PEI Liberals rally behind outsider Wade MacLauchlan to lead party
Prince Edward Islands ruling Liberals are riding high in the opinion polls and there is about to be a vacancy in the Premiers office but not one current cabinet minister wants to fill it.
Instead, a coronation is expected on the tiny island province, with the crown going to Wade MacLauchlan, former president of the University of Prince Edward Island, whose political experience so far is being one of 12 members of the North Shore Community Council on the island.
The leadership convention is in February and, right now, Mr. MacLauchlan, 60, is the only candidate for the job of party leader and premier.
I think it was really a feeling collectively that an outsider, or a fresh face would be welcomed Mr. MacLauchlan said in a recent interview.
More than welcome it seems, as the cabinet, including ministers who were considered heirs apparent and most of the caucus immediately and enthusiastically rallied around Mr. MacLauchlan after Liberal Premier Robert Ghiz surprised everyone by announcing his resignation.
He made his intentions known in November, the day after his government opened a new session of the legislature with a Speech from the Throne. He still had a year to go in his mandate, with a fixed election date scheduled for the fall of 2015. Mr. Ghiz, who has been Premier since 2007, said he was leaving because he wanted to spend more time with his young family.
Right now, 50 per cent of islanders support the Liberals, according to a Corporate Research Associates poll released in early December.
The question that I dont know the answer to is: Why dont any of the cabinet ministers want the job? says Don Desserud, a political science professor at UPEI. It could be because they are so in awe of Wade, but if its not that, I dont know what it is I would have thought in any other jurisdiction there would be what we call a pile-on.
Doug Currie, the islands high-profile Health Minister, was considered a successor to Mr. Ghiz, but was among the 250 islanders who were there when Mr. MacLauchlan was piped in to a community hall to announce his candidacy.
He says leadership contests can be divisive and rip the party apart. So, he is happy to support Mr. MacLauchlan.
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PEI Liberals rally behind outsider Wade MacLauchlan to lead party