Dean Constable (born January 11, 1980 in

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

, Canada) was the leader of the

New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island The New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island (NDP PEI) is a social-democratic political party in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and a branch of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP). CCF The NDP's predecessor, the Co-opera ...

(NDP) from 2006 to 2007. He replaced

Gary Robichaud Gary Robichaud (September 13, 1962 – September 8, 2005) was a Canadian teacher and politician, and leader of the Island New Democrats political party in the province of Prince Edward Island. Robichaud was born in Saint John, New Brunswic ...

as leader. Constable used to be the theatre stage manager for the

Charlottetown Festival The Charlottetown Festival is a seasonal Canadian musical theatre festival which runs from late May to mid-October every year since 1965. Named after its host city Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and its Charlottetown Conference, since its inc ...

. Constable was elected the leader of the Island New Democrats on April 23, 2006 by a narrow margin over labour leader Mike DesRoches. He announced he would be running on an anti-

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

and pro-

universal health care Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...

and

child care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

platform. Constable's leadership appeared to be welcomed by Islanders as early polls reported the NDP's support had risen from four to eight per cent. He contested the seat of

Charlottetown-Victoria Park Charlottetown-Victoria Park is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean ...

in the 2007 provincial election. In June 2006, Constable criticized Premier

Pat Binns Patrick George Binns (born October 8, 1948), is a Canadian diplomat, the 30th premier of Prince Edward Island from 1996 to 2007 and Canadian Ambassador to Ireland from 2007 to 2010. Binns has a long history of public service, most notably being ...

' government for

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

the new electoral riding map to divide the province in an east vs. west conflict. Constable said it would only draw attention away from "important" issues like health care and education. He expressed support for the map introduced by Justice John A. McQuaid in 2004. Constable announced his resignation from the leadership of the party on August 26, 2007, citing personal reasons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Constable, Dean 1980 births New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island leaders Living people People from Charlottetown