Progressive Conservatives cruise to early lead in Prince Edward Island election race

CHARLOTTETOWN -

The Progressive Conservatives in P.E.I. held a commanding early lead as the votes were tallied Monday after an election race dominated by debate over health-care and housing.

The incumbent Tories, led by Premier Dennis King, were leading in 21 of the province's 27 ridings about 45 minutes after the polls closed at 7 p.m. The Liberals led in three ridings and the Greens were ahead in one.

King is seeking a second term in office after four years marked by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, two major post-tropical storms and mounting health-care woes.

The party's main challengers are the Green Party, led by Scottish-born dentist Peter Bevan-Baker, and the Liberals, led by former bureaucrat Sharon Cameron, who was acclaimed leader less than five months ago.

At dissolution, the Conservatives held a slight majority with 15 seats. The Greens had eight seats, most of them in the Charlottetown and Summerside areas. And the Liberals held four seats, having lost their majority to the Tories in 2019.

The vote in April 2019 saw P.E.I. become the first province in Canada where the Green Party formed the official Opposition. The Tories initially won a minority government, something Islanders had not seen since the 19th century, but they secured a slim majority after a 2020 byelection.

Despite the Green breakthrough almost four years ago, political observers on the Island said the electorate did not appear to be in a mood for more change when the latest campaign began on March 6.

Opinion polls at the beginning and end of the four-week campaign suggested the Conservatives were well ahead of their rivals, including the New Democrats in a distant fourth place.

Still, Green volunteers at the Trailside Music Hall in Charlottetown were in high spirits as the early results were shared on a large TV. But the room went quiet when the broadcast showed Bevan-Baker in a dead heat for his seat in District 17 -- as well as early results showing other Green incumbents in a battle for their political lives.

Nate Hood, director of policy with the Greens, said he was hopeful the party will be able to hold on to some of its seats.

"There was a lot of talk at the start of the campaign that there potentially might be a clean sweep for the PCs, like 27-0, and I don't think we're going to see that tonight," Hood said. "I think we've grown some momentum in the campaign and I think we'll see us hold a solid base of support."

As the campaign started last month, King cited the challenges his party faced: two hurricane-force storms -- Dorian in 2019 and Fiona last September -- and the economic fallout caused by a potato fungus that halted exports of the Island's most important crop.

King, a former journalist and spokesman for former premier Pat Binns, called the election six months before the province's fixed election date, and less than two weeks after the province landed a 10-year health-care funding deal with Ottawa worth $966 million.

As expected, health-care was the focus of a televised leaders debate on March 27, during which King was on the defensive. As he did during the previous election campaign, King responded to his opponents' attacks by remaining optimistic and collegial.

"There are some wonderful ideas in the other three party platforms," King said during the remarkably tame event.

Still, Bevan-Baker accused King of failing Islanders on health care. "Let's remember who created the problems in the first place: it's the old parties," Bevan-Baker said.

The Liberal platform was focused on health-care, promising a seven-point plan to be implemented during the party's first 180 days in office. Among other things, the Liberals pledged to introduce a patient rights act that would give Islanders the legal right to timely access to health-care services.

As well, the Liberals said they would allow pharmacists to deliver more primary care services, and they promised to establish a separate department of mental health.

On the housing front, Bevan-Baker said poor government planning was to blame for the Island's lack of affordable homes.

In response, the Tories have promised a rent-to-own program aimed at helping people buy a house with government assistance over two years.

Bevan-Baker said a Green government would create a rent registry that would show what the previous tenant was paying and how much is being charged by the landlord when the property is leased again. He said rent caps would work in tandem with the registry.

The Green leader also accused King of failing Islanders by not calling for a public inquiry after post-tropical storm Fiona caused widespread damage and power outages last fall. The Greens have argued that the government's response to the storm demonstrated the Tories don't know how to respond to climate change -- the Greens' signature issue.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2023.

With files from Michael MacDonald in Halifax