Dr. Herb Dickieson seeks Egmont NDP nomination

Dr.Herb Dickieson says it’s the right time for him to make a return to politics, but this time, he has his sights set on a federal seat.

Dickieson is a former provincial party leader and the only New Democratic Party member to ever serve in the P.E.I. legislature, representing West Point-Bloomfield from 1996-2000.

He largely disappeared from the Island political scene after failing to be re-elected in 2000.

The popular family doctor still practices medicine at the O'Leary Health Centre.

Dickieson made history for the New Democrats in 1996 as the first New Democrat to ever get elected and he did it on a campaign to keep O'Leary Community Hospital open.

Since 2000 he’s been concentrating on family.

“That's true, but I've been working hard and working with my family,” he said. “Making sure they had success in their efforts as well and now that they are now more out on their own there is more time to do this endeavor.”

Now he is seeking the party's nomination in the federal riding of Egmont, the seat currently held by Conservative Gail Shea.

Dickieson was said to be under a lot of pressure from federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair to run.

Dickieson says his strategy is simple, split the Liberal and Conservative vote, and come up the middle.

He says it’s Stephen Harper's federal policies that will get him elected.

The next federal election is scheduled for Oct. 19, 2015.