Provincial and Territorial Update for the End of June 2026
An overview on Provincial and Territorial updates for the end of June 2026. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- New Brunswick’s child and youth advocate is investigating three more deaths of children known to the Department of Social Development, on the heels of his first report on a teen’s death last month. Kelly Lamrock’s report on the death of a teen formerly in government care, known as Bobby, led to two days of legislative committee hearings into the child welfare system last week. Social Development heard over 15 calls of concern about Bobby, and declined his ask for help getting addiction treatment just months before he died of an overdose at 16-years-old.
- A former New Brunswick education minister says artificial intelligence will cause huge disruption in the province, for better or worse. Dominic Cardy appeared last week before the Standing Committee on Official Languages, which wrapped up a nine-stop tour in Woodstock. He told the legislative committee that within the next couple of years, he expects rapid improvement in AI will make translation services and interpreters in Canada’s only bilingual province obsolete.
- A humanist group has warned the District of Tobique Valley it could face legal action over its continued use of the Lord’s Prayer at council meetings, arguing the practice conflicts with a Supreme Court of Canada ruling on religious neutrality. The BC Humanist Association (BCHA) says it is supporting local residents who challenged the practice earlier this year and has set a July 10 deadline for the municipality to respond before the matter is referred for legal review.
- New Brunswick’s two regional health authorities are still figuring out how they’ll manage and operate the NB Health Link program – a new responsibility the RHAs will take on in the coming months. Horizon Health Network will assume responsibility for Health Link clinics in Moncton, Miramichi, Rothesay and Woodstock, as well as two sites in Fredericton, according to Margaret Melanson, president and CEO of the regional health authority.
Nova Scotia
- The Nova Scotia government has granted environmental assessment approval for plans to build what it describes as the province’s largest wind energy project. On Thursday, the Environment Department issued a statement saying the Ocean Lake Wind Project proposed for Guysborough County in eastern Nova Scotia calls for the construction of 158 turbines, each of them 221 metres tall. The proposed sites for the turbines are near the communities of New Harbour, Goldboro, Larry’s River, Lundy and Roachvale.
- It’s business as usual at the QEII Health Sciences Centre reference lab in Halifax as sample tubes snake their way along a conveyor belt. Less than two months ago, some work at this lab and in other parts of the central health zone was scaled back as One Person One Record (OPOR), the province’s new clinical information system, went live in the Halifax area. And while there was much concern and trepidation leading up to the May 9 launch, staff in the system say things have been smoother than they might have anticipated.
- Nova Scotia Health finally has a permanent president and CEO, five years after the previous CEO and board were fired and replaced by an interim leader. Dr. Nicole Boutilier will lead the health authority starting July 1. She takes over from Karen Oldfield, who has been in charge since 2021 but remained under the title interim leader throughout her tenure. Boutilier is a family doctor from Pictou County and is well known within the health authority, having been the executive vice-president.
- There will be no disruption to Marine Atlantic service in the near term as a result of a labour dispute. The union representing the majority of ferry service workers, Unifor, and Marine Atlantic issued a joint statement Tuesday. Representatives on both sides say they have been able to break through an impasse in collective bargaining.
Prince Edward Island
- The province launched a five-year plan on Monday aimed at helping Prince Edward Island seniors be independent and valuable members of the community. The Seniors Action Plan focuses on promoting positive perceptions of aging, enhancing healthy aging and strengthening services. It comes with 79 recommendations. “With all the recommendations, there’s going to be accountability,” said Nancymarie Arsenault, a member of the P.E.I. Seniors’ Secretariat.
- The federal government’s Greener Homes Affordability Program is returning after a pause, giving some Islanders a chance to get better insulation installed in their homes — at no cost. The program, which falls under Environment and Climate Change Canada, is currently available in P.E.I., Nova Scotia, Quebec and British Columbia and will be administered by the provinces. The program is a successor to the previous greener homes grant program that ran out of cash in early 2024.
- A program in Prince Edward Island that helps fathers who have used violence in their families is seeing strong uptake four years after it launched. Caring Dads is a 12‑week, group-based intervention for men who have perpetrated family violence or exposed their children to it. It began on P.E.I. in 2022. It’s delivered in this province through Family Ties, a trauma‑informed counselling program that primarily supports children and youth.
- Some Prince Edward Islanders will see extra money in their bank accounts on Friday as the province rolls out its new Island Essentials Benefit. The benefit, first announced in the provincial budget earlier this year, is meant to help Islanders cope with the rising cost of everyday living. It is available to P.E.I. residents who are 19 or older, file their income taxes and live in the province. No one needs to apply. The province is delivering the payments through the Canada Revenue Agency using the same method already used for tax refunds or credits.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Newfoundland and Labrador’s Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Lela Evans says the provincial government is dedicated to “true reconciliation” with Innu people, but stopped short of any endorsement of Innu history in the region extending beyond 300 years. A one-on-one interview Thursday with the CBC’s Leila Beaudoin marked the first time Evans has taken questions on the cancellation of a planned Innu-led cultural exhibit at the Labrador Interpretation Centre in North West River.
- Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NLHS) sent a letter to parents throughout the province that was “not properly reviewed” and “unclear,” a representative for the health authority stated Tuesday. The letter was about access to youth medical records. Dated June 19, it sparked an immediate reaction from some parents. The CBC has filed repeat requests to speak with someone from NLHS on the subject in the past week. Those requests have so far been ignored.
- Rainfall over wildfires burning near Labrador West provided some much-needed relief, and evacuation orders were lifted for residents of Duley Lake, the Tamarack Golf Course and the Throne Lake area as of Thursday afternoon. An evacuation order remains in place for Walsh River. Earlier Thursday, Labrador City Mayor Jordan Brown told CBC News a cautious approach is being taken when it comes to the decision to lift orders.
- Lt.-Col. Anthony (Tony) McDonald said it’s a good feeling to know his daughter Rebecca now has a “fair shot” at attending medical school at Memorial University. Rebecca faced an unexpected setback in her admission last fall due to her military upbringing, which caused her to move around Canada for most of her childhood. Even though she was born in N.L., Rebecca was not recognized as a resident under the Memorial University Act. It was after Rebecca and her father spoke out against the policy that the provincial government committed to reviewing and updating it — and the changes have now come into effect.
Quebec
- Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette has confirmed she is switching ridings and will run to represent her hometown of Trois-Rivières, Que., in the fall general election. Fréchette told a gathering today she’ll compete in the Trois-Rivières riding vacated by Labour Minister Jean Boulet, who has announced he’s leaving politics. The premier was introduced by her partner, Guy Nadeau, who said he’d be taking a leave of absence from the finance world to support her.
- The Quebec government says it wants 77 per cent of the energy consumed in the province by 2050 to come from renewables, up from the current 48 per cent. Energy Minister Bernard Drainville made the comments as he announced the province’s 25-year resource management plan in Varennes, Que., northeast of Montreal. Describing the goal as ambitious, Drainville says by 2050 Quebec’s share of energy from fossil fuels will drop to 23 per cent from 52 per cent.
- Hydro-Québec has proposed charging higher prices for the top five per cent of residential consumers as demand for electricity continues to increase in the province. The higher rate would affect about 200,000 households in the province whose annual consumption exceeds 35,000 kWh — more than double the average household consumes. Hydro-Québec says the new tariff structure will discourage excessive consumption. “Residential electricity demand is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, and supplying enough electricity to meet this higher demand will put upward pressure on rates for all customers, including those who consume the least,” the utility company said in a press release.
- Even more Quebecers are looking for housing than during the same period last year, according to the Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU). The organization noted that 2,039 tenants are currently receiving active assistance across the province to find housing, citing data from the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ), during a press conference in Montreal on Friday. This number is higher than the 1,899 households assisted last year. These figures are believed to represent only the tip of the iceberg, as other tenants in need are not receiving assistance. Furthermore, tenants are forced to rent housing that is too expensive or does not meet their needs.
Ontario
- Premier Doug Ford’s sweeping expansion of strong mayor powers to nearly half of Ontario’s municipalities was met with “predominantly negative” feedback during consultations, with respondents calling the system “unnecessary” and “undemocratic,” documents obtained by CBC News reveal. The summary of the consultations by Ontario civil servants was obtained through a freedom of information request. They show that during an eight-day period, less than a month before the change came into force, the government received 769 responses to a regulatory registry posting about the strong mayor power expansion.
- The Ford government is officially shutting down a freedom of information request to access government calls on the premier’s personal cellphone records, formalizing a transparency clampdown it announced in March. Before politicians returned to Queen’s Park for the spring session, the government announced it would tighten Ontario’s transparency laws to offer near-blanket exemptions for the premier, ministers and all of their political staff. The changes, which were brought in as part of the 2026 budget, were applied retroactively and meant that two court orders for Premier Doug Ford to release government calls on his personal device were effectively moot.
- Ontario has signed a deal with Utah to boost trade as part of a plan by Premier Doug Ford to strengthen economic ties with individual American states. Ford signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Utah Governor Spencer Cox on Monday, the premier’s office said in a news release. Under the agreement, Ontario and Utah will increase trade in a number of sectors. “Canada and the United States are always stronger when we work together to increase cooperation, collaboration and trade so we can grow the economy on both sides of the border,” Ford said in the release.
