A poll released by CRA this week shows that the Ghiz government is still riding comfortably high, at least among decided voters.

That support is in spite of the PNP scandal; the crisis in the hog industry; ongoing troubles for potato and beef farmers; a lobster industry and it's many 100s of rural jobs that's on the brink of collapse; controversial school rezoning and school closures; vague plans for Rural revitalization; declining tourism; rising deficits; stonewalled government committees; emergency room closures; questionable, expensive, and needless relocations of government departments; corporate welfare; legislated poverty (aka tiered minimum wage proposal); secret rural amalgamation plans and the intended services downloads that would go with it; accusations of grandiose patronage; conflict of interest allegations...the list goes on, and on.

Let's face it, the government's blunders have been so numerous that most of us have lost count, however the Opposition Tories have yet to galvanize any of those government weaknesses into support for themselves. So, what in the world is going on then?

I'll tell you...the PC Party of PEI needs a leader. Olive Crane is doing a good job in her post as interim leader, but we all expect that 'interim' will be the extent of her longevity as party leader.

A leadership convention has been set for September, yet no one has come charging across the battlefield. If there are persons interested in the job, and really do I expect there will be several, then the time has come to make those intentions known to the party and the public. It is important that leadership candidates start to weigh-in on the various mis-steps of the Ghiz government, that they begin to fly policy balloons, and start publically reacting to the Ghiz government's mismanagement of this province.

I think it would be prudent of any leadership candidate to publically declare their candidacy immediately...before the House opens for the spring session, and absolutely in time for the Budget. The time to start impacting public opinion is today. Start getting press time. Grab the Purel and the lip balm...it's time to start shakin' hands and kissin' babies.

The biggest reason the Ghiz government has a skewed level of apparent support, is because until Islanders know who the new captain of the Tory team is...there is no frame of reference on which to compare the two.

The danger of having an Opposition without a permanent leader, is that our current government thinks that Islanders blindly support their every move...that it can do no wrong, and therefore, do whatever it wants with no consequence. But if there's one problem in that conclusion by the Ghiz government, it's the overwhelming and continuously large number of undecided voters...4 in 10 don't know who to support. That's a bountiful crop of votes waiting to be harvested.

After two and a half years, Robert Ghiz has shown that he obviously doesn't have the skills or the means to grasp those undecided votes. As such, there's a whole crop ripe for picking by the next PC leader, if they're up to the task. And the next leader had better be up to the task because the next election can spell the end of this second-rate circus we call the Ghiz government. PEI is screaming for an alternative to the 'priveledged-nobility vs. impoverished-peasant society' that's been built by the Ghiz government. And for what it's worth, I'll go on record now and suggest that Larry McGuire's 'kitchen party' is a complete waste of ballot space.

Whomever the leadership hopefuls of the Tories are, please rev up your convention machinery now for the sake of all Islanders, and for the sake of our autonomy as a Province within Canada.

At the rate the Ghiz government is burning us down, if a leadership wannabe for the PC Party doesn't soon arrive to douse the flames, then it won't matter who declares because we will soon be just a memory in a pile of ashes.