Speaker rules Liberals will stay P.E.I.'s Official Opposition

The Liberals will remain the Official Opposition in the P.E.I. legislature, after Speaker Darlene Compton ruled on a challenge from the Greens as the first day of the spring sitting got underway Tuesday.

The Green Party of P.E.I. had asked Compton to rule on the matter after their candidateMatt MacFarlane won a byelection in District 19 Borden-Kinkora earlier this month. That left the party in a tie with the Liberals, at three seats each in the provincial legislature.

P.E.I. hasno law or rule to decide what happens in the case of a tie in the number of opposition seats. Nor was there any local precedent for the Speaker to draw from.

However, Compton learned thather peers in New Brunswick and Canada's House of Commonshad ruled on similar issues in the past, and both stuck with what had been the status quo.

And P.E.I.'s Official Opposition party is...

9 months ago

Duration 7:26

The moment P.E.I. Speaker Darlene Compton ruled on whether the Liberals or the Green Party would have the legislative advantages that come with being the Official Opposition.

"Tied opposition parties are an infrequent occurrence, but the process of determining who is the Official Opposition in this case is clear and well-established,"Compton said, in saying the Liberals will keep the status they had before the byelection.

"Deviation is not justified in this instance."

Greens had been Opposition until 2023 election

From 2019 to 2023,the Green Party held Official Opposition status during the only minority parliament ever to sit in P.E.I. history.

The Liberals and the Greens bothlost seats to the PCsin the 2023 general election, but the Greens lost more. With a three-twoedge in terms of MLAs, the Liberals took over Official Opposition status when the house sat last May.

This month, the Greens evened the score with what many considered a surprisebyelection win in District 19, taking the seat from the PCs after MLA Jamie Fox resigned. After the win, the partyargued that itslarger share of the popular vote in the 2023 general election could justify giving them Official Opposition status over the Liberals.

Compton said Tuesday that party performance outside of the legislature was notconsidered to be a factor because all members are equal, whether elected by a landslide or a single vote.

Opposition perks

There are perks to being the Official Opposition, including:

• Extra salary and a government vehicle for the party's leader;
• The right for one of its MLAs to chair the Public Accounts committee; and
• An extra seat on the legislative management committee, which has authority over budgetary matters within the Legislative Assembly of P.E.I., including caucus budgets.

The Official Opposition also has an edge when it comes to speaking time in the house.

After MacFarlane's win, the Greens had asked Compton to rule that they should get equal time with the Liberals even if she did not grant them Official Opposition status.

On Tuesday, she said she would not grant that request, suggesting that the parties' houseleaders work it out among themselves.

'I don't believe we're asking too much'

Bernard said the Greens have requested that thehouse leaders negotiate on time allocation, saying that traditionally, when one party gains a seat, they also gain moretime in question period.

"We respect the fact that the Speaker threw this back to us and we hope that, hearing that, the other two parties will come back ready to negotiate. The status quo isn't going to stand and we really hope they come back in good faith," she said."I don't believe that we're asking too much."

Perry said the Liberals are open to that discussion, which could include taking time away from the PCs since their party lost the seat to the Greens in the byelection.

The house leaders in the legislature are Matthew MacKay for the PCs, Liberal MLAGord McNeillyand Peter Bevan-Baker for the Greens.