Photo: Marty Aligata · CC BY-SA 4.0Belfast sends Kent MacDonald (Liberal Party of Canada) to the Commons from Cardigan
Statistics Canada lists Belfast as a rural municipality. No open list of councils exists on Prince Edward Island, so no mayor of Belfast is named here. The Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island’s riding map is published without a licence, so this page doesn’t place Belfast in a riding. Across Prince Edward Island, 4 of the 4 MPs sit with the Liberal Party of Canada.
Three governments, and who does what
Belfast, a rural municipality in Prince Edward Island, shares the work with the province and Ottawa.
Local services, by-laws and property tax.
Schools, health care, highways, municipal law.
assembly.pe.ca ↗Passports, pensions, EI, defence, immigration.
ourcommons.ca ↗Who to ask
Green: municipal. Gold: provincial. Grey: federal.
The census places Belfast in Queens, a division that governs nothing; no county council sits above the town’s.
From the council table to Ottawa
Every elected tier that speaks for Belfast, from the most recent elections.
- 1Belfast councilRural municipality
- 2Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island–
- 3House of CommonsCardigan
Party colours are neutral on purpose: they tell parties apart and aren’t the parties’ own. MPs: Wikidata (CC0), 45th Parliament statements, read 7 November 2026; ridings: 2023 Representation Order, Statistics Canada
When Belfast votes
The last and next general elections at each level; a by-election can come in between.
| Election | Last | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Belfast council | 2 November 2026 | 4 November 2030 |
| Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island | 3 April 2023 | – |
| House of Commons | 28 April 2025 | – |
Provincially the last general election was on 3 April 2023, for the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island; federally, on 28 April 2025. Belfast council was elected on 2 November 2026, and the next vote is on 4 November 2030. That date comes from the Municipal Election Act, which sets the first Monday in November every four years. The 2025 results are left out because elections.ca’s terms forbid commercial reproduction; the open catalogue’s latest is 2021.
Election dates: the legislatures, MMAH and MAMH
The Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island: riding not placed
Provinces and territories run schools, health care and municipal law; each riding elects one MLA.
Find your MLA on the legislature’s site
assembly.pe.ca ↗Legislatures: their own member pages
Kent MacDonald represents Cardigan in Ottawa
Each riding elects one MP to the House of Commons; the general election of 28 April 2025 chose the 45th Parliament.
Cardigan · Liberal Party of Canada
en.wikipedia.org ↗- Liberal Party of Canada4
As Wikidata records them.
The MP’s record
Elections Canada’s transposition of the 2021 vote onto today’s Cardigan puts the Liberal Party of Canada first at 51%; Kent MacDonald held it for the party in 2025. April 2025 was Kent MacDonald’s first election to the House of Commons.
MPs: Wikidata (CC0), 45th Parliament statements, read 7 November 2026; ridings: 2023 Representation Order, Statistics Canada · MPs’ records: Wikidata (CC0), positions held and party memberships, read 8 November 2026
Cardigan returned Lawrence MacAulay (Liberal Party of Canada) in 2021
Cardigan as it stood from 2013: the 2019 and 2021 counts, before the riding was redrawn for 2025.
In 2021, 72% of electors cast a ballot in Cardigan, more than the national 63%. 49% had elected Lawrence MacAulay there in 2019. In 2021, Cardigan went to Lawrence MacAulay (Liberal Party of Canada) on 51%; Wayne Phelan (Conservative Party of Canada) finished 4,358 votes behind.
All 6 candidates in Cardigan, 2021
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawrence MacAulay | Liberal Party of Canada | 11,175 | 50.6% |
| Wayne Phelan | Conservative Party of Canada | 6,817 | 30.9% |
| Lynne Thiele | New Democratic Party | 2,168 | 9.8% |
| Michael MacLean | Green Party of Canada | 1,064 | 4.8% |
| Kevin Hardy | People's Party of Canada | 725 | 3.3% |
| Fred MacLeod | Christian Heritage Party of Canada | 145 | 0.7% |
Federal results: Elections Canada, 43rd and 44th general elections and the 44th’s transposition to the 2023 ridings, via open.canada.ca. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada
Having a say in how Belfast is run
Check or update the federal list.
elections.ca ↗Every MP lists an office.
ourcommons.ca ↗Ridings, registration and voting dates.
electionspei.ca ↗What this data can and can’t tell you
- Who holds each seat. A member who resigned or switched parties last week may still show here: the names are Wikidata’s.
- Which riding. A riding is listed when 5% or more of the place’s 2021 Census residents live in it; the largest share comes first.
- Election results. The 2019 and 2021 figures are Elections Canada’s official counts on the ridings drawn in 2013; the “today’s boundaries” figures are its transposition of the 2021 vote onto the 2023 ridings, an estimate built from polling divisions.
- Not on this page. Council budgets, band councils, and which party runs the council: the open lists carry no party, and most councils have none.
Questions about how Belfast is run
Who is the MP for Belfast?
For Belfast, it’s Kent MacDonald (Liberal Party of Canada), who holds Cardigan.
Which party won Belfast in the 2021 federal election?
The Liberal Party of Canada, with Lawrence MacAulay in Cardigan; since 2025 Kent MacDonald represents Cardigan.
Who is the MLA for Belfast?
Every MLA of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island is on its members page, which is where to find the one for Belfast.
Who heads the council in Belfast?
Belfast is a rural municipality; its own website or the province’s municipal directory names the head of council.
Sources: MPs: Wikidata (CC0), 45th Parliament statements, read 7 November 2026; ridings: 2023 Representation Order, Statistics Canada · Next municipal election: the province’s municipal election act · Municipality types: Statistics Canada census subdivisions · Federal results: Elections Canada, 43rd and 44th general elections and the 44th’s transposition to the 2023 ridings, via open.canada.ca. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada · MPs’ records: Wikidata (CC0), positions held and party memberships, read 8 November 2026. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).