Provincial and Territorial Update for the week of July 24 2026
An overview on Provincial and Territorial updates for the week of July 24, 2026. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- New Brunswick’s three main cities recorded slight increases in crime rates last year in contrast with a decline reported nationally. The crime rate, which adjusts for population, increased 0.5 per cent provincewide, data released by Statistics Canada shows. Larger increases were recorded in the province’s three main cities, where crime was a major issue in recent municipal elections.
- A Progressive Conservative Party leadership candidate has been accused of violating New Brunswick’s election financing law after he offered incentives to customers at his campground music festival to vote for him. Don Monahan, the Arcadia-Butternut Valley-Maple Hills MLA, offered festival patrons $85 worth of tokens and passes if they joined the party to vote for him as leader. The cost for non-party members to join and register to vote is $50.
- The City of Miramichi has paused a proposed zoning bylaw amendment for data centres and battery energy storage facilities while staff gather more information and seek expert advice following public concerns. Councillors discussed the issue on Tuesday and decided they wanted to know more about data centres before moving forward.
- New Brunswick RCMP have confirmed that they are investigating an incident that occurred Saturday on Mountain Road in Moncton. On July 18 at approximately 7:30 p.m., “members from the Codiac Regional RCMP attended a parking lot on Mountain Road in Moncton, following a complaint of an ongoing fight involving multiple people,” Cpl. Luc Picard said in an emailed statement to CBC News. Police could not provide more details, citing an ongoing investigation, and said they are “working to determine whether hate was a factor in the incident.”
Nova Scotia
- As Canada faces the uncertainty of a new threat of tariffs from the U.S., Nova Scotia’s premier says the country needs to focus on what it can control. Speaking with the CBC’s David Cochrane on Power and Politics on Wednesday, Premier Tim Houston said “this is a good teaching moment.” “We have to diversify our economy,” Houston said. “So in Nova Scotia, we’re pushing hard, new markets, new opportunities. We’re using this as a moment for our province, but for our country as well.”
- The man charged for his alleged role in a protest that saw the windshield of a vehicle carrying Nova Scotia’s premier smashed in has been released on $5,000 bail. The 19-year-old from Lawrencetown, Annapolis County, appeared in Kentville provincial court Wednesday and was released on conditions that include house arrest. Premier Tim Houston and his staff were in Wolfville, N.S., on July 15 when protesters blocked vehicles from leaving a speaking event at Acadia University.
- The province’s L’nu affairs minister doesn’t feel Mi’kmaw representatives are missing an opportunity to share their views on natural resource development after PC MLAs voted against inviting a representative of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs to a legislative committee meeting. Last week, Progressive Conservative members of the natural resources and economic development committee used their majority to defeat an opposition motion to add someone from the assembly to the witness list for a future meeting to discuss “supporting responsible resource development and advancing future-ready sustainable communities.”
- Teachers and assistants in Eskasoni First Nation say their privacy is at risk after facial recognition scanners were installed in their schools to take employee attendance. They say the machines do not always work properly, they can’t find any other Canadian schools using the technology and the union is frustrated over a lack of dialogue with their school board. “We have really, really serious concerns that need to be addressed,” said Jonathan Cox, a teacher and president of the Eskasoni Teachers’ Union.
Prince Edward Island
- The federal government is providing $5.9 million to help advance a project aimed at expanding the electricity connection between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. The Prince Edward Island-New Brunswick Interconnection Expansion Project would add two new 200-megawatt, 138-kilovolt submarine power cables between the two provinces, along with upgrades to transmission infrastructure and substations in both P.E.I. and New Brunswick, according to a news release Thursday.
- P.E.I. nurses and midwives will soon be required to complete Indigenous cultural safety training aimed at improving the experiences of Indigenous patients in the province’s health-care system. The new practice directive comes from the P.E.I. College of Nursing and Midwifery, which worked with Indigenous groups on the Island to develop the training. Melissa Panton, the college’s chief executive officer and registrar, said it’s part of its effort to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action.
