Provincial and Territorial Update – July 26, 2024
The Provincial and Territorial Updates: An overview of the Provincial Legislative and Territories Legislative Updates for the week of July 26, 2024. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- Eight Mi’kmaw communities in New Brunswick are going to court seeking a declaration of Aboriginal title over more than half of the province. Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc., which represents the communities, announced it filed a title claim Thursday in Miramichi court against the federal and provincial governments, as well as N.B. Power.
- A new report compiling statistics around low-wage Atlantic Canadians reveals that one-third of New Brunswick workers earn $20 per hour or less. Ten percent of those workers earn under $15 an hour. The Nova Scotia office for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released the report this week, compiling data from the 2023 Statistics Canada labour force survey
- The provincial government says it has taken care of a feared gap in property tax spike protection that landlords warned would have required them to significantly hike rents in New Brunswick next year. Apartment owners who’ve seen massive increases in the assessed value of their buildings will again see their taxable assessments increase by no more than 10 percent next year, thanks to a correction to an “inadvertent” oversight in legislation that was recently passed, said Jill Green, the minister responsible for housing.
- As New Brunswick’s fall election inches closer, political parties have now passed the 90-days-before-the-vote threshold. And that means stricter disclosure rules are now in place. From now until the election, scheduled for Oct. 21, political parties must file a disclosure statement with Elections N.B. indicating the estimated cost for every campaign commitment made.
Nova Scotia
- A rewards program for local products that launched this week is significantly different from the one Premier Tim Houston pitched on the campaign trail three years ago, but he says the concept “remains well intact.” Through Nova Scotia Loyal, shoppers can get bonus Scene+ points at Sobeys stores one week a month, and bonus Air Miles at the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation, when they buy local goods.
- Nova Scotia closed the books on last year’s budget with a $143-million surplus rather than the $279-million deficit it predicted last spring, thanks in part to an unexpected jump in taxes collected from a growing population. Government spending for the 2023-24 fiscal year topped $16.38 billion — about $643 million more than budgeted — but revenue growth outpaced that. Total revenues were more than a billion dollars above what was budgeted, landing at $16.52 billion.
- The devastating wildfires and deadly flooding that plagued Nova Scotia last year have resulted in $490 million in insured losses, the Insurance Bureau of Canada said in a report released Thursday. “The Nova Scotia floods and wildfires illustrated that we are not ready as a country to defend against severe weather escalating due to climate change,” Amanda Dean, an Insurance Bureau vice-president, said in a statement.
- Officials elected by the people living on and near the Chignecto Isthmus say work to protect the low-lying strip of land that connects mainland Nova Scotia to New Brunswick is going too slowly. Local MLAs, mayors and other stakeholders attended a meeting this week at Amherst Town Hall, where they discussed pending upgrades to the centuries-old dike system that protects the isthmus from the battering tides of the Bay of Fundy and Northumberland Strait. Amherst Mayor David Kogon said it’s time for the provincial governments and Ottawa to stop fighting over who will pay for the project and get to work.
Prince Edward Island
- Postmedia has entered an agreement to purchase SaltWire, Atlantic Canada’s largest newspaper chain, according to a news release issued Friday. SaltWire has been under creditor protection since March. It publishes more than 20 papers in Atlantic Canada, including The Chronicle Herald in Halifax, The Guardian in Charlottetown, and The Telegram in St. John’s, along with associated websites. In the release, the Canadian news media company said the potential acquisition aligns with Postmedia’s commitment to preserving local journalism and supporting communities.
- The province hired a total of 32 new physicians in the first six months of 2024, according to P.E.I.’s Department of Health and Wellness. That number compares to 24 hires in all of 2023. Health Minister Mark McLane said there have also been 12 doctors who’ve stopped practising in the province, for a net gain of 20 physicians. “We’ve had some retirements, unfortunately, we’ve had two physicians pass away this year …. we’ve had one transition within our system, and two resignations,” McLane said.
- The Rural Municipality of Victoria’s council has approved a rezoning application for Amar Seafood, clearing the way for the aquaculture company to hire more people and expand its wolffish and halibut farm on P.E.I’s southern shore. Councillors approved rezoning for five hectares of land during its meeting Tuesday night. Originally, the company had asked to expand onto 16 hectares but scaled back the application after some residents said that big an expansion would increase traffic and block views of the water.
