1989 Prince Edward Island general election

1989 Prince Edward Island general election

May 29, 1989 (1989-05-29)
All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 17 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   PC Leader Joe Ghiz Mel Gass Party Liberal Progressive Conservative Leader since October 24, 1981 June 11, 1988 Leader's seat 6th Queens Ran in 2nd Queens (lost) Last election 21 seats, 50.3% 11 seats, 45.5% Seats won 30 2 Seat change 9 9 Popular vote 85,982 50,731 Percentage 60.7% 35.8% Swing 10.4pp 9.7pp
Seats won by each party per district. Voters elect two members (one Councillor and Assemblyman) from each of the 16 districts.
Premier before election Joe Ghiz Liberal Premier after election Joe Ghiz Liberal

The 1989 Prince Edward Island general election was held on May 29, 1989.

The campaign resulted in the re-election of the Liberal government of Premier Joe Ghiz. In this election, the Liberals won 60.7% of the popular vote, the highest percentage that a winning party has taken on record in Prince Edward Island. The Progressive Conservatives won 2 seats despite taking 36 percent of the popular vote; they were due 12 seats. This was the lowest share of the vote that the Progressive Conservatives ever received, 35.8%. Only 5 times has the Opposition had 2 or fewer seats in the history of Prince Edward Island; this was one of them.

One of the two members from each constituency is styled a Councillor, and the other an Assemblyman. In electoral contests Councillor candidates run against Councillor candidates; Assemblyman candidates against Assemblyman candidates.

Opinion polls

Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level

Polling firm	Last day of survey	Source	PEILA	PCPEI	NDPPEI	ME	Sample
Election 1989	May 29, 1989		60.7	35.8	3.5
Baseline Research	May 10, 1989		68	26	6	6−7	200
Election 1986	April 21, 1986		50.3	45.5	4.0

Party standings

↓

30	2
Liberal	PC

Party		Party Leader	Seats			Popular Vote
			1986	Elected	Change	#	%	Change
	Liberal	Joe Ghiz	21	30	+9	85,982	60.7%	+10.4%
	Progressive Conservative	Mel Gass	11	2	-9	50,731	35.8%	-9.7%
	New Democratic	Jim Mayne	0	0	-	4,902	3.5%	-0.5%

Popular vote Liberal   60.72% PC   35.82% New Democratic   3.46%

Seats summary Liberal   93.75% PC   6.25%

Members elected

The Legislature of Prince Edward Island had two levels of membership from 1893 to 1996 - Assemblymen and Councillors. This was a holdover from when the Island had a bicameral legislature, the General Assembly and the Legislative Council.

In 1893, the Legislative Council was abolished and had its membership merged with the Assembly, though the two titles remained separate and were elected by different electoral franchises. Assembleymen were elected by all eligible voters of within a district. Before 1963, Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district, but afterward they were elected in the same manner as Assemblymen.

Kings

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Kings		Ross "Johnny" Young	Liberal		Albert Fogarty	Progressive Conservative
2nd Kings		Claude Matheson	Liberal		Walter Bradley	Liberal
3rd Kings		Peter Doucette	Liberal		Roberta Hubley	Liberal
4th Kings		Stanley Bruce	Liberal		Gilbert R. Clements	Liberal
5th Kings		Rose Marie MacDonald	Liberal		Barry Hicken	Liberal

Prince

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Prince		Robert Morrissey	Liberal		Robert E. Campbell	Liberal
2nd Prince		Keith Milligan	Liberal		Allison Ellis	Liberal
3rd Prince		Léonce Bernard	Liberal		Edward Clark	Liberal
4th Prince		Stavert Huestis	Liberal		Libbe Hubley	Liberal
5th Prince		Walter McEwen	Liberal		Nancy Guptill	Liberal

Queens

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Queens		Marion Murphy	Liberal		Leone Bagnall	Progressive Conservative
2nd Queens		Gordon MacInnis	Liberal		Ron MacKinley	Liberal
3rd Queens		Betty Jean Brown	Liberal		Tom Dunphy	Liberal
4th Queens		Alan Buchanan	Liberal		Lynwood MacPherson	Liberal
5th Queens		Wayne Cheverie	Liberal		Tim Carroll	Liberal
6th Queens		Joseph Atallah Ghiz	Liberal		Paul Connolly	Liberal

Further reading

• Leyton-Brown, David, ed. (1995). Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs, 1989. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802007148.