12 hours ago
Matt MacFarlane chosen as leader of P.E.I. Green Party
Matt MacFarlane has been elected leader of the P.E.I. Green Party.
The Borden-Kinkora MLA got 507 of the 647 votes cast. He was running against former Green Party MLA Hannah Bell.
The leadership convention took place at Bluefield High School in North Wiltshire Saturday. It was originally scheduled for a smaller venue, but was relocated after the party's membership quadrupled to 800 in the lead-up to the vote.
The Greens have been without a leader since Peter Bevan-Baker left the position after the 2023 provincial general election.
That vote saw the party tumble from Official Opposition status. Their eight seats were cut to two — Bevan-Baker and Karla Bernard, who stepped up as interim leader.
The Greens added a third seat in the legislature after MacFarlane won a February 2024 byelection in Borden-Kinkora. That was triggered by the resignation of former Progressive Conservative MLA Jamie Fox, who stepped down to run for the federal Conservatives.
Byelections are set to be called before the end of the summer in Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park and Brackley-Hunter River.
Those seats were left vacant when former PC cabinet minister Natalie Jameson stepped down to run in the federal election for the Conservatives, and Dennis King stepped down as premier and MLA.
The Greens and the P.E.I. Liberal Party each have three seats in the legislature, so the upcoming byelections could decide which party becomes the Official Opposition.
