King not ruling out spring campaign
P.E.I. legislature set to resume March 7, but election call would pre-empt this
CHARLOTTETOWN Premier Dennis King is not ruling out the possibility of taking the province into an election before his government tables a spring budget.
Speaking at a Progressive Conservative party nomination meeting at Hillsborough Park Community Centre on Feb. 16, King told party supporters that a recent healthcare funding deal reached between Ottawa and the provinces will provide comparatively more dollars for smaller provinces like P.E.I.
This will mean around $50 million in additional healthcare dollars in the 2023-2024 fiscal year alone.
Health P.E.I. CEO Michael Gardam has said an additional $100 million is needed to improve the province's healthcare system. The health authority is grappling with a severe shortage of nurses, doctors and allied health staff.
But the distribution of these badly needed dollars to the province's health-care system may not come before an election is called this spring.
When interviewed later by SaltWire, King did not commit to tabling a budget this spring in the legislature.
"Well, a budget would come after we get into the legislature. We wouldn't have a set date for that yet. So, we'll see what comes." King said.
A media advisory issued by the P.E.I. legislature on Feb. 14 noted the spring session of the legislature is due to resume on March 7.
SaltWire Network asked King if his government will be returning to the legislature at that time.
“Stay tuned,” King said. P.E.I.'s Election Act sets October as the month in which elections are supposed to be held, but little restricts the premier from calling an election at a time of his choosing.
Four PC candidates were officially nominated Thursday night, including incumbent Charlottetown-Winsloe
MLA Zack Bell, Education Minister Natalie Jameson, Charlottetown-Belvedere candidate Susie Dillon and Charlottetown-Victoria Park candidate Tim Keizer.
The Progressive Conservatives have nominated nine candidates.
PRIMARY ISSUE
In recent days, SaltWire revealed one family doctor and two specialists plan to leave their practices on P.E.I. Over 27,000 Islanders are listed on the patient registry, but that number does not include hundreds or perhaps thousands whose family doctors have left in recent months.
Since early February, both the Opposition Green and Liberal parties have released a string of press statements attacking King's record on health care.
In one statement, Liberal leader Sharon Cameron suggested an election call could come either on March 5 or 6, after the close of the Canada Games.
Cameron said this call would mean Island residents “will not receive an explanation for the current crisis in health care.”
Speaking before party supporters, King acknowledged that health-care changes are needed.
But he also touted many of the changes introduced in the health-care system under his watch, including the introduction of the Pharmacy Plus program, investments in a planned mental health campus and the opening of collaborative medical home practices.
King said the Pharmacy Plus program has been a particular success. He said over 1,200 Islanders are treated by pharmacists each week for 32 common ailments, which keeps them from visiting hospital emergency rooms.
"So that's a wonderful, wonderful innovation that we put into this system. And every single premier at the meetings in Ottawa were asking me about Pharmacy Plus, wanting to know how we did it," King said.
GOVERNANCE QUESTIONS
In late December, Health P.E.I. board chair Derek Key resigned after calling for “jurisdictional change” in the province's health-care delivery model.
Key had publicly said Health P.E.I. should operate as an independent crown corporation with control over its own staffing, hiring and human resource planning. Currently the Public Service Commission hires health-care staff.
Speaking before a standing committee on Feb. 15, Key recalled one instance in which it took two years for a nurse practitioner position to be posted publicly.
In an interview with SaltWire Network, King defended the role of the Public Service Commission. He said the commission has hired 20 new people solely dedicated to health-care hiring.
"The challenges with hiring in health care aren't around the HR. It's around the access to the people actually in health care.
“There's a shortage of health-care professionals. Canada's short 20,000 doctors," King said.
"So, it's not that we're slowed down in the process of hiring an individual. The individuals aren't there to hire."