PEI Politics Potpourri
May 13, 2011 - 3:05pm
Opposition leader Olive Crane was suspended from the P.E.I. legislature Friday for the remainder of the spring sitting.
Crane was suspended for unparliamentary language she used during a debate on whether government planned to introduce HST to the province.
"The premier's record of saying one thing and doing another is shameful. He continuously breaks promises," said Crane.
"Premier, why do you continually mislead and deceive this house?"
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/05/13/pei-crane-suspended-legislature-584.html
The P.E.I. utility Maritime Electric was part of the plans in Hydro-Québec's purchase of NB Power, a document released last month by the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks reveal.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/05/18/pei-...P.E.I.'s lieutenant-governor hopes to find out soon if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be staying with her at Government House when they visit the province in July.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/06/01/pei-...
The City of Summerside is calling on the P.E.I. government to pull funding from the Charlottetown-based PEI Rocket unless it provides the same funding to a Summerside-based hockey team.
Summerside is actively seeking a major junior team of its own. There was talk earlier this year that the Lewiston Maineiacs might consider a move to P.E.I.'s second city, but the franchise ended up folding at the end of the season.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/06/06/pei-...
Starting this fall P.E.I. teenagers who are members of the cadets will be able to apply the experience for a high school credit, and the province is looking at giving credits for other extracurricular activities as well.
About 500 Island teenagers are members of the army, air or sea cadets. Jim Spears, president of the P.E.I. branch of the Army Cadet League of Canada told CBC News Tuesday the league the province have been working with the Education Department for a number of years on the plan.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/06/08/pei-...
An election
Latest poll has bad news for Tories:
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Decision-11/Local-News-/2011-09-06/article-2741692/Crane-unfazed-by-latest-poll-numbers/1
Anybody know who the NDP candidate is in Charlottetown - Sherwood? It looks the party should be winning that seat (h/t Krago):
Charlottetown - 2011 Federal Electoral Map - Provincial ED Boundaries
Anybody know who the NDP candidate is in Charlottetown - Sherwood? It looks the party should be winning that seat (h/t Krago):
Charlottetown - 2011 Federal Electoral Map - Provincial ED Boundaries
Also Charlottetown-Vicotria Park would be a good fight for the NDP. I saw on CBC PEI Votes, they are working on putting forward a slate of candidates: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/peivotes2011/story/2011/09/07/peivotes-rodd-candidates-584.html
Holy, The PC's pulled out of the debate as only the Liberals and PC's were invited. Well i think thats kinda classy of her... also i want the NDP there :P
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/peivotes2011/story/2011/09/09/pei-crane-cbc-debate-584.htm
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The federal NDP vote in Charlottetown seems to be nicely concentrated in Sherwood and Victoria Park.
Does anyone have the numbers for the federal vote transposed into those two provincial ridings?
http://www.the506.com/elxnmaps/can2011/11002.html
this is the closest thing i could find... just click on the polls you get the results... if someone more in-the-know whats to transpose go crazy.
Holy, The PC's pulled out of the debate as only the Liberals and PC's were invited. Well i think thats kinda classy of her... also i want the NDP there :P
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/peivotes2011/story/2011/09/09/pei-crane-cbc-debate-584.htm
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She'll only debate if all 5 registered parties (including the Greens & the "Island Party") are there. You can imagine what sort of precedent that would set if to participate in a debate all a party has to do is be a registered party.
I have done a quick calcualtion of the federal results transposed to the three most promising provincial seats:
Sherwood
Lib 877
Con 812
NDP 648
Parkdale
Lib 707
Con 616
NDP 618
Victoria Park
Lib 608
Con 379
NDP 590
Nicely done, nicky. Looks like the Liberals just squeaked through in Victoria Park.
Holy, The PC's pulled out of the debate as only the Liberals and PC's were invited. Well i think thats kinda classy of her... also i want the NDP there :P
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/peivotes2011/story/2011/09/09/pei-crane-cbc-debate-584.htm
l
She'll only debate if all 5 registered parties (including the Greens & the "Island Party") are there. You can imagine what sort of precedent that would set if to participate in a debate all a party has to do is be a registered party.
Considering how weak an effort the other parties are turning in and their weak results in the past, I tend to agree with bekayne. Hopefully the CBC holds its ground.
The PEI Coalition for Women in Government says the number of women candidates nominated by the Conservative and Liberal parties has reached an all-time high for the Island.
