Liberal Leader Sharon Cameron on rebuilding the party, solving health care, and 2023 election plans

P.E.I.'s Liberal Leader Sharon Cameron doesn't want to spend a lot of time looking back at the Liberals' defeat in the 2019 election.

"I've always said to people, there's a reason why we have a rear-view mirror and a windshield," said Cameron.

"I'll just take a quick peek back, and it's always important to do that to understand where we came from," she said.

Cameron said 2022 was a challenging year, but also a year of discovery for her.

"I've had lots of meetings across the province and I've been excited. I'm invigorated. I would say all of those things so challenging, re-energizing, reinvigorating," she said.

Here are some of the topics discussed in her interview with CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin.

Rebuilding the party

The Liberals were reduced from government to third-party status in the 2019 election.

"We've learned our lesson from that," said Cameron.

"Typically when a party is defeated and in that kind of a significant way, it takes a while to recycle, but we don't have that kind of time. Things are changing so rapidly that I wanted to step up and get that cycle going."

Cameron said after becomingleader in October,she wanted to learn the situation on the ground.

"I started asking loyal Liberals, 'What do I need to know?'" she said.

"Right now it's working with the brand new association and getting the districts fired up and everybody back to the table, and people are ecstatic."

Cameron said her biggest challenge is making sure to listen to others.

"It's not a Sharon Cameron party, this is the Liberal Party leadership, and to make sure that I really understand the issues that I represent people the way they want to be represented."

Health care

"I've been all over P.E.I. and no matter who I talk to, whether it's a senior, whether it's a young person, someone from fisheries, agriculture, private sector, it all comes back to health care," said Cameron.

Seeing the rising number of people on P.E.I.'s wait list for a family doctor is concerning, and she's hearing from people that the government isn't doing enough, she said.

"People are concerned about, kind of, the casual approach to this almost catastrophic situation that we're in right now," said Cameron.

"We can't afford to continue with the status quo I know that we have the experts here. We've got the medical community here, we've got people here, we're small. We can solve this very quickly."

The election

Premier Dennis King has not yet committed to an exact date for the next provincial election, but it is expected sometime in 2023. Cameron said she's looking forward to it.

"This is an election for our party to come back to the table and not be ignored anymore."

Though she lives in District 16, Cornwall-Meadowbank, Cameron will be running in District 17, New Haven-Rocky Point, currently held by Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker.

"I feel that [the Opposition MLAs] haven't held government to account the way I think Islanders deserve," she said.

"We have a big job to do. I feel that we need to make a statement that gives Islanders another alternative."

When she announced she was running in District 17 earlier this month, Cameron said the move was a signal to Islanders.

"We want to send the message that we're serious," she said Dec. 15.

"This is a shot across the bow of Prince Edward Island. We are back. We're coming out strong."