The Last of the Provincial Budgets Announced

Geoff Currier

The last of the provincial budgets have been brought down over the last month.  Here’s a summary of the good news (tax changes) and the bad (big deficits). 

NFLD & Labrador: Some good tax news for individuals and small business. Newfoundland and Labrador’s Craig Pardy was the last provincial or territorial finance minister to deliver a budget. He tabled his province’s budget on April 29 and like all of his colleagues, announced a deficit for the upcoming fiscal year.  The deficit for 2026-27 will be $688.5 million on revenues of $10.8 billion. The province’s overall debt will stand at $20.8 billion. 

Perhaps the most noteworthy tax break Newfoundlanders will see is in the form of relief for small businesses. In a previously announced measure, the small Business Tax was reduced to 2% on January 1, 2026. It will drop to 1.5% on January 2027 and down to 1% on January 1, 2028.

Pardy introduced some other tax measures which should provide some relief. He has permanently reduced the provincial tax on gasoline. This move is designed to save consumers about $67 million annually.

The basic personal exemption has been increased to $15,000 which is still relatively low but still an improvement. The Newfoundland and Labrador Child Benefit is being offered to 3,000 additional children while increasing support to the 3,000 who are already receiving the benefit.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Seniors Benefit is being increased by 20% and the Volunteer Firefighter and Search and Rescue Tax Credit is being increased to $6,000. 

As well, the reduction in registration fees for passenger vehicles, light-weight trucks and taxis by 50% is being extended for 2026.

Overall, this is a tax friendly budget with no new taxes or fees although, like the federal government and all provinces and territories, Newfoundland and Labrador will have to wrestle with its deficit in the years ahead.

Yukon:  No new personal or corporate taxes. As with all other provinces and territories so far this year, Yukon is in the red. Premier Currie Dixon, who is his own Finance Minister, tabled the budget on March 19th and the deficit is projected to be $81.8 million. That figure may appear small but it needs to be pointed out that Yukon’s population is only around 48,000 souls. 

Yukon’s net debt will be $804.2 million by the end of the fiscal year, based on this budget. The territory has a federally imposed debt cap of $1.2 billion so it is still under that ceiling. Dixon predicts that his government will be back in surplus by 2028-29. 

Despite the deficit, Dixon has not raised personal or business taxes, nor has he introduced any new taxes. Yukon’s small business income tax rate remains at 0% while the general corporate rate remains steady at 12%.

The tax on tobacco rose slightly on January 12, 2026 to 37 cents per cigarette and per gram of tobacco, up from 36 cents. 

Nunavut: Nunavut Finance Minister David Dicker Jr. brought down his territory’s budget on March 3rd. There were no new tax measures or tax increases announced.

P.E.I.   There is a personal tax hike in P.E.I. this year.  PEI has followed in the footsteps of the rest of Canada’s provinces and territories when it comes to running a deficit.   Finance Minister Jill Burridge announced on April 14 that our tiniest province will run a $410 million dollar deficit for 2026-27. That’s a record high for PEI. That figure is more than double what had been projected a year ago.

White Burridge is planning for smaller deficits over the next three years; the overall net debt is now projected to hit $5.1 billion by 2028-29.

There are no proposed changes to personal income tax rates for most income earners. The exception is for those earning more than $200,000. They will see their provincial income tax rate go from 19% to 20%.

The most significant change islanders will see is in the area of energy consumption affordability. This budget eliminates the P.E.I. Energy Rebate Program in June of 2026. This program offered a 10% subsidy on the first 2,000 kilowatt-hours of monthly residential energy use. It saved customers about $175 per year on average. 

There’s some relief at the bottom end of the income spectrum. The basic personal exemption has been raised from $14,650 to $15,000. This had been announced earlier in the year. 

 Other highlights include an enhancement to the Child Benefit Program, the maintenance of the $10 a day daycare and a new Essentials Benefit designed to assist low- and middle-income earners cope with increases in the cost of living.

Bottom Line.  This concludes our series on provincial and territorial budgets for 2026-27. The overarching theme has been deficit spending with some tax relief in some jurisdictions.

Catch up on the federal/provincial tax news at the May 27 CE Summit. 

And be sure to tune into Real Tax News with Evelyn Jacks and Friends wherever you listen to podcasts – it’s a great 20 minutes to spend listening to an interpretation of tax and economic news!