- A common criticism both during and after last year’s provincial election was that the Ontario Liberal Party’s platform was Toronto-centric. Sudbury, Ontario, Liberal Riding Association president David Farrow lamented the “Toronto focus of the party,” and then-leader Bonnie Crombie conceded post-election that their lack of region-specific platforms was “a miss.” Leadership candidate Lee Fairclough is on a nine-day tour of Northeast Ontario this week, which includes a July 2 morning stop at Da Capo Café & Lounge in downtown Sudbury to meet with Sudbury.com for an interview.
Manitoba
- Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives are promising to transform the provincial disability services system if elected to government. “What we’ve heard from the disability community is that the current system has failed them,” PC Leader Obby Khan said at a news conference across from the legislative building in Winnipeg on Thursday. “If elected into government, the PC party commits to transforming Manitoba’s disability support system — a needs-based system rooted in human rights, led by Manitobans with disabilities, families and communities.”
- Manitoba is cutting its provincial sales tax on store-bought food starting Wednesday. Most groceries are already tax-exempt, but the July 1 change means there will no longer be seven per cent PST charged on products such as chips, rotisserie chickens and baked goods. The tax cut applies to food sold at grocery and convenience stores, but it’s still charged at restaurants, bakeries and bars. The NDP government says the change could save the average family $100 a year.
- Calls are growing for riders to take safety seriously after new data shows eight people died in off-road vehicle accidents in Manitoba last year. In each case, the riders were not wearing either a helmet or a seatbelt. The majority of cases involved a rollover, with the riders ranging in age from 11 to 63. The eight fatalities are up from five in 2024 and three in 2023, according to figures from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which tracks such deaths. In 2026, RCMP reported four deaths, two involving riders who weren’t wearing helmets.
- Dauphin’s mayor says he’s seen several major floods hit the western Manitoba city in his lifetime — but none as severe as this week’s flooding. “In my lifetime, there have been four or five major floods. This is probably — from a city point of view — as bad as I’ve ever seen it in the city of Dauphin,” Mayor David Bosiak told CBC News. On Wednesday, Dauphin declared a local state of emergency due to rapidly worsening flooding after a deluge of rain poured over the province’s Parkland region earlier this week. The city has received about 115 millimetres of rain since Sunday night — an “unprecedented volume of water,” municipal officials said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
Saskatchewan
- Eleven communities across Saskatchewan declared local states of emergency this week due to flooding, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency. Including two previous declarations, that means 13 communities are under states of emergency as of Thursday, said Tyler Harrison, the SPSA’s manager of emergency service officers. He said nine vulnerable people from Cote First Nation have been evacuated over concerns about accessing emergency services from their homes because of the flooding. The SPSA said those people are being supported by the community and the Red Cross.
- As of July 1, women aged 40 and older in Saskatchewan can book a screening mammogram through the BreastCheck program without a referral, the provincial government says. It’s the final phase of an 18-month rollout. The province started lowering the eligibility age in January 2025. It says roughly 76,000 more women can now get screened. Jennie Dale, founder and executive director of Dense Breasts Canada, pushed for the change for years. “It’s a great day for women in Saskatchewan,” Dale said. “It’s an opportunity for life-saving screening.”
- Changes to the child-care funding model in Saskatchewan have taken effect as of July 1. The provincial government has adjusted the grant system, designed to bridge the difference between parental $10-a-day fees and the actual cost of daycare placements. The province announced earlier this year that, as of July 1, it would only pay the monthly Parent Fee Reduction Grant to daycare centres for the number of spaces a centre is licensed to have.
- Saskatchewan Justice Minister Tim McLeod is unconcerned with the prospect of fewer criminal charges for drunk drivers if it makes the province’s streets safer. McLeod announced Monday that the provincial government intends to move toward administrative penalties for those who fail a roadside breath test to avoid the time and resources it takes to pursue criminal charges. The potential changes would be made to the Traffic Safety Act. The decision on whether to pursue criminal charges will be made by police officers on the spot, McLeod said, unless drivers are involved in a collision or are transporting someone under 16.
Alberta
- Canada will develop a new West Coast pipeline to carry up to a million barrels of Alberta-produced oil per day to export markets in Asia, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Thursday. Carney, speaking at a news conference in Calgary, said the government will enter into a public-private partnership on a project that marks a dramatic shift in the Liberal government’s federal energy policy and delivers a major political win to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
- Alberta formally pitched its vision for a new oil pipeline to the west coast of British Columbia on Thursday, hours after the province reached a political compromise with Ottawa to clear a path for the project. The proposed pipeline would generally follow the existing footprint of the federally owned Trans Mountain pipeline, running from Bruderheim, northeast of Edmonton, to the Roberts Bank export terminal in Delta, B.C., south of Vancouver.
