Provincial Updates from October 12, 2025
An overview on Provincial and Territorial updates for the week of October 12, 2025. Written by Wes McLean.
New Brunswick
- Customers can expect rate increases for years to come, N.B. Power’s CEO said Friday, as the utility grapples with growing debt. But CEO Lori Clark, appearing at a legislative committee, did not say how long those increases are expected to continue, or how much debt is expected over the next few years. The utility announced last week it is requesting a 4.75 per cent increase to rates in 2026, and tentatively plans to increase rates by 6.5 per cent in 2027 and 6.5 per cent again in 2028.
- The vice president of medical affairs at the Vitalité Health Network hopes a bump in the number of francophone medical school seats in New Brunswick will result in more French-speaking doctors choosing to stay in the province to practise. Last week, the province announced it would fund a further eight medical seats at the Centre de formation médicale du Nouveau-Brunswick at the Université de Moncton. Those new seats will be offered as of 2026.
- A shellfish processing plant on New Brunswick’s Acadian Peninsula has been ordered to pay a historic $1-million fine for mistreatment of its foreign workers, and it’s been banned from using Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program for 10 years. “We’re catching those bad actors,” said Patty Hajdu, the federal minister of jobs and families, while briefly answering a few questions from reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday. “Employers are required to provide safe, healthy and dignified working conditions,” said a release from Employment and Social Development Canada.
- The New Brunswick government released a strategy with six priorities for improving the province’s health-care system Wednesday, but Health Minister John Dornan said one in particular stands out for him. That’s making sure everyone in the province has a family doctor. “If everybody in New Brunswick had access to primary care so that they stayed well, did not get sick, did not need to go to the hospitals, I think we will have accomplished what I want to do in the time that I work with this government,” Dornan said at the news event in Saint John.
Nova Scotia
- The RCMP and governments have plenty of work to do before they complete changes recommended by an inquiry into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia that claimed the lives of 22 people, an independent committee says. In an annual report released Thursday, the progress monitoring committee — appointed by the federal and Nova Scotia governments — said it reviewed 14 categories of recommendations and found that police and government officials had completed taking action on only two of those categories.
- Halifax councillors say new planning changes from the province show the PC government is trying to fix a mess it created, and more public consultation on the issue will be “a sham.” On Tuesday, regional council talked about last week’s move by Municipal Affairs Minister John Lohr to designate the entire Halifax municipality as an interim planning area. This allowed the province to immediately bring in certain planning requirements and housing changes, but those changes were already in Halifax’s larger regional plan Lohr rejected in August.
- Nova Scotia’s NDP leader is highlighting a pair of her party’s housing bills she says were lost in the government’s rush to wrap up the fall sitting of the legislature. Claudia Chender says one bill would have created a residential tenancies enforcement unit and a rent control system that ties increases to the consumer price index. Chender says the second bill would have established an annual housing supply target of 12,500 units and set up an independent housing officer to track the government’s progress.
- A company that wants to build a green hydrogen plant in Nova Scotia has filed for environmental assessment for what would be the largest onshore wind farm in the province. EverWind Fuels made the application last week for a 54-turbine, 432-megawatt wind project in Guysborough County at the corner of land where the Strait of Canso meets Chedabucto Bay. The company, led by Australian private equity veteran Trent Vichie, is hoping to develop a plant in Point Tupper, N.S., to manufacture green hydrogen and ammonia for export. It wants to power the facility with wind energy.
Prince Edward Island
- Members of a legislative standing committee have learned that a long-sought-after report from the Island Regulatory Appeals Commission outlining the details of a 2018 investigation into the land holdings of Buddhist groups in eastern P.E.I. was never completed. The standing committee reviewed a letter from IRAC chair and CEO Pamela Williams during an in-camera meeting on Thursday.
- Cory Deagle is closing the door on a run for P.E.I.’s Progressive Conservative leadership. Instead, the MLA for Montague-Kilmuir has returned to provincial cabinet as the new minister of housing, land and communities, after that portfolio was left empty by the resignation of Steven Myers on Oct. 3. Deagle was sworn in Friday during a ceremony at Government House. “I know he’ll bring energy, good perspective and a real commitment to his role and to the team as a whole, we’re better off with him at the cabinet table,” Premier Rob Lantz said of Deagle at the ceremony.
- Health P.E.I. says it has increased its physician workforce by 10 per cent over the past two years, with the total number of doctors across all specialties up from 292 to 320. That’s according to Health P.E.I. CEO Melanie Fraser, who spoke to a legislative standing committee Wednesday about physician recruitment and retention. Fraser provided an update on the agency’s efforts to bring more doctors and health-care workers to the Island. “When I arrived here 18 months ago it was clear that this health system was pretty fragile and there were lots of vacancies,” she told MLAs on the committee.
