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Robert Ghiz wins P.E.I. election, ending 11-year run by Pat Binns

Canadian Press Article online since May 1st 2007, 0:00
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Robert Ghiz wins P.E.I. election, ending 11-year run by Pat Binns
Prince Edward Island Liberal Leader Robert Ghiz, accompanied by his candidates, starts the election campaign in Charlottetown on Tuesday, May 1, 2007. Islanders will go to the polls in a provincial election on May 28, 2007. (CP PHOTO/Andrew Vaughan)
CHARLOTTETOWN (CP) - Robert Ghiz was only 12 years old when his father, Joe, became P.E.I. premier, and just 22 when he died prematurely of cancer.
On Monday night, the younger Ghiz followed in his father's political footsteps to become the province's second-youngest premier ever, ending 11 years of Conservative rule under veteran Premier Pat Binns.
"You know, I didn't view my dad as a premier or politician - he was my father," Ghiz said shortly after the Liberals won 23 seats in the 27-seat legislature in a complete flip-flop of the results of the 2003 election.
The Liberals earned 53 per cent of the popular vote. The Conservatives picked up the remaining four seats with 41 per cent of the vote.
Ghiz, 33, said his father would have been proud of him.
"We never really talked about me getting into politics," said Ghiz, a former Liberal Party worker under former prime minister Jean Chretien. "He died during the '96 campaign. ... That was when we really started to bond and he passed away a couple of weeks later."
Ghiz easily defeated Binns, who had been seeking a fourth term as Canada's longest-serving premier but instead saw his party diminished to a rural rump in the province's eastern end.
The margin of victory surprised even the winner.
"We knew we were in good shape ... but I'm a little surprised by the size of the majority," said Ghiz, who was chosen party leader in 2003 and lost to Binns in the election later that year.
Binns entered the latest election with 23 seats but was quickly decimated as a number of his cabinet ministers fell to defeat, including Health Minister Chester Gillan and Treasurer Mitch Murphy.
When he's sworn in next month, Ghiz will become Canada's youngest-serving premier.
Alex Campbell became Canada's youngest premier ever when he was elected in P.E.I. at 32 years and six months in 1966.
Ghiz's late father was Liberal premier from 1986 to 1993.
The younger Ghiz's win marks the second time a son has followed his father into the premier's office in Canada's smallest province. The first two were Thane Campbell and his son, Alex.
Ghiz told Islanders during an uneventful campaign that the time was right for political change, promising he could deliver a more energetic administration.
He was elected in his riding of Charlottetown-Brighton while Binns won in Belfast-Murray River.
Binns, 58, called the election with the pledge to continue a legacy built on job creation and steady economic growth.
"Let's celebrate our past success and remember we were the longest surviving Progressive Conservative government in the history of Prince Edward Island," Binns told a quiet crowd of supporters.
"Do not despair. We have made Prince Edward Island a better place. We will go down in history and our party will rise again."
After more than a decade in office, Binns admitted that he was carrying political baggage into the campaign amid Liberal accusations that the Tories had helped drive up the cost of living with repeated tax increases.
As well, Binns was stung by a report that showed that much of the Island's groundwater has been contaminated with nitrates, the family of chemicals used to produce the industrial fertilizers used across the province by potato farmers.
Binns was unclear about whether he will stay on as Opposition leader, saying: "I'm going to take one night at a time. There's a sea change here."
While P.E.I. politics has long been dominated by the Tories and Liberals, the NDP under Leader Dean Constable, and the Green party under Sharon Labchuk, fought to keep their issues of social justice and environmental responsibility front and centre.
In particular, Labchuk succeeded in knocking Binns off balance during a televised leadership debate when she highlighted the persistent problem with nitrates.
But neither the Greens nor the NDP made any serious gains in the popular vote and were in no position to pick up any seats.
The Green party fielded 18 candidates and picked up three per cent of the popular vote. The NDP had 15 candidates and won two per cent of the vote.
There were no major surprises during the campaign, although Binns was more aggressive than usual as he defended his administration against a strong attack by the Liberals.
By the end of the campaign, Binns sounded tired as he thanked supporters at a large Charlottetown rally.
"Most of you know I came from away," said Binns, who was born and raised in Saskatchewan.
"I found two loves of my life here on P.E.I. - My wonderful partner and wife, Carol, and secondly, I fell in love with this very special place, a piece of God's creation. Islanders have welcomed me into this great community as if I was born here."
Ghiz, who once worked as manager of government affairs at the Bank of Nova Scotia, promised lower taxes, better health care and a new approach to government.
Patronage is part of the political fabric on the Island, and while Ghiz did not promise to eliminate it, he hinted it would be less important in a Liberal administration.
"It's time we had a government that puts good public policy ahead of politics," he said, adding he would consider a "thorough reconstruction" of how the provincial government works.
Close to 98,000 people were eligible to vote on the Island of 137,000.
Voter turnout was heavy throughout Monday, despite grey skies and the occasional downpour.
Interest in the election was heightened by the fact that for the first time in years, no one was sure who would win.
Previous provincial elections were generally a cakewalk for the genial Binns, a bean farmer from Murray River, P.E.I.
"For Islanders, politics is a bloodsport," said political commentator Ian Dowbiggin, a history professor at the University of Prince Edward Island.
"There is a certain intimacy about P.E.I. provincial politics that is unmatched anywhere else in Canada."
Dowbiggin said that for many Islanders, the choice on election day ultimately boiled down to which one of the leaders they preferred.
He said the choice was between Binns's affability and experience and Ghiz's youth and energy.
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