Rob Lantz was sworn-in as the new premier of PEI yesterday, but he’s officially an interim party leader because outgoing premier Dennis King didn’t bother to hang around long enough for a successor to be chosen (as Justin Trudeau has), which frankly just adds to the mystery surrounding why he resigned in a hurry. Usually that only happens when there’s a scandal of some variety. But what I didn’t realise was that the other two parties who have seats in the legislature also only have interim leaders, and that it’s been two years since the last provincial election, and no party has a permanent leader.
Here’s former PEI journalist Teresa Wright with more.
Next – What happens now? Will an election be called?
Rob Lantz was voted interim leader by his 18 caucus colleagues, which makes him PEI's premier chosen only by 18 PCs, not by Islanders. Does that give him a mandate to govern for any considerable length of time?#peipoli— Teresa Wright (@ReporterTeresa) February 21, 2025
Meanwhile, the PEI legislature must reopen next week – will Lantz prorogue? If yes, it could allow for what's happening in Ottawa & give the party time to choose a new permanent leader b4 an election. If he doesn't,does it mean he plans to stay on for awhile as premier? Or not??
— Teresa Wright (@ReporterTeresa) February 21, 2025
I know there's a long practice of waiting to the lead-up to an election for a leadership race to use that “momentum” to gain seats. It worked for Denny. But frankly, there’s more instability in politics these days. Parties must be more prepared if they want Islanders' $ and votes
— Teresa Wright (@ReporterTeresa) February 21, 2025
This all sounds like Lantz plans to stay on as premier until the next fixed election of Oct 2027, but that hasn’t been made explicit.
I would normally expect Opposition parties to call for an immediate election, but none of them have permanent leaders either so… #peipoli
— Teresa Wright (@ReporterTeresa) February 21, 2025
While I will push back on the “only chosen by 18 members” comment, because we should actually let the caucus choose the leader, it is nevertheless a problem that there are no permanent leaders in that legislature after two years. It’s malpractice, frankly, and a sign about how broken leadership politics have become in this country. I’ve seen it happen over multiple parties federally, particularly where they feel that they need between nine months and two years to find a new permanent leader so that they can generate ideas or “excitement” in the race, which again, is not how this is supposed to happen. The leader should not be the one bringing policy to the table—that should be the responsibility of the grassroots membership. And leaders should be within the caucus and not some outsider who thinks they can sail into the position without ever having run for office in the past. *coughs*
This tactic of waiting until closer to the election to pick a new leader smacks of opportunism and just having leaders to be election figureheads rather than doing the actual work that MPs/MLAs should be doing the rest of the legislative session. This is Very Bad for democracy. Legislative work needs to be done. Constituency work needs to be done. Leaders are supposed to have other responsibilities within parties than just leading an election. PEI used to be known for having a pretty robust civic culture, so this is not only disappointing, but a bad sign for the state of democracy in this country.
Ukraine Dispatch
An overnight drone attack killed a rail worker outside of Kyiv, while falling debris damaged buildings inside the city. Russians claim to have taken three more villages in east Ukraine. American negotiators are threatening to cut Ukraine off from Starlink services unless they sign the document that demands fifty percent of their resource wealth in exchange for no protection or security guarantees.
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Canada, which currently chairs the Group of Seven (G7), opposes Russia's return to the format, Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine Natalka Cmoc said on Feb. 21.
"Canada is not ready for a change in…— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 21, 2025
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— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 22, 2025