Interview with Allan Dale, P.E.I. Progressive Conservative leadership candidate

TPM is sitting down with all five people seeking the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island. Our second interview is with Allan Dale. Allan Dale grew up in St. John’s, Newfoundland, but left at an early age to join the Canadian Navy. Allan spent his 30 year long naval career in both active and reserve service. Allan boasts an impressive resume including being an engineer, a trained chef, and running his own engineering firm out of Charlottetown. For the past few years, he has been Director of Industry Partnerships at the UPEI School of Sustainable Design Engineering. Allan believes that his lifetime of service leadership makes him uniquely equipped for governing a public that’s looking for a new direction for PEI. Being a newcomer to the party, entirely new to politics, he believes that a vote for him is a vote for a clean slate and a fresh perspective. We asked him about what he believes, what the biggest issues are, and how he plans to shake things up on PEI. TPM: How would you summarize your politics? AD: For me, politics is about serving people, point finale. And politics is no different than military service from my particular point of view. It's about putting others well before yourself and politically, to me, that means that we need to create a government that's responsive to people and respectful of people. That's what service is in essence. So if I were to summarize how I would see my political position, it is one of service, it is one of creating a responsive government, and genuinely acts in people's best interests. TPM: What exactly does it mean to be a Progressive Conservative? AD: I think that we need to create a party here that's forward thinking but then respects where we've come from as a country and as a province. That, in essence, is leadership, that is taking new creative thoughts like this very place that we're in right now [UPEI School of Sustainable Design Engineering]  but fusing those thoughts with things that we've done in the past to learn from our mistakes, to build off of successes from the past so it's fusing those two things together. That's what it means to me to be a Progressive Conservative. TPM: What do you feel are the biggest issues you’re encountering and how would you address those specific issues? AD: From what I'm hearing tip to tip on this island, people genuinely feel disconnected from the political process. We can divide that up however, we can call it a generational issue, we can call it a cultural issue, we can call it a geographical issue. It doesn't matter how you slice it, people feel disconnected. They don't feel their voices are being heard. Whether you're in Souris or in Charlottetown, people don't feel that the political system is responding to them. This is why we need to get back on track, we need to emerge from this leadership as a party that not only listens to people but acts on their behalf. We need to be decisive and fast-moving party that sees real problems for real people. TPM: What should be the position PEI has relative to the rest of Canada? AD: PEI is a very unique little province within Canada. 150,000 people, not very big, but we can be a beacon to Canada on so many fronts. When the PC party moves into power and we show the rest of Canada how a government truly interact with their community, how a government truly celebrates and supports their industry, and how a government embraces their academic partners to move the whole island forward. We can be a global beacon in governance and in so many industries already emerging such as renewable energy. This is where we need to position ourselves. We need to look 15 years over the horizon and ask where does this island want to be? Islanders are craving somebody to give us a path to the future. The type of visioning I’m talking about cannot happen in a province the size of Ontario, but it can happen here and we should embrace that and be a leader within Canada. TPM: So how would your leadership ensure that the PCs win the next election? AD: I know islanders are craving change there's no doubt about that. Islanders do not warm to politicians anymore, people are tired of the same old same old style of politics, same old, same old rhetoric over and over again. My leadership is something new, my leadership is something fresh, my leadership is indeed a clean slate, but my leadership is grounded in a sense of true duty, service, honour, and respect. That has been bred in me from my very first moment in the navy that's what I believe in I truly believe that others must come before ourselves point finale. What I'm offering is a different style of leadership. It is not an authoritative style, if anything, it is much more collaborative but make no mistake about it I am a decisive man. I will move and I will move boldly and rapidly to position this province as a global leader. We’re in 2018, rolling into 2019, at the end of the day we have to be collaborative in policy development. Leaders can't generate the policy, neither can the policy trickle to the top and be pushed around amongst apartments to be pushed back. It's too slow, it's not responsive, it doesn't resonate with people that's why people are looking for different political systems. When so many feel government doesn't listen to them our way to win is to be the party that creates the policies that most reflect ordinary concerns. TPM: How would you put trust back into the political system? AD: The only way to build trust back into our political system and into our political parties is by leading by example. We, as politicians and as a political party, prove to people that we are there for them, not for us, we are truly and genuinely believing in service before self. Those three words are the basis of everything that I'm bringing to the table, everything that I'm bringing to this political party and everything I'll bring as Premier will be service before self. That's how you build trust. When people understand that you are genuinely there for them trust starts to come back and until we have trust all this is for naught. We can keep on governance issues and policy issues but until we have trust all this is for naught.