Against the Tide
Lantz Needs a Bigger Bubble
by Paul MacNeill
Wednesday, May 20th, 2026
https://www.peicanada.com/eastern_graphic/lantz-needs-a-bigger-bubble/article_d8850321-a57f-4982-85c3-3f8c5b6020c8.html
When political decisions are made in a tiny bubble, the result is often leadership oblivious to how those decisions will be viewed by ordinary Islanders.
Premier Rob Lantz is the posterchild for a politician in a bubble. His circle, even by historical 5th floor standards, is small. When he needs something done, he doesn’t look to Tignish or Souris. Almost without exception his ‘solution’ is found in Brighton because that is what the premier knows.
Need someone to conduct an overly narrow investigation into the education system and its response to the Matthew Craswell crisis, hire retired Judge David Jenkins. Need a lawyer to act as counsel for the investigation, hire Murray Murphy, a lawyer with impeccable Tory credentials and long-standing ties to Lantz (so much for the perception of an independent investigation).
When the premier needed spin to cover for the RCMP being called in to investigate cabinet minister Gilles Arsenault he hired ‘independent’ investigator Murphy, who delivered a report that played up some facts, played down others and ignored others entirely.
Last week the premier announced former deputy minister and CEO of the PEI BioAlliance, Rory Francis, as the ‘independent’ commissioner to lead a review of Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission.
IRAC’s issues are well known. It is a cesspool of patronage now staffed by a team of Tory loyalists, none of whom had to compete in an open and transparent hiring process. Liberals are just as prolific at playing the patronage game. The primary credential has always been party affiliation.
This level of me-first politics breeds public mistrust, a reality compounded by IRAC’s handling of questions of land ownership, electricity and fuel pricing. The commission is secretive and has never even tried to be transparent and accountable.
Now the premier is following his keep-it-close-to-home strategy in announcing creation of the Francis commission.
This is not a criticism of Francis, who has a strong resume. He is a former deputy minister of environment, agriculture and health and for many years led the PEI BioAlliance. In that capacity he had regular contact with the PC government. In 2023 Island taxpayers committed $25 million toward development of a $50 million bioscience incubator.
The incubator is a good investment. But Dennis King’s chief of staff at the time was Pam Williams. She now sits comfortably ensconced in a 10-year patronage plum as IRAC CEO.
What Premier Lantz doesn’t get is the public will have a difficult time seeing Francis as independent when his whole career is intertwined with the provincial government, including heavily with Williams since 2019. How many times did they meet? How many conversations did they have? How many emails or texts were exchanged? Islanders deserve transparency.
Handed a hefty $375,000 budget, Francis is committed to delivering a report by November 1. The process will include province-wide public consultation. For his services Francis will be paid $100,000, or $15,000 more than an MLA earns in a year.
Rather than hire administrative support, as is the norm for commissions of this type, government is allowing Francis to hire an ‘Executive Director’, no doubt at a higher paygrade.
Come on.
Does no one in government understand the struggle of ordinary Islanders to put food on the table and pay ever increasing fuel prices and electricity rates?
The PC government is slashing frontline programs and services, but there is enough money in the till for a two-person commission to hire both a Commissioner and Executive Director.
Talk about bureaucratic overload.
And it’s just starting. You can almost see Tory lawyers, policy experts and connected communication professionals salivating at the thought of this sole-sourced gravy train rolling through town.
The reality is PEI does not require a commission to deal with the most pressing issues facing IRAC’s credibility.
1: Eliminate patronage. IRAC will never earn credibility if Liberals and Tories are allowed to continue to use it as plum patronage graveyard for political loyalists. Make every appointed, senior employee, including the CEO, step down and apply for their job in a transparent and open process. Williams is locked into a 10-year contract, others are there for five years.
We cannot wait a decade to rebuild trust.
2: Legislate transparency and accountability through performance benchmarks, just like what the premier claims he is willing to impose on Maritime Electric. Establish transparency standards and decision timelines. If they are not met, force IRAC to publicly explain why.
What seems likely is either the premier already knows what he wants the report to say or this is an expensive attempt to punt the issue down the road until after the next provincial election. Neither offers the leadership the issue demands.
Paul MacNeill is Publisher of Island Press Limited. He can be contacted at paul@peicanada.com
