Provincial and Territorial Update – November 29, 2024
Provincial and Territorial Update: An overview of the Provincial Legislative and Territories Legislative Updates for the week of November 29, 2024. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- Amid the ongoing Canada Post strike, a New Brunswick disability advocate is concerned about those who rely on mailed disability benefits. “An issue that’s often forgotten in this type of event is our vulnerable populations,” said Haley Flaro, executive director of Ability New Brunswick. “There’s still a significant number of New Brunswickers that don’t have internet access, can’t make online payments or apply to programs online.
- New calculations by N.B. Power show rebates are likely owed to hundreds of thousands of its customers for amounts they were charged for electricity between April and November. But making big holiday plans for the approaching windfall is not recommended. Most refund amounts, particularly to residential customers, will barely finance the price of a cup of coffee. “The rebate is not going to be material,” Alain Chiasson, New Brunswick’s public intervener, said in an interview. “It’s going to be a very small amount of refund.”
- The Holt government’s natural resources minister has come out strongly in favour of completely eliminating gasoline price-setting rules — while defending his own role in establishing the formula for the controversial carbon-cost adjustor Liberals plan to eliminate. John Herron has no official responsibility for gasoline regulations, but Premier Susan Holt said he’s playing a key role in discussions thanks to his former job as a member of the Energy and Utilities Board.
- New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt emerged from a meeting Wednesday with her counterparts and the prime minister speaking of a sense of willingness among Canadian political leaders to meet U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s demands as he threatens tariffs. “There was strong alignment around the table for a unified approach, a Team Canada approach, recognizing the unique nature of each province’s trade relationship with the U.S. can be considered,” said Holt on a call with reporters after the virtual meeting.
Nova Scotia
- Nova Scotia voters handed Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservatives a supermajority government in Tuesday’s provincial election, a formidable outcome aided in part by the stunning collapse of Liberal support. Houston wore a wide smile as he waded through a packed room of supporters at a community centre near his riding of Pictou East — where he was re-elected — with John Fogerty’s Centerfield blasting in the background. As he took the podium, Houston described being premier “the greatest honour of my life.”
- Nova Scotia Liberals, still coming to grips with the party’s worst-ever election result, don’t necessarily agree on what went wrong, but they do see eye to eye about what to do next: rebuild the party, starting now. Former Liberal cabinet minister Kelly Regan suggested the party was caught off guard by the snap election call. “I think the party could have been better prepared,” Regan told CBC Radio Information Morning host Portia Clark on Thursday, adding she did not feel Premier Tim Houston could be trusted to wait until the July 15, 2025, fixed election date set by his own government.
- New Democrats will form the next Official Opposition in Nova Scotia, as the Liberal vote collapsed across the province in Tuesday’s provincial election and the Progressive Conservatives cemented another majority government. The NDP kept all of the seats it held at dissolution and picked up a handful more in the Halifax area, although a hoped-for breakthrough in rural Nova Scotia did not materialize. The party will take over as Official Opposition from the Liberals. NDP Leader Claudia Chender, who was re-elected in her riding of Dartmouth South, will become the first elected woman leader of the Official Opposition in Nova Scotia.
- Nova Scotia’s Utility and Review Board has approved a $500-million bailout the federal government offered Nova Scotia Power two months ago. In a decision released Friday, the board concluded Ottawa’s loan guarantee would “benefit customers by mitigating the potentially significant rate pressures in the near term that would otherwise occur absent this commercial arrangement.”
Prince Edward Island
- The fall sitting of the P.E.I. legislature came to a close Friday, after four weeks and 16 sitting days. Over that time, Dennis King’s Progressive Conservative government passed the largest capital budget in the province’s history — by a significant margin — and a legislative committee issued a rare parliamentary subpoena to compel the tourism minister to provide details on a sponsorship deal with the National Hockey League.
- Health P.E.I. has failed to show it adequately informs involuntary patients in psychiatric facilities of their rights under the Mental Health Act, the province’s auditor general Darren Noonan says in a new report filed Friday in the legislature. Spurred by a complaint from a concerned citizen, the findings are part of a new performance audit report of the province’s Mental Health Review Board and the rights of involuntary patients during a two-year period from 2021 to 2023.
