Wade MacLauchlan's mandate one year later
Kerry Campbell | CBC News | Posted: May 4, 2016 11:00 PM | Last Updated: May 4, 2016
Commitments made, kept, delayed and a couple things Islanders had no idea were coming
Wade MacLauchlan was sworn in as the 32nd premier of Prince Edward Island on February 23, 2015.
But with his run for the leadership of the Liberal party uncontested, it wasn't until the 2015 election campaign began in April that he put forward his detailed vision for the province, and made commitments on what his government would do to improve the lives of Islanders.
Voters provided MacLauchlan with his mandate on May 4, 2015 — Star Wars day, as the premier had noted from the beginning of the campaign. Here's how some of his commitments stand up, one year later.
Taxes
The Liberal platform is actually mum on the topic of sales taxes going up, down or sideways.
But it appears you can't get through an election campaign without making any mention of the controversial tax brought in by the government that came before.
MacLauchlan said he had "no plans to increase taxes" in response to a questionnaire from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. And he was quoted in a party press release during the campaign saying "Islanders expect and deserve a government that is fiscally responsible and that makes achievable commitments that won't result in tax increases or cuts to services or employment."
Less than a year after being elected, the MacLauchlan government announced the HST would increase from 14 to 15 percent on October 1, 2016.
While that was never part of the platform (plans changed, the premier admitted), a number of tax fairness measures the Liberals campaigned on have been implemented: personal tax credits for low-income households have increased by $50, and tax credit thresholds have been raised, which government says results in 3,000 Islanders no longer having to pay provincial income tax.
The MacLauchlan government delivered an Easter egg in its 2016 budget, in the form the first increase in P.E.I.'s basic personal exemption since 2008.
But on government's balance sheet, all the tax breaks combined won't come close to cancelling out the extra $22 million a year government says will come from increasing the HST.
Generic Drug Plan
This was the centrepiece of the Liberal health care platform, and Premier Wade MacLauchlan considers it one of the biggest achievements of his administration so far.
Under the plan, Islanders who have no private drug coverage can buy generic prescription drugs for a maximum cost to them of $20. Government says 12,000 Islanders who wouldn't have any drug coverage have enrolled in the program so far.
"The benefit you can measure in terms of the number of Islanders who have registered, and then in turn what that means for their families and their budgeting, to be able to know that they're not going to be sideswiped financially by the filling of their prescriptions," said MacLauchlan.
Education
Creating local advisory councils to provide feedback on the provincial school system is all the way down at number 10 on the list of bullet points included in the Liberal education platform.
There's no mention of the major restructuring of the education system that was announced six months after the election.
In retrospect, this commitment might have been written thus: "Disband English Language School Board. Create Crown corporation to handle day-to-day operation of schools. Transfer authority over curriculum and training to Department of Education. Establish District Advisory Councils."
Cancer treatment
This was perhaps the biggest financial commitment from any party during the election.
The price tag as costed in the Liberal platform was $8 million. Government now pegs the cost at $10 million, including renovations to the PEI Cancer Treatment Centre.
Installation is expected to begin in the spring of 2017.
Balanced budget in 2016
There was no mention of when the budget would be balanced in the Liberal platform, but during the campaign MacLauchlan said his government would be able to table a balanced budget in the spring of 2016.
But when that budget was finally tabled, it showed an expected deficit of $9.7 million, with government pledging to balance the budget the following year.
It was actually Progressive Conservative leader Rob Lantz during the 2015 campaign who said the provincial finances were in such a state that a PC government wouldn't be able to balance the books until 2017.
Youth mental health
The existing four-bed youth mental health unit at the QEH in Charlottetown has been criticized for its lack of capacity, with overflow patients being housed in the pediatric unit.
Government's response, included in the Liberal platform, was to promise a new 12-bed unit.
Six months after the election, government announced a new youth mental health day treatment program.
Health PEI officials said they'd be unable to create a new inpatient centre with the capital budget government had approved.
Increase childcare funding
During the campaign the Liberals pledged to increase funding for childcare subsidies by $300,000.
In the budget tabled after the election, funding was instead cut by $403,500. In the budget tabled in the spring of 2016, funding was cut by a further $287,200.
Family Services Minister Tina Mundy said the cuts were based on a decline in utilization, but in both budgets, the funding projected for the following year was less than government spent the year before.
Mundy says the Liberals do intend to honour their commitment to increase funding once a review of the program is complete.
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