The 2007 Provincial Election in Prince Edward Island

Abstract

The 2007 provincial election in Prince Edward Island on May 28 was characterized both by a desire for a change and by a defining moment which contributed to the final result. In the end, that inchoate desire for change, coupled with more than a garden variety displeasure with an increasingly tired, sluggish, third term government perceived as lacking energy, imagination and perhaps political will, led to a dramatic turnaround in the election outcome. The Progressive Conservative government of Pat Binns, first elected in 1996, had easily won the preceding election in 2003 with a 23-4 majority. It now saw that outcome exactly reversed, with the Liberals under Robert Ghiz winning 23 of the 27 seats. Even many Liberals were surprised by the extent of the shift