Robert Morrissey
Based on publicly available information — may contain inaccuracies
Business & Financial Interests
Before entering federal politics, Robert Morrissey had a long career in both business and provincial government in Prince Edward Island. He was reportedly involved in the private sector, particularly in the fishing and aquaculture industries. He has been linked to businesses such as North Shore Seafoods and Superior Sanitation. Morrissey also served for nearly two decades as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island. During his time in provincial politics, he held several senior cabinet positions, including Minister of Economic Development and Tourism, and Minister of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment. This extensive experience in provincial government and local industry formed his primary career before he was elected as a Member of Parliament in 2015.
Key Relationships & Connections
As a long-serving politician from Prince Edward Island, Robert Morrissey has established key relationships within the Liberal Party. He is a close colleague of Lawrence MacAulay, another veteran Liberal MP from PEI who has held numerous cabinet posts. Together, they represent two of the province's four federal ridings and are senior figures in the Atlantic Liberal Caucus. Given his extensive background in provincial politics, he also maintains strong connections with figures in the Prince Edward Island Liberal Party.
Potential Conflicts of Interest
In 2017, the federal Ethics Commissioner, Mary Dawson, investigated Robert Morrissey's conduct. The investigation focused on a letter he wrote to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in support of a temporary foreign worker application for a company. This company was reportedly a client of a business that Morrissey had previously co-owned and where his brother was still the president. The Ethics Commissioner's report concluded that by writing the letter, Morrissey had used his position as an MP to improperly further the private interests of his brother and the company. The Commissioner found that this action violated the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons.
Public Controversies
Robert Morrissey faced public criticism in 2021 for comments he made about the labour shortage and the Employment Insurance (EI) program. During a parliamentary committee meeting, he suggested that federal income support programs, like EI, might be creating a situation where it was more appealing for some people to stay home than to work. These remarks were criticized by opposition parties and labour advocates, who argued they unfairly blamed workers for labour shortages and ignored other economic factors. Morrissey later stated that his comments were taken out of context.
Where Robert falls on key policy spectrums
Your Money
People & Society
How We're Governed
Land & Community
Bobby Morrissey won with 12,466 votes (51.9%)
Total votes cast: 24,008
How does Robert Morrissey's voting record line up with your values?
C-26 Mr. Speaker, could the minister explain how Billis part of the overall housing plan in this country, which Canadians are expecting?
Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to pay tribute to a remarkable young Prince Edward Island athlete, Abby Hustler. Over the last number of years, Abby has excelled as a hockey player. She played with the PWHL Minnesota Frost, now drafted by the expansion Hamilton team. Abby is the first Islander drafted to the Professional Women's Hockey League. In my Egmont riding, the enthusiasm is enormous. In
Thank you. If a party were philosophically opposed to this type of development—green energy or wind energy—you would try to phrase it as a prior approval, which is not the case, as your testimony indicated. Clearly, this was a simple fact of compiling information that was within the department at the current time and makes no recommendation for or against any potential wind development. Is that
Thank you.
I don't want to get into that, but there is a process to go through that's very transparent and very vigorous. The interests of fishers will be taken into consideration if we get to that. At this stage, there's been no approval, but there's a concept that's been referred to by the Government of Nova Scotia. Again, the department's role in producing this report, which is over six months old, was
It's simply an inventory of what's going on.
Thank you. I think it's very important for those following this to know that, as you stated, there was no approval process. This is not a blanket approval to do any development in the subject area. Again, to clarify, it is simply one source of information on species that exist in these areas. Is that correct?
It's important, because if somebody, like the Government of Nova Scotia, the provincial government, chooses to pursue an agenda of developing offshore wind, they would have to go through a very rigorous process to get approval to do that. Is that correct?