- The Island Regulatory Appeals Commission says it will look into how it sets prices for gasoline, diesel, propane, furnace oil and commercial oil on P.E.I. A spokesperson for IRAC said in a statement that the margin review will evaluate benchmark pricing, pricing formulas and margin structures that the commission uses to decide on the cost of petroleum products sold on the Island.
Newfoundland and Labrador
- Liberal Leader John Hogan says his party plans to reduce the province’s reliance on fossil fuels — despite climate change taking up less than half a page in the party’s election platform. During a campaign stop on Friday in Lewisporte, CBC News asked Hogan if he agreed with PC Leader Tony Wakeham’s assertion that this year’s devastating wildfire season was not related to the province’s offshore oil industry. “No, I don’t,” Hogan said. When asked to elaborate, Hogan said climate change is “based on the use of fossil fuels over the last number of decades.”
- Longtime Mayor Danny Breen is heading back to the council chambers for another four years as the head of the City of St. John’s, according to the city’s election results website. Breen won by 3,613 votes in Wednesday’s municipal election. Breen beat St. John’s business owner Ivy Hanley who received 42.26 per cent of the mayoral vote. He has served on council since 2009, and as mayor for the past eight years, guiding the city through infrastructure upgrades, business development and as host of the Canada Summer Games in August.
- Newfoundland and Labrador’s Progressive Conservatives revealed their full election platform just hours ahead of a leaders’ debate on Wednesday, pledging $284.6 million in spending, which, they say, will come from reallocated money. Party Leader Tony Wakeham spent his campaign promising fixes to problems caused by what he calls a decade of Liberal failure. The pointed jabs are highlighted throughout the platform, with the Liberal Party being referenced 53 times in the 41-page document. The PC party is mentioned 50 times.
- Between shades of blue, party slogans and shared staffers, the Progressive Conservative campaign is a far cry from the Danny Williams “Anything But Conservative” era. Federal Conservative candidates did well in the 2025 general election in April, with Carol Anstey, Jonathan Rowe and Clifford Small each winning a seat in the House of Commons in Ottawa. And while provincial PC Leader Tony Wakeham says his party has its own distinct identity, he didn’t shy away from tipping his hat to his federal cousins.
Quebec
- The current chair of the board of directors of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), Dominique Savoie, believes that the public agency’s services are now in a better position after significant setbacks with its digital transformation. Savoie appeared before the Gallant Commission on Friday morning. She listed the changes made to improve the situation at the Crown corporation since she took over as chair of the board in January.
- Quebec Premier François Legault is threatening that there will be “consequences” for the signatory of the Finance and Procurement Information System (SIFA) contract, which is now under scrutiny by the Public Procurement Authority. When pressed by Liberal Party (PLQ) House Leader Marwah Rizqy during Question Period on Wednesday, Legault acknowledged that the contract signed in 2024 for the health network was problematic. He questioned who had negotiated and signed it and promised that there would be “consequences” for the signatory if it turned out that the contract was not “responsible” in how it was created.
- Quebec has booked another significant writedown on the value of its investment in a manufacturing partnership with Airbus SE. Premier François Legault’s government has reduced by half the estimated value of its current stake in the A220 limited partnership with Airbus and now pegs it at US$300-million, officials with the province’s Economy Department confirmed Wednesday. The depreciation was recorded in the government’s financial statements for the fiscal year ending March 31.
- The Quebec government has tabled a draft constitution that Premier François Legault says will protect Quebecers’ distinct identity and culture. The constitution bill, tabled Thursday in the provincial legislature, would take precedence over all other provincial laws and is intended to defend Quebec values and reinforce the province’s autonomy. “When we look at our history, our survival as a nation was improbable, but we are still here,” Legault said Thursday in the national assembly. “We now have the responsibility to ensure that the history of our beautiful nation continues.”
Ontario
- The Ford government says it will restore a lane of traffic on a short stretch of Bloor Street West without removing existing bike lanes, as it tries to find ways to fulfil its election promise without violating a court order. Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria’s office confirmed Wednesday morning that work would begin this month to add traffic lanes back from Resurrection Road to Clissold Road, a roughly 500-metre stretch. The work will see the existing, separated bike lanes stay in place as the government appeals an Ontario court decision that blocked it from taking bike lanes off Bloor, Yonge Street, Avenue Road and University Avenue.
- The Premier of Ontario says there is interest from other companies in purchasing the Amherstburg Diageo facility. During a media scrum on Tuesday, Doug Ford stated that he hasn’t spoken to Diageo but says the good news is that three companies have expressed interest in the Amherstburg facility and are taking on its employees. It was not stated which three companies those are. Diageo announced in August that it was closing the plant which bottles Crown Royal whisky in February 2026. The company had stated they were closing the plant in order to “streamline its North American supply chain.”
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Ottawa needs to be “tougher” to ensure that only “friends” get to invest in the Canadian critical minerals sector and not “someone” who wants to destroy the country’s auto and steel sectors. “When it comes to critical minerals, rare earth minerals, the constitution says it falls under the provinces, and we have the right to make sure that the people that buy our critical minerals are friends,” he said at the 2025 U.S.-Canada Summit in Toronto on Wednesday.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government will table legislation this month to codify the requirements for provincial and municipal governments to buy local products amid the ongoing trade war with the United States. The premier told reporters on Tuesday his government was planning to legislate a ‘Buy Ontario’ approach in the coming weeks, suggesting it would likely come with caveats. “We will be putting legislation in in October that we are requiring municipalities and the provincial government (to buy local),” Ford explained, highlighting a push to prioritize Ontario bidders for public contracts.
Manitoba
- Manitoba’s Opposition Progressive Conservative leader apologized Thursday for making a gesture in question period that mimicked shooting himself in the head. Obby Khan made the motion on Wednesday while Education Minister Tracy Schmidt was answering a question. Khan, seated, turned to a colleague, pointed two fingers toward his head and motioned as if he was pulling a trigger. The action was caught by cameras that livestream legislature proceedings and show Khan appearing to repeat the motion seconds later.
- A planned 72-hour detox centre for people found highly intoxicated in Winnipeg could be situated within a space previously eyed for a safe consumption site, Premier Wab Kinew says. The “protective care centre,” where intoxicated people could be held for up to three days, would be developed within 190 Disraeli Fwy. near the current 24-hour detox centre run by Main Street Project, Kinew said.
- Two associations representing members of Manitoba’s legal community are pushing back against comments made by Premier Wab Kinew following a judge’s decision to grant bail to a driver accused in a fatal crash, which Kinew suggested may erode confidence in the justice system. “When political actors, especially politicians who are in leadership positions, make these kinds of comments, it’s those that undermine the … [administration of] justice, not decisions made by judges,” Manitoba Bar Association president Stacey Soldier said in a Wednesday interview. The premier’s comments came during question period at the Manitoba Legislature on Tuesday, when Kinew was asked by the Opposition Progressive Conservatives about the release of Navjeet Singh on bail.
- Groups representing Manitoba seniors and consumers say new legislation proposed to govern automobile insurance will leave older, safer drivers facing an unfair financial burden. On Monday, the NDP government introduced Bill 49, the Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation Amendment Act, which seeks to enshrine an existing auto-insurance model where premiums are based on the driving record of vehicle owners, as opposed to the actual motorists behind the wheel. Matt Wiebe, the provincial minister responsible for the Crown insurer, described the bill as an affordability measure.
Saskatchewan
- Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is again facing calls to stand up for farmers after new figures show exports from the province to China have drastically fallen. The Statistics Canada data released this week comes amid a trade dispute where Beijing has slapped tariffs on Canadian canola products, widely seen in response to Canada’s 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. The data shows Saskatchewan exported $96 million in goods to China in August, a 76 per cent drop when compared with the same month last year.
- Faculty members at the First Nations University of Canada say they are not prepared to follow the board of governors’ instructions to keep quiet in the wake of revelations from an independent investigation into the institution’s president. “University leadership is expected to be ethical, financially responsible, student-centred and deeply accountable to the people and communities it serves. This is not the leadership style currently in place at FNUniv,” reads a statement signed by unnamed “concerned FNUniv faculty” and provided to CBC News.
- A 36-year-old man spent days in a Royal University Hospital hallway this summer, undergoing treatment for swelling of his brain, because there was no room for him to be in. “It’s scary. It’s the scariest medical experience I’ve had, hands down,” Kay Roberts said. Roberts had been experiencing confusion and headaches and grew increasingly disorientated, leading him to seek medical attention at the Saskatoon ER the morning of Aug. 4. Roberts never imagined that he would receive invasive medical treatment in a busy hallway. He ended up spending four nights and five days on a stretch bed while experiencing confusion and other cognitive issues due to his condition.
- The Government of Saskatchewan has thrown into confusion the future of a shelter in downtown Moose Jaw by contradicting a relocation announcement initially confirmed by Premier Scott Moe and Justice Minister Tim McLeod. At a press conference organized by the province on Wednesday, Mayor James Murdock announced the Ministry of Social Services had directed that the 15-bed Willow Lodge shelter be moved out of the city’s downtown.
