Meet the 6 people running federally in P.E.I.'s Cardigan riding

CBC

25-04-2025

With just days to go until Canadians head to the polls to vote in the federal election, candidates across P.E.I. are hitting the campaign trail in an effort to become — or remain — a member of Parliament. To make sense of who's running for which party and where, CBC P.E.I. spoke to the candidates running in each of the province's four ridings.
Our final trip is to Cardigan, where there will definitely be a new MP after voting day on Monday.
P.E.I.'s easternmost riding — which is also its largest in area and has the most voters, according to Elections Canada — means a lot of ground to cover for the six candidates. Three of them are running for the first time, while the other three have been on the ballot before.
This is also the only Island riding without an incumbent. Liberal MP Lawrence MacAulay did not reoffer in this election after a 36-year career representing Cardigan in Ottawa.
Take a look at the federal candidates in the eastern P.E.I. riding of Cardigan
5 hours ago
Duration 6:54
P.E.I.'s easternmost riding — which is also its largest in area and has the most voters, according to Elections Canada — is the only one in the province guaranteed to have a new member of Parliament after the April 28 election. CBC's Cody MacKay swings through the riding of Cardigan to talk to the candidates who are running for the Conservatives, Greens, Liberals, New Democrats and the People's Party of Canada, plus one Independent candidate.
Maria Rodriguez, Green Party
Maria Rodriguez is running for the first time, for the federal Green Party.
Originally from Venezuela, she knows the power the oil and gas industry has there and wants to see that curtailed in Canada.
She fears the climate crisis "is falling a little bit by the wayside" in this campaign.
"Climate change, it's very close to my heart, and the influence of oil and gas on policy and economic decisions is even closer to my heart."
Rodriguez said she's hearing the same issues at the doors as other Island candidates: expensive groceries, U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war and health care.
All those things eventually circle back to climate change, she said.
"We have a crisis of affordability, we have the tariffs, we have economic risks everywhere, we have the issues with health," she said. "All these issues are not independent of the climate crisis. They are fuelled by it in my ways."
She's also been hearing about another big issue for eastern P.E.I. — the reliability of ferry service across the Northumberland Strait.
"We need more oversight," she said. "We need the two-ferry service…. We just think that they absolutely have to guarantee it."
The Green Party is in favour of reducing or eliminating the tolls to use the ferry and to cross the Confederation Bridge, Rodriguez said.
If elected, she wants Canada to be a leader for all of its people, ensuring no one falls through the cracks.
"We need to be able to trade within Canada with fewer barriers and we should not be so complacent in having everything we do so easily dependent on this economic giant in the United States."
Adam Harding, People's Party of Canada
The People's Party Canada has picked Adam Harding as its candidate in Cardigan.
The father of four said he's driven by one massive topic he's encountering on the campaign trail: the high cost of living.
"Poeple can't afford anything anymore, and it's… heartbreaking, angering," said Harding, who is a nine-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces.
"I'd like to try my hand at it. I don't know if I could mess it up any worse."
Harding said the federal government needs to cut spending dramatically in order to pay down the national deficit.
"The government's failing… the citizens. It doesn't get any more clear," he said. "People are having to find ways to get food to make ends meet."
Led by former federal cabinet minister Maxime Bernier, the People's Party has proposed a way to eliminate the roughly $50-billion budget deficit by slashing $60 billion in spending on federal programs.
Harding said it was bold ideas like these that led him to seek the nomination for the party in his home riding.
"They have some hard stances on certain things, but it's kind of needed at this point," he said.
"The idea is to shut down all federal spending for the first year, and then after that… to hammer down that deficit."
Whatever the outcome is after the April 28 election, Harding said he'll work to make a difference in Cardigan and try to improve conditions for its residents.
"It would be awesome to see everyone in the neighbourhood just happy," he said.
"Life can get better…. I don't know if it's going to get better if we keep going back and forth between the same two parties."
Kent MacDonald, Liberal Party
Liberal candidate Kent MacDonald has some pretty big boots to fill.
MP Lawrence MacAulay is moving on from federal politics after holding Cardigan for more than 35 years and 11 straight election wins.
MacDonald, who operates a longtime family dairy farm in Little Pond, said Trump's trade war inspired him to step up.
"The biggest issue for me coming from a dairy background and… the number one issue with businesses, people, is tariffs," he said. "Some of the reason I offered for politics is because of the shots that the American president was taking at the dairy industry in Canada."
He's also heard about many problems affecting seniors and students.
If the Liberals form another government, he wants to advocate for cutting student loan debt.
