King readies himself for political battle
For the third time since 2015, Island Progressive Conservatives have elected a leader they hope will take them to the promised land of electoral victory.
They have been wandering in political wilderness since 2007, when Pat Binns lost his bid to win a fourth conservative majority government. Dennis King was a policy advisor and communications chief for Binns and was heavily involved in that campaign, not to mention the three electoral victories that proceeded it.
Now he is hoping to use the lessons he learned to put together a team and a platform that will convince Islanders he is the best choice to steer the ship of state for the next four years. He has to hit the ground running as an election will be held on or before Sept. 30. That date marks the end of the eight-month referendum period that began Feb. 1. Sometime during that time, Islanders will vote, not only in a provincial election, but in a referendum that will decide whether to move to a mixed member proportional representation system or stick with the current first-past-the post member of electing MLAs.
King has served notice he will spend his time recruiting candidates and developing policy for the next election. MLAs will be going back to the legislature April 2 for what is expected to be a short session (likely with a good news budget followed by a vote). The new leader has already signaled he will be taking a hands off approach how the eight Tory MLAs handle themselves in the legislature saying: “I will have input in caucus when voters make me a member of it.”
Even though he has yet to be officially nominated, King is already knocking on doors in his home Brackley-Hunter River constituency. He is all too aware of the fate of Rob Lantz, who lost in CharlottetownBrighton in the 2015 election by just a handful of votes and was forced to resign shortly after.
While he concedes it will be a balancing act spending enough time in his riding while fulfilling his provincial responsibilities on the campaign trail, he said: “If you want to be premier or leader of the Opposition for that matter you got to win a seat. It’s that simple.”
The Liberals have already nominated Windsor Wight, who is principal of East Wiltshire School in Cornwall, as their candidate. The Green Party and the New Democratic Party have yet to nominate their candidates. King said he fully expects to be up against three strong people and, “I am taking nothing for granted.”
All of the public opinion polls over the last year indicate this could be an election like no other. Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker has been in first place in every poll for over a year and many ridings could be close three-way races. However, the Greens are unlikely to be able to put as many “boots on the ground” in terms of workers as the two oldtime parties and that could prove to be a game-changer. The next few months will be prime time for political watchers.