P.E.I. Premier Rob Lantz faces calls for leadership review

More than 100 members of PEI's PC party have signed a petition calling for a review of Premier Rob Lance's leadership. The petition points to weak polling numbers and question whether the PCs can win the next election with Rob Lance at the top. Steve Bruce has more. Last February, Rob Lantz celebrated after winning the PC leadership and the job of premier. Nine months later, he's facing pressure from some members of his party to step down. Marty Murphy is helping to lead the effort. She says more than 120 have signed a formal petition, which was just sent to the PC's provincial association, calling for a vote on his leadership. I feel like doing nothing is political. demise because we're not going to climb up in the polls with the leadership the way that it is. The petition and this resolution sent to the party association ask for a special general meeting within the next 15 days where Lance would have a chance to speak and members to then vote by secret ballot on whether they want him to stay on or step down. It will be up to Lance to decide what to do from there. The resolution says there are significant questions about the current leadership and its ability to responsibly manage the province's financial affairs. It points to government's continued failure to adequately address critical issues and says the Progressive Conservative Party of PEI continues to experience historically weak public support, its ability to form government in the next election at serious risk. People are discouraged, people have lost confidence, and so it's going to be a very, it's going to take a strong push and a great leader to come out and run to the next election. The premier responded today outside the legislature. There's more than 7,200 members of our party and under our constitution it takes 75 signatures to compel a conversation like this that and look that's a pretty low bar. But in the meantime, I'm just focused on the work of government and the priorities of Islanders. 75 signatures is the threshold to trigger a special general meeting. Though the PC Party Association president didn't say today if or when a meeting will happen or if there ultimately will be some sort of vote on Lance's leadership. He said the party's consulting legal counsel now to see what is required under the party's constitution. Steve Bruce, CBC News, Charlottetown. And that call for a leadership review took center stage in the PEI legislature today. It is the MLA's first day back in Province House in more than a decade. And it's starting on a bit of a fiery note, as Wayne Thibodeau will tell us. He's there now, joins us live. Wayne, what did MLAs have to say about this leadership review request today? Well, question period started really late today, because of course, as you mentioned, this is the first day back at Province House. Remember, only two of them ever sat in that building. So it sort of was like the first day of school. But when question period did get underway, both opposition parties focused on what they call government scandal after government scandal, saying government is so focused on its own controversies, it doesn't have time for Islanders. How can this government find time for Islanders when they are so busy dealing with their own internal turmoil? In the past year alone, let's summarize it, Mr. Speaker. We saw a cabinet minister come under RCMP investigation, another cabinet minister resign to avoid knowingly breaking our conflict of interest laws, a video of a PC MLA pocketing a Green Party flyer during a by-election, a petition to review the Premier's leadership in his own party, and now, Mr. Speaker, after all that, the RCMP have laid 42 charges under the Election Expenses Act. This government is failing, and failing badly. And a sad fact of the matter is, this Premier does not have a mandate from all Islanders. This province has not had the opportunity to endorse this Premier or his plans. And yet, this Premier is making incredibly long-term and potentially damaging decisions. So Wayne, what did Rob Lance have to say about this? Well, the Premier says they are working hard for islanders. A couple of examples he pointed to is the overhaul of IRAC. We can expect legislation on that this fall. Cutting the gas tax, if you remember, they cut that by $0.08 a litre back in late September, costing the province about $12 million and improving access to health care. Now, the health minister saying nearly 5,000 names have come off the patient registry. I should say, I just looked at that list a few moments ago. There's still 30,000 islanders without a doctor. Here's what Lance had to say. had to say to the media late this afternoon. We're very proud of the work that we're doing right now. We're not distracted. Look, we've made a lot of changes in this government over the last year since I was elected in the permanent leader. We've done good work that we're very proud of. Now, I should say, Lance did say he can't comment on anything that's before the courts, but he added rules apply to everyone, including people in his party and his government. What else came up on day one in Province House there, Wayne? Yeah, another big issue today was the cost of living. Now, Liberal Carolyn Simpson raising the issue about inflation rate, really what we pay for just about everything. Nationally, that rate's at 3%. It's double here at 6%. She says the government needs to do more to help Islanders who are worried about how to pay the bills this winter. Now, Finance Minister Jill Burridge says their government is doing things to help Islanders. She says there have been millions of dollars in personal tax cuts, That's $367 million, she says, since they took off. office in 2019. I should point out, Louise, we have not been able to independently verify that figure. All right. Thank you, Wayne. That's our provincial affairs reporter, Wayne Thibodeau, reporting from the PEI legislature tonight.