P.E.I. Tory party soon setting leadership convention date

The Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservative Party will set a date at its annual meeting Saturday for a leadership convention.

The leadership convention will likely take place in the spring and party brass hope the new leader will successfully take the party into next fall’s general election.

While no one has declared their intentions to run, three names have surfaced as possible leadership candidates. They are James Aylward, the MLA for Stratford-Kinlock, Rob Lantz, a Charlottetown city councillor who has not re-offered for council, and businesswomen Darlene Compton, who ran unsuccessfully for the Tories in the last election.

Interim party leader Steven Myers will not be running for the leadership, but he says the party has momentum.

"The vibe out there is very positive and I know that our party is building,” he said.

The leadership committee has met with about 20 individuals who are interested in running for leader of the party.

The Conservatives have gone through a few years of internal strife over Olive Crane's leadership, which eventually led to her being ousted from the party.

"The watershed moment happened a couple years ago when we put all that issue that was dysfunctional really in the party behind us,” said Peter McQuaid, the president of the Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservative Party.

"Well, I think our act is getting together pretty good. Has our act always been together? No, it hasn't, but we've put that past part of our history way back into the history and it’s not about to appear again.”