Provincial and Territorial Update – May 30, 2025
Provincial and Territorial Update: An overview of the Provincial Legislative and Territories Legislative Updates for the week of May 30, 2025. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- Real estate listings in New Brunswick routinely display property-tax amounts on homes that are several hundred dollars less than what a new buyer would pay, but Realtors insist the practice is not misleading to consumers. Property taxes can be the second-largest expense in owning a home after mortgage payments, and the New Brunswick Real Estate Association says its rules require tax information to be displayed with each listed property for the benefit of prospective buyers.
- The Anglophone South School District and some people in the Belleisle school community are at odds over the suspension of a student for wearing a “straight pride” shirt during the school’s Pride Week. Jaxon McDonald, a Grade 10 student at Belleisle Regional High School, was suspended for five days after he wore a T-shirt with the words “straight pride” on the front. Jaxon said he wasn’t looking to offend with the shirt and wore it when inclusivity was the theme of the day’s Pride events.
- New Brunswick has completed the data analysis phase of its investigation into an undiagnosed neurological illness affecting hundreds of people and has submitted its results to the Public Health Agency of Canada for scientific review. No information about New Brunswick’s findings into the mystery brain illness, first flagged by Moncton neurologist Dr. Alier Marrero several years ago, has been released.
- The leadership race for New Brunswick’s Progressive Conservative party is unofficially underway, with one potential candidate being forced to make a decision before Canada Day. Rules for the race adopted last week include a proviso that anyone holding the position of interim leader on July 1 of this year is ineligible to run for the permanent position. That means Saint John East MLA Glen Savoie would have to relinquish the interim job soon if he wants to have the option of running.
Nova Scotia
- Musquodoboit Harbour residents are raising concerns about inpatient care at Twin Oaks Memorial Hospital amid a pay dispute between the province and five doctors at the hospital. However both the province and the MLA for the area are seeking to reassure the community that hospital services will continue as usual.
- Nova Scotia’s minister responsible for housing has asked officials in his department to look at compensating people who receive rent supplements that were underpaid for the last two years. Colton LeBlanc told reporters on Thursday that the underpayments, discovered as part of a recent audit of the program, would have been in the range of $10 to $30 per month. While those could be considered smaller amounts, “for folks who rely on a rent supplement, it could be big,” the minister said.
- The leader of Nova Scotia’s Official Opposition says the government’s refusal to release the recommendations from a panel on environmental racism is the latest example of the Progressive Conservatives ducking transparency. On Thursday, Justice Minister Becky Druhan refused to say why the government is withholding the recommendations or even if she’s read them. A government spokesperson said on Friday that the panel shared its recommendations at the end of June 2024 and that a public report was not part of its mandate.
- Politicians are demanding action following the Nova Scotia Power ransomware attack, with the Liberals calling for an emergency meeting with the utility’s executives. Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette said Thursday the matter is an urgent one, considering the personal information of 280,000 customers has been compromised. Mombourquette said Nova Scotians deserve answers, and the utility’s executives should appear before the all-party public accounts committee to provide them.
Prince Edward Island
- Health P.E.I. says it’s making changes to its executive leadership team in what it calls an important step in restoring public trust. The main changes include the addition of the following positions: chief of governance and risk, chief of people and professional practice, and provincial chief of nursing. “The health-care system is fairly large and complex here in Prince Edward Island, and it really needs to be well-managed,” Health P.E.I. CEO Melanie Fraser said in an interview with CBC News.
- Premier Rob Lantz says he is not ruling out a run for the permanent leadership of P.E.I.’s Progressive Conservative Party, despite previously indicating that he didn’t want anything but the interim job. Lantz became the governing party’s interim leader and thus the premier on Feb. 21, a day after Dennis King’s sudden resignation from both roles. In a statement to CBC News on Wednesday, Lantz said he’s been focused on leading the province and the spring legislative sitting over the past three months.
- Prince Edward Islanders who invest in some energy efficiency measures will get lower rebates from the provincial government starting Monday, while amounts offered to help pay for insulation and window and door replacement will go up. The province announced the changes to its Net Zero and efficiencyPEI rebates on Thursday, after it paused accepting new applications for some programs earlier in the year.
