Charlottetown

Prince Edward Island's capital city forms the heart of this compact federal riding, which takes in the urban core along Charlottetown Harbour and the residential neighbourhoods that surround it. As the province's administrative and commercial hub, Charlottetown is home to major government offices, post-secondary institutions, and a tourism industry centred on the city's role as the birthplace of Confederation.

Candidates

Sean Casey (Liberal) — First elected in the 2011 general election, Casey was seeking his third term as the riding's MP. A lawyer by training, he studied at St. Francis Xavier University and Dalhousie Law School before joining the firm Stewart McKelvey, where he became a partner. He also served as president of the Paderno Group of Companies and held the presidency of the PEI Liberal Party from 2003 to 2007. In Parliament, Casey served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and later as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Darcie Lanthier (Green Party) — An entrepreneur and renewable energy advocate, Lanthier is the president of Solar Island Electric, a community economic development business focused on solar energy on Prince Edward Island. She also worked as a public legal information officer in Charlottetown. Lanthier had previously run for the Greens provincially in 2011 and 2015, and served as interim leader of the Green Party of Prince Edward Island in 2012.

Robert A. Campbell (Conservative) — Born and raised in Charlottetown, Campbell was a graduate of the inaugural class of the Atlantic Police Academy and worked as a municipal police officer before serving twenty-eight years in the RCMP. This was his second run at federal politics, having first sought office in Dartmouth — Cole Harbour in 2006.

Joe Byrne (NDP) — Byrne was the leader of the PEI New Democratic Party and had run federally in Charlottetown in both 2011 and 2015, finishing second to Casey in the latter contest. He took a leave of absence from the provincial party leadership to contest the 2019 federal campaign after failing to win a provincial seat in the spring election that year.

Fred MacLeod ran for the Christian Heritage Party.

About the Riding

Charlottetown is the smallest of Prince Edward Island's four federal ridings by area but the most densely populated. The provincial legislature, the federal government's regional offices, and the national headquarters of Veterans Affairs Canada are all located here, making government at all three levels the dominant employer. The University of Prince Edward Island and Holland College anchor the post-secondary sector and draw students from across the Atlantic region and internationally.

Tourism is a major seasonal industry, with visitors drawn to the Confederation Centre of the Arts, the historic waterfront, and the city's Confederation-era heritage. A growing technology and bioscience sector has contributed to economic diversification in recent years.

The 2019 campaign in Charlottetown was shaped by several local concerns. Housing availability and affordability had become acute, with the city's rental vacancy rate falling sharply amid steady population growth driven by immigration. Doctor shortages were another pressing issue, as the number of Islanders without a family physician continued to climb. Candidates debated Confederation Bridge tolls, with Casey the only candidate who declined to commit to action on reducing them. The question of whether to return Prince Edward Island to a single Employment Insurance zone also featured prominently, as the existing two-zone system meant that workers in different parts of the riding faced different qualifying requirements.