicable and mutual terms” with new party leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who Isidorou said is leading the party into its next chapter with a fresh mandate.
- Local governments in northeastern B.C. are voicing concerns around the province’s push to fast-track several new wind farms in the region. Developers have secured power purchase agreements for five new wind farms between Fort St. John and Dawson Creek since B.C. Hydro put out two calls for power in 2024 and 2025. Those projects are now going through the B.C. Energy Regulator (BCER) as part of a new approval process that skips lengthy environmental reviews. Construction on the first project could start as early as 2028. “I don’t think we’ve had a lot of consultation. I don’t think the people get to say what they feel and get the opportunity to voice their opinions on any of these projects,” said Reid Graham, a rural director for the Peace River Regional District.
Northwest Territories
- Wildfires in the Northwest Territories are so out of control, it’s stopping construction on a major infrastructure project from starting — at least according to the federal government. “As communities across the North respond to the impacts of wildfires, the safety and security of Canadians remain the top priority. Work will not begin until wildfire conditions are under control and it is safe to proceed,” reads a prepared statement from the office of the federal minister of transport. The Mackenzie Valley Highway is a proposed all-season gravel road that would stretch from Wrigley to Inuvik, connecting the territory’s remote communities.
Yukon
- Recent news out of Washington around U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of additional tariffs threw off Canada’s premiers’ plans to raise several issues with Prime Minister Mark Carney, according to Yukon Premier Currie Dixon. A July 20 proclamation from the White House threatens to add more import duties — 50 per cent on a range of certain products — to offset what it calls “discrimination” against U.S. alcoholic beverages. “That largely pushed aside some of the material we wanted to discuss and the prime minister took the opportunity to provide us all an update on the negotiations and what their plans are from the perspective of the federal government,” Dixon said by phone from Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Nunavut
- The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) is ending its general assembly with a new Canadian chair. Aluki Kotierk was acclaimed into the seat Saturday, taking the position over from Greenland chair Sara Oslvig who led the organization for the last four years. Kotierk’s first speech as new head was about unity. Kotierk, originally from Igloolik, is the chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and has served as the president of the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. for two terms. She’s also held senior positions with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) and Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada.