By Canadian Press

In the news today: Carney, Poilievre in Quebec, vacation homes prices on the rise

Mar 26, 2025 | 2:16 AM

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Liberals and Conservatives shifting to Quebec

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Liberal Leader Mark Carney are shifting their campaigns to Quebec.

Poilievre, who held a rally in Hamilton on Tuesday night with an estimated crowd of about 4,500 people, is expected at a news conference in Montmagny, Que., around noon and at a rally in Quebec City in the evening.

Carney, who spent the first few days of the campaign in Atlantic Canada, will be in Ontario today, scheduled for an announcement and a facility tour in Windsor, a facility tour in London and a rally in Kitchener.

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The Liberal leader is then set to travel back east, telling reporters Tuesday morning that he would be in Quebec in two days.

N.S. legislature made moves to consolidate power

With the Nova Scotia legislature expected to adjourn late today, a political scientist says the winter sitting was marked by government moves aimed at increasing cabinet’s authority and shrinking the legislature’s ability to provide oversight.

Tom Urbaniak, a professor at the University of Cape Breton, says the government’s multiple omnibus bills paint the picture of a government working to consolidate its power after winning a sweeping majority last fall.

The Progressive Conservative government’s activity has been “about passing legislation to enable more discretion and provide more authority to the executive, to the centre of power essentially,” Urbaniak said in an interview.

He said some examples of this are laws that allow the government to fire non-unionized civil servants without cause, that give the government more control over Nova Scotia universities and that eliminate the requirement for an annual report on emergency room closures.

Judge urges public inquiry on Alberta prison death

A judge is calling for a public inquiry into an Edmonton inmate’s death, saying it’s the only way to get to the bottom of three guards’ actions that day amid concerns they were running a prison “fight club.”

“A public inquiry may allow the commissioner to pierce the veil of prosecutorial discretion and garner information as to why Alberta Prosecution Services chose not to lay any charges (against the guards),” Justice Donna Groves said in her fatality report dated Jan. 31.

“If, after careful investigation, it is determined that (Correction Services of Canada) employees were involved in misconduct that led to (Mason) Montgrand’s death, then I am confident that appropriate measures will be taken.”

Groves was tasked with reviewing the circumstances around Montgrand’s death and making recommendations on how to prevent similar tragedies.

Police to give update on Buffalo Woman probe

Winnipeg police are to provide an update today on an investigation into the death of an unidentified woman who was slain by convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.

Police have provided few details about the young Indigenous victim, who was given the name Buffalo Woman by a group of Indigenous grandmothers.

Skibicki’s murder trial heard he met the woman sometime in March 2022 outside a homeless shelter and brought her back to his place before killing her.

Police have released photographs of a reversible Baby Phat branded jacket that belonged to Buffalo Woman in the hopes that it could help identify her.

The trial last year heard DNA found on a cuff on the jacket is the only evidence police have pointing to her identity.

Vacation home prices likely to rise: Royal LePage

While fewer Canadians may be looking to buy a vacation home in some regions compared with years past, a new report says prices are expected to increase in 2025 as demand still outpaces supply across most markets.

The report released Wednesday by Royal LePage forecasts the median price of a single-family home in Canada’s so-called recreational regions to rise four per cent year-over-year to $652,808.

The national increase reflects expected price boosts in each provincial market, led by an eight per cent appreciation in Atlantic Canada to a median price of $498,852, and a 7.5 per cent increase in Quebec to $457,198.

Alberta remains the priciest province to own a recreational home, with Royal LePage forecasting a two per cent bump in the median price of a single-family property to nearly $1.3 million, followed by B.C. at $951,762 — also a two per cent increase.

Trump claim about B.C. river treaty ‘not accurate’

British Columbia Energy Minister Adrian Dix says U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims about Canada supplying water through the Columbia River Treaty are “not accurate,” and the U.S. can manage the water that flows over the border “however they see fit.”

Dix says there has been speculation about how the treaty could potentially be used as a “bargaining chip” in the trade war with the U.S., but with a 10-year termination provision, he notes that “Canadian action to terminate the treaty would have little effect on the current dispute.”

Dix says there have been long-standing cross-border efforts to modernize the treaty, and though it’s not unusual for new American administrations to review international processes, he says the treaty modernization process comes amid “vicious anti-Canadian attacks” by the Trump administration.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2025

The Canadian Press