"It's something that I'm going to push if I'm elected — if not a total elimination, then at least a large reduction," MacDonald said. "A lot of the young people can't afford to pay for a home and student loans both."
He too has been hearing concerns about the Northumberland Strait ferry service, calling it "vital" to businesses and tourism operators in the region.
MacDonald said he'll push for an equal reduction in ferry fees and bridge tolls.
"I want it treated fairly at the Wood Islands ferry service and the bridge," he said. "I'd like a total elimination, but I suspect it'll be a reduction."
MacDonald said he decided to step up for a chance to succeed MacAulay because he wants to give back to his community.
"I'm outcome-driven. I like to see things happen," he said. "If you want something to change, then you have to push, and that's what motivates me."
James Aylward, Conservative Party of Canada
The only candidate in Cardigan with experience as an elected politician is James Aylward.
He's a former leader of the provincial Progressive Conservatives, and was in former premier Dennis King's cabinet.
"Serving in the provincial legislature for 11 years, I like to think that I made a positive difference for my constituents and I want to continue to do that, but on a federal level," Aylward said.
A Conservative government would make life more affordable by cutting taxes and helping young people build homes, he said.
"Over the last nine to 10 years, life has gotten so expensive for people," he said. "We want to look at every program that's there and enhance things so that people can keep more of their money and make life more affordable."
Aylward said every story he hears on Cardigan doorsteps strengthens his resolve to make life more affordable.
The federal government needs to get back to a common-sense approach, he said, and work on shrinking the deficit.
"At some point in time, we're all going to have to pay for that. It might not be me, it might not be my son; it could be my grandchildren," Aylward said.
"[There's] a reckoning time coming and we need to get our… house in order."
He said the Conservatives will work to support agriculture and fishing, two important sectors for Cardigan and P.E.I. as a whole.
"I'm taking the information I'm hearing at the doors, the businesses, the farms, the wharves," he said. "I'm listening here on the ground, they're listening to me in Ottawa, and from that we're going to develop even more policy to help people here in Cardigan."
Wayne Phelan, Independent
Wayne Phelan ran for the Conservatives in the last federal election, but the party rejected his nomination papers just before the deadline this time.
So he decided to run as an independent.
"I looked at the other candidates and saw what was going on and just didn't feel that there was anyone there that I could support, so I decided to put my name in again," Phelan said.
"I truly, truly believe that most people right now are not happy with the two big leaders. They dislike one, and don't trust the other."
He said Cardigan's level of poverty shocks him, and things haven't improved since the last time he ran.
"You knock on the doors and you see a senior who worked their whole life freezing in their home. It makes no sense in a country as rich as Canada," he said.
"A better Canada for me would be where our seniors are able to live in their own homes, have more food and have a little bit better access to internet, cable."
The father of four believes most voters aren't pleased with the leaders of Canada's two main parties, but feel they're forced to elect one or the other or waste their vote.
"Islanders vote Liberal federally and it never helps us here. It makes no sense. People complain but don't do anything about it."
Phelan also said eliminating or reducing bridge and ferry tolls would be a bad thing for businesses in the area.
"That would kill some industry down in the Wood Islands area," he said. "We don't need a yes man in Ottawa. We need someone who's going to stick up for us."
Lynne Thiele, New Democratic Party
Lynne Thiele is back on the ballot for the NDP in Cardigan. This is her third time running federally for the party.
Affordability is the top issue she's hearing along the campaign trail, with her dog Sweet Pea in tow.
Thiele said the NDP has a plan to tackle that: a basic income guarantee.
"Some are worried about how they're going to maintain where they live. Will the rent be there? Will the pharmacy be there?" she said.
"I am adamant. Everywhere I go, I say we need a basic income guarantee. It's ready for Prince Edward Island."
What's resonated with her so far in this campaign is the fight to protect Canada, and things like the "elbows-up" movement, a slogan borrowed from hockey in response to the trade war and American threats to Canada's sovereignty.
"If I can get the people of P.E.I. to rise up and make sure we have a basic income guarantee, to say we will protect the dental plan, the pharmacare, we won't give up our pension plans — if that's all I could achieve here, I would be so happy, so proud," she said. "It would be historic."
When it comes to those universal programs, Thiele argues it was her party that helped the Liberal government get them through Parliament.
That's why P.E.I. voters already know what they'd be getting with an NDP MP representing Cardigan in Ottawa, she said..
"We don't support any government unless they are willing to work with us — and the NDP are fighters. No government is going to be weaker because we have, say, a minority government and the NDP is fighting for Canada."