- Charlottetown’s police chief is taking on a new leadership role at city hall. Brad MacConnell, who has served as chief of police since 2021, has been named the next chief administrative officer of P.E.I.’s capital city, effective June 16. The city council announced the appointment late Monday. MacConnell has been with Charlottetown Police Services for 30 years and currently oversees a 100-member force and a $17-million annual budget.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- The province’s information and privacy commissioner is investigating a security breach that saw hackers steal the private information of nearly 300,000 current and former students and teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador. In a news release sent Friday afternoon, Privacy Commissioner Kerry Hatfield said part of that investigation will look at whether the Education Department has taken enough action in the wake of the PowerSchool attack to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
- Newfoundland and Labrador is predicting what it will take to meet the province’s healthcare needs in 21 healthcare professions over the next decade. On Thursday, the Department of Health released phase one of its health human resources plan, which focuses on the retention and recruitment of health-care professionals, including nurses, therapists, laboratory workers and pharmacists.
- In the wake of a recount in a tightly contested federal riding in rural Newfoundland, a longtime politician says Elections Canada needs to do a better job educating people on how to vote. An unprecedented number of disputed ballots in the Terra Nova-The Peninsulas riding forced a lengthy delay on the outcome of what was among the tightest races in this year’s federal election. More than 41,000 people voted in the newly named riding. After a marathon recount, 819 ballots were ultimately rejected, according to the Elections Canada website. Fabian Manning, a senator and former Newfoundland and Labrador MHA and Conservative MP, said he’s never seen so many ballots rejected.
- A private home care worker is blasting the government of Newfoundland and Labrador over its handling of the industry’s wages, saying the gap between private and agency workers is only growing. In November, former provincial health minister John Hogan announced federal funding to help boost the hourly wage for agency home care workers over the course of five years, going from $17.05 to $21.05. Sarah King, a private home care worker who isn’t included in the plan, told the CBC she was shocked when she saw the news.
Quebec
- Quebec Premier François Legault says he will ask the federal government to help finance the transmission lines for hydroelectricity projects connecting his province and Newfoundland and Labrador. Legault said today that he will make the request next week during a meeting between the premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney has promised that his government will work with the provinces to fast-track projects of national interest. The premiers of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador signed a new draft agreement between their provinces’ utility companies in December.
- Nearly two months after Quebec’s highest court ruled that Bill 40 violated the rights of the English-speaking community, the François Legault government is taking its legal challenge to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Attorney General of Quebec has requested leave to appeal to Canada’s top court, according to a filing obtained by CTV News. This means the Supreme Court could have the final say on the constitutionality of the law since it was adopted more than five years ago, if the court agrees to hear the case. Quebec’s English school boards have been fighting the law in court since 2020.
- On the same day King Charles III delivered a throne speech in Ottawa, heaping praise on Canada, the National Assembly adopted a motion calling on Quebec to abolish all ties with the monarchy. Presented Tuesday by Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the motion states that Quebec is the only custodian of the democratic expression of the Quebec people. It notes that a majority of Quebecers feel no attachment to the monarchy and that “the National Assembly agrees to abolish the link between the Quebec state and the British monarchy.”
- Quebec’s bill limiting the scope of strikes was adopted Thursday, and labour unions are calling it a “dark day” for all workers. “The premier and his labour minister have clearly failed to grasp the extent of the damage that this new legislation will cause,” said the heads of nine major unions in a news release. The Coalition Avenir Québec and the Liberals voted for the bill, while the Parti Québécois and Québec Solidaire voted against it. It passed with 94 votes. Labour Minister Jean Boulet said the bill intended to “take into consideration the needs of the population,” and said, “whether it’s a strike or lockout, it’s important to find the right balance.”
Ontario
- Ontario MPPs have received a nearly $41,000 raise and will also be eligible to participate in a pension plan for the first time in decades. The salary for MPPs has been frozen at $116,500 since 2009, with successive governments on either end of the political spectrum opting to keep the measure in place. But legislation that was enacted at Queen’s Park on Thursday afternoon lifts the freeze and sets MPP pay at 75 per cent of the salary awarded to Members of Parliament—currently $209,800. It means that MPP salaries will be increased by 35 per cent to $157,350 with the change retroactive to the day of the most recent Ontario election.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford – facing opposition from First Nations over a bill allowing “special economic zones” where mines or other projects could be exempt from any provincial law – is pledging to include provisions for similar Indigenous-led zones but still vowing to pass his controversial legislation. Bill 5, which has sparked warnings of protests from First Nations leaders who say they have not been consulted, is aimed at accelerating Ontario’s sluggish mine approval process, particularly in the remote northern Ring of Fire region. The government says critical mineral reserves there are key to Ontario’s future economic resilience in the face of U.S. tariffs.
