The Conservative race is finally in high gear

We now officially have a horse race for the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives.

Retired navy officer Allan Dale was the first to enter the contest a couple of weeks ago, and has been running an aggressive social media campaign in an effort to introduce himself to party members and Islanders in general.

Now businessman and storyteller Dennis King has thrown his hat in the ring to succeed James Aylward when the party faithful gather at the Eastlink Centre on Feb. 9, 2019. There are two other candidates who have confirmed they are getting the paperwork together to enter the race -Dr. Sarah Stewart-Clark, who is expected to announce on Monday, and Kevin J. Arsenault. Stewart-Clark has already been nominated as the PC candidate in Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park. A professor at the Dalhousie Faculty of Agriculture in Truro, N.S., she has been an outspoken mental health advocate. Arsenault is an organic farmer and active blogger on Island political affairs. Dairy farmer Bloyce Thompson was also considering a run but he has since thrown his support behind Dale.

This will be the third convention for the party since 2015. Rob Lantz, who led the party into the last election, lost the CharlottetownBrighton seat to Jordan Brown by a handful of votes. He tried to guide the party from outside the rail but stepped down after a few months. Aylward assumed the top job in October of 2017, and resigned before leading the party into an election after failing to obtain any traction in the polls.

King would have to be considered the front runner since he leads in both name recognition and experience with the political process. Much of that name recognition comes from being a member of The Four Tellers - a quartet of storytellers that has performed to sold out houses across the province over the past several years. The group also includes former Liberal cabinet minister Alan Buchanan. His political involvement includes several years of working in the Premier’s Office during the Pat Binns administration.

The next leader will likely have little time to put themselves before party members and the Island electorate. There is about another three weeks or so before the campaign gears down for the holidays. If the amount of inclement weather we have had to date is a sign of things to come, organizing events in January will be more of a challenge than usual.

While the next election technically doesn’t have to happen until the spring of 2020, under the province’s fixed election law (it is scheduled for next October but is automatically moved if it conflicts with a federal vote), the smart money says Islanders will be voting next spring. The Wade MacLauchlan government will be in office four years next May and the premier can claim they have fulfilled their mandate.

The new Progressive Conservative leader will be facing not only an incumbent premier but a Green Party under Dr. Peter Bevan-Baker that has reached levels of popularity unprecedented by a third party in Prince Edward Island political history. Whenever it happens, the next vote is shaping up to be an election like no other.