NO SPRING ELECTION
Premier tells Liberal members government plans to pass budget
Premier Wade MacLauchlan rules out going to the polls this spring in address to Liberal faithful.
Islanders won’t be going to the polls any time soon after Premier Wade MacLauchlan ruled out a spring election.
On Saturday, MacLauchlan addressed Liberal members at the party’s annual general meeting in Cornwall, where he said his government plans to pass the budget it just tabled the day before.
“Of course there will be an election some time, but there will not be an election in the spring of 2018,” he said.
Election speculation has ramped up in recent months as the Liberals held a string of founding meetings for newly redrawn districts.
During his speech Saturday, MacLauchlan said the party has held more than 20 founding meetings so far.
Friday’s budget — with a small surplus of $1.5 million and a large amount of spending — fueled the speculation further.
P.E.I. has a fixed election date under provincial legislation, but the government is able to call an election whenever it wants.
The next provincial election is scheduled for October 2019.
MacLauchlan spent much of his speech Saturday talking about some of the success stories P.E.I. has seen in recent years, including a strong economy.
He also talked about what he said was a need for a strong government and took shots at his political opponents, specifically the recent suggestion of a move to a consensus government system with no political parties.
“It takes leadership and strong, stable government to set priorities, to stick to them, to invest in the most important areas, to have a plan and to move forward,” he said.
MacLauchlan said the announcements in the budget weren’t a spending spree or taking advantage of the fact the province’s finances are in good shape.
“They are sensible, prioritized investments in a sustainable and successful future,” he said.
As his speech continued with what he saw as Liberal accomplishments, MacLauchlan said many people might take his remarks to mean they had something to do with an early election.
Some people also took the budget to mean an election is coming, MacLauchlan said, but he added it was a budget for all Islanders.
“Budgets are an opportunity to lay out plans and priorities,” he said.
Despite those comments, MacLauchlan also talked about election readiness being an ongoing task.
MacLauchlan seemed to deny an election would be called in the summer, saying there were many reasons not to have one that time of year.
He also said if any districts are ready to nominate candidates, they might want to consider doing so before the end of June, although he added he wasn’t announcing anything.
“What I’m saying is, we’ve got to be ready and we know that the way things work. It’s a good idea to give ourselves as much time as possible, with the strongest candidates possible, the most diverse cast to get around for Islanders to see that we’re doing well, they’re doing well and that they should have confidence in us.”