- Progressive Conservatives are using their majority to shut down debate on Doug Ford’s lawless and dangerous power-grab. Yesterday, the government brought in a Time Allocation motion to shut down committee debates and give barely an hour to discuss a Bill that would give Doug Ford unlimited power to create no law zones right across Ontario.
- Multiple former Ford government staffers have turned over emails from their personal accounts relating to the Greenbelt and drafting mandate letters, Global News has learned, after the Information and Privacy Commissioner ordered them to search their accounts for communications relating to official government business. Among the staffers to discover emails which they had previously failed to disclose was the former executive assistant to Premier Doug Ford, who handed officials an email he received from a developer relating to the Greenbelt.
Manitoba
- Wildfire evacuees staying in an arena in Winnipeg say it’s been hard being forced out of their homes as an out-of-control fire edges closer to the northwestern Manitoba city of Flin Flon, but they’re grateful to be safe. Kyler Colomb and members of his family are among the Flin Flon evacuees who spent Thursday night at south Winnipeg’s Century Arena.
- Indigenous leaders in Manitoba are accusing the federal and provincial governments of poor communication, slow responses to resource requests and bureaucratic red tape as wildfires force the evacuation of 17,000 people in northern First Nations. “What we have seen… [from government] is delays in response times, delays in supports,” Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said Thursday, a day after Manitoba declared a provincewide state of emergency.
- A housing advocacy group has served Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew a warning — in the form of a “notice of termination” caution — saying he has breached his contract with Manitobans by failing to pass legislation on above-guideline rent increases. The “notice of termination” letter from the Right to Housing Coalition — written to mimic the termination forms that landlords can present to tenants before an eviction — was presented by demonstrators during a rally outside Kinew’s constituency office in Winnipeg on Friday morning.
- Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew invited his caucus members to stand with him and deliver one message to the 2SLGBTQ+ community, in particular transgender youth. “If anyone is giving you a hard time, just know that the premier, the deputy premier, the ministers, the MLA and the entire government of Manitoba has your back,” he said, speaking at the legislative building. Those words came during a Pride Month celebration at the legislature on Thursday, where Kinew said there’s “a lot” of anti-transgender sentiment in Manitoba.
Saskatchewan
- As wildfires burn across northern Saskatchewan, the community of La Ronge is blanketed in smoke and grappling with fear and uncertainty. The area has been under an air quality warning for several days, and while no immediate evacuation orders have been issued, smoke and shifting winds have kept residents alert and anxious. “There’s a lot of smoke,” said Tammy Cook-Searson, chief of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. “It is starting to impact, especially children who are asthmatic, or anybody with any compromised health issues.”
- The Saskatchewan government has declared a province-wide state of emergency, as wildfires raging across the northern part of the province continue to drive thousands from their homes. Premier Scott Moe made the announcement Thursday at a news conference in Prince Albert. “The conditions that our northern residents, communities and wildland firefighters are facing today are as severe or quite likely unlike anything we have faced in quite some time, if not ever,” Moe said.
- Saskatchewan’s Opposition NDP says the provincial government needs to rethink its Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program after a new report found that some users feel the service failed to meet their basic needs. “We need to fix SIS urgently,” said NDP social services critic Brent Blakley at a news conference Tuesday.
- The Royal Canadian Legion won’t allow a group pushing for a sovereignty referendum in Saskatchewan to hold meetings in Legion halls. Unified Grassroots is encouraging people to sign a petition calling for a referendum on a sovereign Saskatchewan. Its website says the purpose of the referendum would be “to empower the provincial government to negotiate new terms for Saskatchewan’s relationship, whether as part of Canada or as an independent nation.”
