P.E.I. cottage owners return to a frosty welcome
As outsiders arrive, islanders’ fear of virus sparks ‘plate shaming’
There’s a nasty phrase burning through the internet from Canada’s smallest province right now — “plate shaming.”
Prince Edward Island hasn’t reported any COVID-19 deaths and Islanders plan to keep it that way, even if that means being uncharacteristically frosty to visitors.
That explains an ad posted Saturday on Kijiji, which promises to help outsiders hide their place of origin by purchasing or renting out a P.E.I. licence plate.
The ad reads: “P.E.I. License (sic) Plate/ $50.00” and goes on to explain: “All you Mainlanders coming to PEI sick of being harassed by dummies about your New Brunswick license plate? Well don’t worry I’ve got just the fix. Slap this baby on your car and tell folks you’re from Summerside, and you’re all set! Rental for $50 a month or buy it for $150 flat!”
When asked by the Star, the ad’s poster wouldn’t comment Sunday on whether he’d had any bites, despite the ad receiving 122 views since it went up Saturday.
The ad comes as the tiny province braces for an influx of cottage owners, many of whom have out-of-province licence plates.
It also comes as P.E.I. prepares to join with Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador to create an “Atlantic bubble” on July 3, which will allow residents of the region to travel within the four provinces without having to self-isolate for 14 days.
Meanwhile, there have been reports of cars being vandalized and one of a nasty note being left on the windshield of a rented car with Nova Scotia plates driven by a local Salvation Army pastor. The local pastor’s note read, “go the (expletive) back to the mainland” and was signed, “all of P.E.I.”
In response to such reports of “plate shaming,” Island resident Paddy Wadden has posted on Twitter: “Love PEI & Islanders we live in #PEI, pay taxes here, and were here months or years before COVID. Please don’t key our cars or shame us just because of our license plates are from out of the province.”
This debate has even spilled into the provincial legislature, with the Opposition and Green party leader Peter Bevan-Baker blaming Islanders’ uncharacteristic hostility toward outsiders on the Premier Dennis King’s government for what he believes has been inconsistent messaging.
King acknowledges the province’s initial four-phase plan to gradually lift restrictions has been more accelerated, but he maintains all decisions to ease restrictions have been made in consultation with the province’s chief public health office.
“From the beginning of this, we realized that we had to evolve and adapt every day on a lot of the decisions that we’ve been making,” he said in an interview Saturday.
“I certainly feel confident in the process that we put together from the position that everything has been based on the best data and science and the best public health information.”
He characterized the anti-outsider sentiment as “isolated incidents” and believes they were sparked by fear of the unknown triggered by a concerning resurgence of COVID-19 cases in some U.S. states.
“My own belief is that many people in our province and beyond have been watching events as they transpire around the world and maybe transporting that back here,” he said.