Aylward, Trivers review key issues en route to leadership finale

They sit next to one another as members of the Progressive Conservative caucus in the P.E.I. Legislature.

They're both white, male, and when they stand to ask questions each comes up just a little short of six feet. One is in his mid-forties, the other his early fifties.

You can perhaps forgive members of the P.E.I. PC  Party, or Islanders in general, if they've had a hard time finding ways to differentiate the two MLAs running to be the party's next leader.

With the Oct. 20 convention fast approaching, James Aylward and Brad Trivers discuss some campaign issues on which they diverge. 

First though, by way of introduction:

Aylward represents the district of Stratford-Kinlock and was first elected in 2011.

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He has served as the Opposition health critic, and ran unsuccessfully to be party leader in 2015. Before becoming an MLA he worked in the service and hospitality industries.

Something you might not have known from his CV: Aylward volunteers with Stratford Citizens on Patrol.

Trivers represents the district of Rustico-Emerald and was first elected in 2015.

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Before the leadership campaign began, and shadow portfolios were reassigned, he served as the opposition critic for Communities, Land and Environment. His background is in information technology.

Something you might not have known from his CV: More than two decades ago, Trivers toured with the international, feel-good song-and-dance troupe Up with People.

Balancing the budget

Trivers has specific ideas on how the P.E.I. government could operate more efficiently.

For example, he says the province could save millions of dollars a year just by switching to a cloud-based email system for government workers.

Trivers also said if he became premier he would fine-tune spending to make sure dollars are going toward the highest priorities. "Our health care dollars, we're not getting value for our money," he said.

Our health care dollars, we're not getting value for our money.—Brad Trivers

"Taking resources out of administration and putting them on the front line … will go a long way to helping us keep a balanced budget."

Aylward, meanwhile, said he would increase the health care budget.

To keep all budgets in line, he's pledging to bring in what he calls a "budget czar," similar to the auditor general, that would be able to go into the various departments and "actually look and speak with the staff to find out where the deficiencies may be, or the overspend."

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Government departments with money left over are spending that at the end of the year, Aylward added, just to keep their budget from shrinking.

This oversight position, he maintains, would put a stop to that.

Access to mental health and addiction services

Aylward has proposed creating another addictions treatment centre somewhere in West Prince.

"We're being under-served right now by having one main facility in Mt. Herbert," he said.

"I hear time and time again where people are put on the wait list for an extended period of time just waiting for a bed to get into detox."

But Trivers has questioned whether it's necessary to spend the money on a new addictions facility. Instead he points to the current shortage of specialists like psychiatrists.

Islanders right now are so fed up with government.— James Aylward

Until those positions are filled, Trivers said the province should move more toward using telemedicine to make sure Islanders can access the care they need.

"So they have to video-conference with a psychiatrist off-Island, let's just make that happen," he said.

"Let's make sure they're not sitting in an emergency room for days on end. That's not acceptable."

What to do about e-gaming?

As his party promised during the 2015 election campaign, Aylward said if he becomes premier he'll launch a public inquiry into e-gaming — the province's secretive, failed bid to become a regulator for online gambling.

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"Islanders right now are so fed up with government, there's so much distrust with government, so we need to bring it back and we need to hold people accountable," he said. 

"And I think that's the mechanism we need to do it."

Trivers says an expensive inquiry "is not the fiscally prudent way to go."  

Under a PC government, he says the Standing Committee on Public Accounts would finally be able to call witnesses to answer questions. Thus far, Liberal members on the committee have voted to prevent that.

"What we need to do is hear from the people that we know were involved," Trivers said.

"If they can come forward … we'll get to the bottom of it."

Growing the PC party

Trivers said the party should switch from holding three main fundraisers each year to holding more, smaller events.

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And he says each of the eight PC MLAs in the House should "partner up" with 3-4 districts that aren't held by the party "that they can be buddies with, and use our existing MLAs to help invigorate the party within those districts."

Aylward said the party is already growing, that efforts to engage young Islanders have been successful and need to be pressed even further.  

"I'm starting to reach out to the student union councils at junior high and high school-levels to get in and talk to them … to find out what kind of issues that they're bringing forward."  

The PC leadership vote takes place Oct. 14, Oct. 17 and Oct. 20 and only party members are allowed to vote. The winner will be announced at the convention on Oct 20.

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