This P.E.I. district has just 2 candidates running in the provincial election

Incumbent PC candidate Bloyce Thompson and NDP candidate Marian White are the only two candidates running in District 8: Stanhope-Marshfield, making it the only district on the Island with just two names on the ballot.

Thompson said he wasn't expecting to be running against just one other candidate.

"I was a little surprised, but I know it's a big commitment" he said.

"A lot of people are surprised by it as well. But, you know, it's very positive and there is two candidates on the ballot, so there is a choice."

White acknowledged it's a challenge taking on an incumbent but said Island New Democrats have already won by mounting a full slate of candidates this election.

"We're really making history here," she said.

"I'm just shocked the other two parties didn't get the 27 candidates — I don't know what they've been doing for four years that they couldn't have come up with someone to put on a ballot. So my chances of winning? I think I've already won, but we'll know next week what the numbers are."

'Come to me with your vote'

Stanhope-Marshfield is the only district left on the Island that can be considered a bellwether district, meaning the winning candidate there is always in the caucus of the winning party.

The district was realigned in 2019, absorbing the rural portions of former districts Tracadie-Hillsborough Park and York-Oyster Bed. Those districts were held by former Liberal premier Wade MacLauchlan and Liberal MLA Buck Watts.

In the last provincial election in 2019, Thompson defeated MacLauchlan — who was the sitting premier at the time — with 39.5 per cent of the vote.

But without a Liberal, Green or Island Party candidate running this time around, a vote against Dennis King's Progressive Conservative government in this district is a vote for the NDP.

"The challenge for me going up against one person and the incumbent is quite huge but it's also really exciting," White said.

"It's an opportunity for those Greens and the Liberals and others to lend me their vote if they want anyone but a Conservative … If you're not voting Tory, then come to me with your vote."

Thompson knows he won't have the advantage of multiple parties to split the vote for those who don't want to support the PCs, but says it hasn't changed how he's hitting the campaign trail.

"I need 51 per cent of the vote, but … we have to put our head down and work hard. But the support at the doors has been pretty positive and I've had some great conversations over the last couple weeks," he said.

"We're gonna hit every door, talk to as many people as possible just to listen and hear what they have to say and … I've got a great team around me, and it's full out."

'A great candidate'

Both candidates say they've heard similar issues out on the campaign trail. Health care is top of mind for many voters in the district, but so too are concerns around road safety and the loss of farmland in the area.

"It's a bedroom community of Charlottetown almost, but we have all the three major industries — agriculture, fishing and tourism, of course — so those three things are important," Thompson said.

"It's a growing community so there's a lot of those issues."

But White said she's also heard from voters who weren't thrilled with the snap election call six months earlier than the fixed election date of October 2.

"People aren't really happy with an election in the spring," she said.

"Between frost and snow and mud, it's a terrible time for an election — unless, of course, you're the party in power and you know for months in advance that you're calling a spring election."

Thompson said he and his rival have crossed paths in the district just once this election campaign.

"I know Marian and she's a great candidate," he said. "The NDP seem to be organized and ready to go."

P.E.I.'s next provincial election takes place on April 3.