Haunted by his father's legacy and confronted by an almost legendary opponent, Prince Edward Island Liberal Leader Robert Ghiz has one more chance to succeed in the hothouse of Island politics.
Mr. Ghiz, 33, the son of former P.E.I. premier Joe Ghiz, believes that the coming election campaign is his golden opportunity to defeat Pat Binns, Canada's longest-serving and most scandal-resistant premier.
“This is a government that has really run out of ideas and is having trouble defending its own bad moves," Mr. Ghiz said of the 11-year-old Progressive Conservative government.
Mr. Ghiz will be pursuing a ‘time-for-a-change' theme as he and the Liberals mount what is expected to be the party's most vigorous effort in years to regain power.
This will be the second election campaign for Mr. Ghiz since he became leader in 2003.
Observers say it is likely the last chance for Mr. Ghiz to prove he has the political skills to succeed on the same scale as his late father, Joe, the Island's popular premier from 1986 to 1993.
Liberals are looking for significant improvement over the four seats they won in the 2003 election, so the pressure is on Mr. Ghiz to succeed.
The standings in the 27-seat Island legislature are 23 Tories and four Liberals.
“He just doesn't seem to be clicking with Island voters,” said Ian Dowbiggin, a history professor at the University of Prince Edward Island.
“If the Liberals had a different kind of leader, this election would be a much closer result than I estimate it will be.”
The polls and the pundits are all suggesting Mr. Ghiz has an uphill battle to defeat the affable and easy-going Mr. Binns.
But no one seems able to put their finger on what it is the tall, telegenic Liberal leader is missing.
Newly married and with a strong political pedigree, Mr. Ghiz comes across as an earnest and committed Islander anxious to promote Canada's smallest province.
“It's not so much charisma that Ghiz is lacking, because Binns is hardly a charismatic figure,” said Island commentator Jack McAndrew.
“It's an intuitive quality that a successful politician must have in terms of how he relates to people. Robert Ghiz doesn't have it. He always sounds like a kid having a snit.”
Mr. Ghiz was only eight years old when his father made his first bid for office in 1982.
For the next decade, the younger Ghiz watched as his father — a Harvard-educated lawyer whose family roots extend to Lebanon — overcame prejudice to win the top political post in Prince Edward Island.
Joe Ghiz, who went on to become a well-respected national figure, died of colon cancer in 1996.
The younger Ghiz says he has become used to the constant comparisons to his father.
He has also been accused of trading on his father's reputation and of entering politics without developing experience in the real world.
The Liberal leader shrugs off such criticism, pointing out that his experience as a backroom aide in the Prime Minister's Office during Jean Chrétien's government served him well.
Mr. Ghiz's work history also includes a stint as special assistant to former federal heritage minister Sheila Copps. He was also a manager of government affairs at the Bank of Nova Scotia.
Mr. Ghiz has tried to set his own political course, relying on traditional Liberal values.
During the coming campaign, however, it's expected he will rely on a more conservative agenda, reminding voters that the Conservatives have raised taxes by more than 50 per cent in the past 10 years.
“Unfortunately, we've seen a government that's been in power now for 11 years and they've stopped consulting with Islanders,” Mr. Ghiz said. “I think that's wrong.”
