Hal Perry takes over as interim leader of P.E.I. Liberals

Hal Perry has been named the new interim leader for P.E.I.'s Liberal Party.

The District 27: Tignish-Palmer Road MLA was one of three Liberal candidates re-elected to the P.E.I. Legislature in the April 3 provincial election, along with Robert Henderson and Gord McNeilly.

Perry will be replacing Sharon Cameron, who resigned after failing to win a seat in the election. He said he's not interested in running for the permanent leadership of the party.

Perry has represented western P.E.I. since 2011, when he was elected as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. In 2013, he crossed the floor and joined the then-governing Liberals. He was re-elected in 2015, 2019 and 2023.

Deputy Speaker for 4 years

The bushy-bearded MLA is known for serving as a New Year's Eve designated driver for his constituents in West Prince. 

He has served as minister of education, the vice-chair of the Council of Ministers of Canada, and was deputy Speaker for the last four years.

Among the issues he has raised in the legislature on behalf of West Prince are lengthy response times for coroner services and a lack of school counsellors in rural schools.

Perry will now have three jobs: MLA, interim party leader and Official Opposition Leader. The three elected Liberal MLAs pick the Opposition leader, while the party's executive chooses the interim leader.

"It's a bit overwhelming at first because there's a lot of responsibility that comes with these positions," he said.

Liberals Official Opposition

Perry said he plans to intends to focus his efforts on preparing for the upcoming legislative session and continuing the Liberal rebuild at the grassroots level and reconnecting with Island voters. 

The Liberals replaced the Green Party as the Official Opposition to the PCs, who won a majority government on April 3. The Greens went from eight seats to two.

Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker defeated Cameron in the District 17: New Haven-Rocky Point race.

While overall support for the Liberals was down in the April election, Perry said the "silver lining" was that they get to form the Official Opposition.

"That gives us the opportunity to be more present, to hold government to account within the sessions of the legislature and outside the sessions," he said.

"It gives us an opportunity to get out to the districts to do a post-mortem, to find out what happened in the past that brought us to this point." 

Liberal Party president Katie Morello said there are no immediate plans to look for a permanent leader.

"The districts are really where the strength of the party comes from," she said. 

"Working to strengthen those districts, making sure they have an executive, they have a little bit of money in the bank, and they have been engaging in their own districts to find out what issues are pressing, that's our priority right now."