Premier Dennis King sees weather, health care as biggest issues facing P.E.I.

Four years into his job as leader of the Prince Edward Island government, Premier Dennis King is keeping a close eye on his province’s coastline. That stretch of land has endured severe damage from heavy storms in recent years and King knows it will occupy his time and the time of his successors for a long time to come.

“Whoever is premier for the next 20-to-30 years, (weather) is going to captivate a lot of their time,” King told CTV’s Todd Battis in an interview. “We’re a small province in the North Atlantic and everyone tells us these (weather) events are more the norm as opposed to the exception.

“I think we’ve seen in the last three-to-fours years with hurricanes Dorian and Fiona that these things are real, they impact us greatly, and it’s something we’re going to have to figure out as we work through all this. It’s a hot topic of conversation on P.E.I.”

King was re-elected premier this year with a majority government after his initial election in 2019, and he’s seen first-hand the affect of powerful storms on the Island’s iconic shorelines.

“Everyone on P.E.I. would love to be on the water and there’s a whole lot of coastline, but at the same time I think it’s harder for individuals to get insurance,” he said. “I think what we saw with Fiona was a number of cottages in the north shore get wiped up that now they won’t get development permits to put (buildings) back in.”

Beyond concerns for the shoreline, King noted his government is looking to strike a balance between preserving land on the Island and making room for its growing population.

“Agriculture is our biggest economic producer and it has been for 150 years, so how do we maintain that level of economic growth while at the same time accommodating population growth?” he said. “It’s why we’re embarking on a land use plan for the first time in our province, which I suspect will be interesting and controversial and everything else.”

Health care is a major issue in the Maritimes and King acknowledges that fact holds true for P.E.I.

“Our focus since 2019 has been to get people in the right lane to access health care when they need it as close to home as possible,” he said. “I think you still see our emergency rooms overcrowded because people don’t need to access that service on an emergency basis but because they don’t have a family doctor.

“Through Pharmacy Plus we’ve helped over 60,000 Islanders and diverted them from the emergency room.”

The Community Outreach Centre in Charlottetown proved to be one of the most controversial stories on P.E.I. in 2023 and King said it was part of a larger issue that impacts everyone.

“We need to offer services to our most vulnerable populations,” he said. “Islanders are known to have empathy and compassion. I know there are very valid concerns people have raised.”

King expects more lively debate and conversation around the proposed policies and changes coming to P.E.I. in 2024 and beyond.

“We’ll start it and others will come to build upon it,” he said.

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