X Marks the Spot

In our ongoing attempt to look beyond the GTA, X Marks has discovered that there is an election going on in Prince Edward Island.

Election Day is Monday, May 28.

This brings up an important question: when referring to Prince Edward Island, does one say they live "on" the island or "in" the island?

Of course, as a province, you would say "in." For example, I live in Ontario. I do not live on Ontario (though I actually do live on the province, as in, on its surface, and not in the province, below its surface).

But, for some reason, people live on an island. I would argue, however, that they live in Prince Edward Island.

Regardless, the people in the Island are expected, by pollsters at least, to oust the Pat Binns Conservatives.

First elected in 1996, Binns is going for his fourth term. His main competitor is Liberal leader Robert Ghiz.

There are 27 ridings in PEI. Going into the election, Binns's Conservative had 23 seats and Ghiz's Liberals had four.

That's a large margin to make up, but polls do have Ghiz leading with an expected 18 seats. Is that really surprising, though?

I mean, really, who goes for a fourth term? What is it this Binns guy wants to do that he didn't already have the chance to do? It's not like he was working with a loose hold on power. He had 85 percent of the seats in the Legislature.

One of the last things his government did before dissolution was scrap the ban on canned carbonated drinks.

That's right, since 1984, PEI had a ban on canned carbonated drinks. It was the only place in North America in which you could not buy a canned carbonated beverage. You could bring in canned soda and beer from other provinces, but you couldn't buy or sell it there.

So, with that huge problem finally out of the way and his canned-drink legacy cemented, what more could Binns hope to do?

We'll follow up tomorrow to see what Binns and Ghiz have planned for the Island if they win the election.