Our provincial election, called six months early of the October fixed election date, limped to a close yesterday. We had the lowest voter turnout in my lifetime, just under 70%, which would be seen as a great result in other jurisdictions but is considered pretty dismal here. The Progressive Conservative party strengthened their majority, and the Green party lost their official opposition status to the Liberals. No NDP candidates were elected.

Here are my tepid election takes:

• I knew nothing about the NDP leader, Michelle Neill, before the election, but thought she was extremely relatable and well prepared for the televised leaders’ debate. Her concession speech last night was sincere, positive and classy. I hope she sticks around. Only the NDP and PCs fielded a full slate of candidates, and I’m sure her presence will help build the party over the next four years.

• There was much consternation on Twitter about why the MLA for my riding, Ernie Hudson, was reelected. He has been the Minster of Health and Wellness for the past couple of years, a time of extreme stress on our health care system. #PEIpoli folks couldn’t understand how anyone would vote for him as everyone seems to think he has done a terrible job in the health portfolio, but I challenge anyone to name one PEI health minster who has ever been well liked or thought to be doing a good job. I can’t think of one, and I’ve met them all in the past 20 years of fighting for access to health care for our area. It’s a cursed position, and I think given to people with very thick skin or someone the premier dislikes. Our health system should be run by those hired to do so, and the politicians made to keep their unskilled hands out of it, but the meddling continues and health ministers rightly pilloried. The people in Hudson’s riding are afraid their small hospital in Alberton will be eliminated, so voting for the candidate from the party almost guaranteed to form government only made sense. He’s a good constituency politician, having worked as a political aide before running himself, and he’s a nice guy to boot.

• Left-leaning votes keep splitting between the NDP and Greens, and I wish the two parties would work together. I would like to see proportional representation finally come to PEI, and a temporary Green/NDP alliance might make that happen. Both parties have difficulty finding strong candidates, and we desperately need more progressive voices in the legislature. I doubt if there would be much support for this idea in the two parties, but politics is a game, with teams and players and colours and logos, and the old parties play it very well. To win you have to think and move strategically, and use what resources you have to your advantage.

• I imagine many people in urban PEI don’t realise there are still patronage jobs being handed out in rural parts of the province, thinking that practice died out with the Ghiz government. It did, for the most part, but there are still some seasonal jobs that are “influenced” by MLAs. They expect your loyalty (ie. vote) in return for your job, and if you don’t show up to the polls in a timely manner, you will be reminded and a car will be dispatched to give you a ride to the polls. Politicians will deny this, of course. At least there isn’t someone standing outside the polls with bottles of rum and $20 bills as in the misty days of yore (or maybe there are, but no one offers them to me!)

• Health care, lack of affordable housing and the high cost of living were the main election issues, while the climate crisis barely got a mention. I understand those who are living in poverty and struggling to make ends meet might not have the climate at the top of their list, but there are many on this island who are doing alright, and don’t seem at all concerned that their children and grandchildren will be inheriting a world that will be challenging at best and unlivable at worst. It is a disconnect I will never understand.