Provincial and Territorial Update – March 15, 2026
An overview on Provincial and Territorial updates for the week of March 15 2026. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- N.B. Power has had a difficult financial year, but evidence presented at its ongoing rate hearing shows it may be posting even worse environmental results. Updated generation information filed with the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board shows the utility has burned more fossil fuels to generate electricity in the past 12 months than in over a decade, almost certainly sending its annual greenhouse gas emissions above the 3-million-tonne threshold.
- New Brunswick is the only Atlantic Canadian province without a gender-affirming care clinic. And the New Brunswick Transgender Health Network wants that to change. The advocacy group is urging the provincial government to include funding for a gender-affirming care clinic in its 2026-27 provincial budget, which is set to be tabled in the legislature on March 17.
- Green Party Leader David Coon, whose Fredericton riding includes the Vanier Highway where a large chemical spill occurred last week, is calling for a provincial review. Coon says the province should have acted more quickly and be more transparent about events like this. He called the whole process “very slow” from the time the spill was discovered until emergency measures were activated.
- N.B. Power is in front of the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board seeking approval to raise its rates by 4.75 per cent this year, but the utility’s plans to follow that with a 6.5 per cent increase next year and another 6.5 per cent increase the year after have raised their own set of questions. Randy Hatfield of the Human Development Council questioned N.B. Power executives at length this week about how low-income consumers will be able to cope with years of cumulative large increases in power bills.
Nova Scotia
- Nova Scotia cabinet minister Kim Masland says she’s taking more precautions to ensure her safety after police arrested a man who tried to enter her Liverpool home through the back door. RCMP confirmed a local man has been charged with trespassing by night and is expected to appear in court at a later date. Masland said Friday she wasn’t at home when the man, dressed in a camouflage hoodie, showed up before midnight on Feb. 26. But she quickly became aware of his arrival when her home security system sent an alert and a video to her cellphone.
- Dalhousie University’s student union has voted to join a weeklong provincial strike to demand affordable tuition and the divestment from weapons manufacturers and other organizations. Dalhousie Student Union (DSU) is one of four student unions across the province that will strike from March 15-21, aligning with the Canadian Federation of Students’ call for a province-wide action last month. Maren Mealey, president of the DSU, says that while the strike coincides with protests against the provincial government’s budget released two weeks ago, the motion predates its tabling.
- Nova Scotians who want a chance to speak to a bill that relates to the provincial budget will have a chance to do so at a legislative committee sometime after spring break. The Financial Measures Act passed second reading at Province House on Friday afternoon and is now set to go before the public bills committee, which is designed to receive public feedback. The bill, which was tabled two weeks ago, amends 20 pieces of legislation and creates one new one.
- Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says he’s not entertaining the idea of buying Nova Scotia Power to make it a public utility again after more than three decades in the hands of private operators. “My focus is on making sure the utility functions in a way that is fair to Nova Scotians, while also creating alternatives to that utility,” Houston told reporters at Province House Friday. Houston added that buying Nova Scotia Power would likely be cost-prohibitive.
Prince Edward Island
- Prince Edward Island’s auditor general is urging the government to implement his office’s recommendations, as he says many have sat idle for years without much action. This comes as the AG, Darren Noonan, and his staff appeared before a legislative committee to brief MLAs on the findings of the office’s latest annual report, released last month. On Friday, MLAs heard Noonan’s concerns about the province’s rising debt and the use of special warrants — and about how years of recommendations from his office remain unimplemented.
- Premier Rob Lantz, Health Minister Cory Deagle and members of the Medical Society of P.E.I. met behind closed doors Thursday in downtown Charlottetown. Deagle said the goal of the meeting was to have “an open dialogue, honest, frank conversation.” “I think it will be a positive discussion, I hope it will be, and to see a clear path ahead on where we go next,” he said before the meeting. “They have a number of concerns, and I think we want open ears, listen, but then take meaningful action as well.”CBC News requested an interview with Lantz, Deagle, and Dr. Krista Cassell, the president of the medical society, but no one was made available.
- Maritime Electric told P.E.I. politicians Thursday that by the end of the decade, there will be a “112-megawatt problem” looming if the province doesn’t create more on-Island power generation. The current capacity for electric power in the province is 334 MW — 219 imported from New Brunswick by undersea cables, and 115 generated on the Island. But the need, Maritime Electric says, will grow to 446mw by 2030. Without more ways to bring power into P.E.I. or generate it locally, the Island is facing a power deficit.