- Elections P.E.I. is investigating after incorrect information was posted online about the results of the recent byelection in District 16. The Green Party’s Tayte Willows won the July 13 byelection in Cornwall-Meadowbank, capturing 39.6 per cent of the vote. But that evening, a post on the What’s Up P.E.I. Facebook page stated that Liberal candidate and then-party leader Robert Mitchell had won with 47.9 per cent.
- P.E.I. Premier Rob Lantz stressed the importance of unity in response to newly announced American tariffs as meetings of Canadian provincial and territorial leaders kicked off in Charlottetown on Tuesday. During a news conference on July 21, Lantz said a conversation about the new tariffs is planned with Prime Minister Mark Carney in the coming days.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- The $46 million facelift to the Health Sciences Centre’s emergency department is an important milestone for patient care efficiency, says the province’s health authority. Dr. Gena Bugden, chief of staff for Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services, called the new St. John’s ambulance bay, set to open on July 27, along with the additional 26 beds opening in August, the “first steps” of transforming how the province’s largest hospital delivers emergency services.
- A business professor at Memorial University says level heads need to prevail in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest proposed tariffs on Canadian exports. “He uses tariffs as a form of economic coercion. He kind of weaponizes them in terms of the negotiation,” Tom Cooper told CBC News Wednesday. “I think it’s important not to react … So, the knee-jerk reaction. Instead, it will be a little bit about [being] strategic about it.”
- Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Minister Lela Evans says her department is working on solutions to address the ongoing staffing issues at the Urgent Care Centre (UCC) in the east end of St. John’s. The UCC, which opened in January on Stavanger Drive, was a key recommendation of Health Accord NL, a 10-year strategy to revamp the health-care system, and touted by health authority officials as a way to reduce the strain on local emergency rooms. But since opening, there have been multiple reports of the centre not being able to fulfil its 12-hour daily operations and closing early due to staff shortages.
- Two drownings off the coast of Brent’s Cove, N.L., on Tuesday have split a pair of brothers apart and left residents across the Baie Verte Peninsula to mourn, according to the area’s MHA. The Canadian Coast Guard confirmed a report of a sunken vessel near Brent’s Cove at around 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday. A lifeboat vessel, aircraft and Cormorant helicopter were dispatched, but the Coast Guard said two of the three missing men were recovered by a nearby boat available to help. One of the two men found by the boat was deceased, and the other man was found deceased on the shoreline.
Quebec
- Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette is expressing optimism her province and Newfoundland and Labrador will reach an agreement “in the coming weeks” on the thorny issue of expanding the hydroelectric potential of the Churchill River in Labrador. Fréchette made the comments on Tuesday after her first face-to-face meeting with Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham. “We said earlier that we were confident we could wrap this up in the coming weeks,” she said.
- Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette says she supports eliminating interprovincial barriers to alcohol sales, but changes can’t take effect until the Quebec National Assembly resumes and amends Quebec law. At a series of meetings beginning Tuesday with Canada’s premiers on Prince Edward Island, nine premiers said they are removing interprovincial barriers on alcohol sales, allowing brewers, wineries and distillers to sell directly to consumers outside their home province. Fréchette says she supports the Multilateral Operationalization Agreement, but needs formal adherence from the National Assembly before it can take effect.
- Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette marked 100 days in office Friday by touting her government’s early accomplishments and promising to keep delivering on the priorities she campaigned on ahead of this fall’s provincial election. In a video posted to social media, Fréchette pointed to measures aimed at easing the cost of living, improving access to housing and daycare, and strengthening health care and the French language. “For the past 100 days, we’ve been carrying out our plan to advance your priorities,” Fréchette said in the video. “We’re modernizing our hospitals in Quebec’s regions.”
- Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette, responding to the new tariffs threat hitting Canada from the White House, says the supply management system is non-negotiable. On Monday evening, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his administration will be imposing tariffs of 50 per cent on a wide range of Canadian exports in 30 days’ time. Prime Minister Mark Carney has since said the two leaders have agreed to intensify trade discussions in the coming weeks. Speaking ahead of the premiers’ meeting in Charlottetown on Tuesday morning, Fréchette said she will take the time to review the incoming tariffs. She has asked for a meeting with Carney later this week to discuss the impact on Quebec.
Ontario
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he would like to see his fellow premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney be “a little more vocal” in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat. As the premiers gathered in Charlottetown this week, Ford was the most aggressive in condemning Trump’s move to impose 50 per cent tariffs on dozens of Canadian goods, which are set to be enforced next month. The Ontario premier told CBC’s Power & Politics that he would like the others and Carney to step up their rhetoric.
- With Premier Doug Ford soon calling three byelections for September, Ontario’s political parties are scrambling to select candidates. Ford is expected to trigger contests in Scarborough Southwest, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek and York—Simcoe on Aug. 5 for Sept. 3 votes. That’s to fill vacancies left by former NDP MPP Doly Begum and Progressive Conservative ministers Neil Lumsden and Caroline Mulroney. On Thursday, the Liberals announced Heino Doessing, who ran for them in last year’s election and finished second, would be their candidate in Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, which was an NDP stronghold until Canadian Football League legend Lumsden triumphed in 2022.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s approval rating is the lowest it’s ever been as his Progressive Conservative government stays narrowly behind the Liberals for support and continues to take heat for a developing hotel expense scandal, according to a new poll. The Ontario Liberals now hold a five-point lead over the Progressive Conservatives (PCs), Liaison Strategies found in a poll published Friday. Among all voters polled, the Liberals are at 33 per cent, the PCs are at 29 per cent, the NDP is at 21 per cent, the Greens are at two per cent, other parties are at three per cent, and 13 per cent are undecided.
- Ontario Labour Minister David Piccini’s constituency association spent thousands of dollars at The Four Seasons Hotel, a limousine company, and an elite Toronto club, records show, as scrutiny continues over how donor and public money is being spent by those connected to the Ford government. Opposition critics claimed those items are a new aspect of an expenses scandal that has resulted in the resignation of one minister and an order from the premier for other PC MPPs to pay back some $100,000 spent on hotels in Toronto. “These folks, they’re living large,” said interim Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser in an interview. “It’s excessive.”
Manitoba
- Winnipeggers who volunteer at food banks, festivals, community and cultural centres, and more won’t have to pay out of pocket for a criminal record check if the city’s incumbent mayoral candidate is re-elected this fall. Scott Gillingham is pledging to waive the costs for Winnipeggers seeking a criminal record check for volunteer work if he’s re-elected this fall. “These are the people who strengthen our neighbourhoods every single day, and they deserve our thanks, not barriers,” Gillingham said at Sturgeon Heights Community Centre on Friday. Registration for mayoral candidates opened May 1. Gillingham has been quiet thus far, with Friday’s announcement his first, and coming midway through the mayoral campaign.
- With the provincial byelection done and a new MLA elected, leaders in The Pas say they hope they’ll see progress on local issues. The NDP’s Jennifer Flett won nearly three-quarters of all votes in The Pas-Kameesak byelection Tuesday. The Pas has been NDP territory provincially for almost 60 years, but a new person in the seat means new optimism for some. In The Pas, town councillors met with Premier Wab Kinew, Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan, former Manitoba Liberal leader Dr. Jon Gerrard and their parties’ candidates during the byelection campaign.
- Manitoba wants more than a promise Sobeys won’t get in the way if a rival grocery store wants to open nearby. Earlier this week, Empire Company Ltd. — the parent company of grocery brands like Safeway, FreshCo and IGA, along with Sobeys — announced it will stop the use of “restrictive covenants,” which are property restrictions that keep potential competitors away from its stores. But Manitoba Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu says he isn’t satisfied with that, and he wants the real estate deals scrapped entirely.
- Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says he’s open to a west-east pipeline being pitched by his counterparts in Alberta and Ontario. Kinew says the pipeline could make Canada stronger and there are workers in his province who would be eager to help build it. But he says major projects such as pipelines need to be built the right way, by addressing environmental concerns and bringing Indigenous governments on board.
Saskatchewan
- Saskatchewan RCMP are pleading with drivers to focus more on safety amid a dramatic spike in highway fatalities. Between June 1 and July 22, RCMP responded to 23 fatal collisions, some of which involved multiple fatalities, for a total of 27 deaths. Compared to the same period last year, this is a 77 per cent increase in crash numbers and a 108 per cent increase in lives lost, said Insp. Lee Knelsen, an operations officer for the RCMP’s traffic services in the province.
- For 32 years, the Métis in northwest Saskatchewan have been seeking recognition that Métis land rights existed before Canada expanded westward. After a years-long pause, that complex legal process is about to move forward. “The biggest challenge is going to be to get the court to get their head around the idea of the Métis people as a nation,” said University of Saskatchewan professor emeritus Ken Coates. “The Métis people have legitimate claims to the land, which are quite obvious instead of well established.”
- Air quality has deteriorated somewhat in Saskatchewan as wildfire smoke from northern Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories drifts south. “Right now the overall weather pattern is bringing in smoke from fires across northern Saskatchewan and even in the N.W.T., and that’s bringing it all the way south as far as Saskatoon,” Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) meteorologist Janelle Gergely said.
- Over the past year and a half, Canada has had to deal with round after round of tariffs – and threats – from U.S. President Donald Trump. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe joined The Evan Bray Show on Wednesday morning to discuss the 50 per cent tariffs on a wide range of Canadian goods announced by the president on Monday. Those tariffs are expected to take effect on Aug. 19. Moe said Canada needs to work through this round of tariffs like it has with the others, and needs to stay focused on getting to the negotiating table and supporting a renewed free-trade agreement with the United States. He added that the latest tariff threats intensify the need for a renewed CUSMA agreement.
Alberta
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she trusts Prime Minister Mark Carney will be able to reach a deal with the U.S. that avoids President Donald Trump’s threatened new tariffs on Canada, adding that Carney is “wise” to avoid retaliating for now. In an interview with Global News after meeting with Carney and the rest of Canada’s premiers in Charlottetown, Smith said Carney is treating the tariff threat with the urgency it deserves, noting the countdown to Aug. 19 when the duties are set to take effect.
- While Prime Minister Mark Carney says “everything is on the table” if Canada can’t come to an agreement with the U.S. before an August deadline imposed by President Donald Trump triggers a steep hike in tariffs, Premier Danielle Smith said Thursday that using oil as a bargaining chip won’t work for Alberta. Smith made the comment as a meeting between Carney and all 13 provincial and territorial leaders wrapped up a three-day conference of premiers in Charlottetown. She and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe have refused the idea of using their provinces’ exports to the U.S. in negotiation tactics.
- A senior member of Premier Danielle Smith’s government skirted questions again Tuesday about how he’ll vote in Alberta’s referendum on whether the province should remain in Canada. Devin Dreeshen, talking to reporters at an unrelated news conference, was asked repeatedly whether he would vote on Oct. 19 for Alberta to stay or to hold a second, binding referendum on quitting Canada. He said it’s important Albertans have their voices heard. “The October referendum vote is something for all Albertans. It’s not a vote in the legislature,” said Dreeshen, who is Smith’s transportation minister.
- Alberta’s Opposition says the cost of just getting the word out on the province’s looming separation referendum is setting taxpayers back at least $365,000 dollars. The new numbers come from a freedom of information request, NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said Thursday. He said contracts show about $365,000 in fees for a televised address and promotional videos on social media platforms. If Albertans are being asked to foot the bill for the referendum, Nenshi said the government should offer a full accounting of related spending. Premier Danielle Smith has put 10 questions on the Oct. 19 referendum, including whether Alberta should stay in Canada or begin the process to hold a second, binding referendum to leave Confederation.
