Tariff uncertainty looms with P.E.I. legislature set to resume Tuesday

There's been a lot of change in the lives of Prince Edward Islanders since the fall legislative session ended on Nov. 29.

P.E.I. has a new premier. Canada has a new prime minister. And Donald Trump is once again the president of the United States.

Trump's on-again, off-again threats to place punishing tariffs on Canadian goods is expected to loom large when the legislature resumes on Tuesday for its spring sitting.

This will be the first sitting with Rob Lantz as premier. The former education minister was sworn in as premier on Feb. 21, the day after Dennis King announced he was stepping down.

Lantz immediately announced he would prorogue the legislature, delaying the opening by four weeks.

Both the opposition parties say they're eager to get back to work, and say the first order of business should be for the Progressive Conservative government to lay out its plan to deal with U.S. tariffs.

"There should be a plan now — firm, concrete — that Islanders can rely on and take to the bank as to how we're going to navigate these tariffs," said Green Party MLA Matt MacFarlane.

"I would love to see a contingency plan put in place for tariffs so that Island businesses may have some assurance that if they go through and there's an impact financially, that the government has their back," said interim Liberal Leader Hal Perry.

Deputy Premier Bloyce Thompson said the government is "ultra-focused on the threat of tariffs to Islanders," which he said will be reflected in the province's operating budget. 

Fall sitting leftovers

The Official Opposition Liberals said they also want to raise issues around health care, housing and the cost of living — the three main staples of Island political debate for years now. 

As well, Perry said he wants to pick up on one of the key debate topics from the fall: the province's marketing agreement with the National Hockey League.

"We'll use an example of the mismanagement of this government, the NHL deal, which was done in secrecy. This government needs to be more transparent," he said.

The Liberal party also wants to see a reduction in the provincial portion of the HST in the new budget, and a commitment from the PCs to table the province's fall economic update by Nov. 15. (The last fall update was released in January.)

Health care and affordability are the two major issues for the Green Party as well. MacFarlane specifically cited the number of people on the provincial patient registry and the Prince County Hospital still being without full ICU services.

According to Health P.E.I., there were 38,006 people on the patient registry as of Feb. 28, 2025, representing more than one out of every five residents. Those people do not have a family doctor or nurse practitioner looking after their primary health care. 

MacFarlane said he also hopes to see the province put funding in place in response to a non-binding motion that passed unanimously in the previous sitting. It endorsed the idea of the government reimbursing bridge fees and ferry tolls for people forced to travel off the Island for medical treatment.

Lack of permanent party leadership

As the spring session begins, the PCs, Liberals and Greens are all without permanent party leaders. The P.E.I. New Democrats, who don't hold any seats in the legislature, do have a permanent leader in Michelle Neill. 

The Greens look like they'll be the first among parties represented in the house to choose a new leader, having moved up their convention to June 7. It had previously been set for May 2026.

The Liberals have also moved up their convention, and it will take place Oct. 4.

The Progressive Conservatives have yet to announce a date for their convention, although Montague-Kilmuir MLA Cory Deagle gave up his seat in cabinet when he announced his intention to run for the leadership. He's the only person to step forward thus far.

There will be two empty seats for the PCs when the house resumes.

King had represented District 15 Brackley-Hunter River but stepped down as MLA at the same time he left the premier's job.

The MLA who had once served as his education minister, Natalie Jameson, gave up her seat representing District 9 Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park to run for Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives in Charlottetown in the federal election. In doing so, she is joined by two former provincial cabinet colleagues: Jamie Fox, running in Malpeque, and James Aylward, running in Cardigan.

The clock is already ticking for Lantz or whoever succeeds him to call byelections to fill those two seats. For Jameson's seat, a byelection has to be held by Aug. 11 at the latest.

King's resignation and Deagle's move out of cabinet triggered a shuffle that made former backbencher Robin Croucher the new minister of education and gave former speaker Darlene Compton the key post of minister of economic development.

That means the first order of business for the new sitting will be choosing a new speaker.

Then a new throne speech will be delivered, the first for Lieutenant Governor Dr. Wassim Salamoun, sworn in last October.