Robert "Bobby" Morrissey won a three-way nomination battle over the weekend in the PEI riding of Egmont. Egmont is represented in Parliament right now by Joe McGuire (left) who, at the age of 63, has decided not to run again. The Liberals have held Egmont since 1980 which raises the stakes, to a degree, for the nomination. Just as a Conservative who wins a riding nomination in Alberta can expect to head to Parliament, so can a Liberal who wins a PEI riding.
As a result, more than 1,100 Liberals voted on Saturday for one of the three candidates, making it the biggest nomination event ever held in the western island riding.
McGuire won six elections in Egmont, beginning in 1988. In the current Parliamentary session, he is a member of the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence.
During Jean Chretien's term as Prime Minister, McGuire was Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
The federal Conservatives thought that they had a chance to win one of the four seats on PEI in the 2006 federal election but each Liberal incumbents was able to hold his own. There's a good chance the Liberals sweep the island again if an election were held in the next six months. Even Conservatives I know concede that point.
Morrissey is a former provincial cabinet minister who served with Premiers Joe Ghiz and Catherine Callbeck.