Climate, co-operation and cutting red tape: P.E.I.'s premier outlines cabinet priorities

The minority government of P.E.I. Premier Dennis King will reinstate elected school boards, bring back a provincial rebate for electric vehicles and set a target to plant more than a million trees per year, according to mandate letters sent to provincial cabinet ministers.

Each of the 10 letters from the premier identify some common goals for all cabinet ministers, including co-operating with members of opposition parties.

In each letter King states a "new co-operative approach is critical to the success of our government," advising each minister it is his or her responsibility to ensure Green and Liberal MLAs "are appropriately consulted on major issues and legislation."

Earlier this year King's Progressive Conservatives became the first minority government in Island history to win the confidence of the legislative assembly, and the premier has emphasized collaboration among parties as a priority.

All 10 mandate letters also include a directive that ministers remember "the importance of reducing red tape" and consider "the climate impact while delivering on your priorities."

In an interview with CBC News, King called climate change "the seminal issue of our time."

"So we want to make sure that government as leaders in this, through each department, are looking within to make sure that we are being as climate friendly as possible."

King said his PC government is considering "climate change co-ordinators operating in every department to look for greenhouse gas-friendly initiatives from a government perspective, so that it shows leadership and it trickles down through the community."

Individual mandates

In his mandate letter from King, P.E.I.'s Minister of Environment, Water and Climate Change Brad Trivers has been asked to work with Islanders and industry to reduce the province's emissions, take "proactive measures" to reduce P.E.I.'s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, build upon efforts to reduce single-use plastics and set a goal of planting in excess of one million trees per year.

In his other portfolio as minister of education and lifelong learning, Trivers was tasked by the premier with:

• Following through on a PC election commitment to implement "universal public half-day community-based pre-kindergarten for Island four-year-olds."

• Reinstating "school boards that have elected representatives" after the last English school board was dissolved by the previous Liberal government.

• As the minister responsible for the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, to review that body "to ensure its function and role has remained current with the needs of Islanders."

During the spring sitting of the legislature, the King government was criticized by the Liberals for not following through on an election commitment to reduce the small business tax rate from 3.5 per cent down to one per cent by January 2020.

Taxes and alcohol

In her mandate letter, Finance Minister Darlene Compton is tasked with reaching that target over the next three years. She's also expected to increase the basic personal exemption from the current $10,000 to $12,000 over the same period, and to oversee an increase in the number of private retailers in the province able to sell alcohol.

Transportation Minister Steven Myers was asked to re-establish a rebate program for electric vehicles (the last one scrapped under the Liberals in 2013), to develop an Island-wide active and public transportation plan, and launch an innovative clean energy fund to "boost investments in new energy technologies and climate change solutions."

Some further commitments from the various mandate letters:

• P.E.I.'s Minister of Health and Wellness James Aylward was asked to review recruitment and retention practices for all health-care professionals, and to broaden scope-of-practice for nurses, resident care workers and pharmacists.

• Minister of Land Bloyce Thompson was tasked with reviewing the Lands Protection Act, and as minister of justice to introduce more transparency on the issue of land ownership on P.E.I.

• Communities Minister Jamie Fox was asked to develop and administer a $1 million non-profit community fund, to be divided equally among P.E.I.'s three counties to support local non-profits.

• Housing Minister Ernie Hudson will see a doubling of his department's budget for existing home renovation and repair programs.

Both opposition parties welcomed the mandate letters as a tool to hold government accountable.

Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker said the King government's first throne speech was lacking in specifics.

"But now we have some very specific things in these mandate letters that myself and all of my caucus mates will be able to look at and point to as the months and years go by," said Bevan-Baker.

"So it's just so nice to have some real concrete, tangible, measurable things that we can hold them to account for."

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