This was the first week of the provincial election campaign.
Kirstin Lund, coalition co-ordinator, said P.E.I.'s Conservative party has nominated seven women and the Liberal party has nominated six, for a combined total of 13 people, or 24.1 per cent of all candidates.
Lund said that's an increase from a combined total of 18.5 per cent in the 2007 provincial election.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/09/10/pei-...Only one of five of the political leaders in P.E.I.'s provincial election made a firm commitment to increasing minimum wage at a debate sponsored by the Federation of Labour Monday night.
Moderator Craig Mackie asked the leaders if they would commit to raising the minimum wage to $17.10 by October 2016. Only the Island Party's Billy Cann gave a straight yes to the question.
Liberal Leader Robert Ghiz turned to how his government dealt with minimum wage increases. Minimum wage is due to go up to $9.60 in October, and $10 next year.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/09/20/peiv...New Poll:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/09/29/peivotes-cra-poll-584.html
Lib 53%
PC 36%
NDP 5%
GR 5%
So PEI votes today! Anyone on babble following from PEI? According the website ThreeHundredEight.com, it will be a Liberal majority, big time.
Ghislaine is the only one I know on Babble who is from PEI. I'm watching from neighbouring NB. The word on the street is that the dirty elements of the campaign weren't appreciated on the Island. I expect the Libs will take at least 20 seats.
ETA: I see 308 is projecting almost a shut-out.
I am really hoping that there are a few more opposition member at least. I shudder at the thought of a complete sweep, with even less accountability required. There have been serious allegations of wrongdoing against the Ghiz government concerning the Provincial Nominee Program used with Chinese Immigrants, with many members of his government and their family members having received "units" (ie investment money from would-be immigrants).
I have been extremely disappointed in the provincial NDP. We have had a fixed election date known for three years, yet they did not announce their candidates until halfway into the 4 week campaign and even then only have 14 of 27 districts with candidates. Two weeks after the writ was dropped, their website had not even been updated since June!! The Green Party has far surpassed the NDP, with 22 candidates and a much more vocal and visible leader.
Unfortunately we have not had even ONE debate that was televised across the whole province. CBC would only allow the PC and Liberals in the televised debate and the PC leader (to her credit) refused to participate unless all five party leaders were present. Eastlink TV had a debate, however this channel is only available in Chtown. So, it is a sad state of affairs and difficult not to feel very cynical!!
Prince Edward Island is indeed the only place left in Canada that is remotely safe for the Liberals. They won a massive majority, the NDP was shut out.
According to the CBC website:
Liberals Elected in 19, leading in 3 for 22 51.65% of the popular vote
Progressive Conservatives elected in 4, leading in 1 for 5 40.1% of the popular vote
Greens 4.22%
NDP 3.05%
Island Party 0.95%
Independents 0.02%
So will the NDP's PEI leader resign?
Thanks radiorahim!
So will the NDP's PEI leader resign?
I watched the debate and he seemed like a wise and likeable fellow. Though he seemed pretty old.
So will the NDP's PEI leader resign?
No one in PEI would care. 3% of the vote wow
Early polls had NDP support over 10% in PEI, according to threehundredeight. Why did their support collapse during the campaign?
I think part of the collapse could be explained by people wanting a change, and the best way to vote for change would be PC, as no NDP would be elected. I don't think the absence of elected NDP politicians provincially or federally helps, basically leaving the party unable to cash in on the Orange Crush, as opposed to say Newfoundland and Labrador. I live in hope that with 2 of 4 Atlantic provinces becoming polarized on NDP-PC lines, that the PEI NDP's time will come.
Its just that with a leader based in Charlottetown might give the PEI NDP its first breakthrough.
There is much potential here. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/#/9
The party at least needs to nominate a full slate of candidates. Standing in 14 out of 27 ridings is NOT enough to be credible.
Final numbers look to be 22 Liberals to 5 PCs. That is actually better than I thought the Tories would do and a marginally better result than Pat Binns got in 2007. Since PEI is a straight two-horse race these types of lopsided majorities are typical.
Popular vote and seat count are almost identical to 2007. The NDP actually improved its vote slightly (hard to believe, I know) as did the Greens. Looks like the NDP did pretty miserably in Charlottetown and only bested the Greens for third in one riding. James Rodd only managed an anemic 7% of the vote in his home riding.
Lots of work to do on the Island.
