Newly elected Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz believes that voters were looking for 'a new vision' when they swept his Liberals into power on Monday night.

"We knew were in pretty good shape starting off the election campaign," Ghiz told CTV's Canada AM. "We probably didn't have this many seats anticipated. But it just shows that Islanders were looking for a new vision."

Ghiz, 33, became Canada's youngest-serving premier Monday when Prince Edward Island voters ended the 11-year Progressive Conservative government of Pat Binns.

Ghiz's Liberals earned 52.9 per cent of the vote and captured 23 of the 27 seats in the vote. The results are a complete reversal of the standings at the time of the legislature's dissolution, when the Liberals had just four seats and the Tories had 23.

Ghiz believes his stance on tax fairness was a galvanizing issue for voters in the provincial election.

"When we talked about tax fairness to Islanders that was something that really connected with the voter," Ghiz said.

Ghiz defended his campaign promise to cut the gasoline tax by 4.4 cents per litre by contextualizing it within the province's economic reality.

"We had an increase in our budget here in revenue, we had an additional $60 million from the federal government. We had an additional $40 million in taxes that were brought into the provincial coffers," said Ghiz.

"Our equalization payments are on the rise and really, only two years ago, our gas tax was lower than what we're proposing to make it now. So it's something that is fair for Islanders and we want to deliver tax fairness."

Ghiz asserted that other promises such as pledging to provide access to a physician for the residents of P.E.I. were also important. Ghiz estimated 5,000 to 8,000 residents of Prince Edward Island did not have access to primary care.

Ghiz also pledged to reduce class sizes in classrooms across the province as part of his campaign commitments.

"We are a small province, so we can be unique here. And I say all the time that we're Canada's smallest province. But we don't have to be Canada's last-place province," Ghiz said.

Ghiz now follows in the footsteps of his father, former premier Joe Ghiz, a Harvard-educated lawyer of Lebanese descent who led the Island from 1986 to 1993. Ghiz was only eight when his father made his first bid for office.

Ghiz told Canadian Press that the two had never really discussed political matters, but that they became closer just prior to his death in 1996.

"He doesn't have the intellectual quickness of his father,'' said political commentator Jack McAndrew, once a confidante and aide to Joe Ghiz.

"But he has done well during this campaign. He has clearly matured.''

Ghiz, however, does intend to follow his father's advice as he takes power.

"He would tell me be yourself. Run an accountable and honest government. And always stand by your principles," he told Canada AM. "And that's something that I've done over my last four years as opposition leader and that I'm looking forward to carry through into the Premiership."

Ghiz's work history includes serving as a manager of government affairs at the Bank of Nova Scotia. He also worked as special assistant to former federal heritage minister Sheila Copps.

Turnout for the election was reportedly high among the Island's almost 98,000 eligible voters, despite bouts of rain. The province's population is 137,000.

With files from The Canadian Press