No firm commitment on a spring election came as a surprise
As a reporter, there are some things that make you go “huh?” in P.E.I. politics, and it’s usually when what you expect to happen doesn’t.
What I’m talking about here is a provincial election — or, actually, a possible lack of one.
King and his PCs formed government in 2023 with a mandate from voters to implement its promises under his leadership. When a premier resigns, there are a lot of moving pieces and questions about what comes next, as you can expect.
Islanders involved in politics had expected that once the PCs had chosen their new leader, a provincial election would naturally follow to gather a new mandate from voters.
But last week neither Lantz nor Ledwell firmly committed to calling a spring election. They’ve softened their language around that since then, though, with both hinting that they might drop the writ.
All we know so far is that If Lantz wins, he does plan to carry out the King mandate from 2023 for some time, telling our Island Morning host Mitch Cormier a week ago that an election is “not necessary.” Ledwell said very much the same. If he wins the leadership, that would mean the premier wouldn’t have a seat in the legislature, and neither would Liberal Leader Robert Mitchell.
