The Writ Podcast - Ep. #87: Final stretch in PEI's election
P.E.I.'s biggest issues as the campaign draws to a close
From health care and housing to climate change, land use and much more
From health care and housing, to climate change, the cost of living and much more, Islanders are dealing with a multitude of issues that we explored throughout the campaign. Here are our stories.
Health care and housing
Climate change, land and the cost of living
The Writ Podcast - Ep. #87: Final stretch in PEI's election
Dennis King’s Progressive Conservatives kicked off the Prince Edward Island election campaign with a big lead in the polls, seemingly leaving the only real battle to be between Peter Bevan-Baker’s Greens and Sharon Cameron’s Liberals for official opposition status.
But are King’s PCs still on track for a big majority win, maybe even a sweep? Or did any of the campaign’s controversies or this past week’s leaders debate change the dial?
Back to wrap this campaign is Stuart Neatby, political reporter for the Charlottetown Guardian and the Saltwire Network.
Kevin Arsenault enters race for leadership of P.E.I.'s PC party
Says Islanders need to 'confront and solve' social, economic and environmental issues
CBC News · Posted: Dec 05, 2018 9:18 PM AST
"People say ethics and politics don't mix. I say it's time they started," Arsenault told the crowd of about 70 people at Charlottetown's Murchison Centre. "Government should belong to the people. I'm going to do a whole lot to make that happen."
Land ownership questions draw a big crowd in Kings County
Buddhist monks say they are not 'using shell companies to buy up land' in Eastern P.E.I.
Brian Higgins · CBC · Posted: Mar 23, 2023 6:00 AM ADT
You are really not that important.
Kevin Arsenault enters race for leadership of P.E.I.'s PC party
Says Islanders need to 'confront and solve' social, economic and environmental issues
Kevin Arsenault kicked off his leadership bid Wednesday night.
"People say ethics and politics don't mix. I say it's time they started," Arsenault told the crowd of about 70 people at Charlottetown's Murchison Centre. "Government should belong to the people. I'm going to do a whole lot to make that happen."
Arsenault, 60, has served in leadership roles in agriculture and immigration as executive director of both the National Farmers Union and the P.E.I. Association for Newcomers to Canada. He holds a PhD from McGill University and has taught ethics and religious studies at UPEI.
"People know me because of my writing and research and, I guess, my tenacity," said Arsenault.
During his 40-minute speech, Arsenault attacked the Liberal government's record, especially in immigration and agricultural policy, calling the government's actions "corrupt."
"I overestimated the degree of ethics that were in government," Arsenault told the crowd at one point, to loud applause.
"Lock 'em up!" shouted a man in the crowd. The remark drew scattered laughter.
If chosen leader and then elected premier, Arsenault will "put an end to the persistent corruption and self-serving scandals that have made P.E.I. a national embarrassment under the Liberals during the past decade," according to a written statement provided before Wednesday's meeting.
Arsenault's speech focused on ethics in government. (Brian Higgins/CBC)
Since leaving the Newcomers Association in 2010, Arsenault has worked as an organic market gardener, consultant and as a self-described independent investigative reporter. During his speech, he read from his own writings and referred listeners to his website for more.
Arsenault told the crowd he feels good about running for leadership of the PCs, win or lose.
"They say a clear conscience is the best pillow," said Arsenault. "I'll sleep well knowing I tried."
Four other candidates — Allan Dale, Shawn Driscoll, Dennis King and Sarah Stewart-Clark — previously announced their leadership bids.
Current PC leader James Aylward will remain in his role until a new leader is chosen at the leadership convention Feb. 9 at the Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown.
Land ownership questions draw a big crowd in Kings County
Buddhist monks say they are not 'using shell companies to buy up land' in Eastern P.E.I.
A grassroots land-protection group is calling on the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission to investigate the ownership of land in the Kings County area of Prince Edward Island.
More than 200 people attended a public forum in Montague on Saturday, organized by the Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Lands.
"This is a big issue within Three Rivers," said Shane MacDonald, one of the speakers at the meeting. "A lot of people have been waking up to the actual mass of purchases of large corporations in the Three Rivers area or even just Eastern P.E.I."
The meeting focused mainly on land owned by two Buddhist monasteries in Kings County, as well as land owned by corporations or individuals that coalition organizers believe to be affiliated with the Buddhist movement on P.E.I.
The coalition has concerns over what it sees as a concentration of land ownership, and the impact of rising land prices on the local community.
"Multiple properties being sold and resold to non-residents is giving us massive inflation," MacDonald told CBC News on Monday. "There's evidence to see that a lot was sold a year ago for $20,000 and then sold for $100,000 a year after that. That's a massive increase."
'People are generally concerned about the future of the land,' says Shane MacDonald. (Brian Higgins/CBC)
He added: "People are generally concerned about the future of the land and how future generations are going to be able to purchase land."
Limits on land accumulation
Coalition organizers say people and corporations they believe to be associated with the Buddhist community in Kings County are conducting real estate transactions that, in the view of the coalition, contravene the spirit — if not the letter — of Prince Edward Island's Lands Protection Act.
The Lands Protection Act places limits on the amount of land that can be owned by any single person or corporation. A person can't have more than 1,000 acres, and a corporation can't exceed 3,000 acres in total.
The coalition says real estate transactions involving 15,500 acres of land in Kings County can be traced back to an entity or entities with the name "Bliss and Wisdom."
The coalition claims to have examined the ownership details given for some of the entities and found that names of owners and directors of various entities overlap in some cases. That leads the coalition to speculate that the organizations are linked. CBC has not independently verified those claims.
