A message or just a byelection? Liberals, Tories react to Green win

The Green caucus in the P.E.I. Legislature doubled in size Monday night, and the Liberals and Progressives Conservatives disagree on what that means for the Island's political landscape.

The Green Party's Hannah Bell won the byelection in District 11, Charlottetown-Parkdale by a comfortable margin Monday. While the final tally still has to be confirmed by Elections P.E.I., the count Tuesday morning stands with Bell winning 35.3 per cent of the vote, almost seven percentage points ahead of second place Liberal candidate Bob Doiron.

It was a surprising loss for both the Liberals and the Tories. But while they shared surprise, their views on what it meant were different.

"Clearly, the MacLauchlan government, the tired Liberal government that we all know has been sent a message," said PC Leader James Aylward.

"Was it the message that I was necessarily hoping for tonight? Certainly not, but clearly they've been sent a message."

Aylward said the result shows Islanders are ready for a change in provincial politics.

But Liberal Premier Wade MacLauchlan cautioned against reading too much into a byelection result.

"I think you really have to look at a byelection as a byelection, with local context and what people have to take into account as they're making their choices," said MacLauchlan.

"And of course the turnout. That's the nature of byelections."

With the Green win, seats in the legislature stand like this.

• Liberal: 17
• Progressive Conservative: 8
• Green: 2

The byelection was called when Doug Currie resigned from politics last month. He had held the district for the Liberals for 10 years. Before that Progressive Conservative Chester Gillan held the seat for more than a decade.

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