In December, I chronicled the corrupt bargain between Justin Trudeau and Dennis King whereby King resigned abruptly as both leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and Premier of Prince Edward Island on 21 February 2025 so that Trudeau could name him Canada’s ambassador to Ireland one week later, on 27 February 2025.[1] This kicked off a farcical succession crisis in the birthplace of Confederation which only ended this week, after nearly one year.

In short, the governing Progressive Conservatives unanimously chose Rob Lantz as their interim leader on the night of 20 February, and the Lieutenant Governor appointed him as Premier of Prince Edward Island on 21 February 2025.[2] But instead of simply making him the real leader, the party stalled for months to drum up interest in a leadership election that would induce someone else to run and prevent Lantz from being acclaimed. Since Lantz still wanted to re-become the leader of the party after his failed tenure in the 2010s, the party’s constitution obliged him to resign as leader, which he interpreted as also forcing him to resign as premier, on 12 December 2025. The Lieutenant Governor then appointed Bloyce Thompson as Premier that day.[3] Finally, Rob Lantz won the leadership of the Progressive Conservative “Association” of Prince Edward Island on 7 February 2026, with 53.1% of the vote.[4] Bloyce Thompson dutifully resigned, and the Lieutenant Governor re-appointed Rob Lantz as Premier of Prince Edward Island once more on 9 February 2026.[5] Both the Premier and Lieutenant Governor showed strained expressions this time; in particular, His Honour’s enthusiasm has clearly worn thin.

21 February 2025

12 December 2025

9 February 2026

Surely no one feels the full force of this futile farce more ferociously than Dr. Wassim Salamoun, who become the Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island on 17 October 2024 – only a few months before King kicked off this embarrassing Progressive Conservative succession crisis.[6] I imagine the main theme for Curb Your Enthusiasm playing as I scroll through those three official photographs that the Government of Prince Edward Island uploaded to its website. His Honour has had to appoint more Premiers after only just over one year in office than most Lieutenant Governors across Canada would have to do in five years. And at this rate, he might have to do so again soon, because another party could win the next provincial general election scheduled for October 2027 but which will almost certainly occur sooner given that Prince Edward Island has never taken its fixed-date election law seriously.

Similar Posts: 

• The Progressive Conservative Succession Crisis and the Oscillating Premiership of Prince Edward Island in 2025 (December 2025)
• The Transfer of Power Between Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney (March 2025)
• Bowden, J.W.J. “How Governors General Appoint Prime Ministers: Why John Turner Believed That He ‘Had No Option’ and Became the Patronage Patsy of 1984.” Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law 18, no. 3 (2024): 713-756.
• “I Had No Option”: How John Turner Became Pierre Trudeau’s Patronage Patsy in 1984 (September 2024)
• Replacing the Prime Minister During an Election: A Forgotten Canadian Precedent (June 2024)
• The Caretaker Convention Gobbles Up More Time and Space: The Case of Prince Edward Island in 2023 (March 2023)
• Prince Edward Island Holds Third Consecutive Early Election in Defiance of Its Fixed-Date Elections Law (March 2023)
• Bowden, J.W.J. “The Origins of the Caretaker Convention: When Governor General Lord Aberdeen Dismissed Prime Minister Tupper in 1896.” Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law 16, no. 2 (2022): 391-444.
• Bowden, James W.J. “Well-Earned Obscurity: Review of Barry Wilson’s Sir Mackenzie Bowell: A Prime Minister Forgotten by History.” The Dorchester Review 11, no. 2 (December 2021): 75-79.
• Prince Edward Island’s First Successful Minority Government (August 2019)

Notes

[1] Government of Prince Edward Island, News Releases, “Premier King to Step Down as 33^rd Premier of Prince Edward Island,” 20 February 2025.

[2] Government of Prince Edward Island, News Releases, “Legislature to Be Prorogued, Speech from the Throne to Be Introduced,” 21 February 2025.

[3] Government of Prince Edward Island, News Releases, “Bloyce Thompson sworn in as 35th Premier of Prince Edward Island,” 12 December 2025.

[4] CBC News, “Rob Lantz to Return as P.E.I.’s Premier After Winning PC Leadership,” 7 February 2026.

[5] Government of Prince Edward Island, News Releases, “Rob Lantz Sworn In as Premier of Prince Edward Island,” 9 February 2026.

[6] Government of Prince Edward Island, News Releases, “The Honourable Dr. Wassim Salamoun Installed as the 43^rd Lieutenant Governor of PEI,” 17 October 2024.