Although members of his caucus are vocally unhappy with the government’s capital budget, Opposition Leader Peter Bevan-Baker said no one wants to trigger an election.
The passage of the $747.6-million capital budget, tabled last week by Progressive Conservative Finance Minister Darlene Compton, would involve a vote on matters of confidence. This means if they are not passed, the current government could fall. In past operational or capital budgets, the governing PCs have secured the support of some Opposition MLAs.
Speaking to media on Friday, however, Bevan-Baker said members of his caucus are planning to vote against the budget. But he said he had “no intention of bringing government down".
"We have not made any decisions at this point. I think it's safe to say that some of the caucus will definitely not be voting for this budget," Bevan-Baker said.
“Nobody wants an election at this time for a whole host of reasons.”
Both Liberal and Green Opposition MLAs have been caustic in their criticism of the capital budget.
During estimates on Thursday night, MLAs from both parties criticized the delayed pace of progress on several health care-related initiatives. This included the implementation of an electronic medical records system, which will not be complete until March 2022, and the construction of a new mental health campus in Charlottetown, which is not slated to be completed until March 2026.
Speaking in the legislature, Bevan-Baker said this erodes public confidence in government.
“We found out with (the electronic medical record system) that we’re not doing what we said we’d do and we found out with a mental health campus we’re definitely not doing what we said we are going to do,” Bevan-Baker said.
“That’s how you lose the trust of the electorate – it’s in promising things that you cannot do.”
Premier Dennis King has continually expressed a desire to work collaboratively with members of the Opposition. In the past, this process has involved a negotiated process in which some priority items from Opposition parties have been included in budgets.
But the recent byelection win for Zack Bell in Charlottetown-Winsloe has given the governing PCs a slim 14-seat majority. One of these seats is occupied by the Speaker, Colin LaVie.
Bevan-Baker said he has noticed a change with government this sitting. He said cabinet inisters have been less forthcoming with details and documents related to questions asked in the legislature. He specifically mentioned Health Minister James Aylward, who was present during estimates on Thursday night but offered no interventions when health initiatives were being discussed.
"This is a change of tone. It feels different," Bevan-Baker said in an interview.
On Friday, Aylward was asked about his lack of intervention on Thursday night.
“We want to make sure that we're bringing back the most accurate information. Yes, I'm the minister but it's a huge portfolio. I don't have all the information at my finger-tips," Aylward said.
"We committed to bringing it back, and I tabled it today. So, they had all the information they had requested."
Aylward’s tabled documents included organization charts of staff involved in planning the mental health campus, as well as a master plan for the mental health and addictions campus.
Liberal MLA Robert Henderson said most of the initiatives included in the 2019 capital budget have seen little movement over the last year. He said he remained unconvinced of the accuracy of the current budget.
Allocations from the last capital budget for several items, including social housing, health-care initiatives and school construction, remained unspent in this year’s budget.
"We're talking tens of millions of dollars that this government has left on the table,” he said.
"As it stands now, I would have a hard time supporting this capital budget."
Twitter: @stu_neatby