As the Greens lose all but two seats, the Island Liberals will become the official opposition
Dennis King will be the premier of Prince Edward Island for a second time. On Monday, his party, the Progressive Conservatives, won 22 seats, giving them a strong win.
The Liberals won three seats and will be the Official Opposition. The Greens, on the other hand, only got two MLAs and are now the third party.
According to Elections P.E.I., only 68.5% of the province’s 109,587 registered voters went to the polls. This was a record low.
That’s a big drop from the 77.66% turnout in 2019, when 83,185 people voted, which was the most in Island history. It’s also a big drop from the more than 80% turnout that has made Prince Edward Island a model of political participation among Canadian provinces.
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With 55.9% of the popular vote, the PCs made big gains in votes all over the province. That was about 19 points more than their share in the 2019 election, and it reminds me of the PCs’ win in 2000, when Pat Binns led the party to a strong majority with 58% of the vote.
The party’s support grew by more than 27 percentage points in Summerside and 19 percentage points in Charlottetown, which were the two cities with the most change.
On P.E.I., “positive politics are alive and well.
King watched early results in his Brackley-Hunter River district before going to the Delta Hotel in downtown Charlottetown to meet with supporters and caucus members to celebrate the resounding win.
“What’s going on tonight on Prince Edward Island?” King said as cheers came from the crowd.
“Friends, let’s not make a mistake… Tonight, Island voters gave their verdict, and they gave it loudly and clearly. And the conclusion is that positive politics are still going strong on Prince Edward Island.”
WATCH | Dennis King easily wins a big majority and gets back to work as premier:
King said that his Progressive Conservatives put Islanders “at the heart” of every decision they made since they won a minority government in 2019, which became a slim majority after they won two byelections.
He pointed out that they had taken on a huge amount of responsibility by leading P.E.I. through years of pandemics and crisis after crisis.
King said that Monday’s vote showed that the people of Prince Edward Island thought the PCs should keep running the province for the next few years.
Tonight, we’re going out and having a good time. But tomorrow, we’ll get back to work rebuilding this province and making it the best place to live.— PC Leader Dennis King
“I’m humbled and proud tonight,” he said. “I’m just a kid from a small town with a big family. When I was growing up, the premier didn’t come from Georgetown Royalty, but tonight, by the grace of God, he does!”
King thanked Sydney Gallant, who was a co-chair of his campaign, and Gail Shea, who used to be a Conservative MP for Egmont.
He also thanked the leaders of the Green, Liberal, and NDP parties for running “honest” campaigns.
“Peter [Bevan-Baker of the Greens] and I have been through this before, but for Michelle [Neill of the NDP] and Sharon [Cameron of the Liberals], this was their first time as party leaders, and it was a great chance for me to get to know them,” he said. “I only have respect for them.”
King said that his party wants a “brighter future” for Prince Edward Island. He said that this starts with fixing health care, housing, climate change, and the cost of living.
“We’re ready to take this province to the next level. We are ready to lead and will keep doing so with humility and kindness. We are ready to work day and night to make sure that our future is the best it can be “King said.
“My friends, we haven’t been afraid of problems in the last four years, and we won’t be afraid of them in the next four years, either.
“Tonight we have a party or a celebration. But tomorrow, we’ll get back to work rebuilding this province and making it the best place to live.”
Leader of the Greens talks about a “difficult night
As votes started coming in, District 17’s New Haven-Rocky Point race was one to keep an eye on.
Throughout the evening, it went back and forth between PC candidate Donalda Docherty and Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker. Around 8:30 p.m., it looked like the Green leader would win.
The victory was both good and bad. Only he and Karla Bernard will be back in the legislature, since all the other Greens who were already there lost. Back in 2019, Bevan-party Baker’s got eight seats and became the Official Opposition. This was the first time in Canada that a provincial Green caucus did this.
The Greens’ share of the popular vote dropped from 30.6% in 2019 to 21.6% (16,134 votes) in 2020. (25,302 votes).
Bevan-Baker talked to reporters after he hugged his family and his grandson Freddy.
“This is a hard night for us, and let’s not try to act like it’s not,” he said. “I’m saddest about losing some great people I’ve worked with for the past four years.
