Meet the 4 people running federally in P.E.I.'s Egmont riding

With less than a month 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. 

Up first is Egmont. 

P.E.I.'s westernmost riding stretches from Seacow Pond down to West Point, and from Lennox Island all the way through to the eastern edge of Summerside. It takes its name from Egmont Bay, along the south shore of the riding. 

Of the four ridings on P.E.I., this is the only one that has changed hands in recent years from the Liberals to the Conservatives and back to the Liberals once more.

Robert (Bobby) Morrissey is Egmont's incumbent MP, holding the seat since 2015. Before that, he was a provincial MLA from 1982 to 2000. 

He's no stranger to campaigns, but this one feels different. 

"This election campaign has been unlike any one I've ran in the past, where people are being influenced by what's happening in the United States and that's what they're discussing with me at the door," Morrissey said. 

"I've never experienced this reaction from constituents, from voters — that their anxiety level is so high, and high because of one dominant issue."

The world is in a very unsettled position right now, Morrissey said, with relations with the U.S. changing not just on a weekly basis but sometimes a daily one. 

"People are very conscious and they are focused on who, in their opinion, would be best positioned to deal with the Trump administration over the next number of years. Certainly, overwhelmingly people are indicating that their view is Mark Carney, with his extensive global experience," Morrissey said. 

The Liberal Party's change in leadership has altered the dynamic "dramatically," Morrissey said: "In this riding, people are looking for a mature, experienced leader. And that's what I'm hearing constantly at the door." 

While Canada-U.S. relations have taken centre stage in this campaign, Morrissey said he has an agenda that includes growing the aerospace industry in Summerside and East Prince, partnering with the City of Summerside on innovative energy solutions, and continuing relationships with provincial and municipal governments. 

In the last 10 years, the Liberal government has delivered hundreds of millions of dollars to infrastructure projects in the Egmont riding, including ones that have turned Summerside into a "dynamic city that's on the move," Morrissey said. 

"That's what I'm most proud of over the years — the infrastructure investments our government has made from tip to tip in every municipality."