- MSX, a pathogen deadly to oysters, has struck two different parts of the U.S. coast in the last 70 years. P.E.I. could look to that experience to mitigate the pain now that the disease has been found in Island waters. MSX was found in Bedeque Bay, about 20 kilometres west of the Confederation Bridge, two weeks ago, and has since been identified in three other locations around P.E.I. Those areas have been quarantined, but the discovery raises questions about the future of the industry for the whole province.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Tacora Resources has landed another possible lifeline to save the iron ore mine — potentially paving the way for the company to emerge from creditor protection. On Tuesday, the company announced it had selected a bid from Boston-based investment management firm Millstreet Capital Management LLC, which is leading the bid on behalf of other companies. In a statement, Tacora executive vice-president and chief financial officer Heng Vuong called it a positive development for the company and its stakeholders.
- Next Thursday, power rates in Newfoundland and Labrador are set to jump by seven percent, and the head of a seniors’ advocacy group says the increase will hurt the province’s most vulnerable populations. Connections for Seniors executive director Mohamed Abdallah said people are already grappling with a cost of living crisis, and the power increase will further hurt those who are already economically strained.
- Unclaimed bodies are piling up in Newfoundland, and a St. John’s funeral director says they likely belong to people whose loved ones couldn’t get enough government help to pay for a funeral. Emails obtained by the provincial NDP show the number of unclaimed bodies kept in temporary freezer units at the province’s largest hospital more than doubled between November 2021 and January of this year.
- With child care in high demand, two women looking to create more spaces in their rural Newfoundland communities say they’re running into too many hurdles. Natalia Crocker, the mayor Trout River on Newfoundland’s southwest coast, has been working for two years to get child care in the community. She said the need has grown tremendously over the years, adding she knows of people who can’t work because they don’t have access to childcare.
Quebec
- Quebec is extending its partnership with Airbus Canada until 2035, the two jointly investing $1.65 billion to keep manufacturing its narrowbody A220 planes in the province. The French aerospace giant holds 75 per cent of Airbus Canada’s shares while Quebec holds the other 25 per cent. Airbus is set to invest $1.2 billion, and Quebec will provide $413 million through Investissement Québec.
- A team of bureaucrats in Quebec’s health ministry has issued a 31-page directive spelling out the “exceptional” circumstances in which English is allowed to be spoken in hospitals and other medical facilities, with some imagined linguistic scenarios outlined in excruciating detail. But representatives from the anglophone community who have read the densely worded directive are already calling it confusing and potentially dangerous. The new directive comes as the province’s French-language watchdog, the Office québécois de la langue française, is expanding its inspections and visits beyond businesses into hospitals in response to Bill 96.
- A group of protesters blocked the ramp to the departures area at Trudeau International Airport for several hours on Wednesday, causing a traffic backlog in the area. Three of the protesters, who were carrying a sign that said “oil kills,” glued themselves to the ground and refused to move. The group Last Generation Canada said in an Instagram post that the protest was one of several undertaken simultaneously at airports in Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Austria and Finland.
- Social workers who intervene with people in the Montreal Metro who are intoxicated, experiencing homelessness or having a mental health episode say they are not surprised by a rise in security-related complaints to the city’s public transit agency. “There is a clear mental health crisis going on, especially the homeless population and even the population at large,” said Jean-Luc, team leader for EMMIS, Montreal’s mobile mediation and social intervention team. Due to the sensitive nature of his work, CBC News has agreed to identify him only by his first name.
Ontario
- A threatened $2.5-million libel lawsuit against Premier Doug Ford has fizzled after Independent MPP Sarah Jama and her lawyer failed to serve papers before a mid-July deadline. An eight-page statement of claim from Jama (Hamilton Centre) was filed with Ontario Superior Court of Justice and dated Jan. 11. But no further action was taken in the lawsuit, which alleged Ford defamed the former New Democrat MPP in the wake of a statement she made following the surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and subsequent Israeli retaliation in Gaza.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the province learned some powerful lessons during the two-week LCBO strike that came to a turbulent end over the weekend. “People were still able to get their alcohol. I knew this, but it just confirmed it,” he told reporters at a press conference in Kitchener on Monday morning. It was the first time LCBO workers had walked off the job in the history of the Crown corporation, and Ford shared what he thought was one of the main lessons from the strike.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford further dug in on his decision to close the science centre and touted his plans to overhaul Ontario Place on Monday, claiming he wants the waterfront attraction to become the country’s top tourist destination. Speaking at an unrelated event on Monday morning, the premier said he planned to make Ontario Place the country’s best tourist attraction and claimed the Ontario Science Centre’s current location was “a sleepy little neighbourhood.”
