Cardigan

Cardigan covers the eastern third of Prince Edward Island, stretching from the Hillsborough River and the town of Stratford — just across the harbour from Charlottetown — eastward through Kings County to the island's eastern tip at East Point. The riding runs along both the North Shore, including the eastern end of Prince Edward Island National Park, and the South Shore from Murray Harbour westward. It is the largest of PEI's four federal ridings by area and the most predominantly rural, encompassing farming communities, fishing villages, and small service towns across the rolling landscape of eastern PEI.

Candidates

Lawrence MacAulay (Liberal) — MacAulay was one of the longest-serving MPs in Canadian history heading into the 2011 election, having held the Cardigan seat continuously since first winning it in the 1988 election. A farmer and businessman from Midgell, near St. Peters Bay, MacAulay and his wife Frances operated a dairy and seed potato farm that had been in the family for generations. He had served in the Chrétien cabinet as Solicitor General of Canada from 1998 to 2002 and had also held the posts of Secretary of State for Veterans and Secretary of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. By 2011, MacAulay was seeking his seventh consecutive re-election and was the dean of the PEI Liberal caucus.

Mike Currie (Conservative) — Currie was a former provincial politician who had represented the riding of Georgetown—St. Peters in the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly since 1996. He served in the provincial cabinet as Minister of Transportation and Minister of Industry. Currie resigned his provincial seat on March 28, 2011, to seek the federal Conservative nomination in Cardigan.

Lorne Cudmore (NDP) and Leslie Stewart (Green Party) also contested the riding.

About the Riding

The Cardigan riding's economy in 2011 was anchored by agriculture and fisheries, the two pillars of eastern PEI's economic life. Potato farming dominated the agricultural sector, with Kings County's red soil producing seed potatoes and table stock for domestic and export markets. Dairy farming, beef cattle operations, and mixed farming rounded out the agricultural base. The lobster fishery was the most valuable component of the fishing sector, with wharves at communities like Souris, Georgetown, Cardigan, Murray Harbour, and North Lake supporting active fishing fleets. Mussel aquaculture had also become a significant industry in the sheltered bays of eastern PEI.

Stratford, the riding's largest community with a population of roughly 8,574 in 2011, sits directly across the Hillsborough River from Charlottetown and functions primarily as a residential suburb of the provincial capital, connected by the Hillsborough Bridge. Montague (population roughly 1,895) serves as the main commercial and service centre for southeastern Kings County, while Souris (population roughly 1,173) fills a similar role in the northeast and hosts the ferry terminal for service to the Magdalen Islands in Quebec. Georgetown, a historic shipbuilding town on the shores of Georgetown Harbour, and the surrounding communities were the heart of the provincial riding that Mike Currie had represented. Tourism contributed to the local economy, particularly along the North Shore beaches and at attractions like the Basin Head Fisheries Museum near Souris and the East Point Lighthouse at the island's far tip.