- Dairy farmers on Prince Edward Island say they aren’t concerned about rising fertilizer costs affecting the upcoming planting season. Gordon MacBeath, chairman of the Dairy Farmers of P.E.I., said there shouldn’t be an impact in 2026 because companies would have already purchased the fertilizer they need. “But I would be very concerned with what the impact will be a year from now as they go to book fertilizer for 2027,” he said.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Lawyers who have spent years fighting the Catholic church for compensation for abuse victims in Newfoundland and Labrador are describing an agreement with an unnamed third party as “substantial,” though it could be weeks before details of the settlement are revealed to the public. “It’s a substantial amount and it’s a significant move,” St. John’s lawyer Bob Buckingham told CBC News on Friday. So far it’s being described as an “understanding” related to a third party’s liability to the abuse survivors, and it came up during proceedings before Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice Garrett Handrigan on Thursday.
- The Newfoundland and Labrador government has released its $250-million highway construction plan for the upcoming season, which has the Liberals voicing concerns about cuts. On Thursday, Transportation and Infrastructure Barry Petten said the plan includes work on highways, regional trunk roads, and provincially owned roads for the 2026-2027 season, with some work into the 2027-2028 season.
- A provincial court judge in Newfoundland and Labrador is speaking out about what he sees as a dissonance between the bail reform movement and reality. Judge Andrew Wadden dedicated a significant portion of a bail decision in Harbour Grace on Tuesday to addressing the movement, saying it doesn’t fit with what courts are seeing across Canada. He said more people are in pre-trial custody than ever before, and that opinions are likely shaped by media coverage of botched releases.
- Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services is reporting a tuberculosis outbreak in the Labrador community of Natuashish. A joint news release issued on Friday by the Mushuau Innu First Nation didn’t clarify how many cases constitute an outbreak, but said active contact tracing and supporting access to testing for those affected have been underway. The release also said there is no elevated risk associated with regular community activities.
Quebec
- Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste in the riding of Terrebonne was surrounded by many activists on Saturday morning for the opening of her election office. She hopes to be re-elected, and for good, in the by-election on April 12. Auguste was elected by a single vote over Bloc Québécois candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, who then turned to the courts to have the result invalidated because of Elections Canada’s rejection of a Bloc mail-in vote, following an error. The Supreme Court of Canada then annulled the result of the last federal election in Terrebonne, triggering a new election in the riding.
- Ottawa is responding to a request from Quebec and will allow temporary foreign workers to keep their work permits for up to 12 more months. At the same time, the federal government says that the province will eventually have to wean itself off temporary workers. “This maximum extension of 12 months granted to workers in the process of being selected by Quebec will allow them to continue to support their employer while their eligibility for Quebec selection certificates is assessed. This, in turn, will facilitate their transition to permanent residency,” noted Minister Joel Lightbound.
- Health Minister Sonia Bélanger says she does not want to interfere in negotiations between ambulance companies and the unions representing paramedics, a day after a tribunal decision highlighted the lengthy strikes that occur each time collective agreements expire. Earlier this week, ambulance companies failed in their attempt to have paramedics’ supervision of training placements recognized as an essential service during the current strikes. The Tribunal administratif du travail rejected the employers’ request.
- Community groups are making a plea, hoping to persuade the Quebec government to reverse its plan to merge two funds. They fear this will reduce their autonomy. In her bill to reduce bureaucracy, which is expected to be adopted after the National Assembly resumes its work, Treasury Board President France-Élaine Duranceau announced various measures, including the integration of the Community Action Support Fund into the Quebec Social Initiatives Fund.
Ontario
- An Al-Quds Day rally took to the streets near the U.S. consulate in Toronto Saturday, after an Ontario Superior Court justice ruled that the demonstration could continue as planned. Attendee Stephen Ellis, who is also a lawyer for rally organizers, said everyone is “very happy” that the injunction was dismissed, but the morning was filled with “fear-mongering” and “desperation.” “We were confident it wasn’t going to succeed. It’s absurd that they would abrogate our rights,” he said. “The attempt for the injunction was a politically motivated attack on our rights, and so we were happy to vindicate those rights today.”
- The Ford government is set to allow retailers across the province to open their doors to shoppers on Family Day and Victoria Day, Global News has learned, after the premier expressed frustration about major malls being closed on provincial holidays. During the recent Family Day long weekend, Ford said he was inundated with calls from “so many people wanting to go to shopping malls” and questioned why major shopping centres — including Toronto’s Sherway Gardens and Yorkdale Mall — were closed.
