Prince Edward Island premier calls provincial election for April 3
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P.E.I. Premier Dennis King announced Monday night that the province will go to the polls on April 3, just under four years after his Progressive Conservatives were elected.
Prince Edward Island residents will go to the polls on April 3, thanks to an early election call Monday from Progressive Conservative Premier Dennis King.
King told supporters at a nomination meeting in his riding north of Charlottetown that he had visited Lt.-Gov. Antoinette Perry earlier in the day to dissolve the legislature -- six months ahead of the province's fixed election date.
He later told reporters he felt it was time for Islanders to have a say in the future direction of the province, after just under four years of his PC party's leadership.
He dismissed the notion that calling an election six months early represented political opportunism, even though he has previously pledged to honour P.E.I.'s fixed election date.
"I think if I would have called the election at the two-year mark, I think that would have had some merit," he said. "I think we're at the four-year mark, and it's time to have an election."
At dissolution, the Conservatives held 15 of the legislature's 27 seats. The Green Party, led by Peter Bevan-Baker, had eight seats, and the Liberals under Sharon Cameron held four.
The Conservatives won a minority government in 2019, but they have had majority status since a byelection win a year later.
