Winds of change blowing on PEI

First, a big victory for the Liberals and premier-designate Robert Ghiz after a very-well run campaign. According to this Guardian story, the magnitude of the victory even surprised its architect and star performer.

For detailed election results, the Elections PEI website is world class.

Looking at my predictions, it turns out that I was way off myself. Looks like 4 seats was the floor for the Tories, I just picked the wrong ones! Never thought my middle school soccer coach/Provincial Treasurer Mitch Murphy would lose in District 20 but I stand corrected. If there's one Cabinet minister I was sad to see lose, it's him.

Props have to be given to the PEI Greens under the leadership of a woman I know well - Sharon Labchuk. In their first election, they beat the PEI NDP, both in popular vote and in terms of votes per candidate. Sharon's a tireless Green (deep, deep green) activist and been doing excellent (and prophetic it seems) work on the health and environmental effects of industrial agriculture on PEI for years.

It was clearly not a good election for the PEI NDP who were passed by the upstart Greens. From this political junkie's vantage, leader Dean Constable had a admirable campaign. The NDP was in the media with what appeared to be a well thought out platform (and campaign plan). I know the party is concentrating on building for the future so if they ran decent campaigns and trained some volunteers and identified lots of the 1600 votes they won, it was was a strong building block for future success.

As for Premier Binns, I'd love to ask him if today he wishes that he had done more the cause of proportional representation during his time in office. Because had the plebiscite passed in November 2005, it's likely that the standings in the next legislature would include an opposition of a dozen MLAs rather than four (all PCs and perhaps one Green). Thankfully the Liberals have promised a Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform(see here), so we can expect the debate on electoral fairness to continue to develop on PEI.

Finally, I must say I'm so happy for the MLA-elect in District 22. Obviously, I've learned a great deal from my father. My interest in politics and community service was instilled my emulating my Dad. He's a smart, hard-working person who genuinely cares about his community. He's worked hard for them as an educator and community volunteer and I know he will do the same in historic Province House and in the government caucus.

It's late but I'll try and type out a more detailed analysis on the dynamics of the campaign tomorrow, but from a dedicated observer of PEI politics - this one's been a doozy!