New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island candidates in the 1978 Prince Edward Island provincial election

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The Prince Edward Island New Democratic Party fielded six candidates in the 1978 provincial election, but none were elected.

One of the candidates was Garry Wayne Herring. He was born and raised in Prince Edward Island, the son of a fisherman. He left school in grade 10, moved to Toronto to work in security, then lived in Oklahoma where he became a police officer and owned a small restaurant, before returning to PEI to work in the lobster fishery. He finished third in the 1978 race against future premier Pat Binns.

In 1995, Herring moved to Peterborough, Ontario, where he ran a diner and served as a Christian minister with the Fisher of Men fellowship. He was elected to Peterborough City Council in 2003, finishing second in Otonabee Ward, and was named chair of the social services committee, then two months later chair of the city’s natural area strategy.

While in office, Herring showed social-conservative views. He opposed a gay pride day in 2004 and later spoke against safe-sex advertisements he called pornographic. In early 2005 he cited Bible passages at a council meeting in an unsuccessful bid to block same-sex marriages. The local paper, Peterborough This Week, rated him the lowest among councillors in 2004 and 2005. He ran for mayor in 2006 and finished seventh in a field of eight, and he attempted a return to council in 2010. He supported Conservative candidate Dean Del Mastro in the 2006 federal election.