Key takeaways:
- “I want to be a friendly face in the future.”
- Federal N.D.P. Leader Jagmeet Singh welcomes recently elected P.E.I. N.D.P. Leader Michelle Neill after she was approved as the party’s leader Saturday in Charlottetown.
The new leader of the P.E.I. N.D.P. says she’s not intimidated by her party’s presence and has only selected a candidate once in the region’s history.
On Saturday, Michelle Neill was affirmed as the party’s new leader in Charlottetown. She was the only contender to come along for the job.
“I love a challenge, I do,” Neill spoke with C.B.C. News after being unanimously approved as the party’s new leader.
“As my dad used to say to me, ‘don’t whine, just get your butt in there and make a big difference.’ So that’s what I intend to do.
“I’m going to encircle myself with good, honest, integrity individuals who will work with me and help enlighten others regarding our policies and make them conscious of the different things that the N.D.P. can do. For them.”
Neill is a federal public helper and union leader from Oyster Bed Bridge. She headed for the federal N.D.P. in the riding of Malpeque in the previous year’s federal election.
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She lost that election to Liberal Heath MacDonald. But this is her first time running in regional politics.
She returns Joe Byrne, who stepped down in Sept 2020.
‘Already beginning with a good base’
Herb Dickieson is an ex-party leader and the only N.D.P. contender ever elected to the region’s legislature back in 1996.
He believes Neill will unite with Islanders and will have an electoral victory.
“She’s already beginning with a good base, to begin with, and now what we have to do is expand that base and go much further. A lot of it will be through individual contacts, meetings across the Island.”
Source – cbc.ca
