P.E.I. election call leaves unfinished government business

With the election writ signed last week by P.E.I.'s chief justice — filling in for the lieutenant-governor who is away — the province's legislative assembly was dissolved, triggering an election.

The House had been scheduled to begin its spring sitting April 2.

But with the election call, that means fall 2018 marked the final sitting for the legislative assembly that came to power following the last election.

As is always the case, all bills and debates on the order paper are considered dead and would have to be reintroduced by the new assembly after the election.

In fact, some commitments from the MacLauchlan government never even made it onto the order paper.

Here are some commitments, issues and debates which never made it past the finish line:

MLA severance packages

The first Throne speech from the MacLauchlan government included a commitment to reduce "transitional allowances" for MLAs — also known as severance packages. The second Throne speech a year later included the same commitment, but no changes were ever made.

No matter whether they step down, decide not to run again or get defeated on election day, outgoing MLAs receive one month's salary for every year of service, to a maximum of one year's base salary for an MLA (which rises to $73,295 on Apr. 1).

Elections can be especially expensive for Island taxpayers. Severance packages for the 21 outgoing MLAs in 2007, when the Liberals swept to power under Robert Ghiz, cost more than $1 million. That's more than it cost Elections PEI to conduct the election.

• Doug Currie to collect more than $70K in severance after leaving politics

The coin toss is still a thing

 P.E.I. made national headlines following the 2015 election when the seat for District 5 had to be settled by a coin toss after the top two candidates came out tied.

In his report on the 2015 election, the former chief electoral officer made 44 recommendations, among them getting rid of coin tosses as the method for deciding electoral ties.

Also among those recommendations: that responsibility for appointing returning officers in each district be moved from cabinet to the chief electoral officer, and that gold coin no longer be accepted as a form of deposit by anyone contesting an election result (it hasn't been considered legal tender since 1929).

Some of those recommendations were reiterated by P.E.I.'s current chief electoral officer but none of the recommended changes have been implemented.

• Coin-toss tiebreaker rule will be reviewed, says Elections PEI

The best internet service in Canada

 In November 2016, Wade MacLauchlan told the P.E.I. legislature that "by the end of next year we're going to have the best internet service in Canada." It was later explained that the premier was referring to federal funding of $1.6 million provided to Xplornet to make broadband internet accessible to more than 12,000 underserviced households on P.E.I.

But before 2017 had come to a close the province changed course, saying it would spend $30 million constructing a fibre-optic internet "backbone" across P.E.I.

Less than a year later the province said that plan was being scrapped. And in March 2019, government announced a new plan involving Xplornet and Bell, which government said would give P.E.I. "the best provincewide internet service of any province in Canada by 2021."

• Feds, province investing in high-speed internet for rural P.E.I.

No reports from committees

Standing committees of the legislature can meet any time during the year. Those deliberations and any recommendations the committees make for changes on important issues are compiled in a committee report which is typically tabled toward the close of each sitting of the legislature.

But the short fall 2018 sitting of the legislature ended without most committees submitting any reports on their deliberations. With no spring 2019 sitting, that means most committees haven't tabled reports since the spring of 2018. The province's Standing Committee on Education and Economic Development hasn't filed a report since Dec. 2017.

All the committees were dissolved along with the legislature. Some of the issues examined in committee meetings which were never included in a report: Northern Pulp's plan to release effluent into the Northumberland Strait; land use and the Lands Protection Act; and supports for Islanders with autism spectrum disorder.

• New, tougher pollution standards would apply to Northern Pulp effluent pipe, say feds

Water Act still not in effect

The commitment to implement all-encompassing legislation to protect P.E.I.'s water supply goes back to the days of Robert Ghiz. While the Water Act was passed under Wade MacLauchlan's government, none of it has come into effect.

Two sets of regulations were put out for consultation before the writ, but those consultations have been suspended during the election.

Government said regulations on the highly charged issue of high-capacity wells were ready in draft form before the election, but those were not released to the public.

No free-flowing booze

In January, the province announced it would eliminate restrictions on transporting alcohol into the province for personal use. The required changes in legislation were to be made during the spring sitting of the legislature.

Because the limits are written into the province's Liquor Control Act, changes cannot be made unless passed by the House.

When asked about the first item on this list, MLA severance packages, Liberal leader Wade MacLauchlan said "that's something that may get done in the future."

UPEI political science professor Don Desserud said commitments which weren't fulfilled by a government can sometimes be recycled to become part of their re-election platform.

"They now become election promises. 'Re-elect us so we can finish the job' will be something you will hear them say. But the cynics and the opposition will say well they had a chance to get these things done. They didn't, they delayed so they're not sincere."

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