N.B. holds rent cap increase at 3 per cent amid ‘affordability issues'
David Hickey, minister responsible for the New Brunswick Housing Corporation, makes an announcement on May 20, 2025. (New Brunswick government)
The government of New Brunswick will keep its rent cap increase at three per cent for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
The rent control measure took effect in February after being announced in late 2024. The province said it is meant to prevent the displacement of tenants by limiting spikes in rental prices.
'While we have seen a recent increase in the number of rental units in New Brunswick, tenants are still encountering low vacancy rates and rising rent prices,' said David Hickey, the minister responsible for the New Brunswick Housing Corporation. 'We're keeping the rent cap in place for this fiscal year to help provide stability and to give us more time to address the issues driving these challenges in the market.'
The cap limits the amount the price of a rental can be increased each year to three per cent. It is subject to an annual review. It is also being considered as part of the current review of the Residential Tenancies Act, said a news release from the province.
Hickey said the cap provides stability for renters after a 40 per cent increase in rent over the past six years.
'This follows other supports we've introduced to help landlords and developers,' he said.
The province introduced a rebate on the provincial portion of the HST for new rental builds that started after Nov. 15, 2024. It has proposed legislation that would freeze property assessments for homeowners, landlords and businesses for one year as it reforms its property tax system.
The next review of the rental cap is in May 2026.
For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
39 minutes ago
- CTV News
Liberals, Conservatives pass major projects legislation in House of Commons
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Thursday, June 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle Conservative members of Parliament voted with the minority Liberal government to pass its marquee major projects legislation Friday evening, setting it up to become law before Canada Day. The legislation, also known as the one Canadian economy act, would allow the government to green-light a list of projects that have been deemed to be in the national interest, fast-tracking their approvals. The Liberals have called it the core of the government's domestic economic response to U.S. tariffs. 'This is what makes us different from the United States, this is what makes us more independent from the United States, this is what's going to move us forward,' Prime Minister Mark Carney said at a press conference after the vote, adding the legislation needed to pass quickly 'because we are in a crisis.' 'And if you don't think we're in a crisis, go to Sault Ste. Marie, go to Hamilton, go to Windsor.' After the second of two votes in the House of Commons on Friday, Carney crossed the floor to shake hands with Opposition House leader Andrew Scheer and Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman. Two votes were held instead of one after the House Speaker ruled that the legislation had two distinct parts without a clear common element. That allowed the Bloc Quebecois and NDP members to vote in favour of the first part of the bill -- which looks to tackle internal trade barriers -- and against the more controversial second part dealing with major projects. The major projects bill grants the government sweeping powers to quickly approve projects that are deemed to be in the national interest. Provincial and territorial premiers have given Carney lists of projects they want to see approved, but no national list of projects has been made public so far. 'We all agree that more fulsome conversations are needed to select the nation-building projects and to determine the conditions that they must fulfil. In other words, the real work begins now,' Carney said. The legislation has drawn criticism from Indigenous leaders and environmental groups who say it gives too much power to the federal cabinet to bypass existing laws. The legislation was introduced on June 6 and was pushed through the House after about eight hours of committee study on Tuesday and Wednesday. The House transport committee did amend the bill to, among other things, remove the Indian Act from a list of laws the government can sidestep when determining whether a project should move forward. First Nations leaders have warned the bill could violate their constitutionally protected rights and may lead to legal challenges. Carney emphasized the need to respect the constitutional rights of Indigenous Peoples in his press conference on Friday. 'The major projects office will have an Indigenous advisory council whose core function will be to honour Section 35 rights in the implementation of this bill,' he said. He promised to hold full-day summits with First Nations, Inuit and Metis rights-holders and leaders in the coming weeks, alongside Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty and Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty. 'Consultation, co-operation, engagement and participation are at the heart of this bill,' he said. The bill is now headed to the Senate, which is scheduled to sit until June 27. By Sarah Ritchie. With files from Kyle Duggan and Alessia Passafiume.
