Election date may be pushed back
Next P. E. I. vote could be in 2016
Prince Edward Island may be pushing back its next provincial election to the spring of 2016 after a request by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to explore the issue.
Premier Robert Ghiz met with Harper in Ottawa on Thursday, and one of many issues they discussed was fixed election dates.
P. E. I.’ s next election, under current laws, is set for October 2015. But this conflicts with the next federal election, which is scheduled to take place less than two weeks later.
Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador and Northwest Territories also have votes scheduled for the same time period in 2015.
Harper told Ghiz he considered moving the federal election date to avoid an election traffic jam in 2015. But with recent indications showing Ontario will likely go to polls this spring, Harper is now looking to the provinces to consider making the switch.
“We talked about some legislation that’s in place, I believe, in
Saskatchewan and some other provinces ( where) if a federal election does fall at the same time as a provincial election that the provincial election would be held within six months of that at a later date,” Ghiz told The Guardian in an interview Friday.
“So that’s something that we’re going to consider as a province.”
Last spring, Manitoba introduced legislation to push back its fixed election date to avoid a simultaneous federal- provincial election.
Similar legislation was also recently passed in Saskatchewan.
Ghiz said he will study what has been done in other provinces and then “probably have something ready for the spring or the fall.”
The premier covered a number of other topics of importance to P. E. I. during his 45- minute meeting with the prime minister on Thursday.
They discussed the economy, the province’s deficit reduction plans, federal transfer payments to P. E. I. and trade issues.
Ghiz also used the opportunity to bring to Harper’s attention the increasing need for P. E. I. to have a third power cable to the mainland.
This $ 80- million cable has been identified by provincial officials as the No. 1 infrastructure priority for P. E. I.
“The cables are aging, there is an issue with peak demand and originally when it was done it was a cost- shared agreement with the province and the feds and then eventually the feds took on the entire costs,” Ghiz said.
“We talked about different mechanisms of funding that. It’s something that our officials are going to continue to work on.”
Ghiz also raised the issue of the upcoming 150th anniversary of the confederation conference in 2014.
The province is planning a year of celebrations and legacy projects to commemorate the anniversary – plans that come with an ambitious but still tentative $ 75- million price tag.
A draft budget for the event shows the province hopes the federal government will contribute $ 30 million toward these celebrations.
Ghiz said he talked numbers with the prime minister on this issue, and was told the feds would be providing some funding, but no dollar amount was committed by him.
He also invited Harper to attend the 2014 celebrations in P. E. I.
Overall Ghiz said it was a cordial meeting of leaders and that he left feeling positive.