St. Patrick’s Day on the Island ☘️

IN THIS ISSUE

➡️ Details on capital transit expansion

➡️ More than you want to know about municipal campaign expenses

➡️ This Week: Leaders Forum on Equity Issues

QUICK HITS

⛺️ Reserve a National Park campsite: Reservations launch this weekend for PEI National Park campsites, but there’s a few things you should know – and prepare for – ahead of launch day. Parks Canada is rolling out a new reservation platform this year, so you’ll need to register for an account, even if you had an account on their old system. After you have an account setup, be ready to login to book your spot on Saturday, March 18 at 8 AM. If you were planning to reserve a spot at another national park, then you should review the list of launch dates.

🏠 A dry basement is a happy basement: If your basement weeps more than I do over more snow, then you might be interested in Charlottetown’s flood reduction rebate program. First announced last fall, the program rebates 75 per cent of the cost, up to $1,000, to install flood reduction devices such as backup sump pumps, water detection sensors, and backflow valves. The program deadline has been extended until the end of October, or whenever the fund runs dry – about 40% has been allocated so far.

TRANSIT

Increased hours, more frequency coming to capital's transit system

Capital area transit riders will be catching more buses thanks to a (sneaky) mid-election funding commitment made by the province through a Charlottetown council meeting.

City council heard Monday that the province has increased its annual transit subsidy by $475,000 a year, funding the city has been asking for in order to expand transit services. The province has chipped in $180,000 a year toward the service for the better part of the last decade.

The increased subsidy will allow the city to expand route coverage, increase bus frequency, extend service hours, and provide more weekend options.

• Weekday Service: Increased frequency for Routes 1, 2, and 3;

• Evening Hours: Routes 2 and 3 evening service will extend from 6:45 PM to 10:15 PM;

• Saturday Service: Route 23 service introduced. Increased frequency for Routes 1, 2, and 3;

• Sunday Service: Routes 2 and 3 Sunday service introduced, running between 11AM - 6PM;

• Sleepy Hollow Loop: Expanding north collector route to Sleepy Hollow area;

• Stratford and Cornwall: increased service, no particular details announced.

No date was provided for when these changes will take effect.

That sneaky comment: So why did I suggest this announcement was sneaky? Okay, maybe I was stretching for a catchy lead, but governments usually don’t announce new funding commitments during an election period. As candidates, politicians make promises about how they’ll spend your money, but there’s a steep difference between a politician’s campaign promise and a government’s commitment to spend money.

In all fairness, the province did partially announce back in February that it was working with the Capital Area Transit Coordinating Committee to increase service, but provided no dollar amount or details.

BY THE NUMBERS

Municipal election expenses

While scouring for newsletter content, I noticed that the 2022 campaign contribution and expense disclosure statements have been posted to the city’s website. I jumped in.Three hours later I surfaced with this spreadsheet, a tool you can use to take a look at how money plays a role in election outcomes, but certainly not always. Feel free to use this sheet as you please, but I'd appreciate a shoutout if you do.

📊 60% - Twenty-eight people had their name on a ballot in Charlottetown last November. Of those 28, 11 were elected – one mayor and ten councillors. Those 11 candidates disclosed campaign expenses of just under $46,000, or 60 per cent of all disclosed expenses.

🤑 $13.38 - Paul Gaudet was unsuccessful in his bid to represent Ward 7, but he was successful in spending the most money-per-vote. Votes aren’t for sale, at least they shouldn’t be, but Paul’s expenses totalled $4,455.68. He managed to pick up 333 votes, so when you do the math, each vote cost $13.38. On the other side, Julie McCabe was reelected in Ward 9 with 781 votes. McCabe’s total expenses were $260, or 33 cents-per-vote. Decent.

💰 $30,000 - That’s how much Mayor Philip Brown’s reelection campaign cost. Between him and Cecil Villard, $44,559.98 was spent running for council’s top job. Mayor Brown spent twice as much as Villard’s $14,600. I’d love to share what Daniel Mullen spent on his bid for mayor, but he’s one of four candidates who have yet to meet the 60-day requirement to return a disclosure statement. 

Aside from Daniel Mullen, also failing to disclose their contributions and expenses are Wade Munn, Ward 1; Daniel Cousins, Ward 5; and Gordon Gay, Ward 9.

CORRECTIONS

Kerri Wynne's Celebration of Life: Last week I wrote that Kerri Wynne MacLeod’s celebration of life would take place on March 9, when in fact it’s scheduled for tomorrow, March 16 at 1:50PM. There is a YouTube page online now that you can either bookmark or choose to be notified when the stream goes live. Sorry about that. 🙏

New to You? In the Island Votes 2023 section last week I linked to a web feature on Elections PEI’s website that lets you find voter information based on your civic address. I incorrectly stated that this tool was new, it’s actually been around for nearly two decades. 😳

Mistakes are made. If you ever spot information that needs correction or better clarification, please let me know. It’s not possible to update an email once it’s sent, but I don’t mind issuing a correction the following week.

COMMUNITY CORNER

💪 Leaders Forum on Equity Issues: Join the PEI Coalition for Women in Government at Florence Simmonds Hall tomorrow, March 16, to hear each party leader answer questions on equity issues. Visit this event listing for more information, or to reserve a seat. The event will be livestreamed on the Coalition’s Facebook page for those unable to attend in person.

🎳 Bowl for Kids Sake: It’s hard to believe we reached mid-March, which means supporters of Big Brothers Big Sisters will be lacing up borrowed bowling shoes this weekend in support of the charity’s local branch. If you haven’t had a chance to donate this year, you can browse the list of teams and participants who registered an online campaign.

Send a quick message if your organization would like to publish a quick PSA. There's no charge for these. Max three per-issue.

#PEIslandEdition

North Shore Ice 🧊

Did you know that NASA updates global satellite images each day? You have to check it out. Here’s a clear picture of the Island from March 13 showing the ice nestled along our north shore. The only downside is that cloud cover gets in the way quite often, but it’s still worth checking out every now and then.

Tag @PEIslandEdition or use #PEIslandEdition to get your post featured in Island Edition!

WEATHER

Wednesday

🌨️ H3°C 🌡️ L -5°C 
💨 E 24 km/h, gusting 48

Thursday

🌨️ H1°C 🌡️ L -8°C
💨 NNW 24 km/h, gusting 48

Island Edition Storm Watch

👀 The Island has been under a special weather statement since Sunday evening. Snow is expected to end early Wednesday morning with a chance of flurries or showers for most of Wednesday. Another band of snow is expected Wednesday night before tapering to flurries Thursday morning. Highest snowfall amounts are expected over Prince County. Snow is expected to be wet and heavy as temperatures will remain near freezing.

SUPPORT ISLAND EDITION

If you enjoy Island Edition, please consider supporting this project. 

👥 Share: Use your unique link to share this newsletter on your social media pages. It's easy, just copy and paste: *|RH_REFLINK|*

⏩ Forward: Forwarding this email to a friend is an even easier way to share Island Edition. You won't get credit for it, but I'll be super appreciative.

💸 Donate: Island Edition costs almost $300 a month to maintain. If you want to chuck a few bucks toward the project, please Interac e-Transfer to [email protected] or use a card by following the link on my donate page. Every dollar goes toward newsletter expenses.

🗣️ Advertise: If you have a great product or service you'd like to promote, consider advertising in Island Edition. If you don't want to fill out the form, send me a quick message or book a call with me.

THANKS FOR READING!