- Ontario’s remaining supervised consumption sites will be forced to close after Premier Doug Ford’s government informed them Friday that the province is planning to pull their funding, harm reduction advocates say. Janet Butler-McPhee, co-executive director of the HIV Legal Network, said advocacy groups learned of the move late in the day and do not yet have full details of the decision. The move would affect the last two provincially funded supervised consumption sites in Toronto, as well as sites in Ottawa, London, Kingston and Peterborough.
- Ontario is set to make Premier Doug Ford and cabinet members’ records secret as it “modernizes” freedom-of-information laws, which critics say will dramatically curtail public scrutiny of the political process. Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Minister Stephen Crawford, however, said his government is still “one of the most transparent governments in the history of Ontario,” citing an open data catalogue, an audit of a regulator and a move eight years ago to publish financial information from the former Liberal government.
Manitoba
- There were 15,288 students marked as chronically absent in Manitoba schools in the 2023-24 academic year — numbers MLA Mark Wasyliw accuses the government of hiding. Wasyliw, who represents the Fort Garry riding as an independent, said he submitted a request to the NDP government in July 2025 for the most recent data on chronic absences, broken down by school division. In September, he was told those numbers don’t exist because the data isn’t collected by Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning.
- Manitoba’s justice minister said the province is working to update the mandatory training curriculum for security guards after First Nations leaders raised concerns about an incident at a downtown Winnipeg dollar store where a security guard allegedly used brass knuckles on an alleged shoplifter on February 28. The government is rewriting the 40-hour security guard training standard to include cultural awareness education, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said at a public forum held at a Winnipeg hotel on Saturday.
- Paid plasma could be banned in Manitoba, the province’s health minister said after two fatal adverse reactions at Winnipeg collection centres were reported to Health Canada. This comes after a CBC investigation that revealed the fatal adverse reactions happened within four months of each other — one in October of last year and another on Jan. 30, 2026. “I would say that public safety is our top priority, and so the option of banning paid plasma in Manitoba is an option that is on the table,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Wednesday.
- Bob Lagassé will no longer serve under the Progressive Conservative banner as the party loses its fifth MLA in four months — but unlike the others who are retiring or bowing out of politics before the next election, Lagassé intends to run again. Lagassé, who represents Dawson Trail, announced in the chamber ahead of question period on Tuesday that he will now serve as an Independent MLA. “The people of Dawson Trail deserve a voice that answers only to them,” Lagassé said in a statement.
Saskatchewan
- Driving will get more expensive next year, particularly for anyone found at fault in a crash. A $15 administrative fee will apply to new or renewed driver’s licences and new vehicle registrations as of Jan. 1, Saskatchewan Government Insurance announced Friday. Motorists will also pay $2 more for licence payment transactions. The Crown corporation will charge an additional $5 for vehicle registration renewals. SGI said in an emailed statement to CBC News that the new administrative fees are intended to support the long-term sustainability of its auto fund.
- A delegation of First Nations chiefs from Treaty 6 territory has wrapped up a visit to Buckingham Palace, where the leaders met with the King. The group spoke with King Charles about the importance of keeping the promises entrenched in treaties. They also invited him to the 150th commemoration of the signing of Treaty 6 this summer. It was signed by Crown representatives and Cree, Assiniboine and Ojibway leaders at Fort Carlton, Sask., on Aug. 23, 1876.
- The Saskatchewan government’s new health-care plan, unveiled this week, aims to connect more people to primary care. Not everyone has faith that the government will meet its targets, which include reducing surgical wait times. The 25-page Patients First Health Care Plan lays out more than 50 actions the government plans to take to ensure Saskatchewan residents are “receiving the right care in the right place at the right time,” according to Premier Scott Moe.
- The man behind a controversial Saskatchewan facility has issued a legal threat against an NDP MLA and filed a separate defamation lawsuit against a former patient-turned-critic in California. The lawsuit and threat of a lawsuit follow CBC’s publication of multiple stories investigating the Dr. Goodenowe Restorative Health Center in Moose Jaw, Sask. Goodenowe has sued CBC over those stories, alleging they are defamatory. After the stories were published, the Moose Jaw Police Service confirmed it was investigating the controversial health facility, while the health minister has called for a consumer affairs review.
