CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Different federal election, same story on P.E.I.
Yes, it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that we’re sending the same four incumbent Liberal MPs back to Parliament Hill. Since 1988, electing federal Liberals on P.E.I. has predominantly been the case.
It was a long night Monday for many of us. Despite the early media declarations of a federal Liberal minority government, a lot of us stayed up late anyway to see the outcome set in stone. We didn’t want a repeat of going to bed early in the 2016 U.S. presidential election thinking we’d wake up with Hilary Clinton as president only to learn the tide changed in the late hours and Donald Trump won the job.
This time, Canadians kept a close eye on Ontario’s results and then Western Canada just to be sure of the Liberal minority projection.
On P.E.I., Liberals Wayne Easter, Lawrence MacAulay, Sean Casey and Bobby Morrissey captured 43.6 per cent of the vote, or 36,242 out of 83,037 votes, according to Elections Canada’s preliminary results.
So, less than half of Island voters chose predictability and familiarity with the Liberal incumbents.
But when we look closer at individual electoral districts, we’re starting to see cracks in the armour.
Islanders of all age groups want climate change dealt with. They also want P.E.I. to return to one EI zone, a promise by the same four incumbents in the 2015 federal election. They want something done with the Confederation Bridge tolls. They want a better trade deal for dairy farmers. They want more, and affordable housing, and they want something done about Northern Pulp’s plans to build an effluent pipe in the Northumberland Strait.
The federal Liberals have another chance to show that they can take charge of these issues, and in particular, become a leader in climate change policy.
This time, they don’t have a choice but to deal with the issues Islanders want changed. They might not get another chance next time.
If this election showed us anything, it’s that change is knocking on the door.
Green candidates Darcie Lanthier and Anna Keenan as well as Conservative candidate Logan McLellan came in second in their electoral districts, but the results sent a statement to the Liberal incumbents. In Egmont, McLellan came closest to an upset, losing by only 897 votes to Morrissey.
Despite the overall results, this election should serve as a wake-up call to the Liberals to get their act together. After all, the majority of Island voters saw change with other parties. They wanted something different, but due to our first-past-the-post system, they won’t get it.
But they might get it next time. One thing we know is that the next time around, we’ll have a generation of new, young voters hitting the polls for the first time.
There is a movement on P.E.I., especially among these young voters, that are looking for change, and political parties need to change as well and deal with the issues we’re facing. The Liberals have another chance to govern, but they have to realize that the status quo is wearing thin with Islanders.