“Sad for them, sad for the people they represent, and sad for the legislature… I’m going to miss them a lot.”
Let’s not try to hide the fact that this is a hard night for us.— Peter Bevan-Baker
Bevan-Baker said he was happy with what his party had done in the last term. He said that the PCs will have to deal with some of the biggest problems in the Island’s history, like a health care system that is falling apart and a housing crisis that is getting worse and worse.
And he said that the Greens will “be there every step of the way, holding [King’s] feet to the fire, because Islanders can’t afford another four years of inaction.”
Bevan-Baker said that he would be thinking about his future and that he would have news about that in the “near future.”
Liberals are back at number 2, but their leader doesn’t have a seat
At 9:25 p.m., Liberal Leader Sharon Cameron spoke to the media and her supporters. She said she’s glad the party is back as the Official Opposition, even though it went from four seats to three and had a vote share of 17.2% (12,876 votes) instead of 29.4% in 2019. (24,346).
“I want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. It’s safe to say that tonight is not what we wanted when the campaign started “she told me.
“But we all knew going into this election that it would be very, very hard. And what do you know? Even so, hundreds of Islanders and a great group of Liberal candidates worked very hard on our campaign and put health care first.
God willing, I hope the PCs use our platform. I believe in God.— Sharon Cameron
“God willing, I hope the PCs use our platform. I believe in God.”
Cameron said that being in charge of the Liberal campaign in 2023 was one of the best things in her life. She also said that she was proud of the 25 candidates the Liberals put forward in P.E.I.’s 27 districts.
She told Hal Perry, Gord McNeilly, and Robert Henderson how happy she was that they were re-elected, and the whole room cheered.
“And what do you know? You are now in the opposition, “she laughed and said. “That’s great. I hope you do a good job running our province over the next few years.”
Cameron said that the night was overall very disappointing, but in the four months since she became leader, the party has been able to rebuild a lot, improve its finances, and more.
She didn’t decide on her future as party leader on Monday night, but she did say she was “going to be a pain in the ass” in some way to hold the PCs in government accountable.
PCs’ popular vote share near 56
The first people to pick up their districts were King and members of his cabinet. King won in District 15, which is Brackley-Hunter River. In District 20, which is Kensington-Malpeque, Matthew MacKay was the first person who was thought to be elected.
Natalie Jameson, Steven Myers, Cory Deagle, Bloyce Thompson, Darlene Compton, Jamie Fox, and Ernie Hudson were also re-elected as cabinet ministers for the PC party.
Some of the gains the PCs were expected to make came at the expense of the Green Party, which came in second in 18 districts.
The Progressive Conservatives changed control of a number of districts, such as:
- Mermaid-Stratford, which was the seat of Green MLA Michele Beaton, was in District 5.
- Charlottetown-Belvedere, which used to be the seat of Green MLA Hannah Bell, is in District 11.
- District 13: Ole Hammarlund used to represent Charlottetown-Brighton, but he didn’t get his own party’s nomination.
- District 21 is Summerside-Wilmot, which was Lynne Lund’s seat when she was a Green MLA.
- Steve Howard, a Green MLA, lived on Summerside-South Drive, which is in District 22.
- Tyne Valley-Sherbrooke was the seat of Green MLA Trish Altass in District 23.
In District 24, Evangeline-Miscouche, which had been held by Liberal Sonny Gallant, the PCs also won. Gallant used to be the Liberals’ interim leader, but he chose not to run again.
When the P.E.I. legislature was dissolved in early March, the Progressive Conservatives had 15 seats, the Greens had 8, the Liberals had 4, and the NDP and Island Party had none.
Concession from NDP Leade
At 8:20 p.m., NDP Leader Michelle Neill spoke to her supporters, not long after it looked like she would lose in District 13: Charlottetown-Brighton and her party would be shut out of the legislature once again.
She told her supporters, “You all inspire me.” She also told them that she had just called the leaders of the other parties to thank them for running a good campaign. “Our party is made up of regular people who want to make Islanders’ lives better.”
She then said that the government “won’t get a pass” because the NDP has no members in the legislature.
Neill said, “Just because we’re not in the legislature doesn’t mean our voice won’t be heard.”