CHARLOTTETOWN – Prince Edward Island’s four party leaders are set to spar Monday night in the only televised leaders debate ahead of the April 3 provincial election.

The 90-minute debate is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. with Progressive Conservative Leader Dennis King, Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker, Liberal Party Leader Sharon Cameron and New Democratic Party Leader Michelle Neill.

Don Desserud, a political science expert based in P.E.I., said he will pay special attention to the tone between King and Bevan-Baker — both of whom he said were remarkably collegial to one another in the 2019 leaders debate.

“What was so remarkable was that the tone that was set by King and Peter Bevan-Baker, about being co-operative, wanting to work together,” he said, recalling the 2019 debate.

“They didn’t argue. Dennis King kept saying things like, ‘You know, a good idea is a good idea,’ and ‘I don’t care what party it comes from, you know, if it’s a good idea, we’ll work on it.’”

Desserud said he will also be watching to see how King, the incumbent premier, handles attacks, and how aggressive the Greens and Liberals are during the matchup.

“There’s been a lot of talk during the campaign that King is becoming increasingly testy, that he’s getting impatient … this persona, that he has been this very affable, very, very friendly person, is starting to fade away a bit. So that’ll be interesting to see whether that is the case when he punches back … what will he say about his opponents.”

The main issues this election campaign are health care, housing and climate change. The province has seen shortages in health-care professionals, a lack of affordable housing, and climate change problems such as increasingly damaging storms and eroding shorelines.

“The main dynamic is going to be between King and to see how he deals with the fact that he’s now going to be the person under attack,” Desserud said.

The Prince Prince Edward Island Nurses’ Union is set to hold a demonstration outside the debate centre. Union head Barbara Brookins said protesters want to put a spotlight on their contract negotiations, which have been put on hold during the election campaign. P.E.I. nurses have been without a contract for two years.

“Nurses don’t usually get stirred up too fast, and the last time, I think, we’ve had a rally here on Prince Edward Island was in 1994,” Brookins said.

“It just goes to show how frustrated and disheartened nurses are by the lack of support from Health P.E.I. and from the Department of Health.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2023.

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