Kings County has traditionally been a Tory stronghold, and Tuesday night’s provincial election maintained that trend as P.E.I. Progressive Conservative candidates, including two incumbents, swept the region’s three districts.
Colin LaVie (District 1) and Steven Myers (District 2), both two-term PC MLAs, are returning to the P.E.I. legislature for a third term.
Cory Deagle, 27, is heading to the legislature for the first time after capturing District 3 Montague-Kilmur with 1,373 votes.
"I was nervous leading up to the election because the Greens were doing well in the polls. But I was confident that we could take the seat and obviously that happened. And, it's excellent news for the party overall to form what looks like a minority government after being in opposition for a number of years. It's been very exciting. I'm looking forward to it," said Deagle Tuesday night.
After winning the party's nomination in March, Deagle knocked on doors and spoke with residents until election day.
"I think the hard work paid off, and I think it showed in (Tuesday's) results," he said.
"I think Kings County has really been forgotton about for the past 12 years. Our roads are falling apart. We have a hospital with an emergency room that's closed more than it's open."
Liberal candidate Daphne Griffin came in second in District 3 with 785 votes followed by Green party candidate John Allen MacLean (674 votes) and NDP candidate Billy Cann (124 votes). Cann previously ran (unsuccessfully) for the Liberals in 2007 and as leader of the Island Party in 2011. Deagle captured 46.4 per cent of the vote.
District 3 was without an incumbent after two-term MLA Liberal Alan Roach, the only exception to the Tory trend in the region, decided not to run in this election.
LaVie (Souris-Elmira) defeated Liberal candidate Tom Kickham in a rematch from the 2015 election. In 2015, LaVie captured the seat with 1,179 votes – 228 more than Kickham. This time around, LaVie received 1,347 votes, defeating Kickham (861 votes) and Green party candidate Boyd Leard (804 votes).
Myers (Georgetown-Pownal) defeated three new candidates this election – Susan Hartley (Green), Kevin Doyle (Liberal) and Edith Perry (NDP).
Myers received 1,493 votes followed by Hartley (865 votes), Doyle (663 votes) and Perry (49 votes).
Kings County had an estimated 10,827 eligible voters in the 2019 election. Some of the election issues identified during the campaign included affordable housing and jobs as well as the fate of the Kings County Memorial Hospital in Montague. The hospital has seen its emergency room hours reduced due to a physician shortage.
