Liberals will remain as P.E.I.'s Official Opposition, Speaker rules

The Liberals will remain the Official Opposition in the P.E.I. legislature, after Speaker Darlene Compton ruled on a challenge from the Greens as the first day of the spring sitting got underway Tuesday.

The Green Party of P.E.I. had asked Compton to rule on the matter after their candidate Matt MacFarlane won a byelection in District 19 Borden-Kinkora earlier this month. That put the party in a tie with the Liberals, at three seats each in the provincial legislature.

P.E.I. has no law or rule to decide what happens in the case of a tie in the number of opposition seats. Nor was there any local precedent for the Speaker to draw from.

However, Compton learned that her peers in New Brunswick and Canada's House of Commons had ruled on similar issues in the past, and stuck with the status quo before the tie came about.

Speaker Darlene Compton says she did not consider party performance outside of the legislature to be a factor in her decision. (P.E.I. Legislative Assembly)

"Tied opposition parties are an infrequent occurrence, but the process of determining who is the Official Opposition in this case is clear and well-established," Compton said, in saying the Liberals will keep the status they had before the byelection.

"Deviation is not justified in this instance."

Greens had been Opposition until spring election 

From 2019 to 2023, the Green Party had Official Opposition status during the only minority parliament ever to sit in P.E.I. history.

But the Liberals and the Greens both lost seats to the PCs in the 2023 general election, and the Greens lost more. With a three-two edge in terms of MLAs, the Liberals took over Official Opposition status when the house sat last May.

This month, the Greens evened the score with what many considered a surprise byelection win in District 19, taking the seat from the PCs after MLA Jamie Fox resigned. After the win, the party argued that its larger share of the popular vote in the 2023 general election could justify giving them taking Official Opposition status over the Liberals.

Compton said Tuesday that party performance outside of the legislature was not considered to be a factor because all members are equal, whether elected by a landslide or a single vote.

Opposition perks

There are perks to being the Official Opposition, including:

• Extra salary and a government vehicle for the party's leader;

• The right for one of its MLAs to chair the Public Accounts committee; and

• An extra seat on the legislative management committee, which has authority over budgetary matters within the Legislative Assembly of P.E.I., including caucus budgets.

The Official Opposition also has an edge when it comes to speaking time in the house.

After MacFarlane's win, the Greens had asked Compton to rule that they should get equal time with the Liberals even if she did not grant them Official Opposition status.

On Tuesday, she said she would not grant that request, suggesting that the party leaders work it out among themselves.