Veteran versus rookies in riding of Egmont

Heading into the 2015 federal election, Bobby Morrissey faced a daunting task in western P.E.I.

After nearly 20 years in provincial politics, the former Liberal cabinet minister was trying to wrest the federal riding of Egmont from Conservative Gail Shea and to ward off a challenge from veteran NDP campaigner Dr. Herb Dickieson.

Many expected a tight threeway race.

But after a marathon 78-day campaign, Morrissey handily defeated Shea by more than 4,000 votes. Dickieson finished a strong third and the Greens took only a few hundred votes. The Liberals went on to sweep all 32 seats in Atlantic Canada en route to a majority government.

With the next general election now just six weeks away, Morrissey has a much different challenge this time around. He’s facing a field of younger and politically untested contenders.

But that doesn’t mean it will be a cakewalk for the Liberal incumbent, at least not in the eyes of people like Egmont Conservative riding president Barry Balsom.

“Voters do not want to be represented by people who have spent a lifetime in politics - they want youth and freshness and a new perspective.”

That’s certainly what the Tories are offering Egmont voters. They’re pinning their hopes on financial adviser Logan McLellan, a 2011 graduate of Three Oaks High School in Summerside. He won his party’s nomination by acclamation last winter.

Sharon Dunn, who operates a bookkeeping business in O’Leary, won the NDP nomination – also by acclamation – this week. In the only contested nomination, Alex Clark was chosen to be the Green Party standard-bearer last month. He’s a young entrepreneur and businessman in Summerside.

So it’s three political rookies going up against a veteran campaigner who was first elected as an MLA in 1982, years before at least two of his opponents were born.

Polls suggest that nationally the Liberals have a slight lead among decided voters. But on P.E.I., one recent poll had the Liberals in the lead while another gave the edge to the Tories. Both polls, however, pegged support for the Greens at 21 per cent, a huge increase in the party’s popular support in 2015.

That should auger well for Clark, who is based in Summerside where no fewer than three Green MLAs were elected in last spring’s provincial election. The question is, will voters who broke with the long-standing tradition of electing either Liberals or Conservatives provincially shift their allegiance to Greens in a federal election?

Morrissey has been working hard to convince voters his party deserves a second term. As a government MP, he has the luxury this time of taking part in some good-news, preelection announcements, like one in Summerside this week where he announced Ottawa’s $15.7 contribution towards a seven-storey, 70-unit apartment complex.

The writ will be dropped later this month by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to launch the official campaign for the Oct. 21 election.

While Morrissey is hoping for a repeat of 2015, his youthful opponents will be campaigning hard to send the veteran to the sidelines.

I’d be surprised if there was an upset in Egmont but in a short campaign and uncertain political climate, anything can happen.

We’ll find out in 44 days.