There are two ways to become the Premier of PEI: (1) you can either experience a “call” from deep within to step up and serve the people; or (2) you can be “chosen” by a group of unnamed and faceless “backroom” handlers wielding power with money and prestige.

By his own admission, Premier King became leader via the second route -being sought out and chosen by the backroom.

What kind of person is the backroom interested in making Premier? Someone able to present a convincing narrative that rings true with people and articulates what people are experiencing and needing; a narrative that is not scared to identify problems and propose bold solutions.

That’s key – a leader chosen by the back room must – above all else – be able to present political solutions to the people that give them hope, but which the backroom can then ensure never come to fruition with real plans, programs and laws.

What I just wrote is well known to political hacks – I suppose that’s why Premier King felt comfortable sharing how he became Premier with a group of them, when he was the Keynote speaker at the Nova Scotia Conservative Party Convention.

Listen to Premier King explaining how his “recruiters” played to his inner ego and then made the decision to make King the chosen one for the 2019 PC Leadership Campaign and 2019 election:

Isn’t that exactly what has happened in PEI since Premier King was elected? There’s so many examples of such betrayal, but I’ll pick just two for now:
Bees

King spoke eloquently about how there’s no reason not to have our own Bee industry with all the deadly mites and diseases we’re likely to import, and until that gets put in place, there would be 100% testing of hives coming into the Island.

Premier King then refused to even publicly acknowledge the strong push this past Spring from Bee Keeper Stan Sandler, me and many others demanding action. Premier King said absolutely nothing publicly, but proceeded to allow inspections to be reduced to 10%.
Farmland Bank

There was supposed to be immediate action on a Farmland bank. I did what I consider to be some of the best work of my life, offering an analysis and strategic plan that I sincerely believe could address the problems we’re facing in rural PEI and agriculture. Minister Myers should never have been in charge of an agricultural project, and has essentially buried my work saying he needs to start over:” [See: “Amidst Row over Research, Land Bank Remains in ‘Limbo‘”, Guardian , July 31`, 2020].

It wouldn’t be hard to present a dozen key issues where Premier King did exactly what the backroom wanted him to do… but I suppose the point has been made.
Summary

With his bubbly, pleasing, and outcoming personality, his storytelling skills, and his eloquent manner of making promises with passion, King is providing the perfect window display for the Insider’s Clubhouse.

Prior to getting elected Premier, Dennis King repeatedly sold the idea that he and his government wanted what the people want, and he promised to deliver solutions.

The promises remained in tact after the election – but now it’s just a waiting game with those promises, with no projected end-date in sight for their implementation, as Premier King and his Government continue to drag feet and do nothing. That’s apparently, in Denny King’s mind, how politics is supposed to work.

King is clearly in a relationship of servitude not to the people of PEI who elected him, and for who he swore an oath and assumed a moral duty to serve; but to the real powers behind government – lawyers and accountants and business people.

Sadly, that’s what wins the day in the end with such Premiers…the backroom agenda. Why? Because the price one must be willing to pay after accepting to be leader in such an arrangement is to “say one thing and do another” throughout the duration of the tenure as Premier.
It takes a special kind of person with a special kind of inner ego to live life in a permanent state of hypocrisy, constantly managing two streams of thinking (one true and one contrived).

Let’s pray that PEI might someday be blessed with a Premier that is truly “called,” and not simply “chosen” by a backroom full of corrupt and entitled people.