Alberta
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is lauding Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ability to speak the language of U.S. President Donald Trump. Addressing the BMO US-Canada Summit in Toronto on Wednesday, Smith said Trump’s “playbook” means he doesn’t respond well to appeals for help or to stop hurting his northern neighbour. “That is not his love language,” she said, drawing a chuckle from the crowd. The premier said Trump prefers to hear what Canada can offer to help make America “even greater,” by providing more energy, critical minerals and natural gas — and that’s been her approach.
- The Alberta government says Ottawa is dodging responsibility by not standing behind the province’s planned proposal for a pipeline that would bring oil to the B.C. coast. In a statement Friday, Premier Danielle Smith’s office said the decision to build a pipeline lies solely with Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal government. “We expect him to act decisively and in support of this project,” said spokesman Sam Blackett. “Anything short of that will be a betrayal of (the) constitutional rights of Alberta’s citizens and calls into question whether Canada is a functional and law-abiding democracy.”
- The union representing 51,000 striking Alberta teachers is set to resume negotiations with the provincial government’s bargaining team after the long weekend. The meeting would be the first since the provincewide strike began Monday, and the Alberta Teachers’ Association said it was spurred by the success of recent side talks. Union spokesperson Heather Grant said in an email that further formal discussions could take place if the meeting set for Tuesday is successful.
- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she’s open to adjusting aspects of Alberta’s industrial carbon pricing program, including the province’s industrial carbon price. The province announced last month it would maintain its freeze on the industrial carbon price at $95 per tonne through 2026, putting it out of step with the federal government’s backstop price, which is set to rise to $110 per tonne next year.
British Columbia
- The B.C. government is strengthening legislation that protects people whose intimate images have been shared without their consent, a crime Attorney General Niki Sharma described as a form of sexualized violence. Sharma told a news conference, as the fall legislative session got underway in Victoria on Monday, that she would table a bill to amend the province’s Intimate Images Protection Act, which came into force in January 2024.
- Premier David Eby says a pipeline plan across northern B.C. by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith threatens community support and social licence that would allow other major projects along the provincial coast to move forward. Smith’s proposal for an oil pipeline to B.C.’s North Coast would require Ottawa to scrap a tanker ban in the region, and Eby says such a move risks upsetting the current “fragile consensus” over resource development, one that he hopes to strengthen. If there is to be a conversation, Eby says it should be about a “real project,” not one that hasn’t secured a proponent, funding or environmental assessment approval.
- B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad confirmed Thursday that the cellphones of Conservative members were searched so the caucus could find out who is leaking internal information to the media. That admission was made by Rustad, leader of the Official Opposition, eventually. He was initially asked by reporters if caucus whips are searching MLAs’ phones. “No, they’re not … on a regular basis,” he said. When pressed, Rustad admitted phones were searched during a caucus meeting Monday night after information from that meeting was posted on social media.
- Workers at all government-run liquor and cannabis stores in B.C. have now joined picket lines, according to the union representing striking public service workers. The B.C. General Employees’ Union announced the escalation of job action Wednesday. “We don’t take this escalation lightly, and we know that disruptions to services are difficult for the public — we regret the impact this is having on communities,” union president Paul Finch said in a statement. “But after months of patience, our members have been left with no alternative.”
Northwest Territories
- N.W.T. Premier R.J. Simpson says he feels confident after talks with the federal government that the Mackenzie Valley Highway will be built and that the territory will be breaking ground on it within the next two or three years. Simpson was in Ottawa with the N.W.T. Council of Leaders this week to meet with various cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries. He said the territory’s major projects, which also include the Taltson hydro expansion and the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor, are being received very well in Ottawa.
Yukon
- The Yukon Party says it won’t commit to launching a territorial health authority if elected, making it the only territorial party to shy away from the long-promised transition of health services to an umbrella organization. Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon says he’s not convinced the health authority would actually improve health care in the territory. “We think there are concerns, there are unanswered questions, and we’re going to reassess whether or not we should launch the health authority under the current plan,” Dixon said.
Nunavut
- When Prime Minister Mark Carney releases his second list of nation-building projects — expected sometime in the next month — Anne-Raphaëlle Audouin hopes the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link will be on it. “It’s the very definition of nation building because it fills a very critical infrastructure gap,” said Audouin, CEO of Nukik, an Inuit-owned company focused on major infrastructure projects such as the hydro-fibre link. It “can power communities, can power future mining development and certainly can power defence as well.”