Myers apologizes for saying P.E.I. Green Party leader talks 'out of both sides of his mouth' on housing

A P.E.I. cabinet minister has had to apologize for saying the Official Opposition leader was talking "out of both sides of his mouth" on the issue of affordable housing, given that Peter Bevan-Baker once owned a second property that was rented on Airbnb.

The issue came to light Tuesday during a debate on a motion from Bevan-Baker, who is calling for new regulations and an independent study to help address the unprecedented housing crisis on Prince Edward Island. 

Environment, Energy and Climate Action Minister Steven Myers rose in the legislature to point out that until last year, Bevan-Baker owned a seasonal property in Pinette that had been left vacant for a while, rather than being rented out to somebody in need of housing.

He also said the house was offered as a short-term rental. The Green Party that Bevan-Baker leads has been calling for stricter rules on that sector of the housing market, given the shortage of long-term units on the Island. 

"It seems like the leader of the Opposition loves to talk out of both sides of his mouth, and quite frankly, it's astonishing that he would get up and talk the way he did here today, when he knows what he did," Myers said in the legislature. 

"It really is astonishing. I couldn't believe that he was speaking. And I've heard other members of the Green Party over there talk about these issues and I believe that they are sincere. I'm not sure that their leader is." 

Comments unparliamentary

On Wednesday, Speaker Colin LaVie ruled Myers's comments were unparliamentary, given the long-standing tradition that politicians are not allowed to accuse each other of lying while speaking in the legislature.

Myers apologized to the Speaker but not to Bevan-Baker, adding that he had known the words "were unparliamentary" when he uttered them.

Bevan-Baker lives in Hampton and represents the district of New Haven-Rocky Point.

In an interview with CBC News, he confirmed he had owned and then sold a second property in Pinette, on the southeastern shore of the Island. 

"We have a piece of beautiful land down there," the former dental surgeon told CBC's Mitch Cormier in 2019. "And at some point when I am past all of this crazy life, we'll hopefully end up there."

The property was sold about a year ago to a couple from Ontario. Bevan-Baker said Wednesday that his re-election in 2019 had caused too much of a delay in his plans to let him still hope to retire to the site. 

Listed on Airbnb

A Green party official confirmed that the Pinette property was at one point listed on Airbnb as available for rent, but exactly when and for how long is still unclear.

The official said it was listed for one week back in 2014, before Bevan-Baker was first elected as the MLA for Kellys Cross–Cumberland.

But when CBC News showed the official an ad for the property dated 2017, he corrected his information and said the property was listed for one week in 2017.

A copy of a Tourism Standards Report viewed by CBC showed  Bevan-Baker's property was inspected again in 2018. 

The Green Party official insisted the property was listed on Airbnb only in 2017, however. 

'Hoarding real estate'

Bevan-Baker said that his ownership of a second property intended for retirement, which he eventually sold, is not the kind of transaction that's making the housing crisis worse on the Island.  

He told CBC News his motion in the legislature this week "is about hoarding real estate, it's about REITs, large corporations. It's about individuals owning multiple properties, and making it difficult for Islanders to get into the real estate market and to afford rents here.

"It's not about individuals with a single house, buying it with particular intentions, and then realizing later on this is not something we are going to be able to do and selling it." 

Bevan Baker said one of the issues restricting the supply of housing on P.E.I. is people holding on to multiple homes in which they don't intend to live.  

He said once his family realized retirement plans would have to be put on hold — after he was elected a second time — he did sell the Pinette house rather than hold onto it. 

The debate on Bevan-Baker's motion continues.  

But he said he's not optimistic it will pass, given the comments he's heard from the government-side of the floor.

"I would say less than 50-50," Bevan-Baker said of the odds on the motion being approved, given Premier Dennis King heads a majority government.

"This motion is saying, 'We think this government should be more active, more proactive, in protecting the housing market here on Prince Edward Island.' And if they vote that down, that's a statement from government that, you know, 'We actually don't think that housing for Islanders is a critical issue; it's not a priority of ours.'"