2023 promise tracker: NDP of Prince Edward Island

You're going to hear a lot of promises during this Prince Edward Island election campaign. Here's a round-up of the key announcements from the NDP, led by Michelle Neill. The full NDP platform was released on March 9.

This page will be updated regularly until the election on April 3, so make sure to check back for the latest.

Health care and doctor shortages

• Stop ER and hospital closures and cut ambulance wait times, particularly in rural areas. Improve senior care at home and create new long-term care beds.
• Provide "timely and accessible mental health care to all Islanders" and bring down prescription costs by fighting for a national pharmacare plan. 
• Stop "the privatization of our health-care system" and increase services and support for cancer patients.
• Implement a caregivers benefit, increase home care supports and build more publicly run long-term care homes.
• Address the shortage of physicians and nurse practitioners by fast-tracking the licensing of foreign-trained health care professionals.
• Ease the pressure on regional hospitals by hiring physician assistants.
• Create a provincial travel nurse program.
• Establish a full range of covered gender-affirming care services.
• Full provincial coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices.
• Immediate legislation, certification and regulation to integrate publicly funded midwifery services into P.E.I.'s health-care system.
• Access to a P.E.I. health card for everyone – e.g. migrant workers, international students when visas expire.
• Set a standard number of required daily hours of care for nursing home and community care residents.
• Include harm reduction centres in community health hubs.

Housing

• "Fix the Residential Tenancy Act" to better protect renters and build thousands of new affordable and accessible homes.
• Create 5,000 public affordable units to be rented out and maintained by the province, providing assured housing stock during hard times.
• Require 25 for 25 for government-funded developments, meaning 25% of units are kept affordable for 25 years and developers are locked into this commitment.
• Legislate the cost definition of affordability using a formula based on minimum wage income. Affordability is calculated at 25% of average monthly income for those earning minimum wage.
• Update the housing building code to allow for unique housing structures like bunkies, tiny houses and off-grid living.
• Create and manage a provincial rent registry.

Economy, workers, inflation, cost of living

• Increase the minimum wage to $17/hour with a path to a living wage.
• Raise the incomes of Islanders receiving social assistance.
• Implement free, universal public child care.
• Eliminate community college tuition fees.
• Bring in a gasoline tax exemption, easing approximately 8.5 cents per litre for Island drivers.
• Extend inflationary support payments to individuals and families through 2025.
• Offer free public transit for Islanders whose income is under $40,000, and develop a regional and urban public transit network.
• Remove the suggested $5.50 cost of the P.E.I. lunch program and implement a free breakfast and lunch program for all Island students.

Environment, climate change

• Triple Prince Edward Island's energy efficiency targets.
• Implement a fiscally neutral carbon tax.
• Establish a Green Jobs Task Force.
• Launch an energy retrofit program, targeting 3% of P.E.I.'s buildings per year to save money, cut emissions and create new jobs. This will include a step code for buildings to reach net-zero by 2032 and mandatory building and home energy efficiency disclosure.
• Invest in the burying of power lines.
• Establish a moratorium on offshore drilling in Prince Edward Island waters.
• Enact a permanent moratorium on high-capacity wells.

Education, childcare

• Provide free universal, public and accessible child care for Island families.
• Eliminate community college fees while freezing university tuition for students.
• Help Island teachers by investing in staff and resource supports for the classroom.

Social programs

• Raise social assistance rates to realistic levels that boost households above the Market Basket poverty line.
• Expand the P.E.I. Home Heating Program by broadening eligibility and doubling annual support until 2025.

Infrastructure and communities

• Complete the installation of an Island-wide high-speed network and eliminate cell-phone dead zones..
• Increasing the provincial budget to finish school upgrades.
• Create a provincewide, publicly owned transit system run on renewable energy and a network of electrical car charging stations.

Governance, leadership

• Launch a Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform to examine alternatives to the first-past-the-post system, and issues such as low voter turnout.
• Lower the voting age to 16.
• Make election dates public holidays and make voting and voter registration easier.
• Increase fairness in taxation, government procurement and equal pay for equal work.
• Establish a Department of Cooperative and Community and Economic Development.