Alberta
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith defended the extension of delivery of a judge’s third-party investigation into a controversy surrounding Alberta Health Services procurement processes. Manitoba provincial court judge Raymond Wyant was originally expected to submit an interim report to the province on Friday, followed by a full report next month. Deputy Minister of Jobs Chris McPherson said Wyant needed more time due to the volume of documents. He is now expected to deliver his interim report in September, with the final report coming in mid-October.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith expressed her frustration with U.S. President Donald Trump Saturday, calling his continued “51st State” comments antagonizing and harmful to Canadian-U.S. relations. She made the comments on the bi-weekly show Your Province, Your Premier, when a caller asked about Trump’s continued rhetoric as he’s set to arrive in Alberta for the upcoming G7 conference scheduled from June 15 to 17. “I’m so frustrated that what sounded like it started off as a joke continues to be talked about six months later,” she said.
- Premier Danielle Smith praised her government’s efforts in passing several policies during the spring legislature sitting while voicing her frustration with the federal Liberals’ election victory during a fundraising dinner Thursday night. The Calgary Leader’s Dinner drew more than 1,900 people to the Calgary Telus Centre. While introducing her cabinet, Smith enumerated several policy announcements her UCP government advanced, including freezing the industrial carbon tax, health care reforms, changes to ballot questions, education improvements and court challenges of the federal firearms ban, Bill C-69, and plastic and fertilizer regulations.
- A group representing Canada’s doctors is challenging the constitutionality of Alberta’s legislation banning certain gender-affirming treatments for children under the age of 16, arguing it violates their Charter right to freedom of conscience. The Canadian Medical Association says it filed the challenge Wednesday in the Alberta Court of King’s Bench. The CMA says the move is meant to protect the relationship between patients and doctors when it comes to making treatment decisions.
British Columbia
- Malaysia is far from being one of British Columbia’s top trading partners, but Agriculture Minister Lana Popham says the country is being included in an Asian trade tour as part of a bid to diversify trade away from the United States. Premier David Eby, Popham, B.C.’s parliamentary secretary for Asia-Pacific trade, Paul Choi, and business leaders leave Sunday on the 10-day mission that will also include Japan and South Korea.
- B.C. Premier David Eby seemed poised Monday to force through his government’s controversial fast-tracking legislation even as he continued to face criticism from First Nations leaders and environmental groups. The legislation is scheduled to be brought to a final vote on Wednesday evening and would give the provincial cabinet broad powers to speed up the permitting and environmental assessment process for schools, hospitals, roads and any other projects it deems “provincially significant.”
- Premier David Eby has unveiled his plan to speed up mining development in northwestern B.C. to boost the provincial economy. But the announcement was overshadowed by growing opposition to a controversial law that will fast-track infrastructure and resource projects. Eby says he has a plan to enable the province to fast-track mining development in northwestern B.C., while respecting First Nations rights and conserving B.C.’s sensitive ecosystems.
- If it were up to B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad, British Columbians would have found themselves at the start of an election campaign Thursday, because of a blurred Zoom screen. Rustad says Speaker Raj Chouhan shouldn’t have counted an online vote on Wednesday night by Rick Glumac, minister of state for trade, arguing the blurred background of his screen violated the legislature’s prohibition against virtual backgrounds. The vote on the government’s Bill 14 was a confidence vote — and without Glumac’s vote, or the tiebreaker cast by Chouhan, Rustad says the Opposition would have won 46 to 45.
Northwest Territories
- Less than a week after parents were notified lead samples were found in two Yellowknife schools’ drinking water, the N.W.T. government is saying it did not use best practices in the initial testing. In an emailed press release that was sent out late Saturday afternoon, the government said the initial water testing in schools “was not conducted using national best practices for water sampling.” The government also noted that it undertook the original sampling process without in-house expertise specific to water testing. It said it didn’t engage any third-party experts and didn’t consult its own internal water quality experts in advance.
Yukon
- For the past five years, the Jordan’s Principle nutrition program has provided all Yukon First Nations children with two healthy meals a day, but those who run the program say recent changes to the eligibility requirements for Jordan’s Principle could change that. Jordan’s Principle is a human rights principle established by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to make sure that First Nations children do not face gaps, delays or denials in accessing government services because of their identity as First Nations children. The focus of the program hasn’t changed, but the funding requirements have.
Nunavut
- A lawsuit over the right to Inuit language instruction in the Nunavut public school system is a step closer to being heard following a Supreme Court of Canada decision. The top court dismissed the Nunavut government’s latest bid to have the lawsuit thrown out before the parties made full arguments. Two Inuit mothers with school-aged children and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, a non-profit that represents Inuit interests in the territory, launched the case against the Nunavut government.