Well it’s been a full and exciting week as I continue to compile all the information required for a submission of my application bid for leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of PEI. It will then be reviewed by a committee –  then hopefully – I’ll be officially confirmed as a candidate in the PC Leadership race.

I’ve had lots of email, phone and Facebook messenger inquiries asking me how things are going, so I thought I’d write up a short post by way of a campaign update. I’ve also received a tremendous amount of very encouraging messages of support for my decision to run, so for those I’m extremely grateful!

One of the requirements with the submission process is to get signatures of 100 PC members who support me being a candidate in the leadership race.  Given the fact that I;ve been protecting my “non-partisan” status as a researcher and writer on social and political issues for the past few years and have not been a member of  the PC party, I  don’t personally know the members of the Party.  And since I’ll only receive access to the official PC membership  list once I’m  confirmed as a candidate, I’ve been getting most of my signatures by signing up new members, which has been going well.  I’m happy to report that I’ve signed up over 50 new PC members during the past week!

Of the 100 required signatures, at least 30 have to be from each of our three counties: Kings, Queens and Prince. I currently have more than enough signatures from Queens and Prince counties, but still need signatures from Kings county.

If you are a member of the PEI Progressive Conservative Party and support me being a candidate in the leadership race, and haven’t signed for any other candidate, you can easily provide me with your signature by sending me your name and email address (send to kja321@gmail.com) and I’ll then send you an email with a link to a DocuSign form where you simply click the “signature” button (your name will already be in the form) then the “drop-down” menu in the third column to select your county, and then you just click the “finish” button and the form will automatically be emailed back to me. The whole process takes less than a minute, so please consider doing this so I can submit my paperwork the first of the week and move on to other campaign work.

I published three articles on my website this past week addressing a number of critically-important issues currently affecting PEI – each of which will continue to figure prominently in my campaign platform: (1) protecting our land, water and air from further deterioration and chemical poisoning – or, in the case of land, sale to non-resident land speculators and/or corporations; and (2) abolishing the secretive and controlling style of government we have been enduring for the past decade under the Ghiz and MacLauchlan Liberals.  I also had a Guest Opinion article “Access still denied,” appear in the Guardian this week. If you haven’t read those articles and would like to, you’ll find links at the top of the list at the top right-hand corner of this page.

I also attended the opening of the Fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday where I was acknowledged by Independent MLA Bush Dumville and several PC MLAs.  I posted a short Facebook clip of Steven Myer’s kind words about my research & writing holding the Liberal government to account, and my bid to become PC Leader.

I also wrote a couple of short commentaries accompanying video segments from Question Period (from two of the four days the House was in session) which I posted on Facebook. The first features PC MLA Brad Trivers explaining how the PC economic approach differs from that of the Liberals; and the second provides Minister of Transportation Paula Biggar’s woefully inadequate response to PC MLA Steven Myer’s challenging questions regarding how Cornwall Bypass contractors connected to the MacLauchlan and Liberal families are getting preferential consideration.

These articles and facebook posts contain important information that Islanders are – for the most part – not receiving elsewhere, so it is encouraging to see them being widely shared….and please keep doing that!

I’m presently working with some PC Members both up West and down East to organize meetings with PC members – and people considering becoming PC members. Nothing has been confirmed in terms of the exact date and place yet, but if you live in either of those two regions (Souris area down East; Tignish area up West) send me a note and I’ll make sure you receive the details once the time and place for those get-togethers has been decided [kja321@gmail.com; or (902) 626-7254].

Finally, if you are currently not a PC member but would like to vote for me to become the leader of the Party, you can take out a 2-year membership for $10, and you can do that online.  Anyone 14 years or older can become a member of the PC Party.

Of course it would be wonderful to have you sign up to support me, then show up at the Convention on February 9, 2019 at the Eastlink Centre to vote and support me in person, but if attending the Convention isn’t possible, for the first time ever in PEI, you’ll be able to vote online or by phone from the comfort of your home!

Thanks for following my campaign and thanks for your support!