- Some Islanders involved in the agriculture industry are concerned about U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s proposed 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian exports to his country. P.E.I. potato producers say it would hurt their business — but it would also mean many Americans would pay more for their spuds and French fries. “I think it could be pretty devastating for P.E.I. producers,” said Randy Visser, who runs G. Visser and Sons. He sends about three-quarters of the potatoes his company grows to customers south of the border.
- The P.E.I. Funeral Services and Professions Board will receive $50,000 per year for the next five years from the provincial government to step up inspections of funeral homes on the Island. Board chair Nathaniel Lamoureux says the inspections will go beyond health and safety guidelines to include a focus on prearranged funeral funds held in trust as well as funeral home audits. The board has been working closely with the province since former funeral director Lowell Oakes was convicted of defrauding clients out of money for pre-paid funerals, Lamoureux said.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- While it may be located in an enclosed parking garage and walled off from sight, Newfoundland and Labrador’s NDP leader says the morgue at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s has continued to grow and that the provincial government isn’t solving the problem of unclaimed bodies. But, in a statement to CBC News late Friday afternoon, the provincial health authority says it hasn’t added any.
- In another sign that the ground is being prepped for a return of elite-level hockey to Newfoundland and Labrador, the provincial government is amending Labour Standards Act regulations in order to fall in line with other provinces, in the wake of a class-action lawsuit involving major junior hockey in Canada. And the man at the centre of all the hockey-related chatter, longtime executive Glenn Stanford, is breaking his silence and acknowledging that he’s working tirelessly to bring a team — though he won’t be specific — to St. John’s.
- New research out of Memorial University’s Marine Institute shows that species like cod fish could be the winners of climate change and a warming ocean, but the opposite could be expected for snow crab, says one research scientist. A team of scientists used modelling to look into the effects of climate change on three Grand Banks fish species. They anticipate that warmer waters could lead to biomass declines for snow crab and yellowtail flounder but gains for Atlantic cod.
- Students across Newfoundland and Labrador might be seeing their phones a lot less when they head back to school in January. The province’s Education Department announced Wednesday a proposal to update its Personal Electronic Devices Policy, which will almost entirely wipe out screen time for students from kindergarten to Grade 12.
Quebec
- Quebec Premier Francois Legault is putting pressure on the Montreal police to arrest everyone involved in an anti-NATO protest that turned violent last week. In Quebec City on Tuesday, Legault said he has told Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante that it’s “urgent” those responsible be arrested in the coming days. “There must be a very clear message sent to these thugs that they will be punished, they will be arrested, there will be consequences for what they have done,” he told reporters.
- Quebec Premier François Legault has changed his tune when it comes to securing the border after Donald Trump’s threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs. After saying on Wednesday that he had not received a “clear answer” from the federal government, Legault now says he is “happy” to see that Ottawa agrees a plan is needed. Legault and his other provincial counterparts met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday evening. After the meeting, Legault said that it was “not the time to play ‘is it true or not that our borders are not secure.'” His tone changed in the National Assembly on Thursday.
- Quebec Premier François Legault wants Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to appease Donald Trump by tightening border security and clamping down on the illegal drug trade in response to the president-elect’s threat of imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports. Legault held a news conference in Quebec City Tuesday afternoon, telling reporters tariffs of 10 per cent, as Trump had previously threatened during his campaign, or 25 per cent, as he threatened Monday, would have disastrous effects on Quebec’s economy.
- A committee appointed by the Quebec government has recommended the province adopt its own constitution and take other steps to boost its autonomy. Premier François Legault says he’s open to the possibility of a Quebec constitution before the next provincial election in 2026, but he won’t make promises. The committee’s report includes 42 recommendations, including that Quebec modernize its laws to remove references to the monarchy and that the province negotiate an agreement with the federal government on asylum seekers.
Ontario
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on the federal government to “take a more proactive approach at the border” following a call Wednesday night between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and all 13 premiers to discuss U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threat. In a statement after the First Ministers’ meeting, Ford said he “stressed that the federal government has been slow to react and is stuck on its backfoot.”