The data examined was gathered from "Canada tax, GeoLinc and ... two or three other organizations," according to Douglas Campbell, district director of the National Farmers Union.
Douglas Campbell, photographed in 2017, was one of the speakers at Saturday's meeting in Montague. (Steve Bruce/CBC)
"On government's part, there's been a blind eye turned to what is going on," Campbell told CBC News.
The coalition has also complained that crop land they believe to be affiliated with the Buddhist community is not being farmed, and instead left fallow.
Social media contains misinformation, say monks
A spokesman for Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society monks living communally in Kings County say the monks are dismayed and alarmed by what they say is rumour and misinformation.
"It's not true that they are using shell companies to buy up land in Kings County," said Xing Chang, a monk who identifies himself in English as Venerable Dan.
"Some people have solidified a conclusion about us... There's clearly a disconnect."
Venerable Dan, photographed in June 2022 for a story about the monks' efforts to end food poverty on Prince Edward Island, (Thinh Nguyen/CBC)
Venerable Dan says the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS) owns about 575 acres of land. A separate group based in Brudenell, the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute nuns, owns 663 acres of land, a spokeswoman told Saltwire News on March 21.
The GEBIS monks are completing construction on a large multi-purpose building in Heatherdale that will become the society's main campus in Kings County, including residential facilities.
Venerable Dan says the monks employ organic agricultural methods on their cropland, and are unaware of any of their acreage that has been left fallow. Some of their land is loaned out "for free" to other organic farmers in Kings County, he said.
The monks say "Bliss and Wisdom" is a name used by several non-profit organizations, but there is no formal connection among them. They compare the use of the phrase "Bliss and Wisdom" to the common use of the word "Island" in the names of various independent businesses on P.E.I.
A
new multi-purpose building in Heatherdale will become the main campus
for worship and study by monks of the Great Enlightenment Buddhist
Institute Society (GEBIS). (Brian Higgins/CBC)
Social media posts about the issue contain misinformation, Venerable Dan said.
"The past two or three months, it seems there more people drawn into it. You keep posting stuff and people believe it."
Venerable Dan says the monks were aware of Saturday's meeting in Montague and chose not to attend.
Lands Act needs 'constant revision': federation
The P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture says Saturday's meeting reflects long-standing concerns over land ownership on the Island, as well as questions over the effectiveness of the Lands Protection Act when it comes to corporate aggregation.
'We see issues with land ownership [in Kings County]. We see some confusion," said Donald Killorn, executive director of the federation. "We saw un update on the Lands Protection Act recently that we hope did close some of the more prominent loopholes."
The P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture has long lobbied for better protection for farmland, says Donald Killorn. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)
Killorn points out that he knows of "Island-born" farmers who have exceeded land ownership limits, by listing their spouses as owners of tracts of crop land.
"The act does require constant revision as people work to try and circumnavigate the law," said Killorn.
This is not about race. It's always been about the land.
— Douglas Campbell
The coalition says ethnicity is irrelevant, and in the past, accusations that questions about the monks are motivated by racism or xenophobia have diverted attention from legitimate concerns.
"This is not about race," said Campbell. "It's always been about the land."
CBC News reached out to the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission for comment on the coalition's concerns. It replied with an email saying it was aware of Saturday's meeting but nobody from the coalition had been in direct contact with the commission.
The email added that IRAC "will continue to serve its role in administering the Lands Protection Act."
Meet the party leaders running in P.E.I.'s provincial election
Read, watch or listen — CBC's profiles of the leaders of P.E.I.'s parties
Here is what they had to say.
Progressive Conservatives
The Progressive Conservatives went into this election with 15 seats in the legislative assembly, hungry to maintain their majority government status and grow their caucus.
Leader Dennis King was a first-time politician in the 2019 campaign and is now seeking his second term in the premier's chair.
King leads a full slate of 27 candidates and his party heads into election day on April 3 in a strong polling position, according to data from the latest Narrative Research poll.
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party was the underdog among the four main parties heading into the campaign. They haven't had a candidate elected to the legislature since 1996.
Leader Michelle Neill took the reins of the party just a year ago and is looking to be elected for the first time in any level of politics.
Alongside her are a full slate of 26 other candidates from across the Island, including, in West Prince, the first and only NDP politician ever elected to the P.E.I. legislature, Herb Dickieson.
ILiberal Party
The Liberal Party is hitting for the fences in this election after dropping to third-party status and dwindling from 16 seats to six in the 2019 election. The party entered the 2023 race with just three incumbents re-offering.
Leader Sharon Cameron may be running for political office for the first time, but she has more than a decade of experience as a deputy minister. She's taking on Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker in District 17: New Haven-Rocky Point.
Cameron and 24 other Liberal candidates are running in this election, including an incumbent in Charlottetown and two in West Prince.
Green Party
The Green Party is looking to follow up on its historic success in the 2019 election — which saw eight candidates elected and the party forming the Official Opposition.
That was a feat for the Greens that had never happened before in the history of Canadian politics.
Leader Peter Bevan-Baker has twice won his district convincingly. This time he's facing Liberal Leader Sharon Cameron in his own district — a political move by Cameron that shocked Islanders, as leaders typically don't run against each other.
The Greens are fielding a slate of 25 candidates, with all incumbents re-offering except District 11's Hannah Bell.
Island Party
After a 12-year hiatus, the Island Party has returned to run in the 2023 P.E.I. election.
Ahava Kálnássy de Kálnás has been at the head of the party for about a month and is looking to be elected for the first time.
Kálnássy de Kálnás leads a slate of 11 candidates who say they want to introduce recall legislation, and focus on town halls and referendums on major issues — which the party says puts the power back in the hands of the people.
6 Comments