Charlottetown MLA Karla Bernard named interim Green party leader
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Charlottetown-Victoria Park MLA Karla Bernard has been named interim chief of the P.E.I. Inexperienced occasion, one month after Peter Bevan-Baker introduced he would step down.
Bernard may also tackle the function of chief of the Third Get together within the P.E.I. legislature.
Bevan-Baker will stay in caucus because the Third Get together home chief. He has stated he’ll stay as MLA for New Haven-Rocky Level for not less than the rest of this time period.
Bernard was first elected within the 2019 election, which introduced P.E.I.’s Inexperienced occasion into the function of Official Opposition. 4 years later, the Inexperienced caucus was lowered from 8 members to 2 on this 12 months’s spring election, when Dennis King’s Progressive Conservatives captured 22 of P.E.I.’s 27 seats.
Bernard will lead P.E.I.’s Inexperienced occasion because it carries out a race for a everlasting chief, the primary successor to Bevan-Baker in over a decade.
In a press release issued by the P.E.I. Greens, Bernard thanked the occasion’s provincial council for naming her to the function.
“I see myself as a bridge between now and when Get together members have the chance to decide on their new chief,” Bernard stated.
Within the assertion, Bevan-Baker additionally stated he “couldn’t consider a greater individual” to steer the P.E.I. Greens.
Whole 2023 yearly salaries of P.E.I. MLAs, by place
- Premier: $159,459
- Speaker, minister, chief of the Opposition: $129,855
- Deputy Speaker, chief of the Third Get together: $103,148
- Gov’t Home chief: $90,843
- Opp Home chief: $83,641
- Third Get together Home chief: $81,193
- MLA base pay: $76,440
Supply: Indemnities and Allowances Commission 2022 Report
Bernard not ruling out everlasting management run
Get together guidelines require the Greens to provide you with a schedule and course of for its management race six months after an interim chief is known as.
In an interview, Bernard stated the timeline for a Inexperienced management race will not be but clear.
“That is a great distance away. Management – it is probably two, three years away. Or it might be six months,” Bernard stated.
Bernard additionally stated the occasion’s structure doesn’t limit an interim chief from working for the place of everlasting chief. She didn’t rule out the potential for a run.
“I might have stated no to this query a few weeks in the past. And since, having many chats, being requested that so many instances, the place I’ve landed is to only preserve an open thoughts,” Bernard stated. “If I’m what the membership is searching for then I assume I might take into account. However proper now I am not contemplating that.”
Bernard stated the significance of her household is prime of thoughts proper now. She has two youngsters, aged 15 and 10.
If Bernard did determine to run for management, she would have a bonus within the contest as a sitting MLA with a recognized monitor file in her district.
Different candidates would face the problem of constructing a profile amongst Islanders with out a seat within the province’s legislature.
Stu Neatby is a political reporter with SaltWire in Prince Edward Island. He will be reached by e mail at [email protected] and adopted on Twitter @stu_neatby.
