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ANDY WALKER: Another month-long delay for P.E.I. legislature

As the controversy over the appointment of Sidney MacEwen to the inner circle continues to swirl around the government, Premier Rob Lantz decided to adjourn the legislature sitting for a month.

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Counting his first term as premier when he took over after the surprise resignation of Dennis King, Lantz has delayed the legislature sitting twice. No other premier has instituted that long of a delay even once.

The first delay in early 2025 was certainly justified. King resigned less than a week before the legislature was due to open and Lantz needed time to prepare. This time around, things are decidedly different.

Lantz had almost a year in office (excluding, of course, his brief resignation to contest the party leadership). Lantz maintains the extra time is needed to put the finishing touches on the operating budget. While there is no denying the financial picture can change on a dime, the fact is officials at the Department of Finance have been working on the document for months. They knew a budget would be presented regardless of who won the Progressive Conservative leadership.

The premier is obviously hoping the controversy around new cabinet minister Sidney MacEwen’s appointment will either be resolved or, at the very least, be a little further onto the backburner.

Just a quick refresher — MacEwen holds a valid lobster licence. Like any other MLA appointed to cabinet, he is fully prepared to put his business interest in a blind trust. Here’s the rub — that’s not easy to do if you are a lobster fisherman. That’s because of a federal regulation pretty much universally supported by the inshore fishery called the owner-operator policy. Designed to prevent corporate ownership, the policy essentially says that if your name is on the licence, you are in the boat fishing.

That is why MacEwen declined to put his name forward for cabinet consideration previously and why previous cabinet ministers have been forced to give up their licence if they wanted to sit in the inner circle.

That rule has not changed but it appears Lantz and MacEwen plan to do an end run around the federal regulation. The premier told reporters following the cabinet swearing in that discussions have been held on the possibility of MacEwen appointing a substitute operator during his time in cabinet. Such a provision does exist in the policy but the executive director of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association maintains it is not meant to cover this type of situation.

Ian MacPherson said the exemption is designed for “exceptional circumstances” such as sickness and is only intended to be short term in nature. The executive director said it was troubling the premier sought the exemption without consulting the industry.

Both Liberal Leader Robert Mitchell and Green Leader Matt MacFarlane said MacEwen clearly knew the rules when he entered politics and should be prepared to live with them. MacFarlane argued the provincial Conflict of Interest Act should be changed on the floor of the legislature and MacEwen should be removed from cabinet until that happens.

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Under the current rules, MacEwen has 60 days to bring his affairs into compliance. Well over half of that period will be exhausted by the time MLAs take their seats at the end of March.

Both opposition parties criticized the month-long delay. MacFarlane said the premier has been “distracted for almost a year by a very contentious and close leadership race and has lost focus on what matters most: Islanders.” He reminded the premier that “no one is above the law.”

The Liberal leader was even more blunt. He charged Lantz has been “consumed over the last year with changing party rules, leveraging government resources for self-promotion, and staging a leadership contest he narrowly survived.”

Rob Lantz has no mandate from Islanders. Dennis King won the election. His authority comes from the 53 per cent of Conservatives who backed him at the leadership convention. If he wants Islanders to endorse that decision at the polls, it is well past time he puts his nose to the grindstone and starts to govern.

Andy Walker is a P.E.I.-based political commentator and freelance writer. He can be reached by email at andyangelawalker@gmail.com.

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