CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - Elizabeth May can sense Green success coming in Prince Edward Island’s election Tuesday.
May, the leader of the Green Party of Canada, says she is not a fan of the polls, even though they have for some time continually registered very strong support for her local counterpart, Peter Bevan-Baker, and his P.E.I. Green party.
She’d rather gauge the support first-hand.
After hitting the provincial campaign trail Monday and Tuesday in support of Bevan-Baker and his fellow Green candidates, she has a strong feeling something big is brewing here.
“I think it was really very revealing in dropping the writ when he did that Premier Wade MacLauchlan took direct aim at attacking Greens,’’ May told reporters in Charlottetown Tuesday morning.
“So, it’s more than polling. It’s a solid base of support across the province that people can feel.’’
May concedes Bevan-Baker’s popularity is more about the type of politician he is, rather than the party he leads.
She says Islanders have a good sense of this man, who stopped drilling patients’ teeth and started calmly and respectfully grilling government.
It is not about a brand, she explains, but a matter of being a thoughtful, kind human being.
“I wish he’d been my dentist, but I’d rather he was premier of Prince Edward Island than be a dentist,’’ says May.
“I know Peter Bevan-Baker will be an extraordinarily fine premier of Prince Edward Island. I know he will make the voters of this province enormously proud – and I know that for the rest of Canada it will be a sea change to have a premier like Peter Bevan-Baker taking a seat at the First Ministers’ table and helping the rest of the country experience adult conversations and someone at the table who’s there for the good of the country to help find common ground.’’
May is hopeful the “bubbling, optimistic excitement’’ she has been encountering translates into a historic outcome that would see P.E.I. become the first ever Green province?
The party currently has two seats, held by Bevan-Baker and Hannah Bell
However, in a province that has always flipped back and forth between Progressive Conservative and Liberal governments, never so much as flirting with another party to lead the way, realistically what, in May’s mind, would be a successful election result for the Green party next week?
“Electing a lot more Greens,’’ she says.
“Every seat that’s won is a big success.’’
Tying the knot
Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May was on the campaign trail in P.E.I. Monday and Tuesday helping drum up local support for Tuesday’s provincial election. April 22, which is both Easter Monday and international Earth Day, will also be May’s wedding day. She is getting married to John Kidder, one of the founders of the Green Party of B.C. – the first Green party in North America.
