O’LEARY, PE - Premier Dennis King, along with PC Candidate Daniel MacDonald and Ernie Hudson released a plan to grow Prince Edward Island’s primary industries including fishing, farming, and tourism.
Our primary industries are the backbone of our economy. While the last few years have been challenging for fishing, farming, and tourism - our PC government has been there every step of the way as they navigated pandemics, supply chain disruptions, hurricanes and trade disputes.
A re-elected PC government will support our Tourism industry by:
- Provide multi-year funding agreements for Community festivals and events;
- Establish labour incentives to assist the tourism sector in staffing hard-to-fill positions, with a focus on the shoulder seasons;
- Create new interactive tourism products in rural PEI by working on sharing our history through tourism products such as the Confederation Trail;
- Work with industry on reducing regulatory barriers to expanding rental car availability;
- In cooperation with the federal government, provide shore-side power at the Charlottetown Port to attract more cruise ships, especially in the shoulder seasons;
- Promote Charlottetown as a Music City destination;
- Support upgrades to Confederation Centre;
- Maximize the opportunities offered with the reopening of Province House;
- Provide $1 Million Dollars to the Charlottetown Airport Authority to re-establish connections to key Canadian destinations and work with regional carriers, such as Provincial Airlines (PAL Airlines), to open up new tourism markets in Atlantic Canada.
A re-elected PC government will support our Agriculture sector by:
- Continue to advocate for seed potato producers to get our world-class seed potatoes back into domestic and international markets;
- Develop a land use plan that will ensure quality land remains available for agriculture;
- Expand mental health services for farmers;
- Support diversification of crops to more fully prepare for and take advantage of climate change;
- Modernize the Agricultural Insurance Corporation;
- Support green farming initiatives including expanding the solar program for farms and making three-phase power more widely available to rural businesses and farms that contribute to our primary industries;
- Continue to advocate for our farmers on a national and international basis to address production and export barriers; and
- Provide assistance for housing supports to address workforce challenges.
A re-elected PC government will support our Fisheries by:
- Rebuilding lost infrastructure and equipment from Hurricane Fiona;
- Promote and market Island products to new and existing markets;
- In partnership with the Fisherman’s Association provide funding to develop a made in PEI, for PEI e-log solution to comply with the mandate from DFO to have an electronic log system by 2024;
- Support the sector by establishing its own dredging service;
- Investing in technological advancements to reduce waste and create value-added products in our fishing industry; and
- Provide assistance for housing supports to help grow the workforce.
“Unparalleled challenges brought unparalleled responses from your government. We provided programs that offered wage support, loans to help cover operating costs, clean-up services, and more to help us adapt and continue to move forward,” said Premier Dennis King. “Our government will stand shoulder to shoulder with our primary industries by providing the necessary supports and programs to grow over the next four years.”