PEI·PEI Votes

'Tricky balancing act': Green party leader not taking own riding for granted

P.E.I.'s Green party leader said it will be a balancing act to manage his own campaign while supporting other candidates in his party.

'I have to make sure that the use of my time is being … spent effectively and efficiently,' says Bevan-Baker

Isabella Zavarise · CBC News · Posted: Mar 30, 2019 6:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: March 30, 2019

Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker says his first priority is re-election in District 17. (Isabella Zavarise/CBC)

P.E.I Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker says it will be a balancing act to manage his own campaign while supporting other candidates in his party.

Bevan-Baker is the incumbent in the New Haven-Rocky Point (District 17).

PEI Votes
Here are the nominated candidates running in the P.E.I. election

Support for the Greens has been climbing according to the latest polls. The election will be held April 23.

For Bevan-Baker, that means he'll have to spend time backing other candidates on top of his own campaigning.

"As leader, of course I'm getting pulled in 10 directions all the time, every day, and so … I have to pace myself," he said.

"I have to make sure that the use of my time is being … spent effectively and efficiently. And we're early days. We're not even a week into the campaign now. So the first bit is always a little chaotic."

'We could win this'

He said local campaigns are up and running and that he'll be deployed at various locations to endorse nominees. But his first priority is to retain his seat.

"You cannot take any seat for granted. It's going to be a tricky balancing act," he said.

"You go around the doors and you get a sense of whether you have enough support locally and I haven't done enough doors yet to feel comfortable about that. But so far the response has been great."

“Local campaigns are really up and running now, so I’ll be deployed, you know, to various campaigns over the next couple of weeks," says Bevan-Baker. (Isabella Zavarise/CBC)

Bevan-Baker said while he recognizes his party may not have the same amount of funding as others, he thinks it will be able to make up for it in other ways.

"If you can get your candidates out to the doors, and have proper in-depth, one-on-one conversations with Islanders, I think there's every opportunity that we could win this," he said

The Greens plan to announce their platform on Monday.