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Northern Ontario wildfire evacuees get used to life – and the food
Claudia Linklater sits at the stovetop range in the kitchenette of her west Toronto hotel room, opening and pouring cans of tomato soup into a big stockpot full of rice and ground beef soup. 'It has to be Campbell's,' she says about the specific brand of soup that her fellow community members prefer. The mother and grandmother from Sandy Lake First Nation is one of about 2,000 wildfire evacuees forced out of the fly-in community over 1,000 kilometres away in the remote dense boreal forest of Northern Ontario. About 400 evacuees from Sandy Lake have been displaced in a cluster of four Mississauga hotels since June 7. And approximately 800 evacuees from nearby Deer Lake First Nation are in a different cluster of hotels in the GTA. Ms. Linklater's room is one of the few equipped with a kitchenette. She's taking advantage by preparing home cooked meals palatable to the homesick tastebuds of the remote north. Two large plastic bins full of prepared bannock dough – one plain and one raisin – made by another Sandy Laker get delivered to Ms. Linklater's room for frying. The bannock and soup is a taste of home, a welcome distraction from the uncertainty of when Ms. Linklater and thousands of others can return. The mother of four will continue to prepare homemade meals for her fellow evacuees using donations to get the groceries needed, inspired by her late grandmother who used to cook for others. 'She would try to feed as many people with what she had,' Ms. Linklater said. Deer Lake First Nation was fully evacuated about a week before Sandy Lake, by the same fire that threatened Deer Lake's airport, the wind spreading it at rapid speeds toward Sandy Lake about 70 kilometres away. The fire, measuring 183,000 hectares, is still considered out of control by the fire officials. It's destroyed traditional hunting camps and electric infrastructure but has spared major damage to the communities or homes. In a makeshift 'band office' on the second floor of another hotel, Deer Lake First Nation Chief Leonard Mamakeesic sits at a large table with his band councillors for their regular evacuation update call with joint emergency management partners of about 80 people. According to the Joint Emergency Management Steering Committee evacuation standards manual obtained by The Globe, 'when a First Nation community notifies the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC) of their emergency situation and requests an evacuation due to an emergency, the PEOC in partnership with the requesting community, involved tribal council, other Indigenous partners, provincial ministries, and federal departments will coordinate the preparation for and conduct of a safe evacuation.' On this particular morning, however, the call is cut short before an update could be provided when those on the other end learn that MPP Sol Mamakwa and Ontario legislature speaker Donna Skelly are present, as invited guests of Deer Lake. Moments prior, The Globe and Mail was also asked to leave the virtual meeting after being invited by Mr. Mamakeesic. Ms. Skelly said in an interview she was disappointed about the dropped call and would be speaking with the ministers of emergency preparedness and response and natural resources. 'I think they have a right to hear the latest on the fire in their community, and whether or not there's a plan moving forward to get them back home, or whether they still have to wait to get the fire under control.' The Conservative MPP, who removed Mr. Mamakwa from the legislature earlier this month for unparliamentary language, said her visit with the Deer Lake leadership and evacuees is part of her efforts to connect with the north. '[Sol and I] have, I think, a common goal to do as much as we can for people, not just in Toronto. That's my problem with politics in Ontario, it's so Toronto focused,' she told The Globe. Ms. Skelly said she was glad to see the evacuees settling in but empathized with the challenges of being so far from home. 'Keeping people together is important, but also how anxious it must be and how much you would want to go back. I'd be bored to tears,' Ms. Skelly said. Sitting outside the hotel on a bench with other Deer Lake evacuees on a humid day, Gordy Meekis finishes his cigarette. 'I miss my boat,' he said. 'I'd rather be in the bush than out here.' Life in the hotels isn't a vacation for the evacuees. Many are put to work for their communities and with provincial officials who oversee logistics and planning. Safety and social issues are a priority for leaders like Mr. Mamakeesic and farther distances from home in large urban cities such as the GTA, where many have never been, add to vulnerabilities. The communities implement their own measures such as nightly curfews and prohibiting alcohol and drugs in hotel rooms, with some success. Emergency operations companies are often contracted by Indigenous Services Canada to act as host sites for evacuees, providing 24-hour wraparound services. Paul Syrette, the director of operations for ISN Maskwa, an Indigenous emergency operations, said it's a responsibility they take seriously. 'If there's anything that is the biggest and most important piece of taking care of the folks when they arrive at the host locations, is health,' Mr. Syrette said. Opinion: As northern Canada burns, southern Canada makes climate change worse In some cases the evacuation has been a blessing in disguise. One evacuee from Deer Lake with an already diagnosed brain aneurysm was able to get immediate medical treatment that likely saved his life, Mr. Mamakeesic said. That's a luxury not afforded back home where access to a hospital and doctor can take several hours, sometimes days, and where the only way out is by plane. 'If he was in Deer Lake, I don't think he would've survived,' Mr. Mamakeesic told Mr. Mamakwa and Ms. Skelly in their meeting. Vice-principal of the Sandy Lake elementary school Glenn Soriano and 15 other Filipino educators working in Sandy Lake were among the first to be evacuated. Many of them already had homes in the GTA where they could return. The group cooked and delivered traditional Filipino dishes and 'rez' favourite Kraft Dinner with hot dogs to their fellow community members. 'This is one way of showing our appreciation to how they treat us over there. We are treated as the same as the community members,' Mr. Soriano said about his experience living and working in Sandy Lake for the past five years.
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
House of Commons passes Liberals' major projects bill
Liberal and Conservative members of Parliament voted to pass the government's major projects legislation this evening. After the second of two votes, Prime Minister Mark Carney crossed the floor to shake hands with Opposition House leader Andrew Scheer and Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman. Two votes were held instead of one after the House Speaker ruled that the legislation had two distinct parts without a clear common element. That allowed the Bloc Québécois and NDP members to vote in favour of the first part of the bill — which looks to tackle internal trade barriers — and against the more controversial second part dealing with major projects. The major projects bill grants the government sweeping powers to quickly approve projects that are deemed to be in the national interest. The bill is now headed to the Senate, which is scheduled to sit until June 27.
