Style The Honourable Reports to Legislative Assembly | Member of Executive Council Seat Charlottetown | |
Appointer Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island Term length At Her Majesty's pleasure | ||
The Premier of Prince Edward Island is the first minister for the The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. They are the province's head of government and de facto chief executive.
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Prince Edward Island was a British crown colony before it joined Canadian Confederation in 1873. It has had a system of responsible government since 1851, and the province kept its own legislature to deal with provincial matters after joining Confederation. Prince Edward Island has a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the Premier is the leader of the party that controls the most seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Premier is Prince Edward Island's head of government, and the Queen of Canada is its head of state and is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island. The Premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Prince Edward Island, and presides over that body.
Members are first elected to the legislature during general elections. General elections must be conducted every five years from the date of the last election, but the Premier may ask for early dissolution of the Legislative Assembly. An election may also take place if the governing party loses the confidence of the legislature by the defeat of a supply bill or tabling of a confidence motion.
Prince Edward Island has had 45 government leaders since it became a colony in 1851. The province had 11 Premiers while a colony and 34 Premiers after Confederation, of which 18 were from the Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservative Party and 27 were from the Prince Edward Island Liberal Party. The current Premier is Wade MacLauchlan, since February 23, 2015. MacLauchlan is the first member of the Order of Canada to become premier of a province, the first openly gay Premier of Prince Edward Island, and the first openly gay man to be premier of a province.
List of Premiers of Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservative Party Prince Edward Island Liberal Party
Living former premiers
As of February 2015, six former premiers are alive, the oldest being Alex Campbell (1966–1978, born 1933). The most recent former premier to die was Bennett Campbell (1978–1979), on September 11, 2008. The most recently serving premier to die was Joe Ghiz (1986–1993), on November 9, 1996.