Fate of Saint-Laurent riding to be decided Monday in federal byelection

Voters in the riding of Saint-Laurent will be heading to the polls on Monday in one of five federal byelections held across the country.

The riding was put up for grabs after former foreign affairs minister Stéphane Dion decided to leave his seat to accept a position as an ambassador in Europe.

Dion was first elected as MP for Saint-Laurent in 1996. Many have called the riding a Liberal stronghold – the party has held the riding for nearly three decades.

• Byelection performance can be predictive of future results
• 5 byelections mark 1st electoral test for Trudeau government

Polls will open at 9:30 a.m. and close at 9:30 p.m. Five candidates are on the ballot. 

Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal Party

Emmanuella Lambropoulos, a 26-year-old teacher and Saint-Laurent resident, won the Liberal nomination last month in an upset that saw her beat former provincial immigration minister and presumed frontrunner Yolande James. But her win was not without controversy.

Alan DeSousa, Saint-Laurent's long-serving borough mayor, had campaigned for the Liberal nomination, but was rejected by the party. His appeal of that decision was also rejected. DeSousa said he was never told why.

Lambropoulos, who has had Prime Minister Justin Trudeau join her on the campaign trail, said the controversy has not changed the minds of voters.

"To tell you the truth, I've knocked on many doors and the majority of people tell me they're very Liberal and will stay Liberal," she said.

"They also tell me they're happy I will win, they are happy that it is someone local who will win."

Mathieu Auclair, NDP

Mathieu Auclair, who is currently studying international relations at TÉLUQ, was picked by the NDP to run in the riding.

According to his biography on the party's website, Auclair holds a pilot's license and "understands the importance of supporting the aerospace industry." He also has a bachelor of arts from UQAM for social science and history.

Auclair believes, given the controversial Liberal nomination, some may be in for a surprise.

"It seems there's a lot of grumbling. There is a lot of people who vote Liberal out of habit, it has always been a Liberal riding and we are realizing that, maybe, they no longer feel heard. They're starting to see other parties, that they exist," said Auclair.

Jimmy Yu, Conservative Party

Jimmy Yu, the Conservative candidate, moved to Canada from China in 1981 when he was 13 years old. Yu lives in the riding and said he has strong ties to the local Chinese community.

Yu ran in the 2015 general election and finished in second behind Dion, with just 20 per cent of ballots cast in his favour.

"[The Liberals] have taken our population for granted. But now, people are waking up with all the events that have passed," said Yu.

He added that the Conservatives had trouble getting its ideas across in the Montreal-area in the past. But now the party is opening up more and more, most notably to younger voters.

William Fayad, Bloc Québécois

Saint-Laurent resident William Fayad is no stranger to the campaign trail.

The Bloc Québécois candidate has run for the party on three separate occasions in the past. He's also run in provincial elections twice for the Parti Québécois, and once ran to be borough mayor under the Projet Montréal banner.

Fayad, a certified mathematics teacher who has worked in a couple of Montreal-area school boards, has received the support of newly arrived Bloc Québécois leader Martine Ouellet.

Daniel Green, Green Party

Daniel Green, deputy leader of the Green Party, is hoping to win their first ever second seat in the House of Commons.

Green, an environmentalist, joined the party in 2015 and ran in the last general election in the riding of Ville-Marie–Le Sud-Ouest–Île-des-Soeurs. He placed fifth with nearly five per cent of the vote.

He believes some of the Liberal's broken promises, such as electoral reform, may hurt their chances in the byelection.

"We thought we saw it all with Stephen Harper, and now we see a Liberal party who acts in a way that is totally anti-democratic," said Green.

Chinook Blais-Leduc, Rhinoceros Party

The satirical Rhinoceros Party have put up Chinook Blais-Leduc as candidate for Saint-Laurent.

If elected Blais-Leduc said he'd pay homage to Dion, the architect of the Clarity Act, which mandates a clear question and "clear majority" in any Quebec referendum, by introducing the "Clarity of Laws" act.

The act would require all new laws to be submitted to 100 randomly selected Canadians. They will be asked to read the law, and if two-thirds of them clearly understand the true meaning of the law, then it will pass. If it fails it will be sent back to lawmakers to be redrawn.