New Democrats on P.E.I. release party platform as first week of election campaign wraps up

CHARLOTTETOWN -

The first week of the provincial election campaign on Prince Edward Island has seen a deluge of announcements from all parties, though details have been scant so far.

The New Democrats are the first to release their party platform, including their three main planks in healthcare, affordability, and housing.

“We want to make sure that Islanders do know exactly what we're about,” said Michelle Neill, NDP leader. “I'm hearing on the doorsteps that people have concerns about housing, they have concerns about healthcare, because they want to ensure that, when they need that healthcare, that it's available to them."

Full platforms from the Progressive Conservatives, Liberals, and Greens still haven’t been released.

Leaders from each of the parties say the documents will come soon.

A P.E.I. political analyst says he hasn’t been surprised by the race so far.

"Fairly predictable,” said Don Desserud, UPEI political ccience professor. “A lot of announcements from the government saying what they're going to do, and new things that they could have announced a month ago but, obviously, kept for now, and of course the predictable response from the opposition parties saying, 'what's this about?'"

On Friday, the Tories promised public health, dental, and medication insurance for islanders without private coverage. The Greens announced a poverty reduction plan, while the Liberals vowed to increase spending to train and retain nurses.

The PC’s held 15 of the legislatures 27 seats before it was dissolved at the beginning of the week, a slim majority. Desserud said he thinks they’re aiming to increase that.

“If they don't improve considerably, they will consider this to be a setback,” he added. “They've gone into this election with the idea that they're going to 24, 25, 26 seats."

Desserud said there’s little excitement on P.E.I. for the elections so far, but that could change in the coming weeks.

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