British Columbia
- B.C. Premier David Eby said there is “not a chance in hell” that U.S. alcohol will be put back on B.C. liquor store shelves. He made the comment in Prince Edward Island as Canada’s premiers met and discussed U.S. President Donald Trump’s new wave of tariffs on Canadian goods. “The idea of the president that he can bully us into whatever he wishes is incorrect,” Eby said. “We’re strong. We are, despite our many debates, united as a country. And we will continue to stand strong. And we’ll build relationships with those countries, at the national level, at the provincial level, that want to have a relationship with us.”
- B.C.’s premier argued Wednesday for blocking the U.S. from accessing Canada’s critical mineral supply in response to tariffs on his province’s lumber exports and other sectors. B.C. Premier David Eby said at the first ministers meeting in Charlottetown that it was “inexplicable” for the U.S. to destabilize Canadian export industries, including forestry, while trying to gain greater access to Canada’s mineral wealth. “We can’t have a country, on one hand, attacking one group of families and workers, while hoping to have access to the resources in Canada that the rest of the world wants,” said Eby.
- British Columbia Premier David Eby says local businesses will have access to a federal emergency fund if the United States follows through on new tariff threats. U.S. President Donald Trump says he plans to impose tariffs of up to 50 per cent on Canadian products, including those made out of wood, and Eby says Prime Minister Mark Carney told him that affected businesses in B.C. could apply to a support fund worth $1.5 billion. The premier says Carney has told him the fund “has not been exhausted,” and he expects that there “should be more than enough in that regional fund,” should the United States impose the threatened tariffs on Aug. 19.
- Former British Columbia premier Christy Clark says voters in the province face a choice between the “worst government in B.C. history” and an opposition headed by an unelectable leader. “She cannot win an election,” Clark said of Conservative Party of B.C. Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay. “She is too kooky.” Clark isn’t alone in making a calculation that the ascendancy of conservatives like Findlay — who has promised a government guided by “faith, family, and freedom” — leaves the B.C. political map wide open to a new centre-right force. Political allegiances are being redrawn, with a series of departures from both flanks of the Opposition and MLA Amelia Boultbee switching sides entirely to join the NDP caucus this month.
Northwest Territories
- Fire damage is visible in the forest, and on some structures around Fort Simpson, N.W.T., but there is a sense of gratitude this week for all that remains untouched by the wildfire. Much of Fort Simpson’s population returned on Saturday, weeks after the town issued an evacuation order on June 28 due to an encroaching wildfire. Firefighters are still battling the blaze that threatened the area. Dehcho Grand Chief Herb Norwegian stayed in the area during the evacuation, alongside a handful of essential workers. He said it will be some time until things are back to normal. While residents return, weather conditions in the area are a reminder of the wildfires burning nearby — and the emotions that residents may be carrying following the evacuation.
Yukon
- Premier Currie Dixon said he will think about resigning if the Yukon government breaches its borrowing limit, but he’s committed to ensuring that won’t happen, in part by asking the feds to more than double the territory’s debt cap. Dixon, who is also the Yukon’s finance minister, met with federal Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne last week. Ahead of that meeting, Dixon told CBC the federal government is still working out the details of the Yukon’s request. “We will not go over the debt cap during my time as premier and finance minister,” Dixon said.“That’s a hard commitment. In terms of the implications if we were to do it, well, I would have to think pretty seriously about resigning.”
Nunavut
- Nunavut MP Lori Idlout has let go of power over a private business that has won several government contracts over the years after she said she came under pressure to do so. Idlout has a financial stake in NVision Insight Group Inc., an Ottawa-based Indigenous management consulting firm, which has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in sole-sourced contracts from the federal government since 2021 — also the year Idlout was elected to Parliament. Idlout was elected as an NDP MP but has since crossed the floor to join the Liberals.