P.E.I. election called for April 23

A provincialelection has been called and Islanders will be going to the polls April23 the Tuesday after the Easter weekend.

Liberal Leader Wade MacLauchlanmade the announcement,which was widely expected,atthenomination meeting for long-time Liberal member Richard Brown Tuesday night in Charlottetown.

"This is Prince Edward Island's time, this is our time," MacLauchlan said at the podium. "We can be a beacon to the rest of the world."

In addition to voting for district representatives in this election, Islanders willbe voting in the referendum on electoral reform.

To see who has been nominated in your district so far, take a look at CBC P.E.I.'s guide to the new districts and who is running in them.

Also, some district borders have been realigned for this election. Check hereto find out if your district has changed.

How did we get here?

MacLauchlan became leader of the Liberal Party in February 2015. He ran unopposed as leader following the resignation of Robert Ghiz, who served 12 years as leader and became premier in an election in 2007, winning re-election in 2011.

MacLauchlan called an election soon after taking over the leadership. On May 4, 2015 he won his mandate at the polls, taking 18 of 27 seats.

For the Progressive Conservatives the results were mixed. They returned with a stronger Opposition, eight seats as opposed to three, but leader Rob Lantz lost his own district race. He tried for a time to lead from outside the legislature, but resigned four months later.

Steven Myers and Jamie Fox filled the role of Opposition leader untilJames Aylward won the leadership contest in October 2017. Aylwardresigned less than a year later, in September, in the face of sagging numbers for the party at the polls.

Tuesday night, MacLauchlan said the frequent changes to the PCleadershipshould have Islanders questioning the party's "direction and consistency."

In February, Dennis King won the PCleadership, beating out four others. He did thatwith the knowledge that a spring election was almost certain.

"I do believe that as most Islanders understand, we're probably in,for the first time, in a three party race, and I think that's going to make it really interesting," King said."I think that's going to make people pay close attention."

NDP Leader Joe Byrne said Tuesday night it is time for a change, calling the government "tired."

The party will highlightits messages ofinclusion, elimination ofpoverty, building housing, and better health and education, Byrne said.

He said he was not sure the party would field a full slate of candidates.

Green days

The 2015 election was historic for the Green Party of P.E.I. whichelected their first member of the legislature, leader Peter Bevan-Baker.

In a byelectionin Charlottetown-Parkdale in November2017 the Greenssent a second member to the house, Hannah Bell.

The party has been leading in Corporate Research Associate polls since August, and jumped to an 11-point advantage over the Liberals in the February poll.

"We've shown in the legislature in our work that the Green Party is ready to govern," said leader Peter Bevan-Baker.

"We've shown that we have an understanding of how politics works, we've brought forward innovative legislation."

The Liberal Party goes into the election with some strong talking points. P.E.I. is forecast to lead the country in economic growth in 2019, and unemployment hit record lows last year, although it is now just over 10 per cent.Last year the government presented its first surplus budget in a decade.

"We believe our mighty Island can do well even as the rest of the world slows down," MacLauchlan said.

But the party is attemptingto buck anhistorictrend it is aiming for its fourth consecutive win. No party has done that since 1978. That year the Liberals won aslimvictory, and the government was short-lived. The Tories took back control the very next year.

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