PC, Green and Liberal leaders plan to meet weekly

Three P.E.I. political party leaders met Friday for the first time to discuss how their parties will work together.

Premier Dennis King has long said he is looking at a collaborative approach with the Island Liberals and Greens.

But Friday all three leaders said the opposition has to hold government to account andthere will be debate and disagreement.

King has said he doesn't want the parties surprising one another, so party leaders will continue to meet on a weekly basis.

"We did talk a couple of things about a school lunch program. We did talk about making the child advocate independent and report to the legislature."

Those are two points all parties agree on, adding the meeting was less about "specifics and more about approach," King said.

Liberals interested in budget

A major topic of discussion was what all three parties wanted to see in the King government'sbudget and throne speech.

Interim Liberal Leader Robert Mitchell was part of the previous government, and he said the budget will likely reflect a lot of work the previous Liberal government had done.

"That's something I will be very interested in seeing and putting forward some priorities that we had to ensure they are reflected inside the budget."

Greens want it in writing

Opposition leader Peter Bevan-Baker said the Liberaland PCleaders told him they would consider a written agreement laying out the conditions of how they will work together.

"You need a conflict resolution mechanism in there. You need a code of conduct for all members of the House, because this is not just about goodwill between leaders."

He said collaboration is about all members of the legislative assembly.

"This is how we are going to work to collaborate together."

Neither Mitchell or King have formally agreed to a written document,but both said they would consider it.

Bevan-Baker said the document would provide stability to this minority government and maybe allow it to last to the next fixed election date.

More P.E.I. news