Prince Edward Island New Democratic Party

Infobox_Canada_Political_Party
party_name = New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island
status = active
class = prov
party_wikicolourid = NDP
party_
leader = James Rodd
president =Paulette Halupa
foundation = 1962
dissolution =
ideology = Social democracy /
Democratic socialism
headquarters = 81 Prince Street, Charlottetown
int_alignment= Socialist International
colours = Orange & Green
seats_house = 0
website = http://www.ndppei.ca

The Island New Democrats, is a social democratic political party in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and a branch of the national New Democratic Party.

The NDP's predecessor, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, ran candidates in the provincial elections of 1943, 1947 and 1951 without any success, and the party disappeared. Among the CCF's candidates was Hilda Ramsay running in 3rd Prince in 1951, the first woman ever to run in a PEI provincial election.

The PEI NDP was founded by Aquinas Ryan, a school principal from Morell in Kings County. In 1974, the NDP contested its first provincial election on the island and got 5.9% of the vote, but due to internal bickering, the party fell in the polls.

In the 1993 election, under the leadership of Larry Duschene, the party share of the popular vote rose to 5.4%. Dr. Herb Dickieson took over as leader, and changed the name of the party from the PEI NDP, to the "Island New Democrats". In the 1996 election, the party captured 7.8% of the vote, and Dr. Dickieson was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island for the riding of West Point-Bloomfield. He was the first member of a third party to ever win a seat to the PEI House of Assembly. Dr. Dickieson narrowly lost his seat in the 2000 election despite the party's overall popular vote rising to 8.4%.

The Island New Democrats did not do as well in the even though most polls showed that party leader Gary Robichaud won all the leaders' debates. While the party ran a good campaign, it lacked funds and was poorly organized. The party lost its base of support, only capturing 3% of the popular vote. Some within the party credit this to the return to the Liberals of many voters who left the party following the Liberal government's decision to reduce wages of all public employees by 7.5% in the early 1990s. The budget for the 2003 election was estimated to be around $30,000, compared to nearly $1 million for each of the other parties.

Robichaud resigned as leader on June 23, 2005, for health reasons after battling inoperable lung cancer for two years. He was replaced by Dean Constable, a theatre stage manager for the Charlottetown Festival.

It performed poorly in the 2007 election, finishing behind the Green Party of Prince Edward Island with just 1.96% of the total vote or 3.48% in contested ridings, which is only a drop of 0.05%. They finished forth behind the Liberal, Progressive Conservative and Green parties. Dean Constable announced his resignation as leader on August 26, 2007. The party announced it would appoint an interim leader at or before its annual general meeting in November 2007, and hold a leadership convention in April 2008.

Recent leaders

*Aquinas Ryan 1974-1977
*Douglas Murray 1977-1981
*vacant 1981-1982
*David Burke 1982-1983
*Jim Mayne 1983-1989
*vacant 1989-1991
*Larry Duchesne 1991-1995
*Herb Dickieson 1995-2002
*Gary Robichaud 2002-2005
*vacant 2005-2006
*Dean Constable 2006-2007

ee also

*List of Prince Edward Island political parties