This is not a complete result. Newly electedPremier King must now call a by-election for district nine. That really won’t change any positions unless King can find a party willing to provide a speaker. He might just have an opportunity with the Greens. If someone was willing, Greens would still be the official opposition and have a speaker within their party. The party as per their own rules, do not require elected members to vote along party lines nor does the leader hold any special powers. If by chance an individual perceives it to be in the best interest for their electoral district to be speaker, they are free to pursue the opportunity. The true test of the Greens will be whether they can stay relevant. Having led the polls since August their rapid decline could be a signal that Islanders wanted change but were not ready to leave them- selves out in the cold in Ottawa where the Greens are far from influential. Undoubtedly, the Greens will be out to show they offer a different style of political leadership, something that Canadians appear to be looking for. If the Greens perform in the same manner as a traditional party their gains will soon turn to losses.
Now, King and the Progressive Conservatives flipped the narrative and ended the night with 12 seats. Bevan-Baker and the Greens were not in power, but they were very happy to be in second place with 8 seats. The Liberals drifted off the charts with only 6 seats left from their 16-seat majority. A small victory for MacLauchlan’s Liberals was they held nearly the same percent of the popular vote as the Greens. The NDP are a party in trouble on PEI. Once again, they did not win a seat and gathered only 3% of the vote. While P.E.I. has no specific rule on the topic, it is assumed one seat is required to have official party status in that province.
a slim margin. Parties had agreed that whichever side won more than 50 per cent of the votes cast in at least 17 of the 27 ridings would win. The “No” side had captured almost 51 per cent of the total votes, with the “Yes” holding 49 per cent.
P.E.I. saw a decline of nearly six percent in overall voter participation in the election with the turnout being 76.3 percent. Most provinces would rejoice at that number but not Prince Edward Island. It was the lowest turnout in any P.E.I. election since 2000. The last election in 2015 saw 82.1% of eligible voters cast a ballot. As for the referen- dum on this ballot, Islanders rejected a switch to a proportional representation electoral system by
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JUNE 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JUNE 2019
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