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.
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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