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday that U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s threat to slap a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods is “like a family member stabbing you right in the heart.” “It’s the biggest threat we’ve ever seen…. It’s unfortunate, it’s very, very hurtful to Canadians and Americans on both sides,” Ford said to media at Queen’s Park. Ford stressed the roughly $500 billion in annual trade between Ontario and the U.S. and said, while the tariff would hurt the Canadian economy, it would also wreak havoc on American workers and employers.
- Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government has passed a controversial bill aimed at speeding up the construction of Highway 413 through Ontario’s Greenbelt, and removing downtown Toronto bike lanes. Bill 212, also known as the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, passed Monday night after a chaotic, divisive month of protests, capped off when the government pushed through a raft of last-minute additions.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he has “zero tolerance” for intimate partner violence, but stopped short of saying his government would push through an opposition bill to declare it a provincewide epidemic. “We’re 100 per cent behind making sure there is zero violence against women,” Ford told reporters at an unrelated news conference in Burlington, Ont. “I have four daughters. And if anyone ever touched my daughters, that would be the worst day of their lives. It’s unacceptable. I have zero tolerance for any sort of violence against women or anyone in that fact.”
Manitoba
- Parks Canada is establishing an ecological corridor in Manitoba to conserve biodiversity and protect natural habitat. The Little Saskatchewan River corridor project will create a belt of green space along the Little Saskatchewan River from Riding Mountain National Park to the Assiniboine River, Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid said at a news conference at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg on Friday.
- The federal government will sign its first-ever modern treaty with a Métis government on Saturday, CBC News has learned. Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree will be in Winnipeg to finalize the agreement, which formally recognizes the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) as the government of the Red River Métis. “This is a turning point for our country,” said MMF president David Chartrand. “We can’t change history but we can change the future.”
- An advocate for transgender people says they’re concerned Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative Party approved a leadership candidate who once described U.S. assistant health secretary Rachel Levine, a trans woman, as a “man dressed in woman’s clothing.” More than three years ago, Churchill hotel and ecotourism company owner Wally Daudrich posted a Facebook comment about Levine, who is also an admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and became the first transgender U.S. official to receive Senate confirmation for a senior government position.
- Manitoba’s premier vowed Thursday to introduce legislation that puts the province’s current universal school food program into law permanently. It’s being done in honour of Education Minister and Transcona MLA Nello Altomare, who has been on leave for undisclosed medical reasons since October. The NDP government said Thursday it wouldn’t comment any further on Altomare’s condition and how he’s doing. Speaking during Thursday’s sitting of the Manitoba Legislature, Premier Wab Kinew expressed his love and support for Altomare, adding he’s glad the minister was in a place where he could hear his comments.
Saskatchewan
- Sask.’s mid-year financial update includes $500-million increase in deficit forecast. The mid-year financial forecast is out and it’s not good news for the newly re-elected Saskatchewan Party. When the budget was released in the spring, the province projected a $273-million deficit. Now, according to Finance Minister Jim Reiter, that number has almost tripled to $744 million.
- Epilepsy patients and advocates are calling on the Saskatchewan government to provide public coverage for a new anti-seizure drug. Xcopri, the brand name for cenobamate tablets, is a medication heralded by The Canadian Epilepsy Alliance and the Canadian League Against Epilepsy as a promising treatment for partial onset seizures in adults. Dr. Alexandra Carter, who directs the Saskatchewan Epilepsy Program, a multi-disciplinary team of clinical epilepsy professionals, was joined at the provincial legislature on Wednesday by a Saskatchewan family living with epilepsy.
Alberta
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says it’s early days on figuring out how the province will patrol its border with Montana but says there are options, and pointed to existing specialized sheriff units as a model. Smith’s pledge came after an emergency meeting this week to strategize with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other premiers over threats from incoming U.S. president Donald Trump.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is open to seizing ownership of data that oil and gas companies collect about greenhouse gases at facilities in her province and banning others from releasing the information, as she escalates her fight with Ottawa over its proposed emissions cap. Ms. Smith on Tuesday said she will lean on her signature legislation, the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, to defend against what she considers Ottawa’s latest unconstitutional intrusion into provincial matters. The legality of Ms. Smith’s sovereignty act has not been tested in court.
