The Island Party of Prince Edward Island, also known as the Island Party of PEI, or shortly, the Island Party, is a Canadian political party active 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 ...

History

The Island Party of Prince Edward Island formed after the 2007 election. The party officially registered on March 5, 2010, and fielded 11 candidates in the 2011 election under leader Billy Cann. The party was deregistered when it failed to nominate the required 10 candidates for the 2015 election and did not file an information return. The party re-registered on September 9, 2022. Party president, Paul Smitz, cited

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and PC governments' failure to rescind the controversial ''Municipal Government Act'' as a significant reason for the party re-forming. Political scientist of University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), Don Desserud, described the party's platform as "right-leaning" with "some progressive social policy," and compared the party to the United Farmers movement. Members of the party participated in the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests against COVID-19 public health mandates. The party nominated 11 candidates for the 2023 election under leader Ahava Kálnássy de Kálnás, electing none and receiving around 1% of the popular vote. Party leader, Ahava Kálnássy de Kálnás, said they were proud of their diverse candidates which were distributed across the province, though she was disappointed that they weren't invited to any leaders’ debates.

Regionalization ambitions

The Island Party sees regionalization as an attempt to unload some of the tax burden for major infrastructure on rural Islanders. Noticeably, the Island Party wants to review the ''Municipal Government Act'' (MGA), which the group considers it to be contentious, in order to ensure democracy is respected. Furthermore, to make sure that local residents have a say in how money is spent within municipalities, the Island Party proposed a vote on yearly budgets in every city in PEI. They believe that by doing so,

the Minister ''The Minister'' (french: L'Exercice de l'État) is a 2011 French-Belgian political drama film directed by Pierre Schöller. Plot French Transport Minister Bertrand Saint-Jean arrives at the scene of a serious bus crash with many fatalities. ...

's powers will be reduced and the government will no longer be able to create or restructure municipalities without approval from residents. The Island Party also believes that regional cooperation should be promoted through the creation of economic development zones. Representatives from community councils and industry sectors within these zones could be elected to serve on a regional board while preserving and strengthening the Islanders'

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...

Plank

Besides Regionalization, as per the party's website, the party's plank is as follows: *

Water conservation Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand (thus avoiding water scarcity). Populati ...

: Preserving natural water across the island and ensuring safe drinking water to all Islanders. *

Direct Democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...

: Introducing

Recall election A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of offi ...

Referendums A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

, and Citizen initiative. *

Land Conservation Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the Continent, continents and v ...

: Enforcing the Lands Protection Act and closing loopholes, and protecting natural wildlife and soils.

References

{{Reflist Provincial political parties in Prince Edward Island