| Last updated at 2:10 PM on 28/11/09 |
Profit ready for fight in Charlottetown federal riding 
Veteran Tory member wins nomination
WAYNE THIBODEAU
The Guardian
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| Donna Profit, the newly chosen Conservative candidate in Charlottetown, gets a congratulatory hug from one of her supporters following her win Friday night in Charlottetown. Guardian photo by Wayne Thibodeau. |
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The election of Donna Profit, an educator from Charlottetown, as the Conservative Party’s representative in the capital city puts Stephen Harper’s Prince Edward Island team in place for the next federal election.
Profit defeated retired RCMP officer Robert Campbell during a nominating convention Friday night in Charlottetown.
More than 250 people attended the convention. The vote results were not made public.
The former dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College, Tim Ogilvie, will represent Malpeque.
In Cardigan, Stratford lawyer Kerri Carpenter will carry the party’s colours.
Fisheries Minister Gail Shea is now the only elected federal Conservative in Prince Edward Island as the MP for Egmont.
During Friday night’s convention, Shea said winning the riding of Charlottetown will be difficult, but not impossible.
“I just want to remind you that Egmont was a Liberal-held riding for almost 30 years,” Shea told supporters, adding that the Conservatives are now only 10 seats away from a majority government in Ottawa.
“Although we had no incumbent to face, we had a very credible candidate and we worked from a vote deficit of more than 5,000 votes from the previous election.
“At the end of the day, and at the end of the recount, we won by only 57 votes. But it only takes one.”
The vote deficit is similar in Charlottetown.
In the October 2008 election, Liberal Shawn Murphy won the riding with slightly more than 50 per cent of the vote against four other candidates. He received 3,189 more votes than his nearest rival, Conservative Tom DeBlois.
Profit said she’s excited to get the nod by her party faithful, and now she’s ready to get down to business and win the riding for the Conservatives.
This is Profit’s first run for public office.
“People are looking and they want to know what I have to say,” said Profit, a mother of seven.
“I want the people of Charlottetown to know that I can be a good representative for them and that the Conservative government is going to listen to us, and listen to me as part of that team.”
Profit is well known in the community as a swim coach and she has spent 25 years working behind the scenes in both federal and provincial politics. In addition, she is past president of the PC Association in District 14.
Shea also had a parting shot at Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, who is in Prince Edward Island today to attend the P.E.I. Liberal Party fall dinner.
“In case any of you people would like to attend, Michael Ignatieff is in town (Saturday),” she said.
“I can tell you on his last trip to P.E.I. he was in my riding of Egmont to beat the bushes for a Liberal candidate. After he left the only rumoured candidate pulled out so hopefully he maintains that record of success.”
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