- Just over a week after a major summer storm caused flash flooding and damaged homes across Toronto, the city council voted unanimously to examine a slew of new flood mitigation measures, including imposing controversial stormwater charges. Councillors have formally directed city staff to research stormwater mitigation measures with an eye to fast-tracking anything that could be implemented quickly, in light of more regularly occurring severe weather events. A report is expected back by the end of the year.
Manitoba
- The federal Liberals have tapped a retired teacher and union leader to run for the party in the upcoming Elmwood-Transcona byelection. Ian MacIntyre will run for the governing Liberals in the byelection, which hasn’t been announced yet, the party said Thursday. It must be called before the end of September. MacIntyre spent 24 years as a teacher with the River East Transcona School Division and was previously the president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, according to a news release from the party. He has also lived, worked and volunteered in Elmwood-Transcona for more than three decades, the release said.
- Health-care support workers in parts of Manitoba are being encouraged to reject what their employers are reportedly calling their best offer on a new collective agreement. The Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union says its bargaining committee is recommending its roughly 6,000 community support and facility support staff at Prairie Mountain and Interlake-Eastern regional health authorities vote against the contract offer. The employers described it as their “best offer,” MGEU said on Thursday.
- One year after the Manitoba government hired a staffing agency to bring 150 doctors to work in the province, not a single physician has arrived. Shared Health, which oversees healthcare delivery in the province, said no doctors have been brought over and wouldn’t answer if any recruits are in the queue. Provincial Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the lack of progress from recruitment firm Canadian Health Labs (CHL) is unfortunate. “Obviously it’s disappointing that the previous government signed a contract with a company that hasn’t produced physicians for Manitoba,” Asagwara said.
- First Nations chiefs in Manitoba have voted to keep Cathy Merrick as the leader of the organization that represents the majority of First Nations in the province. Merrick, who was first elected grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs in 2022, secured another term in a landslide win during the advocacy group’s annual general assembly. She won on the first ballot with 35 of the 54 votes submitted. Merrick was challenged by George Kemp, a lawyer and the former chief of Berens River First Nation, and Darrell N. Shorting, who is from Little Saskatchewan First Nation.
Saskatchewan
- A new Statistics Canada report shows Saskatchewan has again led the country on the national crime severity index. The province has now been first on that list every year since the federal agency started reporting the dataset in 1998. Saskatoon and Regina sit at places 8 and 9 respectively on a list of 41 surveyed metropolitan areas in terms of crime severity. The cities are above the national average — and have been for the last 25 years.
- The province has pledged $2 million for Food Banks of Saskatchewan to help with supplies at a time when the non-profits are reporting an acute shortage. The money is to be provided over the next two years, with the first instalment coming next month. The province said that the funding will help Saskatchewan families and food banks with higher food costs and inflationary pressures.
- A Saskatchewan First Nation is building a $52-million thermal spa near Saskatoon and is incorporating Dakota culture into its design and construction. Officials with the Whitecap Dakota First Nation, federal Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu and others broke ground Monday morning on the Dakota Dunes Thermal Spa. It will complement the hotel, casino and golf course on the First Nation. Longtime Whitecap Chief Darcy Bear said his ancestors were forced to ask permission from the Indian agent if they wanted to sell their livestock or even leave the reserve, located 25 kilometres south of Saskatoon.
- The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) and the provincial government have selected their nominees for a three-person arbitration panel. Teachers in the province have been without a contract since last August. The STF organized rotating strikes and job action throughout this year. Last month, both sides agreed to arbitration on teachers’ pay and a classroom complexity-accountability framework.
Alberta
- A wildfire that destroyed buildings in Jasper less than 48 hours after it began at least 12 kilometres away became a “monster” that firefighters were helpless to stop, says Parks Canada. A perfectly terrible combination of conditions created a wall of fire 100 metres tall, Pierre Martel, director of national fire management for Parks Canada, said. “It’s just a monster at that point,” Martel told reporters at a Thursday briefing. “There are no tools we have in our toolbox to deal with that. At that point, you get out of the way, you retreat and you do what you can to protect communities and infrastructure as best as you can.”