The PEI NDP leader tried to wiggle out of the job a few months before the writ drop. What was sown has now been reaped.
Read the link, and it didn't read to me that he was trying to wriggle out-I think the guy just wanted to be sure the party was still behind him.
If he'd wanted out, he could just have resigned.
Perhaps the visit of Prince William and Kate this summer was a boost for the Premier.
The unofficial results are in:
Lib 51.4%
PC 40.2%
GRN 4.4%
NDP 3.2%
The only province in Canada where the Greens poll better than the NDP and they both don't do much better than the Christian Heritage party in many western conservative strongholds. They are the fringe in PEI. Why is that?
Well, for one thing - how is the NDP to have a larger % of the vote with so few candidates? In 13 of 27 ridings it was impossible to vote NDP. Sharon Labchuk (Green leader) ran 22 candidates and was VERY visible and outspoken.
The NDP for some reason screwed up royally in my opinion. The election date was known THREE years ago. Check their website. Between June 2011 and two weeks ago there were NO UPDATES. Not one. If they are short on funds, the leader himself could manage this. Why were they not selecting candidates, getting their message out, capitalizing on national NDP momentum?
I am at least happy that we a few more opposition members to try and hold this government o account.
To give you an idea of Robert Ghiz's arrogance, two minutes into his live TV interview after hearing he was re-elected with a majority, he promised an appointment to his just-defeated cabinet minister, Alan Campbell! He has no shame.
Ghislaine, I'm the news editor at rabble. Would love to talk to you about the PEI election result. Would it be possible to email me? cathryn@rabble.ca. Cheers.
Well, that most delightfully named politician, Bush Dumville, was reelected. (Whenever I see his name, I think of Crawford, Texas)
Well, that most delightfully named politician, Bush Dumville, was reelected. (Whenever I see his name, I think of Crawford, Texas)
The turnout for the P.E.I. election Monday, at 76.4 per cent, was the lowest since at least 1966, and perhaps the lowest ever.
Monday's numbers from Elections PEI are still unofficial, but if the numbers hold up it will be the lowest turnout since the agency started keeping records in the May 1966 election. In that year 85.65 per cent of registered voters cast a ballot.
The lowest turnout recorded before Monday was 78.20 per cent in 1982, also the only election in which the number was below 80 per cent.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/10/04/peiv...
In BC the voter turn out is just above 50% and the NDP gets close to half of the votes. At 3% I am astounded at how little support the NDP has on PEI.
It makes me chuckle in relation to a suggestion in another thread that the NDP leadership should be on the basis of riding weighted equality. In my riding alone the NDP got over 20,000 votes not the 12,000 total for the four ridings in the province of PEI. Can someone explain why the NDP can get 12,000 votes federally but under 2,400 in a provincial election.
Jack might be one explanation. The second would be they only ran candidates in half the ridings, and third the election became a referendum on the Ghiz government.
I guess that the 2,400 number is in reality the NDP base. In BC people who vote NDP generally vote NDP both federally and provincially. Our base of people who would never vote either Lib or Con is around 35% of the vote and we fight to win over the other 15% required to win elections in a two way race. Apparently the PEI base of similar voters is 3%. I guess social democrats have some work to do on PEI.
It's also easier to organize in 4 ridings (federal) than 27 ridings (provincial).
I guess that the 2,400 number is in reality the NDP base. In BC people who vote NDP generally vote NDP both federally and provincially. Our base of people who would never vote either Lib or Con is around 35% of the vote and we fight to win over the other 15% required to win elections in a two way race. Apparently the PEI base of similar voters is 3%. I guess social democrats have some work to do on PEI.
The base in the constitueucies that they ran in.
I was looking at overall numbers and the federal election had over 108,000 votes cast while the provincial only had just under 75,000. Maybe the federal NDP voters just stayed at home. That would make more sense to me than them voting for the other parties.
Every PEIer had a chance to vote for the NDP in the Federal election. This is not true in the Provincial election since the NDP ran candidates in only 13 of 27 ridings.
I know that but the vote dropped from 12,000 to about 2,500. I would have thought that they would run in their best ridings so the drop should have been to 5 or 6 thousand. I think not being able to field a full slate is problematic and shows that the party in PEI needs organizational help.
Prince Edward Island is indeed the only place left in Canada that is remotely safe for the Liberals. They won a massive majority, the NDP was shut out.
