Dean Constable (born January 11, 1980, in

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlott ...

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, Canada) was the leader of the

New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island The New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island (NDP PEI) is a social democratic political party in Prince Edward Island, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP). CCF The NDP's predecessor, the Co-operati ...

(NDP) from 2006 to 2007. He replaced Gary Robichaud as leader. Constable used to be the theatre stage manager for the

Charlottetown Festival The Charlottetown Festival is a seasonal Canadian musical theatre festival which has run from late May to mid-October every year since 1965. The Charlottetown Festival is hosted in Confederation Centre of the Arts every year. Named after its host c ...

. Constable was elected the leader of the Island New Democrats on April 23, 2006, by a narrow margin over labour leader Mike DesRoches. He announced he would be running on an anti-

privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

and pro-

universal health care Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized a ...

and

child care Child care, also known as day care, is the care and supervision of one or more children, typically ranging from three months to 18 years old. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typica ...

platform. Constable's leadership appeared to be welcomed by Islanders as early polls reported the NDP's support had risen from four to eight per cent. He contested the seat of

Charlottetown-Victoria Park Charlottetown-Victoria Park is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It consists of the entire downtown core of Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Provinc ...

in the 2007 provincial election. In June 2006, Constable criticized Premier Pat Binns' government for

gerrymandering Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of Representative democracy, representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of Boundary delimitation, electoral district boundaries to advantage a Political party, pa ...

the new electoral riding map to divide the province in an east vs. west conflict. Constable said it would only draw attention away from "important" issues like health care and education. He expressed support for the map introduced by Justice John A. McQuaid in 2004. Constable announced his resignation from the leadership of the party on August 26, 2007, citing personal reasons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Constable, Dean 1980 births Leaders of the Prince Edward Island CCF/NDP Living people Politicians from Charlottetown