1996 Prince Edward Island general election

The 1996 Prince Edward Island general election was held on November 18, 1996. It was the first election in the province's history to not use multi-member constituencies, and instead elect a single member in each of 27 districts. (Previously, since 1873 the province had been divided into 15 or 16 districts, each electing two members.)

1996 Prince Edward Island general election

November 18, 1996 (1996-11-18)
All 27 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 14 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   PC Lib Leader Pat Binns Keith Milligan Herb Dickieson Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Democratic Leader since May 4, 1996 October 5, 1996 March 1995 Leader's seat Murray River-Gaspereaux Cascumpec-Grand River West Point-Bloomfield Last election 1 seat, 39.5% 31 seats, 55.1% 0 seats, 5.4% Seats before 1 31 0 Seats won 18 8 1 Seat change 17 23 1 Popular vote 37,910 35,802 6,283 Percentage 47.4% 44.8% 7.9% Swing 7.9pp 10.3pp 2.5pp
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via plurality results by each riding.
Premier before election Keith Milligan Liberal Premier after election Pat Binns Progressive Conservative

The governing Liberals of Premier Keith Milligan, who had been in power since Joe Ghiz first won government in 1986, lost to the resurgent Progressive Conservatives under their new leader, Pat Binns.

This was also the first election where a party other than the Liberals or Tories won a seat in the Legislature, with New Democratic Party leader Herb Dickieson winning a three-way race in a Prince County riding.

This election was the only one in PEI history where a party formed government without winning a majority of the vote until the 2015 election.

Party standings

↓

18	8	1
PC	Liberal	NDP

Party		Party Leader	Seats			Popular Vote
			1993	Elected	Change	#	%
	Progressive Conservative	Pat Binns	1	18	+17	37,910	47.39%
	Liberal	Keith Milligan	31	8	-23	35,802	44.76%
	New Democrats	Herb Dickieson	-	1	+1	6,283	7.85
Total			32	27		79,995	100%

Popular vote PC   47.39% Liberal   44.76% New Democratic   7.85%

Seats summary PC   66.67% Liberal   29.63% New Democratic   3.70%

Members elected

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	PC		Liberal		NDP
1. Souris-Elmira		Andy Mooney 1,287		Ross Young 1,159		Brian MacDonald 54		Ross Young & Roger Soloman† 1st Kings
2. Morell-Fortune Bay		Kevin MacAdam 1,347		Walter Bradley 1,269		Kathy Murphy 40		Walter Bradley & Claude Matheson† 2nd Kings
3. Georgetown-Baldwin's Road		Michael Currie 1,463		Rose Marie MacDonald 1,182		Patricia Allen 43		Peter Doucette† & Roberta Hubley† 3rd Kings
							Merged riding
								Rose Marie MacDonald & Barry Hicken‡ 5th Kings
4. Montague-Kilmuir		Jim Bagnall 1,259		Beverly Deelstra 964		Janet Gillis 71	New District
5. Murray River-Gaspereaux		Pat Binns 1,309		Barry Hicken 1,022		Alan Hicken 112		Stanley Bruce † 4th Kings
6. Belfast-Pownal Bay		Wilbur MacDonald 1,275		Lynwood MacPherson 1,242		Edith Perry 99		Lynwood MacPherson 4th Queens
7. Glen Stewart-Bellevue Cove		Pat Mella 2,357		Mary Hughes 914		Pat Burgoyne 146		Pat Mella (PC) & Tom Dunphy† (Lib) 3rd Queens
8. Tracadie-Fort Augustus		Mildred Dover 1,511		Alan McIsaac 1,279		Suzanne Gibler 90
9. Stanhope-East Royalty		Jamie Ballem 1,625		Eddie Reardon 1,404		Leo Cheverie 165	New District
10. Sherwood-Hillsborough		Elmer MacFadyen 1,585		Larry Hughes 1,212		Ronald Kelly 207		Wayne Cheverie 5th Queens
11. Parkdale-Belvedere		Chester Gillan 1,584		Stephen Dowling 1,008		Larry Duchesne 169
12. Charlottetown-Kings Square		Brian McKenna 1,075		Wayne Cheverie 1,345		Sybil Frei 363
13. Charlottetown-Rochford Square		Jeff Lantz 1,242		Paul Connolly 1,348		Mark Forrest 226		Paul Connolly 6th Queens
14. Charlottetown-Spring Park		Wes MacAleer 1,481		Ian MacDonald 1,119		Leo Broderick 862
15. Winsloe-West Royalty		Don MacKinnon 1,751		Perley MacNeill 1,575		James Rodd 190	New District
16. North River-Rice Point		Brian Dollar 1,606		Ron MacKinley 1,958		Marlene Hunt 224		Gordon MacInnis‡ & Ron MacKinley 2nd Queens
17. Crapaud-Hazel Grove		Norman MacPhee 1,666		Eric MacArthur 1,529		J'Nan Brown 312		Marion Murphy† 1st Queens
18. Park Corner-Oyster Bed		Beth MacKenzie 1,824		Gordon MacInnis 1,652		Gerard Gallant 187	New District
19. Borden-Kinkora		Eric Hammill 1,521		Stavert Huestis 1,310		Gerard Sexton 195		Stavert Huestis & Libbe Hubley† 4th Prince
20. Kensington-Malpeque		Mitch Murphy 2,020		Bill Campbell 1,312		Calvin Roberts 227	New District
21. Wilmot-Summerside		Greg Deighan 1,506		Walter McEwen 1,394		Bill McKinnon 492		Walter McEwen & Nancy Guptill 5th Prince
22. St. Eleanors-Summerside		Gardiner MacNeill 1,145		Nancy Guptill 1,716		Marsha Arseneault 307
23. Cascumpec-Grand River		Barry Balsom 715		Keith Milligan 1,823		Donna Lewis 162		Keith Milligan 2nd Prince
24. Evangeline-Miscouche		Gerard Richard 735		Robert Maddix 1,519		Gerard Bernard 188		Robert Maddix 3rd Prince
25. West Point-Bloomfield		Gary Morgan 695		Fairley Yeo 783		Herb Dickieson 921	New District
26. Alberton-Miminegash		Eddie Trail 1,127		Hector MacLeod 1,351		Ed Kilfoil 175		Bobby Morrissey & Hector MacLeod 1st Prince
27. Tignish-DeBlois		Gail Shea 1,149		Bobby Morrissey 1,413		Howard Waite 56

See also

• 2000 Prince Edward Island general election
• List of Prince Edward Island general elections (post-Confederation)
• List of PEI political parties

Further reading

• Mutimer, David, ed. (2002). Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs, 1996. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442672093.