CBC's political panel breaks down the return of the P.E.I. Legislature

The PEI legislature returned to historic province house this week, and what a week it was. The return was quickly overshadowed by big political news, including questions about the Premier's leadership. Our political panel is back to break it all down. Good to see you both. Sally Fitt and Paul McNeil. Good to be here. So the week kicked off with Liberal MLA Hal Perry really outlining a series of what we could call questionable actions by the PC party. And it comes as Rob Lance faces leadership challenge within his own party. Some party members and a motion of non-confidence from the Green Party. So, Paul, a lot of pressure for Premier Lance right now. How should he handle this? It's very tough if you're Rob Lance. It begins, I'm guessing, with trying to convince Islanders that the last two years didn't happen. Because that's what's baked in Islanders' perception of the Premier. I mean, he spent the whole summer out announcing or reannouncing items. It's had zero impact, seemingly, in terms of public opinion polls. Thank He's never brought the PC party together after he won the leadership. And Marty Murphy, she easily got the needed signatures to have the conversation. Do I think it has any chance of going forward? Logically, no, because what the ask is is to go from the fifth premier you. to the sixth premier to the seventh premier in two years, and that's a bad look. So I think Rob Lance is in a really tough corner because when he's free-flowing in speech, that's when he makes mistakes like he did with the budget. We'll have a balanced budget in three years, and then Jill Burge must have leaned over and said, well, no, it's six, which is a shot in the dark by any stretch of the imagination. He's got a tough... Tough role. Yeah. Sally, do you feel like it's unfair pressure or is it deserved? Well, he said himself in the House that it's part of doing government, all these accusations and things that are dogging him. He has been kind of on hold mode, the hold mode, the whole time he's been premier so far. And I think he is trying to turn things around. But it's whether there's enough runway to do that. The non-confidence votes, nothing's going to happen with that. It's not going to go anywhere. It's a waste of time in the legislature. Thank And the leadership review, I don't think it's going to go anywhere either. You have to go a long jump between 120 and 7,000 members to get to it. He wouldn't get 40% right now. That's the problem. He wouldn't even be close if it went to party members. you. Let's dig further into that, the motion of non-confidence. This was introduced by the Green Party. It would, if it passed, trigger an election. Of course, that is so highly unlikely with a PC majority. But it does beg the question about timing of the next election. So, Paul, the fixed election date, October 4th, 2027. The Premier seemed to indicate today in question period that... That's his intention to go to that date. I thought he tried to waffle on that, to be honest with you. And when you see things like political taglines come out, you can count on us, which sort of sounds like Donald Trump saying, imagine I'm on the ballot. I mean, that would be the worst political tagline in this province since the liberals used true grit in 2000. I mean, it's not a good one. That's a good one. But... I don't see how the government can go any deeper than a budget in the spring, because that is 5%, which is more than $190 million, and you can't cut 5% of the provincial budget in this province without cutting people. That's the biggest cost in government. Okay, so the timing of the election, then. Should they wait until that fixed date if they want to hold on to power for as long as they can in terms of the PC party? Yeah, I mean, up until today, I thought it was going to be a spring election. Hearing him today, I'm thinking he's giving that possibility of sticking to the October 4th date. It certainly would give him more room, more time to... Thank For the economy to rebound somewhat slightly, so he can take advantage of that. And also for him to campaign on some promises that he's actually started to move on. So that does give him more time to do that. So perhaps it will be a next follow-up. You know, the challenge, though, you. the Greens' non-confidence motion is based on Islanders saying, how is he premier this law? And that is very real. I hear it every day. How is he premier this long? And that's only going to get worse if he tries to drag it through. Unless he manages to implement some positive changes. To do something between now and then? Well, even things like health care. Here's a person who's never won elected government as premier, and he's fundamentally changing health care towards a private model. We've given away contracts, more than a half billion dollars for long-term care. We're having surgeries done in private clinics. We want to do more surgeries in private clinics, and our health care system is breaking at the edges. That deserves a public discussion, not just a government saying, oh, ideologically, we're going to go there. Okay, let's talk about that, because we do have the worst wait times, one of the worst wait times in the country for hip and knee replacements. There was a suggestion, maybe you don't agree with that, is helping people pay for those off-island if they can't be seen in a timely fashion. Do you not think that the government should? I think when the trickle starts towards privatization in a public system, that is very difficult to bring it back. You know, we've got travel health nurses that was supposed to be a stopgap. That's basically private sector nurses up for hire coming here. Have we seen any indication that that bill is getting smaller? Not one. So, you know, I've seen the president of Maple on this show saying how great it is. Talk to somebody who's trying to get on the line there and get some help. But if I'm in pain, I'm willing to pay. I understand the waiting list for hips and knees. Thank But why can't we build capacity with our inner surgical units rather than... You know, going to a private clinic. Sure, but that takes money and it takes time. Time and time and time. That they don't seem to have. So what do you think? Should the government be helping people get those surgeries off island if they can't be seen in two, three years? you. Yeah. I mean, imagine being in pain for two or three years, not being able to walk, not being able to do anything in terms of a daily life. You would pay just about anything to get that fixed and get some alleviation from that pain. And I totally understand. Why people are resorting to that. Yes, it should be part of the public health system. That's what Canada is all about, public health. You shouldn't have to pay out of pocket at all. But if people are having to do that, then they should be reimbursed. If they're looking at a two-year wait time, and the rest of the country or the average time in the country is six months, that's the national standard, then it should be in place for them, that sort of security or support for people who have to resort to that. Until they can get this in some way fixed to have better wait times in Prince Edward Island. So much more we could talk about, but we're out of time, so we'll save some of this for next week. Thank you both for coming in. Thank you.