- A battle over jurisdictional authorities continued to heat up Wednesday, as federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault insisted an element of Alberta’s pushback to Ottawa’s oil and gas emissions cap could land companies in hot water. On Tuesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced an upcoming motion under the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act to push back against federal draft regulations that would require oil and gas producers to limit greenhouse gas emissions by 35 per cent below 2019 levels.
- Alberta’s $169-billion public-sector pension fund manager is taking the first steps to rebuild its senior ranks after two weeks of upheaval, but one key figure who emerged in the abrupt transition is expected to stay put: interim chief executive officer Ray Gilmour. Alberta’s government stunned the investment industry earlier this month by dismissing the entire board of directors and four senior leaders from Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo), including CEO Evan Siddall. One day later, after The Globe and Mail reported that Mr. Gilmour would be named as the pension fund manager’s interim CEO, the province confirmed his appointment.
British Columbia
- B.C. Premier David Eby’s cabinet met for the first time on Wednesday. Last week, Eby made some significant shakeups to his cabinet following his narrow victory in October. Eby said the new cabinet’s top priorities would be bringing down costs for families, strengthening health care, making communities safer and growing the economy so everyone feels the benefits.
- Premier David Eby’s decision not to recall the legislature until Feb. 18, 2025 means British Columbians will have to wait until what appears to be spring 2025 to receive financial relief promised during the campaign. Eby said the average household will receive $1,000 in financial relief during this fiscal year ending March 31 without giving a specific date when the cheques would arrive. Government will first distribute the money — estimated to cost the provincial treasury $1.8 billion — through a grant known as the grocery rebate, then make the relief permanent through changes in the tax system in following years.
- A 25-per-cent U.S. tariff on Canadian goods would be “devastating” for the province’s lumber and forestry industries, British Columbia Premier David Eby said Wednesday ahead of a meeting with fellow premiers and the prime minister. Eby was scheduled to participate in the virtual meeting to discuss U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose the tariffs unless Canada and Mexico stop illegal border crossings and prevent illicit drugs from entering the United States.
- It’s safe to say BC Conservative Party Leader John Rustad is unhappy with Premier David Eby, amid a noticeable lack of a Fall legislative session that Eby promised shortly after getting elected. “It’s disappointing that David Eby seems to focus on giving his MLAs big bonuses and wage increases without actually dealing with the work that needs to be done in BC,” he said. Among other things, Eby promised during the campaign to give British Columbians tax relief to the tune of $500-$1000. However, with the earliest legislative session being announced for February 18, it appears the tax relief will have to wait.
Northwest Territories
- At this year’s Yellowknife Geoscience Forum, players in the mining industry issued an urgent call to all levels of government to invest in the Northwest Territories’ ailing mining sector. The calls were issued during a series of talks and panel discussions held at the Chateau Nova Hotel in Yellowknife on Tuesday. The focus of the discussions was on how the Northwest Territories can attract new mineral projects to replace the diamond mines. At least two of the territory’s three diamond mines are slated to close by 2030.
Yukon
- Two Yukon First Nations slammed the territorial government in court Thursday for taking legal action after an assessment office recommended against a mineral exploration project in the Peel watershed. Lawyers representing Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in (TH) and the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun (FNNND) asked a Yukon Supreme Court judge Thursday to toss the case, arguing it was baseless. “Why are we here?” TH lawyer Micah Clark asked. FNNND lawyer Tasha Paramalingam, meanwhile, said the government taking the issue to court instead of consulting with First Nations was a “failure of reconciliation.”
Nunavut
- Nunavut has a new chief justice, after its former top judge retired earlier this year. Susan Cooper, a longtime Nunavut judge and lawyer, will now take on the job, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in a news release Friday. Outgoing Chief Justice Neil Sharkey retired because he turned 75 — the mandatory retirement age for judges.