Depends what you mean by safe. I suppose it's the "safest", as in it remains solid there provincially and has 3 of 4 federal ridings, but across the country the Liberals remain the most succesful party provincially. They hold the 3 biggest provinces in Canada (Ontario, Quebec & BC) as well as a couple of the other provinces. I'm not aware of the NDP or PC's ever having done that.
In BC and Quebec the Liberals look to be on borrowed time. In BC the provincial Liberals will disappear as a force just like the Socreds before them. Crusty Clark has nowhere to go but down in the polls given her gong show.
By Friday we will know whether Ontario is still in the Liberal camp and if so as a majority government or a minority.
Wow, most jurisdictions in the country would love to see voter turnout that high. Federally, cracking the 60% turnout figure for the first time in over a decade was an improvement.
Prince Edward Island is indeed the only place left in Canada that is remotely safe for the Liberals. They won a massive majority, the NDP was shut out.
Depends what you mean by safe. I suppose it's the "safest", as in it remains solid there provincially and has 3 of 4 federal ridings, but across the country the Liberals remain the most succesful party provincially. They hold the 3 biggest provinces in Canada (Ontario, Quebec & BC) as well as a couple of the other provinces. I'm not aware of the NDP or PC's ever having done that.
The BC Liberals are Liberals in name only and the Liberals are the only truly federalist alternative provincially in Quebec. The NDP has held Ontario, BC, Saskatchewan and the Yukon at the same time.
The turnout for the P.E.I. election Monday, at 76.4 per cent, was the lowest since at least 1966, and perhaps the lowest ever.
Monday's numbers from Elections PEI are still unofficial, but if the numbers hold up it will be the lowest turnout since the agency started keeping records in the May 1966 election. In that year 85.65 per cent of registered voters cast a ballot.
The lowest turnout recorded before Monday was 78.20 per cent in 1982, also the only election in which the number was below 80 per cent.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/10/04/peiv...
Turnout was over 80% even when Hurricane Juan crossed the island on election day in 2003.
Consider, too, that the federal Libs and Cons carried liabilities that their provincial counterparts didn't. It was the Red Tories and left-Libs who couldn't stomach either Harper or Iggy who opted for the NDP...
In fact, the number of candidates that ran had an important impact on the fact that the Greens came ahead of the NDP, IMHO. If you divide the number of candidates running into the number of votes receieved by each party, the average number of votes received by each party's candidates in this week's election in PEI were:
Liberal - 1,419
PC - 1,109
NDP - 168
Green - 147
Island Party -57
Independent - 15
The overall level of support was less of course -- Joe Byrne running in Charlottetown in the May 2011 federal election alone got almost twice the vote of all of the provincial NDP candidates combined. Simply put, the PEI NDP running candidates in many fewer ridings than the Greens ran candidates in does a lot to explain how the Greens came ahead of the New Democrats in the overall vote in the provincial election.
To give these results some perspective, provincially, PEI is a true two-party system. There has never been a provincial general election in PEI where third parties have exceeded 8.5% of the total vote. The cumulative votes for the NDP, Green Party and Island Party in 2011 barely edge out the NDP results from 2000 as the strongest vote share for parties other than the Liberals/PCs (but not in total votes cast due to the decreased turnout).
The NDP only began running candidates provincially in PEI in 1974. Former NDP leader Dr. Herb Dickieson, elected in 1997, is the lone third party candidate ever elected to the PEI legislature. Dr. Dickieson is also the sole third party candidate to finish second in any PEI provincial general election, that result coming in 2000 when he lost his bid for re-election by 23 votes.
The simple fact is that the NDP did well federally and faceplanted provincially within a span of months. Those results do not square. Especially given the surge that every single NDP provincial section has seen in the last slew of elections. The PEI NDP was a failure.
You'll get no argument from me that the PEI-NDP was a failure in 2011, has generally always been a failure, and will remain a failure for the foreseeable future. The fact the 2011 election date was fixed in 2007 and the party couldn't field anything close to a full slate of candidates (and didn't actively start recruiting candidates until Summer 2011) is illustrative of the problems in the PEI-NDP.
NDP Atlantic caucus carries out consultations in PEI
The NDP has an Atlantic deputy leader now and it is a pretty broad consensus that she is a rising star. Here is a call to all babblers: do you know any progressive maritimers? could you organise a meet and greet? do you have ideas for what Megan or the NDP should be doing better, in Atlantic Canada?
Drop Megan Leslie a line: megan.leslie at parl.gc.ca