P.E.I.'s premier resigned and a new one stepped in. What happens next?
A cabinet shuffle, byelections and tariffs are on the horizon for Premier Rob Lantz
In the space of less than 24 hours, Dennis King stepped down as Prince Edward Island's premier and Rob Lantz was sworn in as his successor.
So, what happens now?
There's obviously a lot of unknowns and a lot of shifting dates. Let's take a look at what this all means for the weeks and months ahead.
After King's shock resignation Thursday, Lantz is now the interim Progressive Conservative leader and the 34th premier of P.E.I.
We heard Friday that the spring legislature sitting has been prorogued. A new session will begin on March 25, complete with a speech from the throne by Lt.-Gov. Wassim Salamoun. It will be Salamoun's first time delivering such a speech since he took over the office from Antoinette Perrry in October.
That means MLAs will be in the house next month instead of next week.
Filling in the blanks
A cabinet shuffle will likely also be in the works to cope with the recent changes. Lantz will eventually appoint a new education minister, but for now he continues to hold that portfolio himself.
It's not clear yet, though, how much of a shakeup there will be. The new premier could opt to pick an education minister from the PC backbench and leave all the other members of his executive council where they are, causing minimal movement in the current cabinet.
There's no word yet on when the PC's will hold a leadership race, although the new premier indicated Friday that there is no rush on that. The next fixed election date is Oct. 4, 2027, although the Progressive Conservatives could decide on an earlier date, as King's government did in early 2023.
King's resignation also means there are now two provincial byelections on the horizon.
One will be for former PC MLA Natalie Jameson's seat in District 9, Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park. Jameson stepped down late last year in order to seek the nomination to represent Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives in the federal riding of Charlottetown.
The other byelection will be for King's seat in District 15, Brackley-Hunter River.
Both votes have to be held within six months of the MLA's resignation. It's up to Lantz when to call those.
Talking tariffs
There are some big issues on the horizon that the new premier will have to keep his eye on, most of them from south of the border.
March 4 will mark the end of the 30-day reprieve U.S. President Donald Trump granted Canada from the sweeping general tariffs on all of this country's exports to the United States. Trump also wants to slap a 10 per cent tariff on the oil and energy America imports from this country.
Meanwhile, a pause on steel and aluminum tariffs comes to an end March 12.
Lantz said Friday that another reason for proroguing the P.E.I. Legislature is to see what happens with those Trump taxes, and whether the provincial budget will need to be adapted in response.
With files from Kerry Campbell