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith fought tears on Thursday as she spoke about the devastation experienced by Jasper residents as a wildfire ravages the historic townsite. ‘The feelings of loss and fear and loneliness must be overwhelming,’ Smith said at a briefing in Edmonton. ‘We share the sense of loss with all of those who live in the town, who care for it, and who have helped build it.’
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the fall update to the province’s bill of rights will protect Albertans’ personal medical decisions, including the right to refuse a vaccine. Smith’s pledge came during a town hall in Bonnyville with over 300 UCP members, where she discussed strengthening residents’ liberties and freedoms, lowering taxes, protecting the province from federal overreach, and improving healthcare.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she doesn’t think her cabinet ministers and political staff accepting tickets to luxury suites at playoff hockey games runs afoul of ethics rules. Smith says expects individual MLAs to follow the rules and disclose gifts properly to the province’s ethics commissioner. But Opposition New Democrat Leader Naheed Nenshi says attending the games on lobbyists’ dimes is a clear example of cronyism and entitlement. Smith made the comments Friday responding to reporters’ questions at a KDays breakfast in Edmonton, part of the launch of the city’s annual summer festival.
British Columbia
- The B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) says winds fanned by a cold front were to blame for the rapid growth of an out-of-control fire near Golden, but rain and cooler temperatures arriving for most of the province are expected to help reduce fire activity. “The downturn in weather is favourable at reducing fire behaviour,” the service said in a situation report posted Friday morning to its website, which also showed a notable reduction in fires burning in B.C. over the past day to 407, with 55 declared out in the past 24 hours.
- Workers on the Oakridge construction site reported multiple near-misses involving cranes in the months before a fatal incident that killed a worker, including a crane failure where a block crashed onto a roof — an incident that wasn’t reported to site leaders until the following morning. Yuridia Flores, a mother of two from Mexico, was killed on Feb. 21 when the tower crane at the Oakridge redevelopment site dropped its load onto a building, which subsequently fell onto her. The incident is still under investigation by WorkSafeBC.
- A TransLink report presented to the Mayors’ Council on Thursday says the transit authority may have to cut 50 percent of its services at the end of 2025 if additional funding is not secured. A statement from the public transit provider says it is facing a gap of $600 million each year. “The results of that report were nothing short of shocking,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn on Thursday. A scenario outlined by TransLink shows this could mean cutting bus services in half, including cancelling most night buses. There would be a 30 percent reduction in SkyTrain and SeaBus services, as well as reduced HandyDART services.
- A First Nation in B.C.’s Interior has received more than $147 million from the federal government after more than 20 years of fighting for the acknowledgement of its water rights. The Esk’etemc (pronounced es-KET-em) First Nation, located southwest of Williams Lake, B.C., first filed with Specific Claims, which deals with past wrongs against First Nations in Canada, in 2003, raising issues arising from being prevented from completing an irrigation ditch in the 1890s.
Northwest Territories
- Some residential school survivors and families in the N.W.T. are criticizing a change to federal funding for searches of former residential school sites. The federal government is also facing backlash after it announced last week it would put a $500,000 annual cap on future searches. Previously, communities could get up to $3 million per year from the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund. Connie Benwell is a language coordinator at Salt River First Nation in Fort Smith. Benwell, her twin brother and two of her sisters are residential school survivors.
Yukon
- A former student of the J.V. Clark School in Mayo, Yukon, has filed a lawsuit alleging staff put them in unnecessary holds and would lock them in the school’s boot room for hours at a time. The lawsuit is the third alleging the improper use of holds and seclusion against students — and in particular, those with learning disabilities — at a Yukon school. A statement of claim filed to the Yukon Supreme Court on July 22 alleges the unnamed former student, who’s identified as a Yukon First Nation citizen and as having a disability, was subjected to the measures from 2007 until 2010.
Nunavut
- An estimated 7,000 litres of diesel spilled last week outside the power plant in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut as the result of a mechanical failure. The July 17 incident was announced in a press release by the Qulliq Energy Corporation (QEC) and distributed by Government of Nunavut Wednesday, a week after the spill. According to the QEC, the diesel leaked out of the power plant’s overfill system.