P.E.I. ag minister, ag critics re-elected
Tories return with majority; Liberals regain official opposition
| 1 min read
By Dave Bedard
Darlene Compton, shown here on provincial budget day in 2020, became Prince Edward Island's first female ag minister in 2022. (PrinceEdwardIsland.ca)
Prince Edward Island’s incumbent agriculture minister and opposition agriculture critics prevailed in Monday night’s provincial election, in which incumbent premier Dennis King’s Tories were returned with a majority.
Darlene Compton, King’s agriculture minister since last summer and his incumbent deputy premier, won re-election Monday for the Progressive Conservatives in her district of Belfast-Murray River.
Compton, the province’s first female agriculture minister and first female deputy premier, won 1,510 of 2,574 votes — well ahead of Liberal challenger Katherine Bryson with 520.
The incumbent opposition Green Party’s leader and agriculture critic, Peter Bevan-Baker, also held his district of New Haven-Rocky Point, drawing 1,457 votes on Monday.
Bevan-Baker’s margin of victory was 106 votes against Tory challenger Donalda Docherty — a relatively narrow spread compared to the 2019 general election. Sharon Cameron, the provincial Liberals’ new leader, came in third in New Haven-Rocky Point with 502 votes.
Bevan-Baker’s Greens also lost official opposition status, keeping just two of their eight seats from 2019. Cameron’s Liberals won three seats — down from six in 2019, but enough to regain official opposition — while the Tories took 22 seats, lifting them out of minority government status.
The Liberals’ incumbent ag critic, former ag minister Robert Henderson, held his district of O’Leary-Inverness with 894 votes. That also gave Henderson a relatively narrower margin, 156 votes over Tory challenger Daniel MacDonald, a beef and dairy farmer. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
