Wakeham marks 100 days as premier, promises lower taxes in upcoming budget
CBC
Premier Tony Wakeham has reached the 100-day milestone as premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, and promises lower taxes in his government's first budget.
But the opposition parties are quick to say the only thing to happen under Wakeham's watch — so far — are cuts, delays and excuses.
"I think Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are disappointed as a province from the lack of progress," Opposition Leader John Hogan told reporters on Thursday.
"[There were] a lot of promises in all kinds of areas, and all we've really seen so far in 100 days is excuses and cuts and delays in implementing those promises."
Wakeham's Progressive Conservatives have been busy cancelling several former Liberal government projects, including a new hospital in St. John's and a potential national marine conservation area for the south coast of the island.
Wakeham said those Liberal projects have been part of the challenge through his first 100 days, saying the hospital announcement lacked substance and financial planning.
"They were literally nothing more than announcements. So it's very important for us, though, to set the tone," the premier said.
Wakeham, Newfoundland and Labrador's 16th premier, ended a decade of Liberal rule by running a campaign on promises of better health care, safer communities and lower taxes.
And while those promises might not yet be public facing, Wakeham said much has been done behind the scenes to make them a reality.
"That's what we've been focused on, and that's what we'll continue to focus on," he said. "You'll certainly see it in our upcoming budget when it comes to lower taxes."
That budget, Wakeham said, will also outline how his government aims to follow through on the promises made on the campaign trail.
Wakeham called it a challenge, but believes he can still deliver over a four-year mandate.
"I need to help people balance their books first," he said.
"But it's not [all] going to happen next year. Or, I predict, it won't happen the year after that."
The system behind the emergency department wait times Winnipeggers see online had multiple flaws that made waits sometimes appear lower than they should, an internal memo shows.
Police on the west coast of Newfoundland say a 27-year-old woman was arrested on Friday night for impaired and dangerous driving, after being caught speeding down the main road in the rural community of Piccadilly at 88 km/h over the speed limit.
Scientists are seeing tropical fish in Nova Scotia with more frequency, and their arrival is prompting concerns about what their presence could mean for local species down the road.
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says health care won’t be exempt from her efforts to cut spending — even though her health minister says big spending increases will be unavoidable in coming years.
Pierre Ny St-Amand, the man who drove a bus into a Laval daycare in 2023, killing two young children and injuring six others, has been declared a high-risk accused.
A former CTV and CBC reporter hired to serve as Manitoba’s trade envoy to the United States is taking home more than $480,000 Cdn a year in consulting fees, according to his contract with the province.
The teen who lit her classmate on fire at a Saskatoon high school returns to court on Monday to learn the judge's decision on her sentence.
On a July morning in 2024, Dwayne Cardinal was packing up his tent outside the Bissell Centre when a police cruiser pulled up and two officers got out.
The City of Revelstoke and the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District have passed motions formalizing their intention to push the provincial government to protect an old-growth forest.
The province will once again decide who will hold Niagara’s top municipal post after the sudden resignation last week of Bob Gale, but exactly when the next regional chair will be announced isn’t clear just yet.
A wind warning is in place for Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton on Monday with gusts as high as 90 km/h possible, according to Environment Canada.
Just a year after the Alberta government made a big splash unveiling its new border security team to the public with an announced $29-million investment, its latest budget shows the province only spent a third of the total it earmarked for the work over its first year.
Following several fatal collisions in northern Ontario this winter, a Sudbury, Ont., resident has created a website to track incidents across the region.