Saturday in Cornwall, Premier Wade MacLauchlan teased Islanders about the date for the next provincial election. The premier reminded delegates at the Liberal party’s annual meeting about the booming provincial economy and the good news budget the government brought down the day before. It’s been a recurring theme for the premier for some months – to hammer home the message that happy days are here again.
At about the same time and just a short distance away in Charlottetown, another party was gathering for its annual meeting and a leadership convention, amid hopes to change that election message. NDP P.E.I. met to elect Joe Byrne and welcome national leader Jagmeet Singh to the Island.
Mr. Singh reminded Islanders that electoral reform will play a key role in the coming campaign, however much the premier would prefer otherwise. Mr. Singh termed P.E.I. a leader when it comes to fighting for electoral reform in Canada and told delegates the “fight has already been won once,” referring to the November 2016 plebiscite when Islanders chose mixed member proportional representation (MMP) as their preferred option.
Now, Islanders have the chance to win the MMP fight once again as part of the upcoming referendum attached to a provincial election. While the Liberals hope to keep Islanders’ attention on the current economic good times, Mr. Singh was critical of the premier for his government’s handling of the plebiscite result - signaling the NDP will campaign hard on that issue.
The NDP – both federally and provincially – are fervent supporters of electoral reform. In the 2015 federal campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised Canadians the election would be the last fought under First-Past-the-Post. (FPTP). It didn’t take long for the PM to have second thoughts and after a brief social media chat with Canadians, killed the idea.
His backtracking was especially galling for the federal NDP party which was outflanked by Mr. Trudeau on the electoral reform issue. It was one of the reasons why many younger voters jumped to the Liberals and sent the NDP – which had a good chance at winning the election when Stephen Harper finally made the call – tumbling into third place. Now we have a provincial Liberal party which is cool towards electoral reform and an NDP party spoiling to make them pay a heavy price.
The election picture isn’t much clearer after weekend meetings. The premier said there wouldn’t be a spring election but hinted there might be a late June election, or early fall, or perhaps not until next spring. And the premier remained elusive about fixed election legislation under questioning Tuesday in the leguslature.
The premier promised to table referendum legislation in this spring sitting, including MMP and another option – widely reported as being FPTP - on the ballot. Opposition Leader James Aylward is suggesting that his recent bombshell of a consensus government option be added to the referendum ballot. Instead of a clear choice before Islanders, the waters just might get muddy enough to ensure reform’s defeat.
It’s incumbent upon this government to allow a proper period of public consultation on the referendum’s MMP option – as promised by the premier in the fall of 2016 - and a revised electoral map to accommodate that option. So, it appears the premier will pass his good-news budget with its wide range of spending supports, and hopes his positive message and good times keep Islanders content until the spring of 2019.
That is, if the premier honours his commitment. And that could be a very large two letter word.
