Premier Wade MacLauchlan is not fazed by the results of Thursday’s election in Ontario.
Since MacLauchlan became premier of P.E.I. in 2015, he has seen nine changes in leadership among his first minister colleagues.
Following the sitting of the legislature on Friday, he said he admired the leadership of defeated Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne but looked forward to getting to know the province’s new premier.
Wynne resigned as leader of the Ontario Liberal Party on Thursday night despite winning her seat in Don Valley West. The Ontario Liberal seat count dropped from 58 in 2014 to seven after Thursday’s election.
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Ford’s Progressive Conservative Party won an easy majority with 76 seats, far outpacing its 28-seat total from 2014. Andrea Horwath and the NDP almost doubled their seat count, rising from 21 in 2014 to 40.
“There will be changes,” MacLauchlan said. “As the premier of the smallest province, my number one job is to be sure that I'm representing P.E.I. well and to be sure that we have good partnerships."
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MacLauchlan said a good relationship between P.E.I. and Ontario was an important priority for him.
MacLauchlan also did not see the historic drop in support for the Ontario Liberals as a bad omen for his own Liberal government.
After three terms in government, the provincial Liberals in P.E.I. have dropped to their lowest level of public approval since 2015.
A Corporate Research Associates poll released earlier this week showed public support for the Liberal Party of P.E.I. had dropped from 42 per cent in February to 34 per cent, only one
percentage point above the Green Party of P.E.I. Support for the Opposition Progressive Conservative Party of P.E.I. rose from 17 per cent to 26 per cent.
MacLauchlan did not appear concerned by the poll.
“I think we're on a path we've been on since the election of 2015. Our record is strong, and the important thing is for Prince Edward Islanders to see all the benefits of that," MacLauchlan said.
