P.E.I. Legislature to continue sitting Friday after dust-up between Opposition, premier

Gwyneth Egan · CBC News

· Posted: May 15, 2025 8:26 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Despite anticipation that the outpouring sitting of the P.E.I. legislature would adjacent Thursday, an speech betwixt Premier Rob Lantz and Official Opposition Leader Hal Perry during question play made it wide that MLAs would beryllium backmost for different time connected Friday. 

For the outpouring sitting to close, each MLAs in the legislative assembly would person needed to supply unanimous consent to propulsion done the remaining pieces of legislation. Without that unanimous consent, those laws would not beryllium capable to walk 3rd speechmaking until Friday. 

Following questions from Perry, the interim Liberal leader, about the Progressive Conservative government's spending connected its multimillion-dollar tourism woody with the National Hockey League, Lantz fired backmost with his ain questions about the P.E.I. Liberal Party's spending. 

"I would beryllium remiss if I didn't constituent retired that the bureau of the Opposition — a three-member caucus — is allotted a fund of hundreds of thousands of dollars and they could not enactment wrong the budget," Lantz said. 

"They overspent their ain bureau fund by astir 50 per cent, Mr. Speaker. If this authorities spent similar that bureau does, we'd person a shortage of $1.5 billion, truthful I won't beryllium lectured astir fiscal work by a person of the Opposition who can't enactment wrong the fund of his tiny Opposition office." 

In his response, Perry said Lantz's connection was not true. 

"We volition beryllium backmost present tomorrow, and determination volition beryllium an apology made by the premier," helium said.

Perry past called a constituent of order, which allows immoderate subordinate to halt what's happening successful the location and alert the Speaker that they judge a regularisation has been broken. 

"I, arsenic a member, find it profoundly violative that the premier would marque statements astir our fund accounting that are inaccurate, and if further clarification is needed, delight interaction the clerk of the legislative assembly," Perry said. 

"I'd similar to inquire the premier astatine this clip to retract his connection and apologize." 

Speaker Sidney MacEwen said helium would instrumentality the constituent of bid nether advisement.

Inaccuracy successful yearly report

Joey Jeffrey, the clerk of the legislative assembly, said successful an email to CBC News that an yearly study appears to amusement the Official Opposition overspent its fund by astir $100,000. The study shows the Liberals had a fund of $250,000 and spent $346,131.

Jeffrey said that was a mistake. 

The figures successful the yearly study bash not bespeak a backing summation that was fixed to the Opposition aft the fund had already gone through, helium said. 

"The fig successful the yearly study doesn't bespeak that due to the fact that those numbers are taken straight from the accounting strategy arsenic it can't beryllium updated aft [the] fact. The Standing Committee connected Legislative Assembly Management has the authorization to alteration the caucus amounts but not to override the accounting system," Jeffrey said. 

"To sum up, they were wrong their budget." 

What's adjacent for the legislature?

While Perry made it wide that helium would not beryllium consenting to supply unanimous consent to propulsion the remaining pieces of authorities done until Lantz apologizes, the P.E.I. Green Party was the firstto cull the call. 

For weeks, Green MLAs person been asking the PCs to array documents related to spending connected Health P.E.I.'s enforcement enactment contracts. 

The PCs primitively said they would array immoderate of those documents, but person not done so. 

The provincial authorities does not request support oregon unanimous consent to telephone the remaining pieces of authorities guardant for a 3rd speechmaking connected Friday.

The legislative assembly adjourned Thursday astatine 7:17 p.m. and volition instrumentality Friday greeting astatine 10 a.m.