How Peter Bevan-Baker learned to love politics

P.E.I. Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker says if he had lost his bid to be an MLA in 2015 that might have been the end of his efforts to become a politician.

"Our kids, when I last ran, all but one of them had left home. We had our eye on semi-retirement," said Bevan-Baker.

"We bought a little old farm down east that we had planned to retire to at some point."

To my surprise and delight I've found that I can be sincerely, genuinely me, and be effective.— Peter Bevan-Baker

It was his 10th run, with previous attempts to win a seat for the Green Party federally and provincially, beginning in Ontario. Prior to the 2015 election his hopes were not high. His main goal was to insert some Green ideas into the debate.

He ended up winning his seat by the largest margin in the province. He enters the 2019 election with the Green Party leading the polls.

Now, instead of sitting on the front porch of that farm surrounded by goats and chickens, Bevan-Baker is preparing for the possibility he might be the next premier.

"I have to be ready emotionally for that and I have to be ready intellectually," he said.

"I'm ready for that task. I've gathered some wonderful people around me."

Learning about politics

Despite working for more than two decades to win an election, Bevan-Baker said he was never sure he was cut out for politics.

"I actually figured I wasn't," he said.

"I'm interested in ideas, I'm interested in finding solutions to all of the complicated problems. I'm not interested in partisan politics."

But he said he has been surprised to find that politics agrees with him. He has come to understand it better, and had the opportunity to learn more about the province and also himself.

"To my surprise and delight I've found that I can be sincerely, genuinely me, and be effective," he said.

Doing things differently

Campaigns are typically times when people see a lot of politicians, promising one thing or another on television or on the front page of the paper.

But you won't see a lot of Bevan-Baker unless he's on your doorstep, which is where his party is focusing its campaign. The Greens released their entire platform just a few days into the campaign, and aren't planning on holding another news conference before the election.

Bevan-Baker said he released the platform all at once, rather than piece by piece, to show it as a single, coherent policy.

"I wanted to signal to Islanders in our platform this is the sort of mentality we will bring to governing the Island," he said.

It is also worth noting that it was knocking on doors that got Bevan-Baker elected in 2015.

Focused on social issues

The platform is mostly focused on social issues, rather than the traditional Green ground of the environment. More than half of the new spending promised by the Greens is focused on housing and social assistance rates.

"We have, like everywhere else in the world, growing inequality here on Prince Edward Island," said Bevan-Baker.

"Yes, our economy is growing but the wealth that is being created by that economy is not getting to the people who need it most."

It's an interesting approach for a party that named itself in honour of the environment, but perhaps not surprising for one that is looking to present itself as a party ready to govern.

CBC P.E.I. will be speaking to all four leaders of P.E.I.'s political parties between April 8 and April 12.

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