Good news only during polling

Emails accidentally tabled in P.E.I. legislature show premier trying to influence polls

Premier Wade MacLauchlan has directed his cabinet to make “good news announcements” while political polls are being conducted in P.E.I., according to documents tabled by mistake in the P.E.I. legislature.

Tuesday, Family and Human Services Minister Tina Mundy tabled detailed estimates of spending within her department, but the package included a printed email conversation between herself, her staff and the premier’s chief of staff, Robert Vessey.

The emails, dated May 8, show Vessey asking cabinet ministers for “good news announcement suggestions.”

“Last week in cabinet, premier asked that each department put together good news announcements during polling period,” Vessey writes in the email. “Can you bring your announcement suggestions to cabinet tomorrow.”

Mundy forwarded this email to three senior staffers, asking if there was “anything in the hopper” she could take to cabinet.

Mundy’s deputy minister and communications officer suggested some upcoming announcements within her department, including: a $7 million joint housing announcement with the federal department still pending federal approval; an increase of $300,000 to the child care subsidy program to improve income thresholds; two programs jointly funded with Family and Human Services and Workforce and Advanced Learning aimed at youth identified at high risk of not completing high school and $750,000 in tenders released last week for upgrades to seniors housing.

Scrawled at the top of the final email, in handwriting, is the question: “When is polling period?”

These internal emails are now public documents of the legislative assembly.

The premier’s office downplayed their significance Wednesday.

MacLauchlan says government is simply trying to inform Islanders of the many initiatives it is undertaking to strengthen the province and improve the lives of Islanders.

“This is about openness and transparency. It’s letting Islanders know about the great programs from which they can benefit,” MacLauchlan said in the legislature. “It’s about letting Islanders know how they can access programs.”

Corporate Research Associates (CRA) conducts quarterly polling of political voting intentions across Atlantic Canada. It confirmed to The Guardian the firm was indeed scheduled to begin polling in P.E.I. on Wednesday. But CRA president Margaret Brigley says attempting to sway voters through positive announcements likely won’t go far.

“It’s unlikely that an announcement would have a significant impact on the poll results unless it was an announcement of significant magnitude,” she said.

She noted CRA’s quarterly polling has been ongoing for a number of years and that its polling schedule is well known and highly anticipated by political parties across the region.

“Perhaps it’s not surprising to see that there may be some kind of a strategy or initiative or intent to influence, I just don’t know that it would have significant influence unless, again, it was of some magnitude.”

The last poll results by CRA from February saw MacLauchlan’s personal popularity take an eight-point drop, with only 29 per cent of Islanders saying they prefer him as premier. Year-over-year, MacLauchlan was down 12 points.

The governing Liberal party did still hold majority support at 48 per cent, but there was an 11-point spike in the number of Islanders who said they were dissatisfied with the performance of the MacLauchlan government at 46 per cent.

Allan Rankin, who served as clerk of the executive council under Robert Ghiz and as a deputy minister under previous Liberal administrations, says these directives to departments from the premier’s office for good news during polling periods are not new.

Rankin pointed also to a recent spate of radio ads that have been airing in recent days on private radio stations, featuring MacLauchlan listing his government’s accomplishments, paid for by the Liberal party of P.E.I.

“It sounded very much, in its style and what it was intending to do, like a campaign ad,” Rankin said, adding he finds this unusual considering the next election is not expected until 2019.

“A good question for the Opposition to the premier is – premier, are you campaigning for your own job?”