Alberta
- A petition looking to oust Alberta Premier Danielle Smith from her seat in the legislature has failed. Smith is the second premier in Alberta’s history to face a recall petition, the other having occurred nearly 90 years ago. Heather VanSnick says her campaign against Smith gathered close to 2,300 signatures — but it needed at least 12,000 to move the process forward. VanSnick says she still thinks the petition was useful and that 2,300 people calling for better representation in Smith’s riding of Brooks-Medicine Hat sends a powerful message.
- New research by a Crown corporation created by Alberta’s UCP government has found that last year’s The closure of Red Deer’s only overdose prevention site did not lead to an increase in overdose deaths, emergency department visits or ambulance calls among former site users. The results of the study conducted by the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence (CoRE) were published in the scientific journal Addiction this week, but some are already raising concerns about the study itself, its potential impacts, and who conducted it in the first place.
- To help prevent a backlog of patients in emergency rooms, Alberta hospitals should not cap the number of patients who can be admitted to wards, says a review completed in the wake of a 44-year-old Edmonton man’s death in an ER. Acute Care Alberta (ACA) released a list of 16 recommendations on Thursday after investigating the circumstances surrounding Prashant Sreekumar’s death on Dec. 22 in the Grey Nuns Community Hospital ER. The report confirms his family’s account that he waited eight hours with chest pain before having a “critical cardiovascular event.”
- The Alberta government — for the first time — will partially fund the construction and expansion of independent schools to create more student spaces. The Independent School Capital program, proposed in the 2026 provincial budget, aims to allocate $90 million over three years to create spaces for 6,000 more students in non-profit K-12 private schools. “We have to work with every single one of our education partners to expand spaces as quickly as we can,” Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in an interview on Friday.
British Columbia
- Every member of a former panel the British Columbia government appointed to identify old-growth for potential protection in 2021 now says they’re concerned about continued logging in those same rare and “irreplaceable” forests. The five former panellists say in a document, sent to Premier David Eby and other officials this week, the proposed old-growth deferrals were meant to be an interim measure to reduce the risks of logging, allowing time for long-term planning.
- Public health physicians in B.C. are calling for an independent assessment of potential health impacts from the oil and gas industry. The request comes from the Health Officers’ Council of B.C., which passed a resolution in November 2025 outlining the need for an assessment. Dr. Tim Takaro is a physician and researcher at Simon Fraser University, whose work focuses on environmental and occupational health. “The cumulative impact in terms of both air pollution and water pollution is primarily what we’re concerned about,” he said.
- B.C. recorded its largest monthly job drop since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2026, data shows, as youth unemployment continues to rise in the province. While the overall unemployment rate didn’t change from the previous month — steady at 6.1 per cent — B.C. wasn’t immune to job losses as the country as a whole lost 84,000 jobs compared to January. Twenty thousand jobs were lost in B.C. in February, according to Statistics Canada, the highest monthly figure recorded in the province since April 2021.
- B.C. public safety officials are celebrating a new federal bill that the Liberals say will give police more power to track people who may be using digital tools to commit crimes. “Far too often, police encounter barriers during investigations, where even with a court order, they cannot access critical information about a person of concern,” B.C. Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger said at a news conference in Vancouver on Friday, speaking alongside Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree. Krieger said the B.C. government and police have long called for federal changes to address how criminals use digital tools to harm the community.
Northwest Territories
- Construction on the Mackenzie Valley Highway will begin this summer, Prime Minister Mark Carney said in Yellowknife Thursday. The highway is now one of three major projects in the Northwest Territories officially referred to Ottawa’s Major Projects Office, along with a redefined Arctic economic and security corridor and the Taltson Hydro expansion, Carney said.
Yukon
- Yukon Premier Currie Dixon says he’s disappointed Yukon appears to have been left out of a major new federal defence investment in the North. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced $32 billion in spending yesterday while visiting Yellowknife. The funding will upgrade military bases in Yellowknife, Inuvik, Iqaluit and Goose Bay as part of the modernization of NORAD. A senior federal official says the work on the bases is expected to take place over the next decade. In a statement, Dixon said he was surprised none of the funding would go to Yukon, noting the territory is home to the North’s largest city and more than a third of its population.
Nunavut
- Smiling broadly, Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed MP Lori Idlout to the Liberal caucus on Wednesday after convincing yet another opposition member to defect to the governing party — a political coup that brings him one step closer to a majority government. Speaking briefly to reporters on Parliament Hill with Idlout by his side, Carney said the former New Democrat is “one of the greatest constituency MPs” who has ably represented Nunavut, a riding he noted is as big as Mexico but has a small fraction of the people.