CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Progressive Conservative Leader Dennis King says he believes a minority government, without a formal coalition with either the Greens or Liberals, can work.
In an interview with The Guardian on Wednesday, King said he believes Islanders have sent a message that they want legislators of different political stripes to work together.
“I think to begin, we will try to form a minority government, realizing that we are a minority government, that we are going to need the help of other parties to get legislation passed and to get bills passed," King said.
King said his party would try to govern on an issue-by-issue basis. He did not rule out working with either the Greens or the Liberals.
King’s PCs took home 12 seats after Tuesday night’s election, the highest of any party.
Peter Bevan-Baker’s Green party won eight seats to become the official opposition. This will be a first for a Green party in any province.
The Liberals, meanwhile, were reduced from 16 seats at dissolution of the legislature to six on Tuesday. Premier Wade MacLauchlan was among the Liberal MLAs to lose his seat.
King said he is not ruling out the possibility of giving cabinet positions to a member from another party.
"I think Islanders would be open to that, if that's the case."
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He also said he would like to implement ideas from the platforms of other parties, although the PC platform would likely form the basis of a first budget of a PC government.
"We would try to move forward with the basis of our platform, but we also have to be realistic in the fact that Islanders didn't give us just a blank slate. Islanders want us to work with other parties," King said.
"The tax cuts we have been rolling out are important. To put money in the pockets of Islanders is never a bad idea."
King also said he hoped to discuss methods of reducing carbon emissions other than carbon taxes with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Although King said several times over the course of the campaign that he did not agree with using a carbon tax to reduce emissions, the subject was not included in the PC platform.
"I don't think Islanders want us to fight the carbon tax. I think Islanders would want us to work toward carbon reduction,” King said.
"We understand the premise, that if you put a price on carbon, it is to encourage people to change their habits. The challenge we have here is we don't have any other options other than to drive."
