 At the age of 29, he was named Minister of Fisheries, becoming the youngest cabinet minister in the history of Prince Edward Island.MacAdam also stood as the federal Progressive Conservative candidate in Cardigan in the 2000 federal election, losing to Lawrence MacAulay by a margin of less than 300 votes.He resigned his seat in the provincial assembly to run for the federal seat but was reelected to the assembly in a subsequent by-election.