- The mayor of Alberta’s largest city says he wants to hold an anti-separation advocacy campaign as the province nears a referendum on quitting the country but that provincial rules prevent the city from taking that step. Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas is advocating for Premier Danielle Smith’s government to lift restrictions that he says bar the municipality from actively campaigning on the issue. “I’m going to use my voice, certainly as mayor, the full power of my platform to speak out against this misguided economic carnage that separation would cause,” Farkas said Thursday after a Calgary Stampede event with Smith.
- The possibility of Alberta separating from Canada was top of mind for Maple Leaf-clad Albertans in the province’s largest city on Wednesday as they celebrated the birth of Confederation. Federalists and separatists said they hoped Albertans would spend some time on Canada Day thinking about what the country has done for them. On Oct. 19, voters are to decide whether they want the province to remain in Canada or to start the process for holding a second, binding vote on quitting Confederation. The campaign period for the referendum began in May, and a number of groups have formed to try to sway public opinion.
British Columbia
- Prime Minister Mark Carney says his government will uphold a tanker ban off B.C.’s North Coast, taking the wind out of the sails of any potential oil pipeline route to the region. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been among those who have favoured exporting heavy crude to B.C.’s North Coast due to the region’s proximity to Asia and the existence of deep-water ports. However, opponents of such projects have argued that the risks of a spill are too great for the marine environment, which holds important ecological, environmental, and economic value for people in the region. Carney’s reaffirmation of the ban came as part of a new multibillion-dollar Canada-British Columbia Cooperative Prosperity Agreement he announced alongside Premier David Eby in Vancouver on Thursday.
- British Columbia Premier David Eby says a joint federal-provincial plan to convert unsold condominiums into affordable housing would be like buying something “on liquidation.” Eby and Prime Minister Mark Carney were in Vancouver Thursday announcing a multibillion-dollar agreement on energy, resources and transportation investments, but they also defended their plan to buy empty condos that has been roundly criticized. The premier says he would like the opportunity to launch the program so people can see the plan in action, which would address the criticism of a bailout for developers who can’t sell their units.
- New B.C. Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay has kept former rival Peter Milobar and his supporters in her shadow cabinet, a day after installing a caucus leadership team that skewed toward her loyalists. Milobar, who stood against Findlay in the leadership race she won a month ago, is retained as finance critic. MLAs who backed Milobar also retained their portfolios in the lineup released Tuesday, including Gavin Dew for economic development, Kiel Giddens as labour critic and Scott McInnis as critic for Indigenous relations. Other legislators retaining their roles include transport critic Harman Bhangu, Anna Kindy as health critic, and Steve Kooner as critic for the attorney general.
- B.C. nurses are beginning job action after their Thursday 12 p.m. strike deadline passed without movement on a new contract. While the union doesn’t plan to withdraw workers, the deadline marks the start of overtime restrictions and a ban on non-nursing duties. “Nurses don’t want to be in this position. We want to be caring for patients,” the B.C. Nurses’ Union said in a social media post announcing the job action. Less than an hour after the start of job action, the Health Employers Association of B.C. (HEABC) released a statement saying it and the Nurses’ Bargaining Association have agreed to return to negotiations next week.
Northwest Territories
- As the CEO of a newly-created company with a sizable gold mining project northeast of Yellowknife, Mark Ashley is keeping a close eye on northern major projects. “Very much so,” he said. “It’s pretty important.” He said last week’s announcement that the Grays Bay Road and Port project is being considered for listing as a project of national interest under the Build Canada Act is good news for another major project: the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor, on the Northwest Territories side of the border.
Yukon
- The Yukon government says it’s planning to meet with First Nations leaders as it moves toward rewriting the territory’s outdated mining laws. The new minerals legislation will eventually replace the territory’s Quartz Mining Act and Placer Act, which date back to the gold rush and include outdated royalty rules. The laws have been under review since 2021. The previous Liberal government went so far as to create a draft framework right before it was voted out of office last November. That framework was met with mixed reviews, especially from First Nations leaders.
Nunavut
- The Nunavut government is denying all allegations filed in a lawsuit earlier this year by the parents of a child who died under the care of the Naja Isabelle group home in Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut. Earlier this year, Adrian Angidlik and John Tatty Jr. took legal action against the territory’s health and family services departments, as well as the Pimakslirvik Corporation which operated the group home under contract until March 2024, claiming negligence in their daughter Kennedy’s care. Kennedy died on Jan. 6, 2024, after suffering persistent pain and medical distress according to a statement of claim filed by her parents in January 2026. She was one of two young people who died under the care of the group home.