by Andrew MacPherson IT’S VOTING TIME

It would appear that the UPEI Student Union will have some competition in the area of elec- tions this month. On Monday night Premier Catherine Callbeck did what almost everyone was expecting she would do and called a provin- cial election. What people didn’t expect was the manner in which she did it. The announce- ment came at the Liberal nomination meeting for the district of 5th Queens. Those who chose to venture out on this stormy night witnessed this announcement which surprised even the members of Ms. Callbeck’s caucus.’ There was some out- cry on the method of the an- } nouncement from the CBC, § who aren’t used to being so completely ignored, and from Tory leader Pat Mella. It is interesting to see such a dis- play of self-assertion from a @ premier who has thus far seemed to be little more than a puppet controlled by the Lib- eral party. In any event, with fag Callbeckand Mellaleadingthe eames two major parties, Islanders will almost surely make his- § tory on March 29 by being the first province in Canada to elect a female premier. Larry Duchesne and the rest of the NDP candidates will be look- ing for a breakthrough having never received more than four percent of the popular vote in Pat.

With the Conserva-

tives sporting a new leader and a slate of fresh candidates they obviously represent change while the Liberals have simply changed the quarterback of an already successful team. De- spite the fact that the campaign will take place in the month of March the campaign should be eventful and interesting as is always the case with politics on Prince Edward Island.

HE’S REALLY GONE

After weeks of speculation Prime Minister Brian Mulroney threw in the towel. His nine year reign has produced many fundamental changes to Canada. Some of these changes will be viewed as positive and others negative depend-

ing on your viewpoint. Mr. Mulroney has blessed us with free trade, the GST, constitutional strife, and the deepest recession since the great de- pression. He leaves politics as perhaps the most loathed man in Canadian history. We have been told by friends of Mulroney that he is a much different person in private than in public. Per- haps if we had seen more of his true personality it would have been easier for us to accept the bad medicine that he has deemed necessary over the past decade.

While the country celebrates Mr. Mulroney's departure there are people who do regret seeing him go. These are among the partisans of Canada’s major political parties. Progressive Conservative MPs from the prov- ince of Quebec will miss Mulroney because he

i was still quite popular there due to his strong | efforts in the area of constitutional reconcilia-

tion. Another very different group will miss Mulroney for a very different reason. Jean

E Chretien, Audrey McLaughlin, and Preston

Manning have lost their largest source of am- munition for the upcoming federal election. This is in our best interest because we can now hope that this election will be fought on issues, not on personality as it would have if Mr. Mulroney had contested it.

THEY’RE OFF AND PACING

The obvious question raised by the Prime Min- ister’s resignation is, who will succeed him?

f There does not seem to be a shortage of inter-

ested candidates, young or old, male or female, and French or English. Here is a brief rundow” on the most likely contestants and an early rating on their chances of winning the Jun¢ convention.

PERRIN BEATTY - This guy is wha! you could call a lifetime politician, he was first