Joe Byrne chosen as new NDP leader on P.E.I.

Joe Byrne is the new leader of the NDP on Prince Edward Island.

Byrne was chosen from among three candidates vying for the position at the party's leadership convention at Murphy's Community Centre in Charlottetown.

Byrne received 123 of the 215 votes that were cast.

"It's really wonderful to know that New Democrats across P.E.I. voted and selected me as the leader," Byrne said. "It's a privilegeand I'm really, really happy. I'm ready to take this on."

Margaret Andrade and Susan MacVittie were the other candidates running for leader. Former leader Mike Redmond stepped down in December.

Byrne is perhaps best known to Islanders as a two-time federal NDP candidate. He placed second in the Charlottetown riding in 2015, behind Liberal Sean Casey.

'We have the will'

Byrne saidhis first priority as party leaderwill be to engage with people across the island to ensure the needs and interests of every Islander are represented in the party.

"I want to start working with Islanders so I'll be making plans to make sure that I can be back out to visit people in West Prince and East Prince up to northern Kings County and across Summerside and Charlottetown and Queens County," Byrne said.

"Islanders have the answers to how we should govern ourselves Islanders understand that diversity is important so I want to be able to listen to that diversity and make sure that we represent that in the party," he added.

Byrne said he believes Islanders are ready for change and as partyleader he wants to give people an alternative with the NDP.

"I think people will say, this is a party that can govern, this is a party that should be there, this is a voice that needs to be heard."

"I know that with the group that's in the party," Byrne said,"we have the capacity, we have the ideas and we have the will."

But according to a recent poll, the party is far from having the votes necessary to govern. The P.E.I.NDPhas dipped to last place among the four major political parties on the Island.

Federal NDPleader address

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was in Charlottetown to address the convention. Earlier Saturday, he visited the Charlottetown Farmers Market and greeted the public at Timothy's Caf.

Singh said after meeting with Islanders, he's hearing concerns around issues such as access to health care and high-speed Internet. He's also having lots of discussions about proportional representation.

He said the best way to build support for the NDP provincially is by listening to the province's concernsand doing everything he can to address them at a federal level.

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